NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – January 6, 2024
The Jets take over first place in the overall standings, Blackhawks rookie Connor Bedard suffers an injury and Andrei Svechnikov ties a Hurricanes record. Details on these and other stories in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: The Winnipeg Jets took over first place in the overall standings with 54 points as they downed the Anaheim Ducks 3-1. Laurent Brossoit stopped 37 shots while third-period goals by Nate Schmidt and Cole Perfetti powered the 25-9-4 Jets to their fifth straight win, extending their points streak to 11 games. Mason McTavish scored for the Ducks (13-24-1), who’ve won just three of their last 10 games.
Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard (NHL Images).
Third-period goals by Simon Nemec, Michael McLeod and Tyler Toffoli lifted the New Jersey Devils to a 4-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. Nemec and Alexander Holtz each had a goal and an assist for the Devils (21-14-2) as they vaulted into the first Eastern Conference wild-card berth with 44 points. Blackhawks rookie Connor Bedard left the game in the first period following a clean hit by Devils defenseman Brendan Smith. The ‘Hawks dropped to 11-26-2 on the season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Bedard jumped up immediately following the hit and skated off holding his mouth. Blackhawks forward Nick Foligno also left this game with an injury. There was no postgame update as both players will be re-evaluated in Chicago on Saturday.
Bedard was recently named as his club’s representative for the 2024 NHL All-Star Game. His fans will be hoping that his condition isn’t serious.
The Blackhawks have been decimated by injuries this season. Taylor Hall, Seth Jones, Anthony Beauvillier, Tyler Johnson and Andreas Athanasiou are among the notables currently sidelined, with Hall out of the season.
The Carolina Hurricanes tallied five unanswered third-period goals to thump the Washington Capitals 6-2. Andrei Svechnikov had a goal and two assists to tie the Hurricanes’ record with his sixth straight multi-point game. Brent Burns had two goals and an assist and Sebastian Aho collected three assists for the surging Hurricanes (22-13-4) as they’ve won five straight and sit second in the Metropolitan Division with 48 points. Nic Dowd and Dylan Strome scored for the 18-13-6 Capitals (42 points) as they blew a 2-0 lead and dropped two points out of a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
HEADLINES
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS: Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen is listed as week-to-week with an apparent leg injury following an accidental collision with Stars goaltender Scott Wedgewood during Thursday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche.
Head coach Pete DeBoer said Heiskanen would undergo further testing on Friday but the injury “doesn’t look terrible.” The blueliner isn’t out for the season and won’t require surgery.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Heiskanen is the Stars’ top defenseman. Losing him for a significant period would be a big setback for their blueline.
CBS SPORTS: Minnesota Wild winger Mats Zuccarello has come off the injured reserve list. He’d been sidelined since Dec. 16 with an upper-body injury.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Zuccarello’s return might help the Wild snap out of their four-game losing skid that has sent them tumbling five points out of a wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
ARIZONA SPORTS: The Coyotes are close to announcing the location they will focus on for their new arena.
DAILY FACEOFF: Speaking of the Coyotes, they placed forward Zach Sanford on waivers.
FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW: The Panthers called up forward Mackie Samoskevich and placed forward Nick Cousins (concussion) on injured reserve.
IIHF: Team USA defeated Sweden 6-2 to capture gold at the 2024 World Junior Championship. It’s the sixth WJC gold in the country’s history with their first coming in 2006 and the previous one in 2021.
THE PROVINCE: Vancouver Canucks prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki was named the most valuable player of the 2024 WJC. The 19-year-old winger had seven goals and 10 points in seven games to lead Sweden to a silver medal. Lekkerimaki was chosen by the Canucks in the first round (15th overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft.
Calgary should have done what Winnepeg did in trading Dubois!They held on to Lindholm to long and they won t get what the would have if they traded him earlier!
You might have something there Steve, but Lindholm is not as young as PLD so the package would have been less than what LA gave. But waiting till the TDL could garner a big return too.
PLD 25 yrs old is 3 years younger than the Flames E.Lindholm,
Looking at numbers Lindholm has better numbers over a 5 year stretch, intill this season he looks and plays like a Boston bruin….🤔
I think that’s where he ends up, ❓
they really need a 1st line centre in Boston but I think they will wait till he becomes a UFA on July 1st and gos to Boston with his good buddy From Boston UFA D/man Noah Hannifin……❓
Boston needs to fill both of those positions on there roster with out giving up all there good young prospects and 1st picks……🤔🤙
Yeah, Willie, I think Lindholm is the better player, too. But LA went for potential and hype……and I think PLD is NOT going to be worth that contract and will be looking for a new home in 2-3 years
Boston would need a miracle to get Lindholm or Hanafin as they will go to the highest bidder at the TDL…GM Conroy waits on no one with his job on the line.
Looks like Boston may ride out the season with both goalies,sign bothHanifan and Lindholm giving up nothing in return,sign Swayman and then trade Ullmark in the off-season and let Debrusk take his chance as a UFA! Would be in favor of trading Debrusk for Kuzmenko!Player contract off the books after this season include,Forbort,Grezlyk,JVR,Shattenkirk,Lucic,JDB and 5 million in Ullmark!
Rob
I think Willie means Boston gets Lindholm as ufa not trading for him Same for Hanifin If either player prefers Boston all they have to do is wait. Time will tell what the 2 players will do
Hey Johnny,
I think your 100% Right on PLD…..
He is a bit of a Winer Baby….
Hey Rob your right,
Get them both as UFA July 1st, they can be traded but they dont have to sign,
Im sure they both want to go to UFA market on July 1st 2024…and end up in Boston by lunch time…😁
PLD is a whiner baby and could be the laziest player in the NHL. Overpaid is way too kind of a word to use. He may very well want to leave L.A. but now has one big problem. 8.5 million a year for a guy who has never scored 30 goals in a season may make him untradeable. And this comes from a guy who won his CBJ rookie Jersey on military appreciation night. That was great then but he soon became God’s gift to hockey.
Vasili Ponomarev played his first NHL game for the Canes against the Capitals. He only had 10 minutes of the ice time but finished with a goal and an assist. It’s only one game but he looked like he is NHL ready and could contribute this year if needed.
Carolina’s has played 23 of 39 games on the road so they only have 18 more away games.
Kochetkov is on a hot streak in the net. I assume Raanta will play tonight. It will be interesting to see if Raanta can get back on track. Carolina is playing their best hockey of the season and are playing at home. Raanta’s game tonight will give Carolina a better idea of any roster moves they need to make before the deadline. New defensemen and forwards take a long time to adjust to Carolina’s style of play so if Waddell is making moves they should be in January.
If Calgary waits until the deadline and Hanifan and Lindholm are just rentals the return will be less than expected!
Hanifin stated he wants to remain a Flame. Go look at the Sportsnet article. I love Boston fans think it’s an automatic Lindholm and Hanfini want to play there.