NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – October 19, 2023
Josh Norris makes an impressive season debut with the Senators, the Red Wings down the Penguins and Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar recently set a league record. Details on these and other stories in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: Ottawa Senators center Josh Norris scored twice in his season debut as his club trounced the Washington Capitals 6-1. Tim Stutzle had three assists and Drake Batherson had two helpers. John Carlsson scored Washington’s only goal while Alex Ovechkin has just one assist in his first three games and was held without a shot in consecutive games for the first time in his career.
Ottawa Senators center Josh Norris (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Norris had been sidelined since Jan. 21 by a shoulder injury. His return provides a big boost to their offense as well as bolster their depth at center. Meanwhile, Senators defenseman Artem Zub left the game in the third period after taking a puck to the side of his face. No word yet as to his condition but for now he could be considered day-to-day. Capitals forward Nic Dowd missed this game with an upper-body injury.
The Detroit Red Wings got two goals each from Alex DeBrincat and Andrew Copp in a 6-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Dylan Larkin had three assists and a fighting major as the Wings have won three straight games. Erik Karlsson had a goal and two assists for the Penguins.
IN OTHER NEWS…
COLORADO HOCKEY NOW: Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar set an NHL record for defensemen during their 4-1 win over the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday. With an assist on Logan O’Connor’s goal, he became the fastest blueliner to reach 250 career points. He did so in 241 games, beating out Hall-of-Famer Bobby Orr by six games.
WINNIPEG SUN: The Jets saw a significant drop in attendance in their first two home games of this season. There were roughly 2,000 empty seats for their season opener and over 4,000 for Tuesday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings.
Average attendance at the 15,325-seat Canada Life Centre dropped to 14,025 last season. Their season-ticket base of 13,000 has dropped to less than 10,000.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’ll be interesting to see if that trend continues over the course of this season.
The growing cost of attending NHL games in the league’s smallest market at a time when inflation has driven up the cost of living is one factor. The novelty of the NHL’s return could be finally wearing off for some of their fans. The Jets decline since reaching the 2018 Western Conference Finals could also be turning off some of their followers.
TSN: Speaking of the Jets, winger Gabriel Vilardi will miss the next four to six weeks with a sprained MCL.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: There was speculation that the Jets might pursue a winger such as Vancouver’s Conor Garland if Vilardi’s injury was as serious as that of Montreal’s Kirby Dach, who’s out of the season with a knee injury.
The Jets currently have around $2.4 million in cap space. They have no reason to place Vilardi on long-term injury reserve until they’re acquiring someone with a higher cap hit than his $3.43 million. They could instead opt to make do with a call-up from their farm team until he returns.
THE TENNESSEAN: Nashville Predators defenseman Luke Schenn will be sidelined for four to six weeks with a lower-body injury.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: The Minnesota Wild recalled forward Sammy Walker and placed defenseman Alex Goligoski (lower body) on long-term injury reserve.
CAROLINA HOCKEY NOW: The Hurricanes called up goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov. The move comes after Frederik Andersen left Tuesday’s game against San Jose after taking a puck to the mask.
You have to wonder when the musing will start regarding the possibility of Winnipeg – the smallest market in the league – losing another NHL franchise.
It is the Trudeau effect that has hurt fandom the most.
I was unaware that Justin was so powerful he could cause GLOBAL inflation at levels never seen before. Impressive.
Exactly theSaint, Canada and the US are doing better than most with regards to inflation. This isn’t record inflation though, it was higher in the late 70’s and early 80’s.
You will be hard pressed to find someone who wants to see Trudeau lose the next election more than me, but blaming him solely for high inflation is ridiculous. His fault for lower attendance in WPG? Only if you’re on glue.
Historically there has been one way and one way only to get inflation under control, slow the economy/demand. Hence the high interest rates coming out of the fed. And those rates won’t come down until inflation does. They have learned that lesson too. Us older folk on here remember what our mortgage rate was back then. Yikes.
George I hope your wrong but I do travel to Manitoba a lot for work and very noticeable that the restaurants and bars that use to be full for games only have a few people now days. Granted I am very seldom right in Winnipeg.
Why because they have the same attendance Ottawa had for years and years?
And there was constant chatter about a franchise move,
All I did was speculate that, if the attendance continues to lag in the smallest arena in the league some suggestion about a move could surface. It’s virtually inevitable.
https://thehockeynews.com/news/ranking-nhl-arenas-smallest-to-largest-by-capacity
It’s not the smallest arena… Why does Arizona get free pass after free pass?
The Coyotes arena is temporary. Besides, Winnipeg plays in the NHL’s smallest market.
Cause the cities is huge.
Because it’s regarded as a temporary home. But OK, let’s grant that view – but looking at all the current “permanent” homes Winnipeg is, by a considerable amount in over half the arenas, the smallest in capacity.
As I have stated before, the cost of entertainment in general, and professional sports in this case, is fast becoming cost prohibitive. Whether you attend games, and pay higher ticket/parking/concession prices, or watch games, and pay higher cable or subscription costs, fans are footing the bill. I know that cause and effect are open to debate,but, as I understand it, the NHL CBA has owners and players splitting revenue 50/50, so both share culpability.
In my case, my brother, sister and I, all senior citizens living on fixed incomes , will not renew our shared 21 game season ticket package in Detroit. We will adjust to the rising costs by attending fewer games.
As a Sens half season owner, I am and have been constantly impressed by the team’s ability to keep things somewhat cost certain. Year over year through the rebuild and even last night’s game.
2 tickets 300 level row F 40$ (tax in) + parking. Parking is the luxury. Could I park at some near by place and walk 10 minutes? Yes. Even the beer I had last night was 18.50$ BUT…it wasn’t a tall boy. It was a king can and a big one. Still too much? Yes.
I don’t know why the NHL teams don’t do more of what Arthur Blanc (owner of the NFL Falcons) and I guess even the Toronto Blue Jays do to an extent. Blanc reduced prices of concessions and alcohol for a couple of seasons and saw a ridiculous increase in the amount sold. Yes the building holds 70,000 but…economies of scale and all that. If a family struggling to feed people could spend 80$ on 4 Sens tickets and then have a loonie dog night….
I’m just sayin. Seems some NHL franchises are on razor thin margins. Speaking of the Sens last night’s attendance didn’t look great. Maybe 14-15K ?
As a Jets season ticket holder I have been concerned for a few years now. The club seems to think that we brought you hockey back so just come and give us money!
Frankly the entertainment value is stale and lacks any imagination or desire to improve it.
I’m not talking about the games themselves. The team is competitive imo with a nice roster and good management.
I do feel that the negative vibes the last few years with a few players has worn on the fans. I personally got fed up with the daily headlines of player unhappiness.
Just bring back kids playing hockey between periods for Gods sake. Some form of entertainment other than me walking the corridors to see if I can find some friends at the bar.
Saying all that I’m sure the numbers are likely down at other venues but we won’t hear about that. Only how Wpg is struggling
I know that Detroit regularly reports sellouts, but, based on the games I have attended over the recent seasons, the number of empty seats tell a different story. I attended last night’s game against the Penguins, and the arena was probably 85% full, which is more than normal, or that I expected. There were also plenty of folks wearing Crosby jerseys in attendance too.
Paid attendance last night in Detroit was 18,895. So not 100% but close.
Guessing the empty seats are corporate where it is paid but nobody went.
Can’t speak for WPG arena, but corporate boxes and “club” seats drive the high margin revenue these days. Does the WPG arena have that? Will the corporate community support it, and is it large enough if they built a modern arena with more capacity?
One of the Jets co-owners is David Thompson and he is the 4th richest sports franchise owner in the world, and #1 in the NHL, at 52 billion according to Forbes. So the $$ is there to get a new arena, but pretty sure he didn’t stay that wealthy by spending it frivolously.
Makar beating a record held by the greatest player ever…. wow….. good on you
Pens losing….not good
the fiesty and fast RedWings are much better than I thought
However, setting aside 2 EN goals….. 3 of 4 goals against the Pens…. all on on one guy… #2
goaltender interference on your own goalie and then simultaneously screening him from the shot AND not cover your man
This really is on Sully. CR should not be playing on the big club
And Norris potting two in his first game in a long time wasn’t too shabby either.
Saturday’s afternoon game with Detroit visiting Ottawa should be a good one.
Pengy, time for you to give Kyle Dubas a call. During an intermission interview last night he admitted that “we’re not there yet” in reference to the bottom 6 forwards. I’m sure you can make a few suggestions to help him out.
There are several options ….many include waiving those on the big club snd bringing up WBS players
huge cliff drop off after top 6….. and playing their 9th (likely 10th or 11th) best defensemen nightly ; costing nightly; only because he’s a nice guy…. Painful
Penguins did nothing to address their secondary scoring issues. They signed a bunch of 4th liners that help out defensively and kill penalties but none of them are a threat offensively. They need to give Poulin and Pusstinan a chance with Oconner as a third line. Any combination of what’s left would make a good 4th line and Jeff Carter needs to go to Robidas island with the other not worth its.
Every word you said…. 100 % agree