NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – January 13, 2022
A five-point night for Joe Pavelski, a new investigation could halt Evander Kane’s efforts to land a new contract, Tuukka Rask set to return today, the mid-season scouting rankings are released, and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: Joe Pavelski had a had in every one of the Dallas Stars goals in a 5-2 victory over the Seattle Kraken, handing the latter their seventh straight loss. Pavelski scored twice and set up three others while teammate Roope Hintz had a goal and two assists. With 38 points, the Stars sit three back of the San Jose Sharks for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Boston Bruins winger Brad Marchand tallied a hat trick in a 5-1 drubbing of the Montreal Canadiens. Marchand has tallied eight goals in his last four games as the Bruins have won six of their last seven contests. Montreal goaltender Jake Allen left the game in the first period with a lower-body injury. The loss drops the Canadiens into last place in the overall standing while the Bruins (42 points) opened a five-point lead over the Detroit Red Wings for the final wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference.
The Arizona Coyotes moved into second-last in the overall standings by upsetting the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1. Ryan Dzingel snapped a 1-1 tie while Coyotes goalie Karel Vejmelka made 45 saves for the win. Leafs center Auston Matthews set a franchise record by scoring in nine consecutive road games.
HEADLINES
SPORTSNET: Elliotte Friedman reports the NHL has opened an investigation into how Evander Kane crossed the border from the United States into Canada on Dec. 29. Kane had tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 21 and was still under the AHL’s 10-day COVID protocol when he crossed the border. It was one of the factors that prompted the San Jose Sharks to place the 30-year-old winger on unconditional waivers and terminate his contract last Sunday.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Friedman said this will likely prevent Kane from landing a new NHL contract as teams await the results of the league’s findings. Some teams are willing to ignore the winger’s apparent disregard for league rules (including a 21-game suspension for using a fake COVID passport last fall) and other well-documented issues because they feel they can get a productive player on an affordable, prorated one-year contract.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Oilers captain Connor McDavid said he wouldn’t be opposed to Kane joining his club. The Oilers are believed among a handful of clubs in the running to sign the troublesome winner.
TSN: Tuukka Rask is expected to make his season debut tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers. The 34-year-old goaltender signed a one-year contract with the Boston Bruins earlier this week.
COLORADO HOCKEY NOW: Adrian Dater reports recurring concussion symptoms are behind Bowen Byram’s departure from the Avalanche for personal reasons. His father said his son told him he can’t continue playing feeling the way he does. The 20-year-old defenseman has already suffered three concussions in his young NHL career. There’s no word when he’ll return to the lineup.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Here’s hoping Byram can find the treatment he needs to regain his health and hopefully return to the Avalanche. It would be a shame for his promising career to come to a premature end.
SPORTSNET: Dallas Stars winger Alexander Radulov and Edmonton Oilers forward Kyle Turris are among the noteworthy players added to the NHL’s COVID protocol list.
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS: The Stars recalled goaltender Anton Khudobin with Braden Holtby recently being added to COVID protocol.
ESPN.COM: The Buffalo Sabres signed minor-league goaltender Michael Hauser to a one-year, $750K contract and recalled Aaron Dell from the minors to shore up their injury-depleted goaltending. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Michael Subban were recently sidelined while Craig Anderson remains out indefinitely with an upper-body injury while Dustin Tokarski is still recovering from COVID-19.
TSN: The Canadiens yesterday claimed Rem Pitlick off waivers from the Minnesota Wild.
NHL.COM: Kingston Frontenacs center Shane Wright tops Central Scouting’s mid-term ranking of the top North American skaters. Winger Joakim Kemell of JYP in Liiga (Finland’s top professional league) is the leader among International skaters.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Wright is expected to be the top prospect in the 2022 NHL Draft in Montreal with the first round on July 7. The young center had a slow start to this season but his production has picked up with four multi-point games in his last five contests. TSN’s Craig Button has compared his style of play to that of Boston Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron.
SPORTSNET: Two former NHL off-ice officials have filed a lawsuit against the league alleging they were fired for “pretextual reasons” after calling out two former supervisors for racist behavior.
Wonder what number Shane Wright will wear on those Canadiens silks?
Basically, that, along with who will go and what will we get at the deadline, are the only questions worth considering for the Habs right now.
Wonder if anyone cares?
Oh we care Ed!
Morning, Ed. Why don’t you dazzle us with one of your Leturnover zingers? It’s been a while.
SOP: last year the worst team had an 18.5% chance of winning first pick, meaning the Habs have an 81.5% chance of not winning it. Kind of like their odds of winning on any given night.
Two words… Holy Vejmelka !!!
I’d never seen him play before…. That was quite a performance… and only a bullet screened wrister (AM) gets behind him… wow
Bruins on the March(and) … sorry had to. Leafs better look out. 7 points separate then, Bruins have two games in hand; plus 2 more H2H… Bruins win the two games in hand (count that as any two games in the future ) and in reg in their H2Hs with Leafs… puts Bruins in top 3 and Leafs in WC spot
East 8 playoff teams basically (unless there is something catastrophic happening to one or more of current top 8) set already
I have a pretty strong feeling that the Florida duo will end up 1-2 in ATL; Bruins/Leafs could flip-flop. In Metro, other than having strong confidence that Canes finish in top 3 …. Caps, Rangers, Pens could finish anywhere from 1st Metro to 2nd EWC spot
West…. Really only Hawks, Krakken , ‘Yotes are out
This will be a very interesting time-frame approaching TDL
Re Kane… if the investigation by NHL turns up negative (sorry had to use the metaphor)… won’t that seriously put the Arb hearing strongly in Kane’s favour??
Despite being built according to the same format as the Golden Knights, the Kraken haven’t had nearly as successful an inaugural season. Good time for Spector to write an analysis of the differences that made the difference?
IMO it came down to three reasons.
1. NHL GMs took the expansion draft more seriously in 2021 than they did in 2017 and the Kraken wasn’t able to work it to their advantage as the Golden Knights did by landing core players like Shea Theodore, Alex Tuch, Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith.
2. The Golden Knights got a proven winner between the pipes in Marc-Andre Fleury, who was motivated to show the world that he wasn’t washed up as everyone believed. The Kraken got a good goalie in Grubauer but he’s not on the same level as Fleury.
3. The Golden Knights had Gerard Gallant behind the bench. The Kraken don’t.
Connor McDavid being blasted by media and social media for his response about Kane potentially joining the team.
Give me a break!!! some of the idiotic comments “he cares more about winning then the off ice stuff.”
“Connor showing his true colors”
“McDavid doesn’t care about the culture of the dressing room.”
those comments are from verified media members.
I’ll sum my point up; Connor McDavid wants to win and he wants to win now.
Connor McDavid is the culture of the Edmonton Oilers dressing room.
Evander Kane is a really good hockey player
You don’t have to like him or his choices
There is an investigation happening and if Kane is cleared and not suspended; he knows McDavid is ok with him joining his team.
No Kane doesn’t solve the goaltending issue for the Oilers, but will add a top 6 forward.
The power the media thinks it has these days is sickening; report the stories try not being the story.
I haven’t read the comments, Caper, but I get the gist.
The internet mob is indeed an ugly and self righteous bunch. But Holland has decided he wants to give Kane a chance. Bizarre as that is to me, I suspect he is desperate to win.
As captain, McDavid can hardly throw Holland under the bus. What he really feels is unlikely to come out.
As for me, you note as a forward Kane won’t solve the Oilers’ problems. As he is not a solution it makes me wonder all the more why they would bring him in and take the chance he could make things worse.
Holland approached McDavid about Kane for obvious reasons. McDavid appreciated that by his GM.
I don’t think McDavid, Holland or Tippett give a crap what is said on Twitter or whatever. Nor should they.
Nor do I. I have zero SM apps. Never have.
What’s going on with Seguin 13 points and 10 million dollar contract I haven’t seen many Dallas games but something is not right.
Obe, he had hip surgery and missed most of last year. Seems his body may not be able to do what the brain wants it to do.
Hip surgery is what Seabrook had before he retired, so maybe not that easy to come back from.