Henrik Lundqvist has a milestone game, drug charge against Mike Richards stayed, injury update & more in your NHL morning coffee headlines.
NOTABLE NHL HEADLINES
Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist reached a milestone in a 3-2 win over the Blues.
USA TODAY: New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist made 35 saves backstopping his club to a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues. It was milestone win for Lundqvist, becoming only the third goalie in NHL history to have at least 30 victories in 10 different seasons.
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH: Nick Foligno’s hat trick powered the Blue Jackets to a 6-1 thumping of the New Jersey Devils.
MIAMI HERALD: Aleksander Barkov scored twice in his return from injury to help the Florida Panthers defeat the Arizona Coyotes 3-2.
WASHINGTON POST: A court has stayed the drug possession charge against Capitals center Mike Richards, meaning prosecutors will not move forward with the case.
NHL.COM: The Florida Panthers re-signed forward Shawn Thornton to a one-year contract extension. Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but Cap Friendly reports it’s a base salary of $600K plus $172K in performance bonuses.
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER: The Anaheim Ducks claimed center Chris Wagner off waivers from the Colorado Avalanche “and promptly assigned him to the AHL’s San Diego Gulls.”
THE NEWS & OBSERVER: The Carolina Hurricanes placed forward Brad Malone on waivers.
SPORTSNET: A report out of Russia claims Ilya Kovalchuk is threatening to quit the KHL and return to North America if he’s not on the roster of SKA St. Petersburg in two days. SKA coach Sergei Zubov stripped Kovalchuk of the team captaincy and made him a healthy scratch in their recent playoff games. If Kovalchuk hopes to return to the NHL this season, he’ll need the approval of all 30 clubs.
NHL INJURY UPDATE
TSN: Winnipeg Jets center Bryan Little (fractured vertebrae)is out for the remainder of this season
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: The Toronto Maple Leafs announced forwards James van Riemsdyk (fractured foot) and Joffrey Lupul (sports hernia surgery) are done for the season.
MONTREAL GAZETTE: Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry (sports hernia surgery) is also done for the season. while blueliner Nathan Beaulieu (lower-body injury) has no timetable for his return.
TWINCITIES.COM: Minnesota Wild winger Zach Parise (upper-body injury) will miss at least two games.
K at what point does Lupul get the hint that his body cant do it anymore and just retire already.
Only when he looks at his bankbook and realizes the guaranteed income has dried up.
There are ways that that wouldnt be a problem for MLSE Im sure. Money makes all problems go away give him his stinking salary to be a scout something. Id say some player development role but that might be pushing the charade a little to far, the NHL would never buy it lol.
I dunno. They’ve clearly bought some weird and wonderful rules-circumventing “sweetheart” deals – like those of Pronger, Savard, Horton etc.Never underestimate shyster lawyers whose whole waking time is devoted to rooting out loopholes.
Exactly, and it wouldnt be the first time Lou was involved in something that would be kinda frowned on in order to make money work.
See things like this starting to be referred to as Lou-p holes.
LOL. Good one!
If Kovalchuk wants to return to the NHL, wouldn’t a better attitude also be required? His departure from the NHL was crappy at best, and now he’s benched in the KHL, an obvious bad sign. But instead of taking it like a man, now he’s threatening to leave again. Can’t see too many (any) teams interested in taking on a 32 year-old head case and problem-child player, especially in a cap era.
I’m sure the Devils, who are taking a quarter million dollar cap hit until the year 2025 for a player who hasn’t been on their roster for almost four years would love to see him back in the NHL.