NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – September 16, 2021
Carey Price provides an update on his recovery from knee surgery, the Coyotes and Hurricanes add to their respective management teams, the latest PTO signings and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines
MONTREAL GAZETTE: Carey Price said he has yet to skate since undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery on July 22. The 34-year-old Canadiens goaltender said he “feels pretty good” and is continuing his rehab to ensure he’s ready for the coming season.
Price’s original timeline for recovery was 10-12 weeks. It was expected he’d be ready for the start of the season on Oct. 13. “With any type of rehabilitation, you’re never quite sure how long it’s going to take,” he said. The Habs star indicated he could be skating soon but wants to be sure he’s ready.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: As always, the Canadiens’ playoff hopes rest with Price. They’ll ensure he takes all the time he needs to be fully recovered and ready to go for this season. Fortunately, they’ve got a capable backup in Jake Allen to carry the load in the early going until Price’s return.
Speaking of the Canadiens, the club yesterday announced it is launching a Respect and Consent Action Plan aimed at raising awareness with its employees and the public of the consequences of sexual cyberviolence. This comes in the wake of the backlash the club faced for selecting prospect Logan Mailloux in the first round of this year’s draft. Mailloux was fined by Swedish authorities in December after admitting to charges related to sharing a photo engaged in a sexual act with him without her consent while playing in Sweden last season.
Genevieve Paquette, the Canadiens’ vice-president of community engagement and the club’s foundation general manager, said Mailloux is learning and receiving therapy from the team in a “very serious and engaged way.” A member of the London Knights, he is currently suspended by the OHL but can apply for reinstatement on Jan. 1. He was not invited to the Canadiens’ rookie camp.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: As Sportsnet’s Eric Engels observed, this is a positive step forward for the Canadiens as they continue to do damage control following the selection of the Mailloux. The club is also continuing to work with the 18-year-old defenseman to assist in his development. Paquette and the Habs director of player development Rob Ramage expressed confidence he’s on the right path toward what Ramage called “his journey of education and awareness” stemming from the incident in Sweden.
ARIZONA SPORTS: The Coyotes named John Ferguson Jr as their assistant general manager and GM of their AHL affiliate in Tucson. He spent the past seven seasons with the Boston Bruins as their Executive Director of Player Personnel and as GM of their AHL affiliate in Providence.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Ferguson Jr tends to get some flak from critics over his difficult tenure as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2003-04 to 2007-08. By all accounts, however, he did a good job with the Bruins and as a pro scout before that for several years with the San Jose Sharks. He should be a good hire for the rebuilding Coyotes.
THE NEWS & OBSERVER: The Carolina Hurricanes hired Michael Futa as a senior consultant to general manager Don Waddell. Futa was previously in the Los Angeles Kings organization from 2007 to 2020, including a stint as their assistant GM. He played a key role in building that club into a two-time (2012, 2014) Stanley Cup champion.
TSN: The Edmonton Oilers signed winger Colton Sceviour to a professional tryout off.
YARDBARKER: Winger Tobias Rieder got a PTO with the Anaheim Ducks.
CAP FRIENDLY: Left wing Scott Wilson signed a PTO with the Seattle Kraken.
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: The Vegas Golden Knights signed defenseman Dylan Coghlan to a two-year contract. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
TSN: The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) rejected a request from an advocacy think tank to suspend Stan Bowman from his role as general manager of the U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team while he faces allegations of helping to cover up the sexual abuse of two Chicago Blackhawks players over a decade ago.
Believe the 2022 NHL Draft will likely take place the second week of July. Think league is looking at having day 1 on Thursday which would be July 7.
— Corey Pronman (@coreypronman) September 14, 2021
Not part of the topics, but this article in the Ottawa Sun on the curtain call for the 60 year-old Bob Guertin Arena across the Ottawa River in Gatineau, Quebec (then Hull, Quebec) is hockey-related. A lot of great names honed their skills there, including some top coaches. Most memorable for me was the 1958 Memorial Cup divided between “The Bob” and the old Ottawa Auditoreum between the Regina Pats and Hull-Ottawa Jr. Canadiens – BOTH Montreal farm teams at that time.
One of the many times I saw the great Louis Armstrong was at The Bob – with a raging thunderstorm outside. At one point a bolt of lightning hit the roof, flashed across the inside top of the arena … and the lights went out. After a brief moment of dead silence the gravelly voice of Armstrong was heard saying “lights … lights … who took the lights … no worry, folks, we’ll just sing and play a lot louder.” And they did for about 15 minutes before the power came back.
Great memories of that old barn.
https://ottawasun.com/sports/hockey/goodbye-to-the-bob-venerable-robert-guertin-arena-will-play-host-to-one-final-exhibition-game-saturday
Canes…. great pick up of Futa
Yotes….I’m not huge on JFJ… but that’s a bitter Leafs’ fan’s sour grapes… TBD for Yotes
Coughlan and Knights…. What took so long??
Bowman and request to oust him…. this is a tenuous and awful situation… innocent until proven guilty…. horrific claims….but the public support of his innocence seems to be waning …. so PR nightmare
Bowman personally deciding to step down would then be interpreted as publicly admitting guilt…. Not an option
I find it hard to believe that a conclusive/definitive (either way) investigative report will be issued in the next 3 months; and any potential court case will be farther outside that window
Not good no matter how you view it
George, I was only ever in the Bob once. To see one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen.
And a great opener. The Doughboys opened for some band who I won’t mention because they’re quite popular and heaven forbid they have a dreadful show.
The building itself was pretty interesting.
The place certainly had “character.”
When Gretzsky became part owner with Charlie Henry of the major junior team he loved the black-and-white uniforms so much (which itself went way back to the old Hull Volants) that he convinced the owner of the L.A. Kings to change their team colours to b&w.
It was an intimidating arena when packed to most visiting players and only those with balls of brass were not intimidated.
Let me guess….Pearl Jam?
The Bruins won the Arizona signing of John Ferguson.
Stan Bowman shows it’s OK to abuse young man and no consequence
Montreal continues to pay the price of Drafting Mailloux who wrongfully shared a picture of consensual sex, without permission.
Three hot takes.
Absolutely
Heard this yesterday Re: Mailloux from Gord Miller on overdrive: He did not just share pics of the act, but screen shots of her Facebook page clearly identifying who she is/was.
What alsi got me about the segment: The two hosts vasked when the ‘punishment’ would be enough. Fair question. The answer is vwhen the victim buys that he has changed/grown enough, not when some outside the situation men decide Mailloux has grown enough
Carey Price happened to be on the ice today skating and doing side to side crease drills.
He was on his own during Development camp.
Devo was there too.
Intrepid reporter Stu Cowan is still on Logan Mailloux
Yes, and?