NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – January 20, 2024
Recaps of Friday’s games, the Canucks sign hockey ops president Jim Rutherford to a contract extension, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: The Minnesota Wild tallied five power-play goals to upset the Florida Panthers 6-4. Kirill Kaprizov (two goals and an assist) and Brock Faber (one goal, two assists) each had three points while Ryan Hartman tallied twice for the 19-21-5 Wild. Aaron Ekblad had a goal and three assists for the Panthers (27-14-4) as they remain in second place in the Atlantic Division with 58 points.
Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It was a costly win for the Wild as goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury suffered an upper-body injury and center Connor Dewar a lower-body injury. Both will be reevaluated today. Meanwhile, the Panthers sat out captain Aleksander Barkov for the second straight game as he continues to deal with a lower-body injury.
Carolina Hurricanes forwards Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov each had a goal and an assist in a 4-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. Martin Necas and Michael Bunting each had two points for the 25-14-3 Hurricanes (55 points), who sit one point behind the second-place Philadelphia Flyers in the Metropolitan Division. Alex Lyon made 26 saves for the Red Wings (23-17-5) as they slipped into the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot with 51 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Earlier in the day, the Hurricanes placed goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov (concussion) on injured reserve and claimed netminder Spencer Martin off waivers from the Columbus Blue Jackets.
A four-goal second period powered the New Jersey Devils to a 4-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Nico Hischier and Alexander Holtz each tallied their 12th goal of the season while Vitek Vanecek stopped 29 shots for the 23-17-3 Devils (49 points) as they sit two points behind the Red Wings. Cole Sillinger replied for the 14-22-9 Blues Jackets.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before this game, the Devils placed defenseman Brendan Smith on injured reserve with a sprained knee.
The Chicago Blackhawks upset the New York Islanders 4-3 on an overtime goal by Seth Jones. Joey Anderson, Jason Dickinson and Boris Katchouk each had a goal and an assist for the 14-30-2 Blackhawks. Kyle Palmieri and Noah Dobson each had two points for the Islanders (19-15-11) as they sit behind the Devils with 49 points with the latter holding two games in hand.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Isles are winless in their last four games (0-3-1) and have just two wins in their last 10 games.
HEADLINES
SPORTSNET: The Vancouver Canucks signed Jim Rutherford to a three-year contract extension as their president of hockey operations.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Rutherford was hired in December 2021 by a club in turmoil as it had struggled through a period of front office in-fighting, questionable decisions by management, and inconsistent performances by their players.
Over two years later, Rutherford has stabilized management and the coaching staff, leading to considerable on-ice improvement. They’re currently sitting in first place in the overall standings with stars such as Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, Thatcher Demko, J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser on pace for career-best seasons.
The next challenge for Rutherford and his general manager Patrik Allvin is re-signing Pettersson, who intends to wait until the end of this season to open contract negotiations. Sitting among the NHL’s top-10 scorers, he’ll command a significant raise on his next deal that could make him one of the league’s highest-paid players.
DAILY FACEOFF: The Washington Capitals signed forward Aliaksei Protas to a five-year contract extension with an average annual value of $3.375 million. In his third season with the Capitals, the 23-year-old Protas has 10 goals and 42 points in 133 games.
OTTAWA SUN: The Senators signed center Shane Pinto to a one-year, $775K contract on the eve of his return from a 41-game suspension for violating the league’s sports wagering rules.
THE SEATTLE TIMES: Kraken forward Yanni Gourde received a two-game suspension by the league’s department of player safety for charging Edmonton Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm.
NHL.COM: Arizona Coyotes forward Liam O’Brien was fined $2,018.23 for roughing Canucks forward Sam Lafferty.
CBS SPORTS: Buffalo Sabres defenseman Erik Johnson is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
What’s the story with Alex Lyon?
I haven’t seen much of the guy but he has been excellent whenever I do see him.
His stats are very good, he never gets traded, never a long expensive contract never plays a lot so clearly is a very good backup goalie.
Lyon has been very steady for us – very few soft goals, occasionally spectacular when the Red Wings soft defense shows up. But Detroit has been better defensively than earlier in the year – still not a top defense, but steadier. I’m glad we have him, and he probably holds down the starters job for this year and maybe next, and could get a short term extension.
But Cossa / Augustine are still the future.
Re; Red Wings Alex Lyon, $900,000
for 1.5 more seasons
G16, GA,2.57 SV%0.922
is a very good back up, playing better than Starter
Not sure what the wings will do for a starting Goaltender they may just ride it out for 2-3 more years and continue to Re-tool ….untill its Cossa time…..
Red Wings Starter Ville Husso’s salary $4,750,000
for 1.5 more years and Poor Numbers @
G18 GA,3.53 SV%, 0.893❗️
Goaltender of the Future in Detroit is from the Edmonton Oil kings 21 yr old 6.ft6 Sebastian Cossa posting good number in the AHL with the
Grand Rapids Griffins
AHL, G17, GA2.90 SV%0.902
I have seen him a couple of times in Edmonton he is going to be very good 👍
The Oil were going to pick him at 18th but
The Red Wings GM Steve Y swooped in and took him at 15…..‼️
Jesper Wallstedt was suposte to go before Cossa,
then the Wild traded up with the Oilers and took him….. still dont understand that trade bye the Oilers that was a poor trade as Goaltender take 5-6 23 to 24 yrs old to get to the NHL if its done properly….🤔
Patrick Roy now the head coach of the Islanders. Seriously though he would end up in Ottawa.