NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – September 9, 2022
Erik Karlsson intends to stick with the Sharks, Carey Price sends a message to his fans, John Tortorella has concerns about the Flyers, Nazem Kadri makes a big charitable donation, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
THE ATHLETIC: Erik Karlsson has no plans to request a trade from the San Jose Sharks. “No, I committed here a long time ago,” he said. The 32-year-old defenseman is signed through 2026-27 with an average annual value of $11.5 million.
San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson (NHL Images).
Karlsson, 32, acknowledged things haven’t gone the way they wanted to earlier in his tenure with the Sharks. However, he said he’s excited about the future and believes the club can be successful again.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Karlsson has also been hampered by injuries since joining the Sharks in a trade from the Ottawa Senators in 2018. The former two-time Norris Trophy winner told The Athletic he intends to be more cautious in dealing with future injury rather than attempt to play through the pain.
Karlsson’s contract would make him difficult to move if he did want out or if new Sharks general manager Mike Grier wanted to move him. In addition to that big cap hit, he carries a full no-movement clause.
MONTREAL HOCKEY NOW: Canadiens goaltender Carey Price posted a heartfelt “thank you” message to his fans on his Instagram account. The 35-year-old goaltender is on long-term injury reserve as a nagging knee injury threatens to end his playing career.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: More than a few people felt the tone of the message suggested Price may be acknowledging that his playing days are over. For now, however, neither he nor the Canadiens have suggested that he’ll be hanging up his pads.
Speaking of the Canadiens, they signed restricted free agent goalie Cayden Primeau to a three-year deal with an AAV of $890K.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Primeau, 23, is expected to start this season with the Canadiens AHL affiliate in Laval.
THE SCORE: cites John Tortorella telling SiriusXM NHL that he has “major concerns” about the mood in the Philadelphia Flyers dressing room. He was hired as their new head coach earlier in the offseason.
Tortorella made the assessment after speaking with players, management and other team personnel. “Before we even step on the ice, situations and standards and accountability in the room is forefront,” he said. “You can’t get squat done on the ice until you get your room straightened out, and I think we have a little bit of work to do there.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Flyers are coming off a hellish season that saw them endure two long, season-killing winless skids, an early-season coaching change, and the departure of long-time captain Claude Giroux at the trade deadline. It’s no wonder morale is probably low right now.
A two-time winner of the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year, Tortorella has a good reputation for turning around struggling teams. Improving the Flyers will be a challenge but one he’s capable of handling.
CALGARY HOCKEY NOW: Nazem Kadri has given back to his hometown of London, Ontario. The 31-year-old center donated $1 million to the London Health Sciences Centre. Kadri signed a seven-year contract last month with the Calgary Flames.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: A very generous gift by Kadri toward an excellent cause.
BALLY SPORTS MIDWEST’s Andy Strickland reports the St. Louis Blues and Jordan Kyrou are working on a new contract. “Told talks between the two sides have been very good.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kyrou, 24, is coming off a career-best 75-point performance. He’s entering the final season of a two-year deal with an AAV of $2.8 million and will likely get a significant raise on a long-term contract.
DAILY FACEOFF: Former New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist has returned to the club in a new role. The position sees him support business operations for Madison Square Garden Corp. and MSG Entertainment Corp. He’ll also return to his role as a Rangers TV analyst on MSG Network.
Lundqvist, 40, announced his retirement last year. He holds franchise records with 459 career wins, 64 shutouts, and games played (887) during his 15 seasons with the Rangers.
SPORTSNET: Shane Doan is taking a step back from the Arizona Coyotes. He rejoined the Coyotes in 2021 as their Chief Hockey Development Officer following his retirement after 1,466 games with the franchise.
“I don’t want this to be seen in any way that hurts the organization. I want the arena bid to be successful for hockey’s long-term future in the Valley,” said Doan. He added that he fully supports second-year coach Andre Tourigny and would help him in any way if asked.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The report suggests Doan is making this decision for family reasons. The report said he’ll be spending more time with his four children. His son, Josh, is a Coyotes draft pick who’s starting his second year at Arizona State University.
THE ATHLETIC: Columbus Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner recently said he’s feeling much better following a season-ending back injury and looking forward to the coming season. “I’m feeling good, ready to go, absolutely,” he said. The 29-year-old center said his offseason training has gone well and he believes he can be a significant contributor to the Jackets.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Mathieu Perreault is retiring as an NHL player to move into a broadcasting position with TVA Sports. A hardworking and versatile 34-year-old forward, he spent 13 seasons with the Washington Capitals, Anaheim Ducks, Winnipeg Jets and Montreal Canadiens, netting 352 career points in 708 games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Best wishes to Perreault in his new job.
Torts has major concerns about locker room? Their big free agent signing after hiring him was DeAngelo!
With Torts’ defense first philosophy, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he had a say in that signing.
Torts and ADA are on the same wavelength, they will be fine. Winning will solve most of their problems.
Kadri…. Kudos… wonderful donation👍👍👍
Kyrou…. Big raise acomin’
Re “Tortorella telling SiriusXM NHL that he has “major concerns” about the mood in the Philadelphia Flyers dressing room”….. mood should not be good …. Torts now in the room. Transparency here…, I’ve never been; nor do I expect to ever be; a Torts fan
Was bogged huge yesterday so didn’t get to read posts until this morning…..
Virtanen…. $B owners have no care re league min Sals…. $750 K is a rounding error type of transaction…. Any player under 35; signing for $1.08 M or less w/o an NMC, can be buried full whack; no impact on Cap…. Virtanen should be a good very low risk depth add for a team.
Re HexBurkie declining the offer of Zucker ; with a first kicker….. why not counter offer. If the ask is a first; you can’t let se by countering with something lower….. if the counter is rejected; you can walk away…. Or up the offer. Just declining makes no sense
With the “market” set (????) as asking (offer… starting point; so actually less)… a 1st to suck up and take Zucker….. here is my wingdinger/Ships ‘n giggler of the day….
Get Sid to have a secret call to Toews to waive only for Pens….
To Blackhawks:
1st (lottery protected ) ‘24 from Pens
O’Connor;
Poehling ;
Gruden ;
lowest (of 4 ) ‘24 3rd rounders currently owned by Arz [balancing for below]to Chi
Zucker ;
*BH’s retain 50% on Toews
To Arz:
Bolts 2nd rounder(owned by Chi- balancing; see above) in ‘23 to Arz ;
NJ ‘23 3rd (owned by Pens; balancing see below)for retaining 25% of Toews)
*Yotes retain 25% on Toews
To Pens
Toew’s @ 25%;
and from Arz…Lowest of ‘ 24 3rd rounders of Oil,Avs, Rangers (balancing from above)
Toews then in at 3C
Cap savings…. Sign E-Rod
Sid/Guentz/Rusty
Gino/Rakell/E-Rod or Heinen
Toews/ E-Rod or Heinen/ Kappy or Carter
Blueger/McG/ Kappy or Carter
13th/14th…. 2 of Zoho; Poulin; Legere; Nylalnder; Puust
I would say that Canadiens goaltender Carey Price
playing days are over….
He should call it a day as the Habs are in a Rebuild now with lots of young players on the team….
he is just holding things up now..!!
That would not be very financially beneficial to Mr. Price.
Would you just walk away from $42,000,000.00 because your presence is an inconvenience to someone or even a stadium full of people?
I sure wouldn’t.
Yes, LTIR has created the term “all but retired”. Goes well with “upper body injury” and “lower body injury”.
He’s not holding up anything. He’s on Ltir. And insurance company pays his salary not the team.
Re; Erik Karlsson from the San Jose Sharks.
The 32-year-old d/man is signed for 5 more years at Very big money $11.5 million a year⁉️
He has and is playing very poor and very injury prone ….
Nobody is taking that High Salary on in there right mind
Yep…only way Karlsson gets traded is if he has a career ending injury and some team wants his contract for cap purposes.
Karlsson is still a good D man. Still one of the best for getting it out of his zone by passing or skating it out.
Also still one of the best at making excellent passes or skating it into the O zone that generates a scoring chance. #’s don’t lie. Sportsnet did an entire piece on that very topic and backed it up.
The problem with Karlsson is he gets paid about $4M – $5M too much a season and gets hurt lately, but still a good player. That was the GM’s fault.
Sometimes Tortorella just pisses me off.
John, you might want to wait until you actually start coaching these guys before you throw them under the bus.
What a knob.
He burns players out in a couple of years, yet still gets hired. Easier for management to put the blame on the players (which, in fairness they need to share) rather than their own inept drafting and trading.
Atkinson had nothing but good things to say about the coach that benched him to make a point. He pushed for this hire. I think he has a hell of alot more insight to the type of coach he is. He also led that team to 20 plus wins in a row with a average team.and I have no problem with trading vorachek or G and what we got back. Ghost trade was pure cap relief, and he was a horrible turn over machine at that time. Patrick was slotted to go 1st or 2nd overall by everyone. Can’t foresee injuries. By the way we traded him and got out from under that problem. Ellis trade, again Can’t foresee injuries. Every analyst liked that trade. Also we needed two RHD this off season which we addressed. We need JVR capspace to resign sanheim, York, attard, etc.. next season. And idiots wanted to trade a bunch of players to sign johnny. These same people think Chuck is to blame for the flat cap.
Karlsson looks like he’s ready for the nhl used cd bin. Way way toooooooooo much money he unfortunately lost it about three years ago. As good as Makar is he wasn’t in this guys class. Too bad. Looks like Sweeney’s barricaded himself in the panic room and ain’t ever coming out. Never has a gm been paid so much for so little work.
He’s commenting after talking to the players and team brass. Obviously there’s a problem. This is his way of telling the players, this will not stand. I have no problem at all the way he sent the message. It has to be fixed. So how is he a knob? I believe he has a little more experience than you on how to fix a locker room.
LOL … “Erik Karlsson intends to stick with the Sharks”
like he has any other option. NO ONE is taking that albatross – unless, as DoubleMinor says, he goes on permanent LTIR and becomes an LTIR option for cap purposes.
Literally what I thought and snickered out loud the minute I read that. Erik is a shell of his former player self. He has no option but to stay.
Tavares and Muzzin for Eric Karlsson.
Essentially you’re playing roulette on which of these individuals becomes incapable of playing first so they LITRetire.
What makes me laugh all the more are those “Dorion got hosed” comments that appeared in these pages after the trade – for which Dorion got Chris Tierney, Dylan DeMelo, Josh Norris, Rūdolfs Balcers, SJ’s 1st-round pick in 2020, 2nd round pick in 2019 and a conditional 2nd-round pick in 2021. And that 2020 1st turned out to be Tim Stutzle (announced by Alex Trebek!). They also got a 3rd round pick for DeMelo from the Jets.
Some hosing.
Nice to have that hindsight and gloat. I imagine you are aware that most of those comments came from Sens fans themselves.
At that time this trade didn’t make a lot of sense on paper, EK was an elite, Norris caliber defenseman and the return at the time seemed poor. No one could have predicted that the first would become Stutzle, dare I say not even the all knowing George O.
Most of those comments did NOT come from Senators fans as I recall. If you know the total facts, then give us the links.
As for my take at the time, this came on the heels of the Karlsson-Hoffman fiasco and at a time when Melnyk and Dorion had decided to tear it down and re-build. There was NO way they were going to start that re-build by forking over close to $12 mil per for Karlsson (or for Stone for that matter). So, yes, I was quite happy with the return they got as it included a Grade A C prospect named Norris – and he’s turned out as predicted. The # 1 pick and the bottom falling out of San Jose in the year leading up to that draft where they nabbed Stutzle was. admittedly, lucky (for Ottawa at least) – but that’s the danger when you give up non-protected # 1 picks – as Wilson learned to his regret.
Nearing the end of their re-build campaign would the Senators take back Karlsson or Stone? Not a chance.
No, my “all-knowing” self did not see that lucky break coming – but I posted my thoughts on the deals at the time and I’ve stuck by them. You don’t like that? Fine. Who cares?
Taz,
Lost in the gloating is that the Senators haven’t made the playoffs in 5 consecutive years since while San Jose has a few times.
In most cases a GM would be run out of town if their decisions resulted in such failure and the fan base would reward ownership with poor attendance.
That’s the price for a total re-build – which your team is about to discover. Enjoy the wallowing. It will look good on them.