NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – July 29, 2022
The Sharks will retire Patrick Marleau’s number, an update on Kirill Kaprizov and Jake Gardiner is ready to return to action after injuries sidelined him last season. Details and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
SAN JOSE HOCKEY NOW: Patrick Marleau will become the first player in San Jose Sharks history to have his number retire. His No. 12 will be raised to the rafters of the SAP Center in San Jose in a ceremony before the Sharks’ game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Feb. 25, 2023.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: A well-deserved honor for Marleau. Selected second-overall by the Sharks in the 1997 NHL Draft, he holds the franchise records with 1,607 games played, 522 goals and 1,111 points during his 21 years with the club. He also holds the NHL record for most career games with 1,779.
THE ATHLETIC’s Michael Russo reports via Twitter that Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin remains confident that Kirill Kaprizov will return with the club before the coming season. He indicated it’s a delicate situation and he’d rather not comment on it.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Reports earlier this month claimed Kaprizov was under investigation in his native Russia over accusations that he purchased a fake military ID several years ago.
NHL.COM: Jake Gardiner is ready to return to action after missing all of last season recovering from hip and back surgeries. The 32-year-old defenseman has one year remaining on his contract. Hurricanes GM Don Waddell expects Gardiner will report to training camp in September.
NEW YORK POST: The Rangers signed winger Kaapo Kakko to a two-year, $4.2 million contract.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Some Rangers followers were worried that Kakko might receive an offer sheet from a rival club that the cap-strapped Blueshirts couldn’t match. That he didn’t suggest the 21-year winger wasn’t interested in offers from other clubs or perhaps they didn’t think he was worth it.
OTTAWA SUN: The Senators avoided salary arbitration with Mathieu Joseph, signing the forward to a four-year, $11.8 million contract.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Senators have $75.6 million invested in their salary-cap payroll for 2022-23 with winger Alex Formenton and defenseman Erik Brannstrom to sign.
MONTREAL GAZETTE: The Canadiens hired Stephane Robidas as an assistant coach.
NYI HOCKEY NOW: John MacLean is joining the New York Islanders as an assistant coach.
DAILY FACEOFF: Adidas will not return as the NHL’s jersey manufacturer after 2023-24.
With the Joseph signing, the Senators now have $7,940,119 left with which to sign 4 to reach 23. Formenton and Brannstrom, when finalized, will eat up probably $5 mil of that (combined), leaving just under $3 mil, probably for 2 ELCs – unless Dorion still has a deal brewing for a RD, in which case one (or more?) of those signed contracts could be part of a package,
And hey, good to see Gilligan …. err, Robidas …. finally made it off that island.
Ya. Yes. Robidas island where leaf’s go to get out from contracts. Almost forgot about that place lol
Thankfully no other teams use that despicable tactic.
Hey the leafs were like the hipsters of cheating. They did it before it was cool.
When was being a hipster ever cool?
I was in the Portland airport once, kept asking what a hipster actually was and if they could point one out, no success.
Maybe it was my approach.
How did the hipster burn their mouth?
I dunno?
Because he drank his coffee and ate his pizza before it was considered “cool” to do so
Haha! That was a great exchange. Made my day.
This is great, I finally understand the whole hipster thing. Thanks Chrisms and George.
Who new that Spector’s Hockey could be so informative!
Georgey beat me to my own punchline. Or close to it.
George good call on the remaining cap space.
What are your thoughts on the Joseph signing ? I like the AAV and term I beleive he will turn out to be a versitile player for Ottawa, similar to Paul he can play up and down the lineup.
George, any thoughts on acquiring a better RD in Sens land? How about Girard (he plays both sides), Dumba, Suban??, Theadore (he plays both sides), Weegar or Kylington.
Fergy22 – I like the Joseph acquisition, first and foremost – according to what the media reported, Dorion and his scouting staff (Mann et al) said that, as soon as Tampa revised their offer for Paul by switching to Joseph, the deal went forward. I think he’s more versatile AND much faster than Paul, although it might take a full season or two to develop Paul’s on-ice smarts. Good contract.
Johnny Z – IF Sakic could be persuaded to part with Girard he’d be the perfect RD to play alongside Chabot. Theodore, next best. But I seriously doubt either Colorado or Vegas will part with them. Not sold on Dumba – Weegar was the first hope until the Tkachuk trade – although Calgary does have a s*&t-load of D so you never know. Had never really thought about Kylington as an option – but again, it’s doubtful they part with him.
Subban? NOOOOOOO. They’re looking for a long-term acquisition there – he might have 1 good year left in him, but his personality would be over-powering on a young impressionable bunch in Ottawa.
Todays forecast,”Partly cloudy no noticeable Sweeney formations”.
I have to hand it to you Rick, it can’t be easy to try and find creative ways to say the exact same thing.
Every.
Single.
Day.
Must take you a good 2 minutes every morning.
Ray, I’m pretty sure someone else creates “his” stuff. To come up with repetitive, meaningless crap takes more talent than RWM surely has.
Maybe Lyle can just sell Rick a subscription to post his comments about Sweeney and Neely every day so he has more time to drink coffee
RWM….keep playing that fiddle someone will dance they always do ….LOL
Doesn’t seem to change whether someone responds or not Joe. Days go by where no one comments, I have personally gone weeks without paying any attention to it. So turns out it is meaningless on how busy the dance floor is. The band plays on.
The consistency and dedication to it is kind of amazing. Strange, but impressive none the less.
Might as well have some fun with it once and a while.
Consistent… and I look forward to it daily
Quite surprised by the Robidas signing. I figured the Habs would go for someone with NHL coaching experience. I still think they should hire a associate coach with head coaching experience, but I doubt they will.
It’s obvious that the new management team is determined to bring about change from the same old same old. And that’s mostly a good thing. One thing that’ll help is Robidas’ strong background in player development.
I saw where one observer wrote that a good attribute in a coach is someone who used his playing talents to the best of his ability. The Habs coaching staff features a head coach and an assistant coach who were never drafted and two assistants who were 7th round choices. And yet, they played a combined 3,600 games in the NHL. They are certainly guys who know how to get the most out of their abilities.
Same old, same old, Howard? What other NHL team has taken this approach? IMO, risky. Most coaches serve some sort of apprenticeship before getting behind an NHL bench.
George, one of us just might get a call from the Habs GM as, I believe, neither of us has coached at the pro level.
Hell, I was in the hospital. Maybe I will be the team doctor?
I chipped my tooth so I can be team dentist!
I have a strong feeling that Dorion is working on a trade of some sort to get that desired defenseman. My pipe dream is that it will somehow send Zaitsev out. Dorion seems to have a decent amount of patience lately, so I believe he is waiting for a team over the cap or under the cap to finally be desperate to make a move.
Agree, theSaint, and said things along the same lines in the other thread. With the right added ingredients in terms of picks/prospects and even someone like Brannstrom added, I bet Arizona might consider Zaitsev in such a package for Chychrun – that way , with the cap hits very close, they don’t fall too far back of the cap floor while they re-up their remaining RFAs
Robidas is a good move because the only risk next year is messing up the development of a new crop of young d-men. They already have good veteran leadership on the blueline, so having a player development savvy coach is possibly brilliant.
Robidas finally got off the LTIR after a decade out on that island.