NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – July 25, 2022
Patrik Laine is happy he’s staying with the Blue Jackets while the Canadiens’ Paul Byron assists in a plane crash rescue. Details and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH: Patrik Laine is happy to have a new contract with the Blue Jackets and excited about the club’s recent signing of winger Johnny Gaudreau.
Columbus Blue Jackets winger Patrik Laine (NHL Images).
Laine learned of the Gaudreau signing while negotiations were ongoing for his own contract. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited to play hockey and maybe be able to play with this kind of guy,” he said.
Regarding his own new contract, Laine said he enjoys playing in Columbus and is happy he’s staying put. “Personally, I don’t know why guys, big names, have left before,” he said. “For me, that was never in my head that I wanted to go somewhere else.” Laine went on to say Columbus feels like home and there was no place he’d rather play in the NHL.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Laine’s new four-year contract and Gaudreau’s seven-year deal with the Blue Jackets is changing the impression of Columbus as a city that NHL stars prefer to avoid or leave at the first opportunity. It could become a prime destination for future stars if Gaudreau and Laine can help to turn the Blue Jackets into a contender.
SPORTSNET: Montreal Canadiens forward Paul Byron was part of a group of people who rescued the pilot of a seaplane that crashed in Lac des Sables in the Laurentians on Sunday.
Byron downplayed his role, crediting Serge Labelle with rescuing the pilot, who was the only person on the plane. He also praised his father-in-law, brother-in-law and a friend who also assisted in the rescue.
TSN: The Seattle Kraken avoided salary arbitration with forward Morgan Geekie, signing him to a one-year, $1.4 million contract. Geekie, 24, had seven goals and 22 points in 73 games with the Kraken last season. He’s among the group of players selected by the Kraken in last summer’s expansion draft.
CBS SPORTS: Speaking of the Kraken, they signed Michal Kempny to a one-year, $750 contract. The 31-year-old defenseman spent over three seasons with the Washington Capitals, helping them win the Stanley Cup in 2018.
GOPHNX.COM‘s Craig Morgan reports former Arizona Coyotes winger Loui Eriksson hopes to continue his playing career. The 37-year-old is looking at opportunities in Sweden and Switzerland for 2022-23.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Eriksson’s NHL career appears to be over after 16 seasons. His most productive campaigns were with the Dallas Stars with three straight 70-plus point seasons from 2009-10 to 2011-12. He also had a 63-point season with the Boston Bruins in 2015-16.
I think that a large part of the negative view of Columbus comes from the fact that OSU football, even now, is seen as the most important sports team in Central Ohio. I’m not joking when I say that, when one of the local tv stations needs a ratings boost, they simply promote some story somehow connected to OSU football and, like Pavlov’s dogs, a percentage of the local populous will turn in.
But what helps to bring in guys like Laine and Gaudreau is that something like half of the people living in Columbus/Franklin County have, like me, relocated from elsewhere. Add in good schools, plenty of off season recreational choices and that Blue Jackets players are not mobbed when shopping (or whatever) -in fact, probably won’t be recognized – and Columbus is a good place to be a professional hockey player.
If Doug MacLean hadn’t so thoroughly screwed the pooch while he was GM, Columbus and the Jackets could have been an attractive destination for UFAs 15 or so years ago.
Paul re: ” I’m not joking when I say that, when one of the local tv stations needs a ratings boost, they simply promote some story somehow connected to OSU football and, like Pavlov’s dogs, a percentage of the local populous will turn in.”
Imagine what it would be like for any pro team located somewhere in Alabama! Never happen, of course, as even the State’s largest cities are villages.
florida in my opinion is also a football-centric state with 3 nfl teams, and univ. of florida, fsu and univ. of miami with huge fan bases. go to a panher game and who gets the biggest cheer???some dolphin player attending the game
Potential to be a great hockey town. I saw that first hand 15+ years ago. Shocked it’s taking so long
If you knew, fully, Jackets history you’d understand. The Jackets’ first GM, Doug MacLean ignored his scouts on draft picks, rushed “exceptional” picks to the NHL and ruined them, made idiotic trades and questionable head coach hires (including himself as head coach and GM for a time) and those were the highlights. By the time he was fired, he’d made many Columbus hockey fans long for the ECHL Columbus Chill. It’s taken this long – and two more general managers – to fix everything he screwed up.
To all intents and purposes, Eriksson’s NHL career was over after he left Boston after the 2015-16 season when he finished with 30g 33a 63 pts. To that point in his career, he had played 725 NHL games with Dallas and Boston, totally 212g 292a for an 82-game average of 24g 40a 64 pts and, overall, an aggregate +56. Not bad career stats and certainly worthy of his then $4,250,000 per cap hit.
So much so that Vancouver saw no problem in signing him to a 6-year $6 mil per cap hit. But then, over his final 325 games with Vancouver and Arizona, all he managed was 41g 68a 109 pts for an 82-game average of 10g 17a 27 pts and an aggregate -43.
Talk about falling off a cliff!
There seems to be a narrative out there that Americans or players don’t want to sign long term in Canada.
All these headlines after two players decided they no longer wanted to play in Calgary.
One funny note to that; it was reported Tkachuk was willing to sign in Ottawa.
I decided to check Canadian base teams for long term contracts or who signed long term. ie a couple only have 2yrs left Wheeler and Matthews.
I noted how many long term contracts and listed only American players who signed long term:
Calgary (3)
Blake Coleman (USA)
Edmonton (7)
Jack Campbell (USA)
Vancouver (7)
Brock Boeser (USA)
Conor Garland (USA)
Quinn Hughes (USA) Demko Thatcher (USA)
Tucker Poolman (USA)
Winnipeg (8)
Connor Hellebuyck (USA)
Neal Pionk (USA)
Kyle Connor (USA)
Blake Wheeler (USA)
Montreal (8)
Ottawa (6)
Brady Tkachuk (USA, CDN)
Drake Batherson (USA, CDN)
Joshua Norris
Toronto (5)
Auston Matthews (USA)
there could be errors or emissions. I did not include USA players with long term that were traded to a Canada based team ie Nate Schmidt or Christian Dvorak.
I don’t believe players are not interested in playing for a Canada based team.
I don’t know about the “Americans don’t want to play for Canadian teams” narrative. Certainly, some players do prefer certain US teams because of lower taxes. But I think the fact that the Saddledome is old and in need of refurbishment or replacement could have been a factor in Tkachuk’s and Gaudreau’s decision to leave.
You did include draftees of the teams that had to choose getting paid earlier vs risking short deals that until ufa.
Tha taxes thing is a misnomer, it’s easily gotten around by teams with money. In Canada you pay income tax on the salary but not hte bonus money…maybe it’s a lower rate on the bonus money but I think it’s actually untaxed. Austin Matthews salary for example is $k750k/year with $15M in bonuses for the first 2 years, etc. His salary is always league min, effectively lowering his taxes to a competitive level. I’m not saying I agree with this, I don’t, but it is the way it is.
Hi tb
Re “In Canada you pay income tax on the salary but not hte bonus money…”
for sure the whole kit and kaboodle (Sal & SB) is taxed in Ontario and at same rate
I can’t speak re other provinces ; but I would guess they were similar (taxed all )
The reason that Leafs throw heavy on the SB; and why it’s attractive to players…. It’s guaranteed regardless ; AND no escrow on it
Escrow in 21/22 was 17.2 %
Mathews got all of his $9.72 M in SB ; and almost 83% of his massive (LOL) $750 K Sal..,. so gross total of $10.34 M
Conversely Mac K …. was all Sal ($6.85M)…. so after escrow…. His gross was $5.67 M (a little more than 1/2 of AM’s)
Hi Pengy, as long as you’re ‘for sure’.’ But as a second opinion please read the following article by a tax attorney about US players playing in Canada, specifically Austin Matthews. They only pay the Ontario rate of tax while on Canadian soil (73% of the season) but for players residing in the states the signing bonus can only be taxed at a max of 15%. https://www.mondaq.com/canada/tax-authorities/779510/auston-matthews-shoots-and-scores-tax-savings
It has come to my attention that two individuals who regularly post comments have attempted to impersonate other regular posters in order to mock them.
One of them has also attempted to make up different screen names to pass themselves off as different people to make it appear as though they have supporters of their views.
That sort of behavior will not be tolerated.
I will be monitoring their posts to screen them for approval before allowing their publication. If this behavior continues, they will be permanently banned from posting here.
What sort of anal-retentive dweeb would do something like that? If they’re in that bad need of “approval” then they need to see a shrink!
Will we all have to make like Canada’s 2018 WJC players and put out statements denying that it was us? I agree that this should not be tolerated.
Have to admit that is a pretty weird thing to do.
While we all appreciate this site, some folks may need take it a little less seriously.
Any body post stupid stuff under my name? I wasn’t on here much over the weekend.
Aside from the Flames/Panthers trade, those were my stupid posts.
Yeah ray. Your weekend self on here was a real turd.
Tossed up a softball there didn’t I. Well done for taking a swing
Well, I think Lyle is referring to me as one of them. I jokingly used a teams GM name in response to a poster. Using my email address that is associated with this username.
It was a light hearted response to another user, it wasn’t trolling, offensive, abusive etc. it was a joke reply. As I said on the other thread, I wasn’t trying to use anyones name here. I used an NHL gms name.
And I certainly wasn’t using it to further validate any of my opinions. I simply don’t care enough that someone doesn’t agree with me. That’s kinda what these boards are all about no?
Again, I just hope things get monitored across the board a little more so than light humorous ones. I’ve seen a hell of a lot more mean spirited posts than someone jokingly responding as a gm. I mean obviously, a gm isn’t in here arguing with posters about decisions they make. If I were trying to really deceive anyone, I certainly wouldn’t be using my normal email address.
Also would like to see the constant personal jabs , off topic rants , copy and paste daily posts, name calling etc disappear!
My GM response never made it past “awaiting moderation”, but a lot of real bs does get through. Again, hopefully this also gets “monitored” going forward.
Maybe let’s leave the jokes up to Bill Burr or someone else that’s actually funny.
Or just say nothing at all? Maybe we should leave trade proposals, salary demands , term and team needs to gms? Since the ones here are funnier than anything I , other posters or a comedian could come up with?
It never even got posted, so you can’t really say if it was funny or not.
I appreciate the jokes on here Captain, though it can be difficult to get across tone in this forum. I prefer a deadpan approach, which I thinks gets missed, as I don’t do imoji’s and such, as if you have to tell folks it’s a joke, it isn’t as funny IMO.
It has come to my attention that two individuals who regularly post comments have attempted to impersonate other regular posters in order to mock them.
One of them has also attempted to make up different screen names to pass themselves off as different people to make it appear as though they have supporters of their views.
That sort of behavior will not be tolerated.
I will be monitoring their posts to screen them for approval before allowing their publication. If this behavior continues, they will be permanently banned from posting here.
Even Lyle gets hit with the occasional double post!
Just a reminder that players on Canadian teams are paid in American dollars but their in-season cost of living is in Canadian dollars. That is a bonus in itself.