NHL Morning Coffee Headlines -May 10, 2023
The Hurricanes take a commanding lead in their series with the Devils, the Stars tie their series with the Kraken and Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog to miss next season. Details and much more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: The Carolina Hurricanes have a stranglehold on their second-round series with the New Jersey Devils following a 6-1 victory in Game 4 on Tuesday. Martin Necas scored two goals and Jordan Martinook collected three points as the Hurricanes hold a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Jack Hughes scored for the Devils. The Hurricanes can wrap things up on home ice in Game 5 on Thursday.
Carolina Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Devils got off to a fast start as Hughes opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game. However, the Hurricanes tied it before the end of the first period and romped to victory with a five-goal second period. The Devils just fell apart in that period and had no pushback in the third as they were completely dominated by the more experienced Hurricanes.
This was Martinook’s franchise-record fourth straight multi-point playoff game. He went scoreless during the Hurricanes’ first-round series with the New York Islanders. With nine points, Martinook moves past Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl for the most points in the second round of this year’s playoffs.
Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta skated with his teammates in practice yesterday but sat out Game 4 as he’s still recovering from an illness. Meanwhile, Devils defenseman Ryan Graves missed his second-straight game with an upper-body injury.
The Dallas Stars tied their series with the Seattle Kraken at two games apiece with a 6-3 win in Game 4. Max Domi scored twice and collected an assist while Joel Pavelski tallied his sixth goal in this series. Jaden Schwartz tallied two goals for the Kraken while goalie Philipp Grubauer got the hook after giving up five goals on 22 shots. Game 5 goes Thursday night in Dallas.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen was in the lineup and show no ill effects from taking a puck to the face in Game 3. Kraken winger Jared McCann returned to action after being sidelined by an upper-body injury in Game 4 of their first-round series with the Colorado Avalanche.
There was some controversy when Domi made it 3-0 in the second as the Kraken believed Grubauer had been interfered with by Jamie Benn. Their coach’s challenge, however, failed to overturn the goal.
HEADLINES
NHL.COM: Arizona Coyotes winger Clayton Keller, Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang and Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Alex Stalock are this season’s finalists for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.
Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron, Dallas Stars winger Jason Robertson, Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov, New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes, Ottawa Senators winger Brady Tkachuk, Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin and Vancouver Canucks center Elias Pettersson are among the 32 finalists for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy.
COLORADO HOCKEY NOW: Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog is expected to miss the entirety of the 2023-24 season. He undergoes surgery today (May 10) as he’ll undergo a cartilage transplant in his right knee. Landeskog hasn’t played since helping the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup last season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: By the sound of things, there’s no certainty that Landeskog will fully recover to the point where he’ll be able to play hockey again. Here’s hoping the surgery goes well and he makes a full recovery.
THE DENVER POST: Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland remains hopeful that Valeri Nichushkin will remain part of the club’s future. However, he offered no update as the winger’s status.
Nichushkin was sent back to Colorado for “personal reasons” following an incident in Seattle prior to Game 3 of their first-round series with the Kraken. A woman was found in his hotel room so intoxicated that a team doctor called an ambulance to take her to a hospital.
There is no criminal investigation involving the winger and he’s not facing discipline from the Avalanche. However, neither he nor the club are commenting on the situation.
VEGAS HOCKEY NOW: Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud spoke with ESPN anchor Jon Anderson and accepted the latter’s apology after Anderson joked on air that the blueliner’s last name was a good name for toilet paper. Whitecloud was born in Manitoba and grew up in the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Oilers winger Zach Hyman appears questionable for Game 4 tonight against the Golden Knights. He was not part of the club’s full practice yesterday after taking a shot off his right knee/thigh area in Game 3.
TORONTO STAR: Joseph Woll will get the start for the Maple Leafs in Game 4 tonight against the Florida Panthers. Ilya Samsonov remains sidelined with an upper-body injury suffered during Game 3 on Sunday. Matt Murray will serve as Woll’s backup. The Leafs face elimination tonight down 0-3 to the Panthers.
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Season ticket sales are booming for the Blackhawks after they won the 2023 draft lottery. They’re expected to use that pick to select top prospect Connor Bedard during the first round of the draft on June 28. The Hawks sold $5.2 million worth of new season ticket packages within 12 hours of winning the lottery.
CALGARY SUN: Flames forward Tyler Toffoli was named captain of Team Canada in the upcoming IIHF World Championship.
CALGARY HOCKEY NOW: Speaking of the Flames, MacKenzie Weegar said Mikael Backlund occasionally clashed with former head coach Darryl Sutter. Backlund is a year away from unrestricted free agent eligibility and was non-committal about signing a contract extension with the Flames during his end-of-season interview.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Backlund might have a change of heart after Sutter was fired as head coach last week. It could depend on who takes over as general manager and who they hire as Sutter’s replacement.
NEW YORK POST: The Rangers relieved assistant coaches Mike Kelly and Jim Midgley of their duties on Tuesday. The move comes days after head coach Gerard Gallant and the Rangers agreed to part ways.
To bad about Landeskog s injury.I m sure the Avs will use his LTIR money on a good player.Boston s Taylor Hall is a perfect fit there.A simple trade of players,prospects or draft choices would get it done.Hall at 31 years old and 2 years left on his contract at 6 million make sense in this case!
They will use it on a center.
Not so sure about Colorado seeing Hall as a “perfect” fit. He turns 32 in November and, over the course of his career, has 82-game average of 26g 43a 69 pts, with his most recent “dominant” performance coming 6 years ago in NJ. His cap hit for the next two seasons is $6 mil per, with the last one coming when he turns 34.
If Colorado could be allowed to talk to DeBrincat and his agent beforehand to work out a long-term deal through RFA negotiations, the 25 y/o would be at least one better solution, having averaged 34g 34a 68 pts over the course of his career.
And there are probably several others who might be available through trade better than Hall.
I think that if Colorado were to use that cap relief in a Bruins winger, they’d be looking to sign Bertuzzi. He will probably sign for similar AAV as Hall, is younger, plays a physical game and could be signed without giving up any assets.
There may be a deal to be had with Boston. The problem that Colorado has is that they don’t have clarity on Landeskog. Maybe he’ll be back in 2024-25 maybe not. So they’ll have to be wary with a long term big money deal. With Hall only having two years left on his deal that could be something they can handle. Hall can submit a 16 team trade list but he’d probably be okay with going to a contender and recent champion.
Ok. Not the most professional thing to do to make fun of someone’s name. More of a barstool kinda joke than a professional on air joke. But I highly doubt he was targeting his culture. And it would indeed make for a good name fer terlit paper. Glad zack didn’t make a thing over it.
Yeah, people are getting a tad too sensitive. Some names just can’t avoid similar comments, such as Ohio State’s Jamie Crapper back in the 1980s/1990s.
The question is to whom was he making that poor joke to? You’re right that it’s more a bar stool joke than someone who is supposed to be a professional on air talent. People can learn from Zack as he turned a dumb thing into a learning thing, forgive and move on, with absolutely nothing worth seeing here.
I feel for Langdeskog. Hopefully that artificial cartilage will be as successful as the ones they use in those spinal injury like as in the case with Jack Eichel. Truly a great loss not only to avs fans but the league in general. I’m hoping for a full and speedy recovery.
One thing that I cant seem to understand, is the Coyotes were penalized a few seasons ago for pre-draft testing and lost a 1st and 2nd round pick. I believe something like 20 prospects went thru some physical tests at the AZ facility.
Yet Chicago had a coach who sexually assaulted a
player and their coaching staff, upper management, GM, and likely ownership knew about this and swept it under the rug. The Blackhawks where fined 2 million, lost no draft picks, and really had no penalties from the NHL.
Very confusing how the league protects the prospects and not so much the actual players.
Wow!!!!! CHRISM AND GEORGE!
No it’s not ok to make fun of Whitecloud name.
No he isn’t being to sensitive!
Your lack of empathy is ignorance.
You think it’s OK that Whitecloud who is aboriginal gets emotional during his address is funny or he is just insensitive.
The sad part about this is it was Whitecloud who reached out to Anderson and not reverse.
Whitecloud accepted Anderson apology and is moving forward.
If you don’t think the name calling affected Whitecloud. I suggest you watch the Whitecloud video and then maybe you’ll get a little bit better of an understanding and have a little more empathy.
Zach I can tell you this, you are an extremely important role model for aboriginal people and the young native children playing hockey up north or down south are proud of you and the path you’ve shown.
Is this sarcasm…
Chrism your ignorance is bliss.
Your comment was no better than Anderson.
Yet you still seem to think it’s funny to make fun of Whitecloud heritage.
What’s funny about it? Please explain.
Did you watch the Whitecloud news scrum? Did you listen to Anderson calling the game.
In Manitoba the assembly of first nations had a discussion on it.
If you don’t understand the hurt that the first nation’s people felt over this comment, I as you to watch Whitecloud video for a better understanding.
No, Chrism, it isn’t sarcasm. Caper has it right.
My wife does a lot of work on anti-racism. Those of her ethnic heritage still get comments like “you people” from folks who are unaware that is a distinction that segregates in a negative way, and hurts.
It may be that Anderson was doing a stream of consciousness thing and had no racial intention behind the comment. Fair enough, and as I understand the story Anderson recognized the hurt, intended or not, and apologized.
Seems like a few others here don’t get it as well as Anderson …
I guess I’m just shocked it was coming from you caper. After all the cancel culture conversations and discussion about cherry etc it seems the shoes are on the other foot.
It comes down to intent. Did he intend to disparage a culture? No I don’t think so. There is no denying whitecloud would be perfectly reasonable to see on a pack of two ply in the local grocery store. When he realized he inadvertently insulted not one person but a culture he owned it. Lesson learned. Unlike others who do it for shock value and either don’t apologize or do it insincerely.
You know the old saying, Chrism, when you are in a hole quit digging.
When you say it comes down to intent you have only part of it. Impact is another, critical part. That you haven’t thought this through, or just don’t get it after some pretty clear explanations, is not to your credit.
If I was in a home I’d be worried. I’m not.
Impact absolutely ties directly to intent. Cultures don’t inherently know what might be considered insulting or triggering to another. If they make a oopsie and apologize and learn from it it’s the best possible outcome. As demonstrated in this situation. Sometimes names don’t always translate well especially as languages evolve. Georges crapper example is perfect.
I’m also flabbergasted that somehow around here I went from cancel culture warrior to insensitive bozo. Like overnight! Amazing
Anyway. The whole last name not adjusting well to a different culture or growth of language reminded me of this gem
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt3gcSyL5vg
Chrisms, your privilege prevents you from understanding the impact of your comment. Just admit you’re wrong and a rascist and they’ll leave you alone…
It must be so gratifying to look down at everyone from above randino and cast your judgements. Nothing in my comments remotely defines me as racist. In fact the opposite is right there in writing. But so long as you feel superior I’ll be grateful i made someone’s day better.
Yeah, Randino – no call for that epithet. I’ve been crossing swords with chrisms over various issues for a few years now and never have I seen even a hint of racism.
That’s kinda like taking an issue with some approach taken by a right of center conservative and labeling him/her a Nazi.
Maybe just a hint of anti Canadianism?😉
Thanks George. I’ll admit that one by randino rubbed me the wrong way because of how hard you had to twist what I said to come up with that. Also like capers post made me wonder if it was said tongue in cheek.
“You people” are terrible at sarcasm
Ah. Hoisted by my own bedard. Dagnabbit.
To be fair, both you and George are correct. Words were twisted. Neither of you have been in any way disparaging of any culture in the hundreds or possibly thousands of posts I’ve read on this site.
Impressed with Carolina’s game plan , love the forecheck they use.
I had written them off when Svechnikov and Teravainen went on IR.
Several players are stepping up and filling in. Brind’Amour’s influence is definitely present.
I’m sure that Nichushkin’s “personal reasons” involved having to explain to his wife why a drunk girl was in his hotel room.
This line from the Seattle Times, however, makes me think there is more to this story.
“The records stated the woman had no fixed address and told police she was born in Ukraine but had been living in Russia before coming to the U.S. She told them an unidentified man had taken her passport.”
A foreign woman who had her passport confiscated? That is red flag number one for human trafficking. While there may be some other explanation, it seems that Nichushkin may have hired a trafficking victim to spend some “quality” time with him.
https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/kraken/911-call-provides-more-details-on-seattle-hotel-incident-with-avalanches-valeri-nichushkin/
Yikes. You’d figure he could get tail without paying for it. Maybe it was like an Ukraine Underground Railroad thing and he was trying to help her escape Russia?
I mean, anything’s possible but that seems unlikely. You would think that if there is such a thing, there would be people in Seattle arranging it rather than a hockey player coming to town from Denver for a playoff game.
If Nichushkin ends up being a hero here rather than a villain then my hat’s off to him, and I hope they make a movie about his life.
Your insinuations are baseless, DoubleMinor. The Seattle police indicated Nichushkin isn’t under investigation and hasn’t been charged with anything. Maybe let’s wait for the facts to come out.
She was a spy….mic drop
On a serious note… Grubauer initiated the contact with his glove hand, embellished the contact, and was out of the blue paint… Jamie was entitled to that part of the ice. McCann’s and Hakstol’s interviews after the game. Really, are you new here?
Remember before the truth is revealed, we all live in a cloud of lies and deception meant to make us come to wrong conclusions. I’m not siding one way or the other until all the real facts are in which will either exonerate him or condemn him.
I think win or lose tonight, the Leafs should cut Keefe loose after this “run”. It’s a tough thing considering his success but something beyond the player’s inability to perform in the postseason, hast to lie with the coach. The whole you can’t tie up that much money argument is only valid if the players you’re “over paying” are not constantly top point producing players so as usual, I’ll dismiss those naturally.
Maybe something similar as what the Panthers have done after finally winning a round last year only to be swept in the next round. What ever happens, win, lose or whatever, it will make for some good entertainment fan or not.
Ron, I may be proven wrong, but starting Woll in nets tonight could turn out to be the best decision Keefe has made in these playoffs.
I say that because the NHL is chock full of rookie goalies coming into a playoff pressure situation and looking like the Great Wall of China! And the kid has already shown that he isn’t rattled easily.
A series comeback – massive or otherwise – starts with one win. The odds against them are monumental, yes, but if you can avoid elimination on the road, and then come back with an equally strong performance at home in game 5, suddenly the seeds of doubt creep into the other camp.
Saying a goal from the Core 4 is overdue is putting it mildly. Time for them to play the game of their lives and for the D to cut down on the own-zone brain farts.
Even with them not scoring, ot’s not like they’ve been blown out of any of the games so far.
Hope you’re right George but the team that beat Tampa, lucky or not, isn’t suiting up for this series. This team looks an awful lot like the one that choked in the past especially the one that lost to Montreal.
Yes IF they win this game and somehow win the next, it would be great for hockey fans. It’s been a pretty interesting season with lots a big surprises – it would be great to see a few more in the postseason and a come back would be just that.
I’m just hoping for a game I know they can play and not the game I feel like they’re gonna play. Any way, go leafs go?
I think it speaks pretty loud when you look at the TOI for the Leafs in the playoffs, what the issue is.
ROR and McCabe are both in the top 6 for the TML in TOI in the playoffs, 4 of the players added at the deadline are in the top 12 in TOI for the Leafs. Of the top 6 in TOI for the forwards are ROR and Accari.
Who leads the team in Hits in the playoffs for the Leafs? Accari, Schenn, McCabe
Who leads the team in Take Aways? ROR
Who lead the team in faceoff taken? ROR
Who leads the team in FO% on the PK? ROR
Who leads the Team in FO% on the PP? ROR
You look up and down the stat sheets, its pretty clear what the problem is in Toronto. There is very few players that play two way hockey. Outside of the guys brought in at the TDL, there are very few guys that play a physical game.
Thats not Keefe’s fault, thats the fault of the GM for trying to win with a one line offensive team with very little team defense.
Removing Keefe doesn’t help the situation. TML have what 15 players signed for next year and have roughly 7-8 million in cap space? Bunting is going to command more then the 4 million AAV that Leafs fans have speculated. That guy is going to get 5-6 million on the open market. There is a reason that ROR didnt sell his house in St. Louis.
Toronto is going to have to start pushing more of their prospects into the NHL or they are going to have to shed 1 or two large contracts.
Leafs need to replace the GM and they are going to have to make some hard decisions about their players.
You might be right on some of your points but it’s hard to criticize a GM that has added those types of players either off season or the trade deadline every year. These latest ones worked and came as advertised, past years that wasn’t the case. I guess that’s on him.
I don’t know if you watched any of this years round one but it was clear the stars of this team carried the load against Tampa. I can see how that’s easy to forget when you see the results of this series against a team that came back after being down 3 games to 1 to the cup favorites Boston.
No one is perfect and he isn’t, that’s for sure but I do stand by most of his moves and do like his philosophy. It’s not for everyone but that’s why we have 32 teams to cheer for.
PS Just wondering here since you asked why ROR didn’t sell his St.L home yet…could it because his family, wife and kids work and go to school there? Why move them now when they can where ever he signs for next year?
Glad to see Chicago selling tons of season tickets after dropping the Hawks like a hot potato once they started losing. Here in C-bus we just go win or lose and that’s mostly lose. We also lose in every draft but we love our team and keep going.