NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – December 5, 2023
The Lightning defeat the Stars during a milestone game for Victor Hedman, the Jets re-sign Nino Niederreiter, the latest projection for next season’s salary cap, and much more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: The Tampa Bay Lightning celebrated Victor Hedman’s 1,000th career NHL game with a 4-0 victory over the Dallas Stars. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves for the shutout and Anthony Cirelli scored twice as the Lightning (11-10-5) snapped a four-game losing skid. Jake Oettinger stopped 19 shots for the 14-6-3 Stars.
Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman (NHL Images).
Winnipeg Jets goaltender Laurent Brossoit kicked out 42 shots as his club held off the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1. Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers each had a goal and an assist as the Jets improved their record to 14-8-2 (30 points) to sit one point back of the second-place Stars in the Central Division. Martin Necas replied for the 14-9-1 Hurricanes.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Earlier in the day, the Jets announced the signing of Nino Niederreiter to a three-year contract extension worth an average annual value of $4 million. It’s the same AAV on the 31-year-old winger’s current contract. Acquired from the Nashville Predators last season, Niederreiter quickly fit in well with the Jets. He’s got 14 points in 24 games on their third line.
A five-goal first period carried the Arizona Coyotes to a 6-0 drubbing of the Washington Capitals. Nick Schmaltz tallied two goals, Alex Kerfoot had three assists and Connor Ingram turned aside 26 shots for the shutout as the Coyotes (13-9-2) picked up their fifth straight win. The Capitals made Evgeny Kuznetsov a healthy scratch from this game following a disappointing performance in a 4-1 loss on Saturday.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Coyotes hold the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference with 28 points. Meanwhile, their ongoing saga for a new arena could be testing the patience of some of the NHL governors, who are currently meeting in Seattle.
As long as league commissioner Gary Bettman supports the Coyotes’ efforts to remain in the Phoenix area and has the support of the majority of league governors, it won’t matter if a handful of the others are growing weary of this situation.
An overtime goal by Pavel Buchnevich lifted the St. Louis Blues over the Vegas Golden Knights by a score of 2-1. Jordan Binnington made 33 saves while Alexey Toropchenko also scored for the Blues as they improved to 13-10-1. Jack Eichel scored for the Golden Knights (16-5-5), who remain in first place in the Western Conference with 37 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Golden Knights played without defenseman Shea Theodore (upper body) as he was placed on long-term injury reserve on Saturday. The earliest he could return to action is Dec. 17.
The Philadelphia Flyers nipped the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 on an overtime goal by Sean Couturier. Carter Hart stopped 31 shots, Tyson Foerster also scored and Travis Konecny collected two assists for the 13-10-2 Flyers. Sidney Crosby scored for the Penguins as they fell to 11-10-3.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Penguins played without forward Matt Nieto (lower body) as he was placed on injured reserve on Saturday.
Montreal Canadiens center Sean Monahan scored two goals as his club doubled up the Seattle Kraken 4-2. Sam Montembeault stopped 31 shots while Josh Anderson finally tallied his first goal of the season as the Canadiens boosted their record to 11-11-3. Vince Dunn had a goal and an assist for the 8-12-6 Kraken.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Earlier in the day, the Canadiens loaned defenseman Arber Xhekaj to their AHL affiliate in Laval. He’d been sidelined since Nov. 16 with an upper-body injury.
HEADLINES
DAILY FACEOFF: NHL commissioner Gary Bettman informed the league Board of Governors yesterday that the salary cap is on track to reach $87.7 million for 2024-25. The cap is currently at $83.5 million and has been flattened since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The $4.2 million increase is in line with the “lag formula” contained in the 2020 Memorandum of Understanding between the NHL and NHL Players Association coming out of the pandemic. The two sides can negotiate for a higher formula, something NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh hinted at during a recent interview with Frank Seravalli.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The PA could push to have it increased to between $88 million and $89 million. As Seravalli indicates in his report, however, achieving that goal would mean the PA having to make a concession, something the league isn’t planning on based on their report on Monday to the Board of Governors.
NHL.COM: Arizona Coyotes goaltender Connor Ingram, New York Islanders center Mathew Barzal and New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes are the league’s three stars for the week ending Dec. 3.
CALGARY SUN: Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom left practice yesterday after suffering an injury to his right hand. An update on his condition could be made today.
CBS SPORTS: Anaheim Ducks forward Mason McTavish did not travel with his club for their upcoming two-game road trip. He suffered an upper-body injury during Saturday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche.
THE MERCURY NEWS: The San Jose Sharks placed forward Ryan Carpenter and defenseman Ty Emberson on injured reserve.
NHL.COM: The 2024 IIHF World Junior U-20 Championship begins on Dec. 26, 2023, and will end with the gold medal game on Jan. 5, 2024 The tournament opens with the United States facing off against Norway while defending champion Canada meets Finland in preliminary round action. Slovakia will also face Czechia while Sweden takes on Latvia.
Speaking of the IIHF, all players participating in their tournaments will be mandated to wear a neck laceration protector.
Lyles correct. Right now, a handful of owners growing impatient with the Arizona arena situation doesn’t matter much. But if it isn’t resolved soon, it’ll grow into more than a handful. They’d better get cracking.
This is interesting about the cap.
https://www.tsn.ca/video/7-eleven-that-s-hockey-breaking-down-what-was-discussed-at-the-bog-meetings~2818462
After this increase, there could be minimal cap increases again because of the Arizona Coyotes situation.
It seems the biggest unknown for the NHL and other major leagues is how streaming and revised TV contracts will all shake down.
Fans of NHL teams who currently struggle to see their games may face an even bleaker future.
Network coverage of sports in North America could disappear soon.
The monkey on Josh Anderson’s back was more like a gorilla and a greasy goal was appropriate. (empty net).
His saving grace is that he has been playing well in all three zones all year, impacting play and being noticeable doing everything but scoring.
Hard to believe that this young D is missing 3 starters and 2 starting F and still playing enjoyable hockey.
The future looks bright.
Anderson has looked very good the past couple of weeks. I am glad he got that gorilla off his back. He is a valued player when he brings it, even if he is not scoring, his problem is consistency.
Re; Coyotes Goaltending
they look like they have the best goaltending duo in the NHL for under $5.M…⁉️
Watched the game in Palm Springs last night at the Yardhouse. ( Great Place )
they have some Coyotes fans down there… great game, but it was all over in the 1st period
26 yr old Connor Ingram has played great so far in 14 games
11-3-0 with a .930 SV% & 2.23 GAA this season while taking starting job in Arizona from Vejmelka who is not having a great year to date…
Karel Vejmelka has played 11 games, going
3.45 GA 0.892 SV%
But that could change real quick,
They look like they will make the playoffs this year and the Coyote’s fan’s Really Think they will get the Flames Noah Hanifin via a trade……❓😜
However,
The New Arena was a Very Sore Topic with the AZ fans
WOW!!! You fond a needle in a hay stack!!! Local Coyote fans!?!? lol
Hey Kev,
There were 3 of them at the big bar….❗️
Thats only the 2nd Coyote fans I have ever met, and they were Very Passionate about there team The love Clayton Keller down there….
Lyle: the comment about a few unhappy governors not being happy makes me wonder about the role and authority of the commissioner vs that of the governors. IMO a commissioner is an employee who takes direction from the Board, and this is one more case of the tail seeming to wag the dog.
Broadly put, what is your understanding of who is in charge of the NHL?
The owners – first, last, and always.
Iago, I think there is one more element above the owners who are truly in charge: those who fork over a good % of their annual income for the privilege of putting their butts in the seats.
Too bad we don’t have a hive instinct – stay away in droves and refuse to watch sponsored TV games until the obvious flaws are fixed. You’d soon see changes.
But that has as much chance of happening as does San Jose turning their season around and marching to the cup.
George, you are spot on about the fans needing to go on strike….all sports, TV, concerts, movies…they are all WAY out of line on pricing. I have thought this for about 7 or 8 years now. I realize that NHL players are at the bottom of the pro sports food chain, but the Illitch family and Dylan Larkin do not need one more penny of my money than they already steal. I have already abandoned the NFL, MLB, the NBA, golf….those guys are no longer attached to reality. And the last concert I went to was to take my wife to Toronto to see her favorite, Barbara Streisand at whatever the arena is called these days. That 3 day trip cost a fortune !
Anyway, when you do organize the fans to stay away, I’m with you !
Look at it this way LJ. The board of governors is like a team owner and Bettman is the GM. The owner gives the GM free reign to operate as he sees fit. But the owner can make the ultimate decision to fire the GM if things aren’t going well. If things are going well. The GM keeps his job.
Bettman is the one with the power. Read the following article for a explanation why.
https://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/in-his-25-years-as-nhl-commissioner-gary-bettman-has-been-the-boss-the-villain/article_484ee2bc-5a01-5f3b-b995-e8c3d21c0d20.html
Interesting article, thanks, Lyle.
I’m still not a fan of Bettman’s though. He has done a great job of building the NHL off the ice, but the game has declined off of it, and it’s not the fighting part I’m talking about. There was a very short period of time when the NHL decided to call all of the clutching and holding but quickly reverted back. Today the star players are still not allowed to show what they can do because the lesser players are allowed to clutch, grab, and hook them. Also now players like Matthew Tkachuck are allowed to skate around swinging their stick, see his last game against the Sens when he swung his stick at the Sens goalie. The NHL needs to put an end to this type of instigation. And don’t get me started on this whole offside review! Only in the NHL can you make a call one way to take a goal away, but not the other to give a team back a scoring chance that was taken away from a wrong offside call.
In the ’80s there may have been fighting, but the skilled players like Gretzky, Bossy, and a young Mario Lemieux were able to show their skill without all of the clutching, hooking, and grabbing. Imagine today if we could see Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, and any other smooth skating d-man skate from one end to the other like Coffee used to regularly.
Thanks, Lyle.
For everyone not named Lyle who chose to answer as undesignated proxy, here is a quote from the link Lyle provided:
He’s a little banty rooster,” says Moyes. “It’s his way or the roadway. No matter whose idea it is, it’s his idea and that’s the way it’s going to be … “If he was representing me as an owner, he should have helped me get this thing done. Instead he did not.”
Now that quote may be from a bitter ex-owner, but it is quite clear that Bettman directs the governors/owners. How long they want to be led by their noses depends, I guess, on how much money he continues to make for them.
There was always clutching and grabbing, there were always refs making mistakes, stars like Richard and Howe were fighting.
There was brutal intimidation, stick swinging fights and the stars were still playing like stars.
Imagine Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes and the like handling themselves the way Orr did regularly.
I’m not longing for the ” good old days” just pointing out that times change, our expectations change, the player change.
As a fan, I appreciate every new iteration of the game dealing with players getting bigger, faster, more skilled all the time.