NHL-National Hockey League roundup

May 31 (The Sports Xchange) - Philadelphia Flyers legend Rick MacLeish has died after battling an illness, the team announced. He was 66. MacLeish died Monday night after a two-month stay at a hospital. The team did not disclose the nature of his illness. MacLeish played parts of 12 seasons with the Flyers and was the first player in franchise history to score 50 goals when he had 50 goals and 100 points during the 1972-73 season. Philadelphia won back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 1974-75 with the famous clubs known as the "Broad Street Bullies." MacLeish scored a combined 24 goals in the two postseason charges and he tallied the game-winning goal against the Boston Bruins in the 1974 Stanley Cup finals. MacLeish scored 349 goals and had 759 points in 846 career NHL games in a career that ended in 1984. He played parts of 12 seasons with the Flyers and also had stints with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Hartford Whalers and Detroit Red Wings. - - - Ken Hitchcock is returning to St. Louis for his sixth season as coach of the Blues and signed a one-year contract extension. "I'm not coaching after this year," Hitchcock said Tuesday, hinting that he could seek a job upstairs with the Blues or another team. "I don't know if I'm going to retire." The Blues were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs in the sixth game of the best-of-seven Western Conference finals by the San Jose Sharks. Hitchcock, 64, is entering his 20th season as an NHL head coach. He has been head coach of the Blues since Nov. 7, 2011 with four of the top five regular-season point totals in franchise history and five consecutive births in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. - - - The chances of NHL players participating in the 2018 Winter Olympics might be diminishing. Commissioner Gary Bettman said before the start of the Stanley Cup finals in Pittsburgh that insurance and travel costs might keep the NHL from releasing its players for the Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. The International Olympic Committee and the International Ice Hockey Federation subsidized the travel and insurance costs for past Olympics, but they might not in 2018. Bettman said if the IOC and IIHF can't come to an agreement on the issue, "I have no doubt that it will have a significant impact on our decision." - - - The Dallas Stars signed center Justin Dowling and left winger Brendan Ranford to one-year contracts, the club announced. Dowling, 25, had 46 points (11 goals, 35 assists) in 52 games for Texas of the American Hockey League this past season. Ranford, 24, scored a team-best 59 points (19 goals, 40 assists) for Texas. He has played in one career NHL game, with Dallas during the 2014-15 campaign. (Editing by Andrew Both)