NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – November 19, 2022
The Canucks defeated the Kings plus updates on Auston Matthews, Philipp Grubauer, Scott Wedgewood and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: The Vancouver Canucks got two-goal performances from Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser to defeat the Los Angeles Kings 4-1. Thatcher Demko made 37 saves for the Canucks as their record improves to 6-9-3. Blake Lizotte replied for the Kings as they drop to 11-8-1. Prior to this game, the Canucks activated Curtis Lazar off injured reserve.
Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Pettersson (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Canucks need their young stars like Pettersson, Boeser and Demko to step up if they hope to get back on a winning track and rise in the standings. This performance was a good start but they’ll need more of this on a consistent basis.
TORONTO SUN: Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews is okay after limping off the ice during practice yesterday when he took a shot off his foot.
THE SEATTLE TIMES: The Kraken have activated goaltender Philipp Grubauer off injured reserve. He’d been sidelined since Oct. 21 with a lower-body injury.
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS: Stars goalie Scott Wedgewood is listed as day-to-day and could resume practice today. He was stretchered from the ice during Thursday’s game against the Florida Panthers with a back injury. However, he did not need to go to a hospital and was walking around following the game.
WGR 550: The Buffalo Sabres have called up netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to replace Eric Comrie, who is expected to be sidelined for weeks with a lower-body injury.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Luukkonen was tabbed as the Sabres’ future starter but he’s had difficulties seizing the role. His recall comes at a time when the club is once again fading from a hot start to the season.
VEGAS HOCKEY NOW: Golden Knights forward Nicolas Roy has a lower-body injury that could keep him out of their next two games against the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks.
OTTAWA SUN: Some good news for the Senators blueline as defenseman Artem Zub could return to action on Saturday against the New Jersey Devils. He’s been sidelined since Oct. 27 with an upper-body injury and has gone 2-6-1 without him in the lineup.
CBS SPORTS: Speaking of Senators’ defensemen, Nikita Zaitsev cleared waivers on Nov. 10 and was sent to their AHL affiliate in Belleville on Friday.
OTTAWA SUN: Staying on the topic of Ottawa blueliners, former Senator Wade Redden will be the first player inducted into their Ring of Honour on Dec. 11. Redden, who now works for the club in a development role, played 838 games in 11 seasons with the Sens from 1996-97 to 2007-08. He is fifth all-time among their scorers with 410 points and their all-time leader in plus-minus at plus-159.
The Sens had another good young defenceman back in the day, can’t remember his name, tall guy……..
After the 2004-05 lockout season. the Senators cap situation in the first year of the cap (2005-06), when it began as $39 mil per team, dictated that they could only really keep one of Redden or Chara … GM Muckler decided it would be Redden and that turned out to be probably THE biggest roster mistake in the history of the current franchise.
One can only wonder how that 2007 Stanley Cup final against Anaheim might have turned out had they had big Chara to offset that cheap-shot artist Pronger.
George
Can you imagine Chara playing the game with the same mean streak as Pronger.
Big Z was awesome but would have been even better with more edge in his game
Mrbruin4, I’m sure Bryan McCabe would say he was mean enough – lol – I remember Pat Quinn referring to him after that bout as “man mountain Dean”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=317UxnIXvTw
Wow, Chara needed to be tougher? He was like Larry Robinson imo – do not get him mad.
BCLeaffan – we were thinking along the same lines – sad part was, Redden went downhill after that faster than a bobsledder
George … I think Chara also wanted to leave. Couple of factors:
1) Hossa was his best friend on the team and Chara didn’t like the way he was treated when traded for Heatley. That was kind of a classless thing that Muckler did … trading Hossa after signing the contract. Chara was pretty open about that.
2) Chara wanted to be the captain but Alfie was firmly established in the role.
And don’t discount the Peter Chirelli factor in Chara going to Boston. (Probably the only good move Chirelli ever did).
All good points, Peter. Muckler did what he always did best … muck things up.
I remember my jaw hitting the floor the day it was announced that Hossa had signed a new deal … and was dealt before the ink was dry for that twit Heatley.
Imagine Hossa AND Chara on that 2007 cup final team.
Thank Mike “The shoe” Milbury for Chara.
Yup Rob … two colossal mistakes made dealing with the same player. But the two that made the errors soon disappeared from any GM activity – Ottawa was Muckler’s last as a GM while Milbury – well, here’s an excerpt from his Wikipedia entry “In June 2006, Milbury stepped down as Islanders GM to accept a position as senior vice president of Charles Wang’s sports holdings. In an appearance on Mike and the Mad Dog, Wang did not challenge the hosts’ suggestion that he had fired Milbury. In May 2007, Milbury resigned his position with Wang, saying that he missed making hockey-related decisions and would be open to a hockey operations job in another organization.”
How did that work out?
Jeff Gorton was the interim GM who signed Chara. 2 weeks before Chiarelli started.
Also drafted – Marchand, Kessel and Lucic.
Traded Raycroft for Rask.
Pretty good off season.
PC canned him the next off season.
Set up the Rags pretty good, got canned.
Now a promising start with Habs. I dare say a good hire, as much as I root against them.
Yeah Ray – lol – what I always remember about that Chara UFA signing by Gorton is that it shattered any delusions I functioned under that teams could not talk to UFAs until the day that sequence began. The thing barely began on TV when the announcement came that he had been signed to a 5-yerat $37.5 mil deal. Had to be THE fastest sequence of negotiations in recorded NHL history
And the crazy thing too George was the B’s trade the season before, which was the first year of the salary cap. Moved Joe Thornton, which gave them some room to sign Chara. Also moved Bergy and Krecji up to 1 and 2C.
Of course, the guy who did it, O’ Connell, got canned at the end of the year. Gorton was the interim.
B’s win a cup, SJ doesn’t. Not the only reason of course but played big a part.
PC got the cred, the other guys got turfed.
The last thing the Leafs need is to see Matthews go down for any great length of time … the sigh of relief – had it come earlier – might have stalled that Lake Effect storm that nailed Southern Ontario and Buffalo.
Speaking of the Leafs, saw this suggestion regarding a trade with the Jets that could answer both current problems
Anyone think that would be a good one for both teams?
https://thehockeywriters.com/jets-maple-leafs-can-help-each-other-trade/?fbclid=IwAR00myCm3ALn429UNfrQyIYt78jK945h_Iz6ar4Z0yKwTJxBPEWWyjSlyXA
Nope, Jets have zero sandpaper beyond Dillon on the blue line. Trading him would be a big mistake unless it was for a massive overpayment.