NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – October 12, 2023
Milestone performances for Toronto’s Auston Matthews and Chicago’s Connor Bedard while the Sabres sign Owen Power and the Devils ink Lindy Ruff to contract extensions. Get the details on these and other stories in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews collected a hat trick, including his 300th career goal, in a 6-5 season-opening win over the Montreal Canadiens. Mitch Marner netted the winner in a shootout after the Leafs overcame a 5-3 deficit in the third period while John Tavares had three assists. Alex Newhook scored twice in his first game with the Canadiens after being acquired from the Colorado Avalanche in the offseason.
Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: There was sloppy defense and goaltending by both clubs in this game. However, it proved more costly to the Canadiens as they also blew an early 2-0 lead.
Speaking of the Canadiens, Cap Friendly indicates they demoted winger Joel Armia to their AHL affiliate in Laval and recalled defenseman Arber Xhekaj, who collected an assist and got the better of Leafs enforcer Ryan Reaves during their first-period tussle.
Chicago Blackhawks rookie Connor Bedard tallied his first-ever NHL goal but his club fell 3-1 to the Boston Bruins. David Pastrnak scored the tying and winning goals for the Bruins while Linus Ullmark stopped 20 shots for the win.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Blackhawks winger Taylor Hall suffered an upper-body injury following a hit by Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo. He’s listed as week-to-week.
The Vancouver Canucks crushed the Edmonton Oilers 8-1. Brock Boeser scored four goals while Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller each had a goal and three assists. Leon Draisaitl netted the sole Oilers goal while goalies Jack Campbell and Stuart Skinner each gave up four goals.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Oilers are predicted to be a Stanley Cup contender this season but they were outperformed by the Canucks in every aspect of this contest. They’re obviously better than this and should use this game as motivation for a better effort in their next contest. Meanwhile, the Canucks couldn’t have asked for a better season-opening performance, especially Boeser given his struggles last season.
Colorado Avalanche winger Mikko Rantanen scored twice and collected two assists in a 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings. Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists while Alexandar Georgiev stopped 34 shots for the win. Carl Grundstrom and Quinton Byfield replied for the Kings.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: I only saw the highlights of this contest but Rantanen and MacKinnon were dominating for the Avalanche. Cale Makar also picked up two points in this game for Colorado. Before this match, the Kings announced that winger Viktor Arvidsson would miss at least two games with a lower-body injury.
The Calgary Flames got a 34-save performance from Jacob Markstrom and two late goals by Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane to upset the Winnipeg Jets 5-3. Lindholm and Mangiapane each finished with three points for the Flames. Kyle Connor, Alex Iafallo and Mark Scheifele replied for the Jets, who outshot the Flames 37-22.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Jets deserved a better fate as they were the better team in this game. However, the Flames got outstanding goaltending and clutch scoring to take this one.
Carolina Hurricanes defensemen Brady Skjei and Jaccob Slavin scored in the third period to lift their club to a 5-3 win over the Ottawa Senators. Skjei and Jordan Staal each had a goal and an assist while Frederik Andersen made 27 saves. Joonas Korpisalo stopped 37 shots for the Senators.
HEADLINES
THE BUFFALO NEWS: On the eve of their season opener, the Sabres signed defenseman Owen Power to a seven-year, $58.45 million contract extension effective next season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Nobody should be surprised by this move. The Sabres indicated they were working on re-signing Power after getting Rasmus Dahlin under contract on Sept. 22 for an eight-year, $88-million contract.
Power, 20, is in the final season of his entry-level contract. His salary will jump from an average of just over $916K to $8.35 million per season. Chosen first overall in the 2021 NHL draft, he was a finalist for the Calder Trophy last season.
The Sabres now have their two top defensemen under contract covering them through most of their playing prime. The duo will be crucial factors in this club’s hopes to become a Stanley Cup contender over the next seven years.
NEW JERSEY HOCKEY NOW: The Devils yesterday announced they reached an agreement with head coach Lindy Ruff on a multi-year contract extension that begins in 2024-25. Ruff is currently in the final season of a four-year deal.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The report didn’t indicate for how many years but wouldn’t surprise me if it’s another three-year contract with a one-year extension option.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: More bad news for San Jose Sharks captain Logan Couture as he suffered a setback in his recovery from a lower-body injury that will keep him out of his club’s opening games of the season. Sharks coach David Quinn said Couture will undergo more tests and evaluation.
PHILLY HOCKEY NOW: Flyers forward Scott Laughton intends to take a stand against the NHL banning the use of Pride Tape during theme celebrations this season. “You’ll probably see me with the Pride Tape on that night,” said Laughton. “It’s not going to affect the way I go about it. If they want to say something, they can, but it’s not going to make a difference in what I do every night for the Pride community.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The league should leave it up to the players if they’ll participate in on-ice support by wearing themed jerseys or using special tape on their sticks during warmups on Pride Night. It’ll be interesting to see if other players around the league follow Laughton’s lead.
NHL.COM: Vegas Golden Knights forward Brett Howden received a two-game suspension for an illegal hit to the head of Seattle Kraken forward Brandon Tanev on Tuesday.
VEGAS HOCKEY NOW: Speaking of the Golden Knights, forward William Carrier could be sidelined with an upper-body injury after leaving Tuesday’s season opener.
TSN: The Columbus Blue Jackets signed forward Justin Danforth to a one-year, $1.1 million contract extension through 2024-25.
NHL.COM: Speaking of the Blue Jackets, they named Josef Boumedienne as assistant coach and signed assistant coaches Jared Boll and Steve McCarthy to one-year contract extensions.
STLTODAY.COM: The Blues’ current roster retool hasn’t adversely affected them at the gate. Team owner Tom Stillman said the club remains on par in season ticket sales where they’ve been when the club’s come off a playoff run.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: That’s because they’ve got a solid fan base in St. Louis that has supported this franchise for years.
Reeves is starting to show his age a little. Haven’t seen anyone push him around like that before.
Xhekaj’s also a big, strong kid at 6’4″ and 240 pounds.
He also took the easy way out by pushing Reaves into the net.
LOL, “easy way out”. Reaves is 6’2″ and 226 pounds. He’s a veteran scrapper but he had his hands full with Xhekaj
I don’t think when your can gets popped off it’s an advantage to you, right? Clean hit leads to a fight…one player with gloves off grabs the player who delivered a clean hit from behind and started fighting him and after a few secs, he pushes him into the back of the net where they fall over him being on top of Reeves.
I don’t think there’s a winner other than us fans. It was expected and they delivered after a good sequence of events. Who knows if either will be in lineup the next game against.
I thought the pre-season was over…hopefully by game 10 we’ll see good hockey.
Re; The Habs young d/man…
lots of players will be Fearful of that that young 22yr old Arber Xhekaj’s …❗️
Yes he is A Big, Strong Kid… He like’s to scrap with any body who wants to go with him, But i think he is only going to get Biggar & better with age and nobody is going to Hit the younger & smaller Habs forwards with him in the line-up
They will all think twice after last night fight with Big RR……..‼️
Wasn’t really a scrap, more of a pushing match. Xhekaj’s jumped Reaves once he slipped. Unfortunately their next match isn’t until March 9th.
Only 3 games within the division.
I didn’t realize that! that should change; should be 5 games, what’s the purpose of a division if you’re only playing 3 games.
Back to 5 build up the rivalries and more emphasis of getting into the playoff by winning against teams in your division.
Easy way out is a blunder on my part. It just wasn’t much of a fight and he pushed him into the net. Xhekaj is definitely an animal.
Leafs fans will say not much of a fight, Habs fans wanna hand the kid the title belt.
The league massively overreacted to the whole Pride Night thing. Don’t forget, they banned ALL special jerseys and tape for all special nights. Since when does the minority dictate to the majority? Ridiculous!
What’s ridiculous is that the backlash to “pride” and inclusion had to be disguised by banning ALL special jerseys and tape.
That very same backlash is the reason to have it, to protect a minority.
As for Reaves, the TML tied up too much cap in him. He’s lucky the game was in Toronto as hit Guhle in the numbers and got away with it. Xhekai was right to jump in.
I thought that too hf30 but after looking at it in replay, I saw why they didn’t and most likely why you won’t see that called is Ghule turned his back on him.
Ghule was moving towards the back of the net when he was playing the puck and saw Reeves coming, stopped and turned and Reeves awkwardly hit him.
Thankfully no one’s been hurt but players need to be smarter and be more aware than that going in and be prepared to protect yourself.
Habs fans are there fir a good laugh
What backlash? A few players refuse to participate as a matter of religious belief. Whatever. Conservative Christians try to make a big deal out of it despite the NHL having had Pride Nights for years. Zzzzzzzzzz Bettman ending all special jerseys and tape on ice. Ridiculous!
Nhl couldn’t stop themselves from screwing this up. All they did was move the “target” from one minority group to another.
Leave it to players to decide what to support. Marchand said it best. Should be allowed to support what you want. And not be punished by anyone for not supporting something you don’t support
Treat people the way you want to be treated.
Boom. Nailed it.
On a hockey related matter I thought the pre game ceremony in Boston was awesome although seeing some of the guys and how the have aged was sad but seeing them nonetheless was great. And I’m not a Bruin fan but the whole thing was very well done.
@Pengy
If U R talking to Treliving , encourage him for an upgrade on the blueline
Wow, Power 8.35 x 7?
Had he won the Calder I think they would have just handed him the keys to the organization.
As for the pride thing, they should be thankful the league a few organizations and players took a stand against it.
It’s getting more attention than it would if they wore pride jerseys and stick tape everyday!
Absolutely nobody would be talking about this a day later.
Sabres have top 3 signed long term with Samuelson
You didn’t like all the attention Pride Night was getting but now you think it’s a good idea that a few organizations and players “stood up” against it because it now draws more attention to it.
Pretty sure I never said “ I didn’t like the attention “
And 100% sure I didn’t say “it’s a good idea “
You’re putting words in my mouth.
My point was they’re getting the attention they seek either way.
So they should be grateful for it.
Never said “it’s a good idea”.
Tampa could also be looking at the teams carrying 3 goalies – Colorado, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Detroit and Montreal.
Easton Cowan was placed on Toronto’s opening roster, earning him a 1 day paycheck of almost US $5k. Nice gesture by management to reward Cowan for his strong showing in Training Camp. Simon Benoit was called up yesterday on emergency loan. I expect Simon to be travelling with the team on the upcoming 5 game road trip. Wouldn’t be prudent to go on the road with only 6 D.
So this means no military nights or cancer support nights… or any of those worthy causes?
Nice job whiners.
This+++++^^^^^^
The Trade $ price just went Up to re-sign the Calgary Flames Centre 28 yr old, He is the only big fish centre left as a UFA Centre for this season
Elias Lindholm…🤔
Thats after the Jets Centre 30yr old
Mark Scheifele just Re-signed with the Jets 2 days ago. at $8,5 mill for 7 years.
Pepole/Media think $9.M range…❓ i think its more like the $10.M Range…for the 28 yr old Elias Lindholm
Its A Supply and demand thing & he is only 28 years old 2 yrs younger that MS,
So i think it starts at $9.5 to $10.5 Range…
Boston Really Really Need a First Line Centre⁉️
it all depends where he wants to go in the end….
What would Boston need to give up?
-A 1st round Pick in 2026….?
-A d/man like 26 yr oldBig Brandon Carlo,$4.1M..?
who has 4 years left on his contract
-A Good Prospect..? Rusan LW Georgi Merkulov
Or
-There Top prospect 20 yr old RW Fabian Lysell,
-Calgary may need to eat A little salary to
make it work..🤔 ⁉️
Yes! Now just scrap the anthems as well while we are ant it and then we can just get to what we really only want, efing good hockey!
I would be fine with scrapping anthems though. What a waste of time and doesn’t even represent all the players on the ice.
First off i support all initiatives; hockey fights cancer, I always had a special place for it, reading all the signs and hoping there would be less and less.
The gay pride initiative, wearing the sweater and tape also positive in bringing awareness and trying to inform and bring inclusiveness.
People disagree all the time; some folks didn’t like veterans night because they have strong beliefs against war.
For me i cast blame towards the media. The media played a very large part in the NHL decisions to ban all alternative sweater night.
We are not naive people, we know why the NHL cancel everything.
The negative attention that the media brought to the players who chose not to support gay pride night by no wearing the sweater.
Don’t blame the player for their right to make their own decision, if you agree or not.
I don’t watch hockey for religious, political or social beliefs. I watch hockey for entertainment. I don’t need to know, what they do and don’t like, what religion if any they belong or what social causes they support or what political party they align.
Could you imagine if US born hockey players started to identify they are Democrats or Republicans.
If the media went a different direction and focused on the sweater designs and interviewing the players who were (almost all) wearing the sweaters it wouldn’t be an issue. Id it as simple as that? maybe not.
Owners view players as an asset and they don’t want their assets being a negative spotlight and being concern over them having to deal with social matters that do not relate to hockey.
Does anyone in this room watch hockey for social causes?
I don’t agree with leave it up to the players, for one reason only. The media, they will not focus on the event and all the good it does, they will scan the ice, to see who didn’t come out for the pre-skate, who isn’t wearing the sweater and it will be the single most important focus of his or her story.
I do think the NHL over thought the pride tape. If they want to put it on put it on and leave it be.
My solution; every team gets one night for social causes and awareness. The player can chose to wear; gay pride, veterans, cancer care or any other social cause one wants to show support.
Hockey is for everyone; however everyone is never always going to agree with everyone.
Perfectly said, Caper.
Well said. I like the idea of a single night for social causes, perhaps it can be 2 or 3 nights through the season.
I did see someone on social media suggest the players be allowed to have skates made up like the NFL lets players do for their cleats (My Cause My Cleats). This could be a potential outlet for causes dear to the players and like the NFL auctioning off cleats/skates worn with these messages can bring money into those causes to go along with some awareness.
Fully agree with your take.
Connor Bedard scores his first NHL goal and during the intermission they break down the goal and what he did.
OMG!!! The had Paul Bissonnette break down the goal and what Bedard did. Bissonnette all 7 career NHL goals, with the help of Anson Carter much much better with 202 career goals.
Meanwhile off to the side is Wayne Gretzky!
Caper, I don’t hardly ever watch TNT in between periods. Not even interesting because it’s a panel where they cater to bissonette. The problem IMHO is they lob soft ball questions for Gretzky to pontificate and bissonette dominates the discussion because they all think he’s funny and we want to hear his BS? Instead, we get stories as opposed to just plain hockey analysis. I blame the network for even allowing Liam to host the show. They don’t care I am sure what I think. So, during intermission, I just get up and do something and return when the period starts…..
Avalanche & Kings was a physical contest. Rantanen was a beast! Some really bad officiating though. GO AVS!!!!
Caper, I can’t speak to Bissonnette’s knowledge but some of these so called “fringe” players know the ins and outs of systems, strategies and tactics. The reason they weren’t better players is due to a lack of physical skills – they knew what to do but were unable to execute at the pace of play in the NHL. Growing up, every NHL player was a star in at least one league. I believe Marner had his first 100 point season before the age of 7.
To clarify, the NHL is continuing to have theme nights and teams choose what they do, they also sell whatever merchandise they want.
However players are not allowed to wear any theme gear and theme tape, all on account of Pride night.
So you can support the theme but only from the closet.
Is there anything stopping players from supporting Pride initiatives off the ice, as their role as team ambassadors?
Remember that the root of this ban were several players who refused to participate in wearing pride jerseys, for religious or philosophical reasons, which really undercut the initiative and made the league look dumb for not anticipating such an obvious eventuality.
Inclusion is a great thing, and I was disappointed and even annoyed at those players who refused to participate. People are people, irrespective of their orientation.
But when you sign up to play hockey does that mean you have to go against your personal values in a public way? Does a quaker have to participate in military appreciation nights, for example?
Things are not always as straight forward as they appear. As above, players – with the permission of their teams – are free to promote causes they believe in. Shouldn’t the contrary, not participating, also be allowed? When does the cancel culture swoop in and make a bigger mess than now?
And let us not forget: we are talking about sports here, not political causes. I turn on the tv to watch a good hockey game. Period, so to speak.
That’s a great point. Maybe advocate for causes of one choice away from the work place and just keep it all things hockey whilst on the clock, so to say.
Or use intermission interviews to thank your, family or Lord and Savior or to give a shout out to whatever social issues or just cause you’re involved in.
LJ, good post.
On a side note, I don’t believe there are any Quakers in the NHL. Pretty hard to get to all the games in a horse and buggy.
The NHL is clearly aiming to eliminate last season’s gong show. All the media critiquing and scoring led directly to teams abandoning their original plans. Fifteen teams, including the Toronto Maple Leafs, did not wear special sweaters / jerseys during warmups on Pride Night. In the Atlantic division, only Buffalo, Florida and Montreal wore Pride sweaters.
Every NHL player is entitled to the basic human right to support / not support a cause based on his own personal and religious beliefs. Media organizations and fans who questioned the motives of these players acted in a very disrespectful manner.
It seems some earlier posters missed one of Brad Marchand’s quotes: “Also, I don’t think we need to be used to push political agendas as well.”
Re;
The Vancouver Canucks crushed the Edmonton Oilers 8-1. last night
The Oilers d Sucked again lst night they were Not Ready
and Rick the Rocket Tocchet has his crew ready for the oil….
Maybe they need to bring in Charrly Huddy to help be a defencive Coach to help them out……⁉️
The 9.M dollar d/man…. Nurse played Brutal yet Again…. IS he a Top Paring d/man…❓
because he is Not Showing it
He plays like a 4, at Best.. most nights..Or A 5, 6- d/mam
Same with Cody Ceci, He is Not a Top Four d/man more like a 5-6 d/man… @ $3.25 Mill He Needs to Go if this carys on for the next 10–12 games
if not the oil are not going anywhere again in the playoffs and
Mr. Holland knows That…100%🤔⁉️
It was the first game, williew. All I games I watched sure looked like it too. I Just enjoy the craziness until the end of November. Around that time they’re usually all running at peak and we can watch real good hockey from there on in.
Only one game but before they give a Edmonton Toronto final they both better find some goalkeepers absolutely brutal
Obe, only one Toronto goaltender saw action last night. Two more with NHL playoff experience on the roster. Bad night for Samsonov; two guys in alone, plus the brutal clearing attempt by Domi, led directly to 3 goals. And another scored on a wicked deflection from a Leaf player.
First game, left the arena with 2 points, gave the coaching staff plenty of homework to tighten up defensively. Minn Wild here on Saturday, so they better find some D zone answers real quick. Minn is unlikely to allow Matthews and company to post a 5 spot.