NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – May 10, 2021
The Flames stay alive in the North Division playoff chase, John Tortorella parts ways with the Blue Jackets, Rick Tocchet leaves the Coyotes, plus the latest suspensions and fines in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.
NHL.COM: The Calgary Flames kept their playoff hopes alive by thumping the Ottawa Senators 6-1. Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk each had a goal and two assists as the Flames (49 points) moved to within eight points of the fourth-place Montreal Canadiens in the Scotia North Division.
Calgary Flames winger Johnny Gaudreau (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Calgary holds two games in hand over Montreal, who have two games remaining in their schedule. However, the Canadiens need just one point to clinch.
A two-goal performance by Alex DeBrincat gave the Chicago Blackhawks a 4-2 win over the Dallas Stars. DeBrincat has 31 goals and 54 points in 51 games.
TSN: Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen released a statement yesterday indicating John Tortorella won’t be returning as head coach. The decision was a mutual one. Tortorella’s contract expires after this season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline leaked this story yesterday hours before Kekalainen made it official. Tortorella departs the Jackets as the most successful coach in franchise history, winning the second of his Jack Adams Awards for his efforts in turning the Jackets into a playoff club in 2016-17. They reached the playoffs four times during his six seasons behind their bench, winning their first-ever playoff series in 2019. I’ll have more about the Jackets in the Rumors section.
ARIZONA SPORTS: The Coyotes and Rick Tocchet mutually agreed to part ways. Tocchet was their head coach for four seasons, during which the club underwent a change of ownership in 2019 and a change in management last when GM John Chayka suddenly departed on the eve of the postseason. His contract was expiring after this season. The Coyotes reached the playoffs last season, upsetting the Nashville Predators in the qualifying round before falling in the first round to the Colorado Avalanche.
SPORTSNET: Tampa Bay Lightning forward Pat Maroon received a one-game suspension for unsportsmanlike conduct during Saturday’s game against the Florida Panthers. Brandon Montour of the Panthers was fined $5,000.00 for spearing Maroon while teammate MacKenzie Weegar was fined $5,000.00 for high-sticking Maroon’s teammate Mathieu Joseph.
The NHL’s department of player safety fined Montreal Canadiens defenseman Joel Edmundson $1,000.00 for a dangerous trip on Toronto Maple Leafs center John Tavares on Saturday.
There was a healthy combination of desperation and revenge in that 6-1 Calgary shellacking of Ottawa last night. Combined with Ottawa having played in Winnipeg the night before, you could just sense the type of game that unfolded right from the opening whistle.
As a lifelong Bruins fan, I’m no fan of Tampa Bay or Pat Maroon.
What I don’t understand is how Maroon was suspended a game for what happened on Saturday if Tom Wilson did not receive a suspension last week OR back in March.
This was Wilson in March doing pretty much exactly what Maroon did on Saturday….except that Maroon was attempting to defend a teammate not just upset that he was losing a game.
https://sports.yahoo.com/capitals-tom-wilson-freaks-out-at-rangers-bench-after-empty-netter-seals-loss-042632276.html
Hi DM
Parros has repeatedly been extremely light on punishment (oft none) on Wilson
This in turn, effectively gives Wilson the green light… and he knows it
I’m actually hoping for a minor Wilsonesque event with no injury… where Parros (now with the public backlash) will be forced to suspend Wilson for the balance of year and playoffs
Notice the uptick in fines and suspensions since the non-suspension of Wilson… Parros handing out more heavily now
The above scenario far better than what might happen…. Wilson ends somebody’s career (or…. worse) 😡💩🤬
Pengy is spot on regarding the bromance between the very incompetent Parros and the truly unrestrained pyscho bully Wilson.
The odd man out is Bettman. Does he not see or care about player safety? Maybe he feels that going back to Blood hockey improves his ratings? I just don’t get it.
Seeing as Washington only has one game left this season and it’s against my Bruins, I’ll second the “no injury” sentiment.
I’m sure Frederic, Marchand and maybe a few others will be trying to goad Wilson into doing something stupid. In all likelihood Boston-Washington is a first round matchup and I’m sure the Bruins would be fine with Wilson suspended for a few of those…at this point though it’s hard to know what it would take to warrant a suspension or not.
A suspension in the NHL – becoming a rare species these days. Players must feel really safe.
FINALLY! Finally the obnoxious, arrogant and condescending tortorella is GONE! (How happy do you think Laine is today?) And finally, really good players won’t be looking forward to using the EXIT door. The future looks much brighter for the Blue Jackets and they may get the 1st overall pick after the last season for tortorella and his 18-26-12 record. (It’s a shame they didn’t teminate him last year BEFORE Pierre-Luc Dubois left.)
Oh, and once Kekalainen decided tortorella was done, they don’t need a “mutual agreement.” The coach is at the end of his contract and Kekalainen determined IT’S OVER so they don’t need tortorella’s permission to show tortorella the EXIT door.
Columbus needs a different type of coach.
I said it before and i’ll say it again, a long forgot but excellent coach who has been banned from the league, who would be a good coach is Ted Nolan.
Re Jarmo/Torts and “ The decision was a mutual one.”
Jarmo agreed not to “fire” (announce that he won’t be bringing him back) as long as Torts agreed not to pull a tantrum
Retire Torts… your days as an effective coach are gone
This move should increase player retention rates in Clb
That remains to be seen. As for Tortorelli, apparently there has already been more than a couple of feelers from other teams according to Tim Micaleff about an hour ago on his show
Wow, that was some kind of egregious trip Edmondsun put on captain pajamas.
Tavares hits and gets hit, he’s liberal with his slashing and using his stick to pull players skates out…..he eats a lot of cross checks and gets slammed into the boards.
Have to wonder how DOPS finds a play nobody noticed or squawked about.
HabFan30,
I noticed and about 5 million of Leafs Nation as well. You better hope the league doesn’t outlaw cross-checking or 2/3 of the Habs defense will be rendered useless.
Wawman93,
Every defense in the league does that and TML are as guilty as any, Muzzin, Holl, Brodie cross-check liberally during the play and frequently after the whistle.
The difference is that Perry, Gallagher, Suzuki and Anderson and TML players don’t complain about it.
Fans throughout the league know it, only ” Leafs Nation” whines.