Pavel Datsyuk reaches a milestone, management of slumping Wild under scrutiny and more in your NHL morning coffee headlines.
Pavel Datsyuk surpassed 900 career points by recording thee points in the Red Wings’ 6-5 win over the Bruins. Keith Kinkaid made 35 saves for his first NHL shutout. Details and more in your NHL hat trick.
Notable NHL Headlines
Red Wings star Pavel Datsyuk is congratulated after scoring his 900th NHL point.
CBS SPORTS: Brad Marchand scored the fastest goal in Boston Bruins history (eight seconds) during his club’s 6-5 loss to the Detroit Red Wings.
USA TODAY: Buffalo Sabres center Jack Eichel scored an end-to-end goal during his team’s 4-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: Derek Stepan scored twice as the New York Rangers downed the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1.
TWINCITIES.COM: With Mike Yeo fired as head coach of the Minnesota Wild, there’s speculation general manager Chuck Fletcher’s job could be in jeopardy if his struggling club misses the playoffs this season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Over the last two years, the Wild were able to snap out of their midseason slumps to clinch postseason berths. It’ll be interesting to see if the coaching change has the same effect this time around.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE: The Blackhawks placed winger Marian Hossa (apparent leg injury) on injured reserve, meaning he’ll miss at least a week.
NBC SPORTS: It’s rumored the Winnipeg Jets could host the Edmonton Oilers in an outdoor game this October, while the Toronto Maple Leafs could host the Detroit Red Wings in the 2017 Winter Classic.
MIAMI HERALD: Florida Panthers winger Brandon Pirri (left-ankle injury) and center Quinton Howden (head injury) could miss some time.
Mike Yeo got exactly what he deserved & got terminated after the dreaded vote of confidence. He should have been fired last season.
Minny had 7 road games out of the last 8 against many of the NHL’s elite teams for the most part. Now Minny has a 3 game road trip against Vancouver, Calgary & Edmonton. Talk about looking at the schedule & picking your spots to change coaches.
Yeo’s player deployment was brutal. I don’t care who’s being paid what, if you just keep rolling out the same personal in the same positions with the same line mates over & over & over & it’s not working why not try something different, hell anything different.
No where was this more evident than on the PP. Minny was 27th last season in PP efficiency. This season they are 23rd. Same 5 players going out on the #1 unit over & over & over again. Guess what? It didn’t work. Did you really need 137 games to see that it’s not working.
The GM should be terminated now as well because he sat & watched this happen for 137 games. Minny has 27 games left & are 5 points out of a playoff spot. They probably have to play at or near .750 to have any hope of making the playoffs. Good luck, not impossible just improbable. If your 6 points out of the playoffs at the US Thanksgiving & only have a 20% chance of making it, what are the odds when your 5 out on February 15th?
Striker I’m a Wild season ticket holder since day 1 and you said exactly what I’ve been saying for the past 2 years. Yeo, while he is a good technical coach required no accountability from his veterans. If Koivu messed up he wouldn’t take away ice time he would bench one of the kids.
Striker, you could change the names to Cameron and Ottawa and it would still be bang on.
George I couldn’t agree more. How many times have you heard me bitch about Cameron’s deployment of personal. It’s been constant sine he got there.
Great to see Mcilrath take on Simmonds. Pretty even fight, but loved seeing Simmonds bleeding from the eye. Only wish Big Mac had landed one square and concussed him. An eye for an eye.
You crosscheck a player chances are you might want to defend yourself from being hit. McDonaugh was looking right at Simmonds. What did he expect to happen? He should have defended himself after his crosscheck.
Karma’s playing out just like it should.
McDonaugh got what he deserved & Simmonds will answer the bell with anyone.
You’re defending a sucker punch, which is awfully embarrassing for the entire hockey world. Simmond’s action was that of a goon, not an elite player. He also broke and pitched his stick at the refs after they ejected him from that game. Would you care to defend his actions there?
Taking just that small altercation into account is also short-sighted. The two of them were trading extra pushes, shoves and cross-checks all game. It sounds like perhaps you missed that key part of the match-up and only saw NBC’s 10-second highlight.
You don’t throw a sucker punch. There are only a few other more blatant attempts to injure a player.
I watched that game live & then watched the hi light repeatedly. If that was a sucker punch then it happens 20 times a game after every whistle where there is a stoppage in play in front of the net.
People actually watch NBC?
Had it been a sucker punch he would have faced further discipline from the NHL. As far as I was concerned he didn’t even deserve to be kicked out of the game. McDonaugh took not 1 but 2 penalties on the play & was looking right at Simmonds when he hit him.
Now some players may let a player take such liberties as McDonaugh was trying to take with Simmonds but common sense would dictate that McDonaugh should have known Simmonds wasn’t 1 of them. It’s not like he’s hard to recognize & he isn’t letting a slashing & a crosscheck go unchallenged.
Who is Keith Kincaid? and, with reference to player deployment, Einstein’s definition of insanity was to keep doing the same thing repeatedly and expect different results.
I modify Einstein’s definition from insanity to stupidity. As if your insane how would you necessarily know what your doing once, never twice or more. Now stupidity strikes even those that think their smart. Ha-ha!