NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 14, 2021

by | Apr 14, 2021 | News, NHL | 19 comments

Anthony Mantha has an impressive debut with the Capitals, Artemi Panarin breaks a Rangers record, Milan Lucic reaches a career milestone and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.

NHL.COM: The Washington Capitals thumped the Philadelphia Flyers 6-1 to open a two-point lead over the New York Islanders atop the MassMutual East Division with 60 points. Anthony Mantha tallied a goal and an assist in his first game with Washington since being acquired from the Detroit Red Wings on Monday. Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin tallied his 728th career goal to move within three of Marcel Dionne for fifth on the overall list.

Washington Capitals winger Anthony Mantha (NHL Images).

Artemi Panarin broke Mark Messier’s franchise record for the most points (138) in the first 100 games with the New York Rangers in a 3-0 win over the New Jersey Devils. Igor Shesterkin made 27 saves for his first career NHL shutout while Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and an assist. The Rangers sit in fifth place with 46 points in the East Division.

Shootout goals by Jake DeBrusk and Charlie Coyle lifted the Boston Bruins past the Buffalo Sabres 3-2. Taylor Hall was held scoreless in his Bruins debut after being acquired from Buffalo before Monday’s trade deadline. Sabres goaltender Linus Ullmark left the game in the first period with an undisclosed injury. The Bruins (50 points) hold a four-point lead over the Rangers.

The Calgary Flames edged the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on an overtime goal by Johnny Gaudreau. Flames winger Milan Lucic collected an assist and a fighting major in his 1,000th career NHL game. John Tavares had two helpers for the Leafs, who sit in first place in the Scotia North Division with 60 points.

A two-goal performance by Viktor Arvidsson powered the Nashville Predators to a 7-2 drubbing of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Defenseman David Savard had a plus-minus of minus-4 in his first game with Tampa Bay since they acquired him on Saturday from the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Predators (49 points) opened a four-point lead over the Chicago Blackhawks in the Discover Central Division.

An overtime goal by Frank Vatrano gave the Florida Panthers a 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars. The Panthers are tied with the Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes with 58 points, but the Hurricanes hold first place in the Central and the Lightning second place on the basis of games in hand. The Panthers played without winger Carter Verhaeghe, who’s listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury.

ESPN.COM: The Canadian Hockey League yesterday announced the 2021 Memorial Cup tournament has been canceled. It’s the second straight year the prestigious trophy won’t be awarded to Canada’s top junior team because of COVID-19.







19 Comments

  1. What would be interesting to know is how various scouting departments differ in going about establishing their recommendations of major junior talent leading up to the draft.

  2. Most entry draft rankings are filled with NCAA, USHL, Swedish and Finnish league players with a sprinkling of Canadian Juniors.

    I know the rankings aren’t scouting departments but the accent seems to be on those who play competitively.

  3. I believe history will show, this years draft will have a larger than normal gem sprinkled throughout all seven rounds of Major Junior prospects.

  4. Your comment made me curious so, using Round 1 of the actual drafts for the past 10 years I found that 172 of the 304 selected (57%) were Canadian Major Junior players. I would suspect that the % would remain about the same for each round. That’s some sprinkling!

    • 12 CDN’s in rd 1 of the mock draft I looked at George.
      Edmonton Oil King product Dylan Guenther the highest ranked at #2.
      Perhaps OTT?

      • Wow, he is dropping in that one.

      • Many of the same names, different order. Plenty of D at the top, which doesn’t happen often.
        CDN players are at a disadvantage as they haven’t been seen as much. Some opportunities for teams later on, as has been discussed.

      • Hi George

        Things will move around quite a bit when things get closer

        The one thing that jumped out at me…. this mock draft had Wild picking (using Pens pick) at 15…. which means when this list was posted 3 weeks ago…. they had projected Pens missing the playoffs; while as at now they are projected at 99% + chance of being in playoffs and over 85% chance of finishing no lower than 3rd in the Div…. big changes (in potential outcomes ) for Pens in last week

      • Oh yeah, I realize that Pengy. For sure a lot can happen between now and the end of the season to change the % for a number of teams.

        For example Ottawa, now 2nd last, are just 5 up on Buffalo who have a game in hanmd and are playing better lately. By the same token, Ottawa is just 1 back of Anaheim (same # of games played), 2 back of each of NJ and Columbus – and on and on up the standings.

        Add to the that the possibility that we might see a bit more of trades involving draft positions than we have ever seen due to the increased uncertainty as to how players compare.

      • Ray, your observation about the # of D projected to go in that list also got me curious. This one shows 4 D in the Top 10 and 9 in the 1st round. Here’s a comparison to the past 10 years

        2020 – 6D – 2 in Top 10
        2019 – 10D – 3 in Top 10
        2018 – 14D – 4 in Top 10
        2017 – 9D – 2 in Top 10
        2016 – 9D – 2 in Top 10
        2015 – 8D – 3 in Top 10
        2014 – 5D – 2 in Top 10
        2013 – 9D – 3 in Top 10
        2012 – 13D – 8 in Top 10
        2011 – 11D – 3 in Top 10

        That 2012 draft was an eye-opener in terms of the Top 10 -/ for the record, here are the 13 selected showing where taken

        Ryan Murray – 2
        Griffin Reinhart – 4
        Morgan Rielly – 5
        Hampus Lindholm – 6
        Matt Dumba – 7
        Derrick Pouliot – 8
        Jacob Trouba – 9
        Slater Koekkoek – 10
        Cody Ceci – 15
        Ollie Maata – 22
        Mike Matheson – 23
        Jordan Schmaltz – 25
        Brady Skjei – 28

  5. You forget to write Scum of the Earth after Milan Lucic’s name …

    • Good Morning Ed!

  6. The historical 57% is well above the projections for this year.

    Ray, your mock draft was 38%
    George, your mock draft was 45%

    The sporting news draft linked by George had the first CHL player picked at #7 and only 2 in the top 10.

    i’m assuming it’s for the reasons I mentioned above.

    • I checked this one as Bill posts on here sometimes and updates pretty regularly.
      CHL started playing some games so maybe they get exposed more and move up. Or could just be a down year.

      https://www.lines.com/nhl/drafts

    • Agree with habfan that the CHL % is likely down a bit due to fewer games played leading to more uncertainty. But I also believe that this is partially due to the programs in other countries continuing to improve youth development. We have seen more and more US and International players in the top of the draft.

      • SCJ,

        Last year’s draft which was after a full schedule for all three leagues in the CHL saw 19 of 31 1st round picks were from the CHL.

        QMJHL 5
        WHL 7
        OHL 7

        OHL hasn’t played this year
        WHL has played appr 10 games
        QMJHL played appr 70 games

        the mock draft of George:

        QMJHL 4
        WHL 4
        OHL 1

        You’re right that US and international programs are improving and an increasing number of 1st round picks are increasing.

        Point of interest, of the European League draft picks, 5 were on loan from OHL clubs and 1 USHL draft pick is on loan from the WHL

  7. Zachary LHeureux of the Halifax Mooseheads has alot of Brad Marchant’s attributes.

    He could be an interesting pick.

    Bruins heavily scout the Maritime provinces & the Q, so I would keep an eye on that pick.

    That said, as a Die Hard Habs fan, I certainly hope it doesn’t happen.

    • And two Zacharey’s back-to-back in that mock draft I posted above – both in the Q 🙂