NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – June 30, 2021
Connor McDavid wins both MVP awards as the remainder of the major individual player awards are announced, the First and Second Team All-Stars revealed, and much more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.
NHL.COM: Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player and the Ted Lindsay Award as league MVP as voted by the NHLPA membership. It’s the second time he’s won the Hart and the third time he’s taken home the Lindsay Award.
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid (NHL Images).
McDavid became just the second player in NHL history to receive 100 percent of the first-place votes for the Hart. The last player to do so was Wayne Gretzky in 1981-82.
New York Rangers defenseman Adam Fox won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the league’s top blueliner. He’s the first Ranger to do so since Brian Leetch in 1996-97.
Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury took home his first Vezina Trophy as the league’s top netminder. He’s the first goalie in Golden Knights history to win the Vezina.
Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov won the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year. He’s the first player in Wild history to win this award.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Congratulations to all the winners for their well-deserved honors during an unusual season.
The NHL’s First All-Star Team for 2020-21 includes Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, defensemen Adam Fox of the Rangers and Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche, Oilers center Connor McDavid, Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Mitch Marner and Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand.
The Second All-Star Team features Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, defensemen Victor Hedman of the Lightning and Dougie Hamilton of the Carolina Hurricanes, Leafs center Auston Matthews, Colorado Avalanche right wing Mikko Rantanen and Florida Panthers left wing Jonathan Huberdeau.
The NHL’s All-Rookie Team for 2020-21 features Hurricanes netminder Alex Nedeljkovic, defensemen K’Andre Miller of the Rangers and Ty Smith of the New Jersey Devils, and forwards Kirill Kaprizov of the Wild, Josh Norris of the Ottawa Senators and Jason Robertson of the Dallas Stars.
TSN: Montreal Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber was fined $5,000.00 for slashing Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov during Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.
MONTREAL GAZETTE: The Canadiens are asking the Quebec government to allow 50 percent capacity (10,500 fans) for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Friday.
NHL.COM: Lightning winger Alex Killorn is questionable for Game 2 tonight after leaving Game 1 in the third period with a suspected leg injury.
WGR 550: The Buffalo Sabres have named Don Granato as their head coach, signing him to a three-year contract. Granato took over on an interim basis midway through this season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Sabres showed obvious improvement after Granato replaced Ralph Krueger. It’ll be interesting to see how the players respond to his coaching over the course of a full 82-game schedule. This club’s constant changes behind the bench in recent years have contributed to their ongoing mediocrity.
FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW: The Panthers have hired former NHL player Tuomo Ruutu as an assistant coach. Ruutu spent the past two seasons with the New York Rangers and was their assistant director of player development last season.
THE ATHLETIC: The Columbus Blue Jackets will hire Sylvain Lefebvre as an assistant coach. He’s spent the past nine seasons coaching in the AHL.
ARIZONA SPORTS: The Coyotes have reportedly done extensive vetting of Ottawa 67s head coach Andre Tourigny. They’re seeking a new bench boss after parting ways with Rick Tocchet last month.
TORONTO SUN: The Maple Leafs signed winger Wayne Simmonds to a two-year contract extension with an annual average value of $900K.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: A two-year deal seems a little long for a player who didn’t have as big an impact as hoped when he joined the Leafs this season. Part of the reason was a broken wrist he suffered in February. If Simmonds doesn’t work out they can bury the full value of his contract in the minors.
THE DENVER POST: The Colorado Avalanche re-signed goaltender Jonas Johansson to a one-year, two-way contract worth $750K at the NHL level.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Avalanche backup Pavel Francouz is under contract for next season with a $2 million cap hit. He missed the entire season with to a lower-body injury that required surgery in April. Francouz is expected to be healthy for next season but Johansson will be insurance should he become sidelined again.
TORONTO STAR: TSN’s Ray Ferraro and Sportsnet’s Cassie Campbell-Pascall have joined ESPN’s NHL broadcasting team. Both will continue at their current networks while doing their new ESPN gigs.
THE PROVINCE: The Vancouver Canucks have officially announced their AHL affiliation deal with Abbotsford, BC. The new deal is for five years with options for renewal that could run as long as 20 years.
PORTLAND PRESS-HERALD: The Maine Mariners are expected to announce today that they will become the ECHL affiliate of the Boston Bruins.
To add to your last thought there. Maine was Rangers affiliate last season. Jacksonville Icemen now become their ECHL team.
Nothing about a blackhawk or patrick kane being an mvp? There’s always something written about a blackhawk or kane even though they finished in 6th place (out of 8 teams) in the Central Division.
Chicago fans are NOT going to be happy (even though they will be lucky to finish 6th again next season).
Just out of curiosity, have we ever had a Chicago fan in here as a regular contributor?
Despite playing on a mediocre to just plain bad team Kane is one of the better players in the league. I don’t have any issue with reading a snippet about him here or there. Why so sensitive about Blackhawks? By the way, I am not a Blackhawks fan.
Pleasantly surprised Ranger fan and happy for Fox. If you do not watch him you would would not know how good his 200ft game is.
I do think Makar would of won if he didnt miss 10 games of the shortened season
No Vezina consideration for Adam Fox?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BvhgXVMCGo8
Awesome clip!
Wow!
I only hear about this kid, haven’t watched too much of him though.
That clip and his Norris just sold me! It’s gonna be rough cheering against him now! Ha!
Sylvain Lefebre was widely considered to be a failure in the Habs organization as far as development.
His coaching in the AHL didn’t produce any draft picks rising to the NHL and that has changed with his replacement Jacques Bouchard.
On a totally selfish note I hope the Coyotes don’t hire Andre Tourigny as I’d love to see him in theHabs organization.
DOPS never fails to surprise, a fine to Weber yet ignoring Sergachev (6’3 215lb.) stepping in and bearhug takedown of Gallagher(5’9 183 lb.), shoving his helmetless head to the ice and bloodying him.
I don’t mind the non-call on Sergachev but certainly that was the more dangerous play.
Slashing and cross checking could be called on any of top 4 on both sides of the ice on every shift, call it or let them go, I’m fine either way.
Habfan30
On the Gallagher play they called Coleman for some weird reason and the Habs got a power play. On the Weber slash there was no call. Not sure where the inequity to Montreal was. Please help me understand…
Wawman93
Did I say there was an “inequity to Montreal” on the ice?
Did I not say I was fine with the non-call on Sergachev ?
My complaint is the DOPS acting on a non-call that happens multiple times a game while ignoring an egregious mugging…….if they feel the need to call “something”
My personal opinion, with no facts to back it, is that the refs were embarrassed by Kucherov’s dive and the penalty they gave Chiarot, so they ignored the slash and Kucherov subsequent writhing.
Bettman says the NHL has the best officials in the entire sports world. Just the usual fans complaining. Nothing to see here…
Habfan30
My point is that they didn’t ignore What happened to Gallagher but called the penalty on Coleman instead (HNIC made comment of this fact).
The officials did ignore the Weber slash though. And I assume you play hockey so you would know that there is little protection in the calf/back of the knee where Weber slashed him. He may have dived, but he didn’t see it coming and having been slashed there myself I know it’s a pretty painful place to be hit.
So if I read your desire for better officiating correctly, Sergachev should have been called in lieu of Coleman and Weber should also have been called for the slash? Or you are fine with nothing being called as long as it’s consistent?
And my original point still stands, as a Habs fan you are complaining about a situation where Montreal clearly came out ahead.
As for what the refs think, your guess is as good as mine, though I do believe big angry physical defensemen who the refs like (Chara, Weber et al) get favourable treatment more than others.
And I’m not sure why size of the players matter. Is there a guideline in player safety based on weight and height? And as for the mugging, it’s not like Montreal’s big four don’t do there fair share of face washing, cross checking and punching when opposing players get within 5 feet of Price. And they do it to the little players too.
You aren’t surprised, though. I can’t think of another pro sports commissioner that is more dismissive and arrogant than Bettman. I predicted he would shrug it off, but that is like predicting the sun was up yesterday.
Wawman93,
“So if I read your desire for better officiating correctly, Sergachev should have been called in lieu of Coleman and Weber should also have been called for the slash? Or you are fine with nothing being called as long as it’s consistent?”
My initial post, and I keep repeating it is about the DOPS not the refs.
The DOPS makes its call whether the refs penalize or not so it just isn’t relevant though you keep harping on it.
My point is that if the DOPS felt a need to opine about something in the game it should be over a player without a helmet getting knocked to the ice, cut in a few places and bleeding not a slash.
I happen to think the refs did a decent job, called it evenly, missed some evenly and had no impact on the game.
DOPS has become a joke this post season.
Agreed! the DOPS is been a horrible group for the entire year! Zero concern for the players.
Bettman continues to coddle Parros and his crew.
Come playoff time , it’s hunger game time.
This BS must stop.
Man. Anybody still can honk maf isn’t a 1st ballot hofer?
Nope. He’s terrific. Always has been.
“ He’s the first goalie in Golden Knights history to win the Vezina.”
…all 4 years of it?
Ha that’s one storied franchise!