NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – August 10, 2022

by | Aug 10, 2022 | News, NHL | 19 comments

Surgery will sideline Max Pacioretty for six months, the Hurricanes re-sign Martin Necas, plus the latest on David Krejci, Jacob Trouba and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.

THE NEWS & OBSERVER: Max Pacioretty’s debut will the Carolina Hurricanes will be delayed as the 33-year-old winger will undergo surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon. He’s expected to be sidelined for six months. The Hurricanes acquired Pacioretty last month from the Vegas Golden Knights.

Carolina Hurricanes winger Max Pacioretty (NHL Images).

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Pacioretty’s recovery could stretch into February. The Hurricanes brought him in to offset the departure of winger Nino Niederreiter via free agency.

Pacioretty will return in time to help them during the final two months of the regular season and the playoffs. He is slated to become an unrestricted free agent next July.

The Hurricanes also announced that they signed Martin Necas to a two-year, $6 million contract. The average annual value is $3 million.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: A promising young forward, the 23-year-old Necas had completed his entry-level contract. An inconsistent performance last season resulted in his name frequently surfacing in trade rumors. The Hurricanes are willing to give him an opportunity to bounce back but another difficult season could turn him into a trade candidate with an affordable contract.

BOSTON HOCKEY NOW: David Krejci said his decision to return to the Bruins was not based on the club’s recent coaching change. He indicated he had decided to come back before the club replaced Bruce Cassidy as head coach with Jim Montgomery. Krejci explained the reason for returning to the Bruins was a desire to play with his old teammates again.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Krejci announced last summer that he was leaving the Bruins to finish his playing career in his native Czechia. He indicated that playing alongside old teammate David Pastrnak in this year’s World Championships was a turning point in his thinking about coming back to Boston for another season.

NEW YORK POST: Jacob Trouba’s natural leadership made him the consensus choice throughout the Rangers to become their first captain in four years. Chris Kreider, the club’s longest-serving active player, indicated on social media that all of his teammates believed Trouba had been their captain over the past two years without actually wearing the “C”.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Some players are just natural leaders. That appears to be the determining factor in Trouba being awarded the captaincy.

NHL.COM: The Philadelphia Flyers recently extended their ECHL affiliation with the Reading Royals. The agreement runs through 2023-24 with an option for a third season.







19 Comments

  1. Talk about different strokes for different folks!

    In Arizona, they re-up Lawson Crouse for 5 years at $4.3 mil per after a season of 20g 14a 34 pts and whose 82-game averages after 346 gp – a pretty good sample size – is 13g 13a 26 pts.

    Meanwhile, in Carolina, they re-up Martin Necas at $3 mil per for 2 years after a season of 14g 26a 40 pts and whose 82-game averages after 203 gp – also a pretty good sample size – works out to 18g 30a 48 pts.

    • George

      I think AZ. Will have to pay overmarket value for free agents. As they are playing at university for next 5 years I wouldn’t want to if I was a nhl pro. To many other choices

      • Oh, I get that, Mrbruin4, when dealing with UFAs – but in each of the above cases they were RFAs with no real options other than re-signing with their clubs.

        Had Crouse exercised his arbitration rights I seriously doubt an arbiter would have awarded him anywhere near $4.3 mil for 5 years – so why didn’t the Coyotes just let him go through that process on the scheduled date (August 8)?

        A few weeks back, based on his production to date, when pointing out how Arizona would easily reach the cap floor, I posted that he’d come in at around $2.6 mil.

      • Preaching to the choir here. Valid points all round but one thing which to me seems like there was a mentality management had of “what have you done for me lately?” One guy had a great year while another didn’t. Maybe management sees one player projecting upward trend and the other not.

        It’s so tough to tell for us but we’ll know by seasons end.

  2. George

    I think they like the player and if they went to arbitration. He was signing a 1 year deal and bye bye.

    • Heh. For $4.3 mill for 5 years based upon that average production – they must like him a LOT!

      • At least Arizona knows what they have in Crouse. Look at Mikheyev in Vancouver and what they signedd him too without really knowing him. 4 years at 4.75.

        I can honestly say that this Crouse contract does not look bad today or for that matter in years 3-5 when the cap goes up.

        I would even go so far to say I think/feel other teams would stullll trade for him with this contract to date.

    • That would be the reason MB4, the term. Cap will jump over the term of this deal.
      And they like the player. Crouse is a big boy who can skate, defends well, starts shifts in his own end more often than not and led them in hits.
      1st PK unit too.

      Not just about the points, kind of guy you need to win in your middle 6.

      • Ray I guess you mean to say, Points matter, but sometimes it’s not just about the points? All you have to only look at the top point producers and see that yes, it has a lot to do about points.

        And yes not every guy has to be a point producer but in that case he isn’t as valuable as another player who brings everything a guy like Crouse does, but puts up more points and at a better rate.

        It’s great to have a Crouse like player that maybe will be “the kind of guy you need to win in your middle six” but not at the price that someone we know is that guy sound command.

        As for the signing will look even better because the cap will go up, uhm…the Leafs say hello.

      • Yes, that is what I am saying Ron. Guys like him have value, he is a physical force, plus IMO his point totals would be better on a better team. 181 hits is a lot. Plus big guys often take a while to develop the offensive skills, I think he has room to produce more.

        Leafs got unlucky on the cap. It was expected to go up big after the new US TV deal, and expected to be $84M even before that. Then covid. Didn’t see folks predicting a pandemic on here before it happened, so safe to say they didn’t know either.

        One can criticize the Leafs approach over the last 2 years, not changing course, and the Tavares signing, but the assumptions they made regarding the cap prior to signing the big long term deals were reasonable IMO. And all businesses make reasoned assumptions all the time.

  3. At least Arizona knows what they have in Crouse. Look at Mikheyev in Vancouver and what they signedd him too without really knowing him. 4 years at 4.75.

    I can honestly say that this Crouse contract does not look bad today or for that matter in years 3-5 when the cap goes up.

    I would even go so far to say I think/feel other teams would stullll trade for him with this contract to date.

    • DJ, you’re right about the Nucks management not knowing the person but they are fully aware of the player he is and what he’s done since the Leafs signed him outta Russia a few years back.
      Now if you’re talking money, we’ll both these types of players always get over paid for what they bring.

    • I agree Ray, a hard nosed player with size, 6’4″ 220lbs definitely has value and the Coyotes bought up of his 5 remaining prime yrs including ufa yrs.

      IMO there are many contracts that are worse than that. Crouse would no doubt get a bounce in production if he played with a more talented team.

      • Or he might not. Equally plausible. But until he proves he can increase his production, anyone trading for him NOW under the just-signed deal would be buying a classical pig-in-a-poke. Because that production is what you expect from a 4th line F and you don’t pay 4th line Fs $4.3mil per for 5 years. Not if you want a balanced roster.

        And for those seeing a return to “normalcy” with the annual cap increase – based on what? Covid is still around and causing massive hospital problems all over the globe – and that’s under the latest variant. Can anyone say for certain that there won’t be an even deadlier variant cropping up soon? If so, based n what information?

        It would be NICE to see a return to larger annual cap increases – but at the moment that is filed under Wishful Thinking.

      • I guess we will see George, your opinion is as valid as mine.

      • Josh Andersson is a good comparable, he is a big guy that can play a heavy game.

        His stats last year were worse, he is 3 years older and his cap hit is $5.5 million

      • Good example for a similarity of gross overpayments for both…but not much, maybe just 25%or so. That 25% saved cap can now be used on either retaining talent or signing some.

  4. No mention of the world jrs? The games played last night hosting some NHL prospects…before the shameful scandal, wasn’t there some mention in the past?

    Interesting tournament nonetheless if you like to see some future stars or overhyped players and why.

  5. Like #46 …. But nice clean up on BC