NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – October 23, 2023
The Red Wings Alex DeBrincat leads the NHL scoring race, the Bruins remain undefeated and Oilers captain Connor McDavid has been sidelined by an injury. Details on these and other stories in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: The Detroit Red Wings got a hat trick performance from Alex DeBrincat to douse the Calgary Flames 6-2. DeBrincat also collected an assist to take over the NHL lead with eight goals and 12 points. Lucas Raymond and Justin Holl each had three assists while James Reimer made 29 saves for the Red Wings, who moved into second place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 5-1-0. Andrew Mangiapane and Yegor Sharangovich replied for the 2-3-1 Flames.
Detroit Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Getting traded to the Wings certainly agrees with DeBrincat as he’s off to the best start of his NHL career. He’s provided a welcome boost to their offense which struggled at times to score last season.
Speaking of the Flames, defenseman Rasmus Andersson is appealing his four-game suspension for elbowing Columbus Blue Jackets winger Patrik Laine in the head on Friday.
The Boston Bruins remain undefeated (5-0-0) as they downed the Anaheim Ducks 3-1. Rookie center Matthew Poitras tallied his first two NHL goals, Brad Marchand netted his fourth goal of the season and Linus Ullmark got the win with a 30-save performance. Mason McTavish scored for the Ducks as they dropped to 1-4-0.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Bruins winger Milan Lucic was a late scratch with a lower-body injury. He’s listed as day-to-day.
HEADLINES
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Oilers captain Connor McDavid will be sidelined for one to two weeks with an upper-body injury. He suffered the injury during Saturday’s loss to the Winnipeg Jets.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Things just went from bad to worse for the struggling Oilers with McDavid on the sidelines with a suspected oblique strain. It’s not a lengthy absence but he will miss five games, one of them being the Heritage Classic against the Calgary Flames in Edmonton on Oct. 29. This will be a significant test of character for a club that’s trying to right the ship after lurching to a 1-3-1 start to this season.
THE SEATTLE TIMES: Kraken winger Andre Burakovsky will be out for six to eight weeks with an upper-body injury.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This is the second significant absence from the roster for Burakovsky in this calendar year. He suffered a season-ending groin injury in February.
NEW JERSEY HOCKEY NOW: The Devils got some good news over the weekend as captain Nico Hischier is expected to resume practicing with his teammates on Monday. Hischier was injured during Friday’s game with the New York Islanders.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: The Arizona Coyotes have an emerging superstar in Clayton Keller. Having tied the single-season franchise points record (86) last season, the 25-year-old winger is off to a hot start with three goals and six points in his first five games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Keller’s been heading into superstar territory since 2021-22 when he had 63 points in 67 games before suffering a season-ending leg injury. He’s become the foundation for the Coyotes’ rebuild and a key reason why I anticipate that they could become a wild-card contender this season.
THE SCORE: Ted Nolan recently released his memoir chronicling his journey as an indigenous player and coach through the ranks into the NHL. He’s also hopeful for the future, pointing out that his sons Brandon and Jordan didn’t experience the overt racism that he encountered during his career.
Some of that Stevie Y magic is propelling yet another Red Wing team!
It’s only 6 games into an 82 game schedule, but they sure have been fun to watch so far !
They sure looked good on Saturday , Tanguay has that power play clicking. Ghost was a nice pick as well.
Is Ullmark best goalie in the world right now ? Will poitras win rookie of the year ?
No
Would really like to see #37 walking into the Bruins locker room ready to play
37 and 46. At the deadline all fresh and ready to roll for playoffs 🥳
Yes on Ullmark, no on Poitras
Rasmus Andersson is appealing his 4 game suspension? Why? His lame excuse of Liane being low therefore I hit him in the the head doesn’t cut it plus the fact with 2 seconds left in the game why was there a hit at all. Maybe they should review it and add a couple more games to it.
I thought 4 games was the bare minimum for Andersson – could and should have been more. I don’t see Betman lowering the number of games. In fact, I think even appealing this is dumb, and Betman should add 2 more games for stupidity.
On September 26, 2011, Wisniewski was suspended for the remainder of the pre-season and eight regular season games by the NHL for a hit to the head of Minnesota Wild forward Cal Clutterbuck on September 23 after the end of regulation.
Just thought I’d throw that in
Fred I can’t figure out why the appeal ? If anything it should be more . I guess the NHL hates suspensions been a trend for the last 20 years .
Hockey Canada has needed a 5 year investigation for 7 guys and still no amusement . Weird how they try to bury things .
I believe part of the problem lies in getting the victim to agree to go before cross-examination – which can be brutal in such cases with defense lawyers dredging up past “activities.”
If I’m not mistaken, she has already expressed her reluctance to do so on more than one occasion.
I don’t expect we’ll ever see any of the 7 openly admitting their participation.
Thanks George and sorry for the late reply. I had not heard that angle before but does make a lot of sense.