NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – March 4, 2024
Recaps of Sunday’s games, Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov is sent to their AHL affiliate, the Rangers sign Jonathan Quick to a contract extension, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid extended his points streak to 11 games in a 6-1 thrashing of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Zach Hyman tallied twice and Leon Draisaitl collected three assists for the Oilers (37-20-2) as they sit second in the Pacific Division with 76 points. Evgeni Malkin replied for the 27-24-8 Penguins (62 points). They have lost three straight games and are 10 points out of the final Eastern Conference wildcard berth.
Edmonton Oilers winger Zach Hyman (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Hyman has 42 goals this season and is on pace to crack the vaunted 50-goal plateau for the first time in his career. He’s also tied with Florida Panthers forward Sam Reinhart for second place in the goal-scoring race. Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews leads the league with 53 goals.
Speaking of McDavid, he now has 97 points and sits four back of Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon in the points race. Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov is the league leader with 105 points.
As for the Penguins, they have no choice but to become sellers leading up to Friday’s trade deadline. Their hopes of a bounce-back performance after missing the playoff last season are all but dashed now.
The Vancouver Canucks moved within one point of the league-leading Florida Panthers by nipping the Anaheim Ducks 2-1. Conor Garland’s tie-breaker in the second period was the game-winner for the 39-17-7 Canucks, who sit second in the overall standings with 85 points. Alex Killorn scored and Lukas Dostal stopped 29 shots for the 22-36-3 Ducks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Canucks played without defenseman Tyler Myers. He’s listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
Four unanswered third-period goals lifted the Winnipeg Jets to a 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres. Josh Morrissey, Morgan Barron, Vladislav Namestnikov and Sean Monahan were the goal scorers as the Jets improved to 39-16-5 and took over first place in the Central Division with 83 points. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 30 saves for the 29-29-4 Sabres.
Los Angeles Kings center Phillip Danault netted a hat trick as his club defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-1. Kevin Fiala had a goal and two assists while Cam Talbot turned aside 30 shots for the Kings (31-19-10) as they hold the first Western Conference wildcard spot with 72 points. Timo Meier scored for the 30-27-4 Devils (64 points), who sit eight points out of the final Eastern wildcard spot.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Speaking of Eastern clubs with fading playoff hopes, the Devils will need an immediate boost by Friday’s trade deadline or they can forget about qualifying for the 2024 postseason. Some observers suggest replacing Lindy Ruff as head coach but a new bench boss won’t improve their goaltending and blueline depth.
The Minnesota Wild got a hat trick from Kirill Kaprizov in a 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks. Matt Boldy collected two assists for the 29-27-6 Wild (64 points), who sit eight points out of the final Western wild-card berth. Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 28 shots for the 15-39-6 Sharks.
Arizona Coyotes forward Dylan Guenther had a goal and two assists as his club downed the Washington Capitals 5-2. Nick Schmaltz had a goal and an assist for the 25-31-5 Coyotes. Anthony Mantha tallied his 20th goal of the season for the 28-23-9 Capitals, who sit seven points out of the final Eastern wild-card spot with 65 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before the game, the Capitals announced they were sending center Evgeny Kuznetsov to their AHL affiliate in Hershey after he cleared waivers yesterday. Kuznetsov was recently cleared to resume practicing with the Capitals by the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. It’s unclear if he’ll report to or play for Hershey.
IN OTHER NEWS…
NEW YORK POST: The Rangers signed goaltender Jonathan Quick to a one-year, $1.275 million contract extension. Quick, 38, has rebounded from an eventful 2022-23 season to become Igor Shesterkin’s backup with a record of 13-5-2 with a 2.45 goals-against average and .916 save percentage.
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH: Blue Jackets forward Kent Johnson will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery to repair a torn left labrum.
DETROIT HOCKEY NOW: Former NHL winger Tim Ecclestone, 76, passed away on March 2. He played 11 seasons with the St. Louis Blues, Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs and Atlanta Flames from 1967-68 to 1977-78, scoring 126 goals and 233 assists for 359 points in 692 regular-season games and 17 points in 48 playoff contests. He remained in Atlanta following his playing career and became a restaurateur.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: My condolences to Ecclestone’s family, friends and former teammates.
Potential sellers for the Friday trade deadline include Wash.,NJ,Pitt,Buffalo,mMont,Ottawa,CBJ. Playoff teams in the East that could be sellers Philly, Boston . In the west Calgary, St. Louis, Minn.Seattle, Arizona, Anaheim, Chicago, San Jose. Let the trades begin for all the armchair GM S!
Where Ottawa is concerned, Sr, PLEASE remove the word “potential” and substitute “definite”
Normally I’m not a big fan of arm chair gm trade proposals. They typically lack any real thought or creativity (realistic creativity) But with this electrifying lead up to the trade deadline, I’m actually looking forward to them!!!
This by far is one of the slowest, dullest deadlines in my memory!
CO, that’s life in the salary cap era.
Toronto thought they had found a right shot defence man but, oh no, he’s under concussion protocol after one game.
How did that happen? No penalty, no suspension. Hard to figure.
At least the league dealt with that jerk
Morgan Reilly.
Lol, I covered my opinion yesterday. Not going down this rabbit hole again today.
Also, we’re 20 years into the salary cap era. And I still can’t remember a slower, duller lead up to the deadline.
The one big difference where Rielly was concerned, BCLeafFan, is that he went after Greig AFTER the play was dead. For something that was mundane in the extreme.
I can understand his being pissed off … but there are smarter ways of dealing with the situation.
Maybe we will have an exciting final week before the TDL.
Sellers were asking high prices as it was a “sellers” market. Seems supply and demand might be equalizing a bit back to the historical norm as it becomes clearer who is still in the hunt for the playoffs and who isn’t. Looks like close to a dozen teams that don’t have a realistic shot this season. Realistic being the key word.
Perhaps the asking prices come down a bit, and the buyers patience will pay off.
Teams with pending UFA and are looking to move them in trades as you get closer to the trade deadline does the trade value of these players go up or down … point is why do most team wait until the deadline day to make trades ?
A lot of deadline day is fodder and desperation.
Last year, Tarasenko, Jeannot, Oralov, Kane, Oreilly, Horvat, Barbeshev, Chychrun all we’re prior to the deadline.
Most bigger names don’t move on deadline day. Which has me thinking this year may not be so active with bigger deals.
As if the list of trade bait wasn’t bad enough this year?
At the trade deadline playoff teams have the cumulated the most salary cap space.
Would it make sense for Boston to try to get rid of all UFA s and see what you can get for them! I Don t really think any of them being gone hurts the Bruins in a playoff run! And they are leaving in 2 months!Fill in with all these Providence guys that they have used all year! Play Lysell and Merkulov and see if they can play at the NHL level! This might not be popular but look to trade Ullmark! Evaluate Swayman over the next 20 games and playoffs to see if he is the guy!You can t afford both next year anyway!I think these should be considered because yes the Bruins are a playoff team, but not a Stanley Cup Contender!
Thinking the Bruins will be buyers and sellers …. Move out Ullmark..DeBrusk..Forbort..
Grez…..
Let’s hope you are right Joe
Grez..DeBrusk..Forbort is a waste of $10 million
Joe, if what you say is true and is realized around the league, why do you think there’d be any takers?
Lohrei & ? for Hanifan ….. I’m not to good at these
Joe, it would have to be 2025 1st round pick and somehow, someway salary would have to be moved out.
Hanifin, Lindholm and Wotherspoon on the left side
McAvoy, Carlo and add on the right side.
Not a popular opinion, wouldn’t mind changing out the coach. Hasn’t shown he can handle adversity. I know it’s not happening. …but
Cassidy wasn’t well liked by some players but I do think he’s a better bench coach than Monty
That 3rd Dman on the right would definitely have to be a Big tough Defensive Defender
Agree Caper, Lohrei and a 1st would be the starting point, what else, if anything is the question.
I like Hanifin, and if we can get him as a UFA in offseason, great, go for it.
The B’s are not in a position to do that IMO, and it would be a big mistake. Our lack of depth has been glaring for the past month or so as the intensity picks up down the stretch. We can’t outwork teams very often, as everybody is going hard now.
Other than the solid D core, and 5 forwards, we are lacking. Assets and players need to come in, without picks and prospects coming in. Look at what losing Lindholm has done?
I also don’t think this can be fixed just in the UFA market. We need young, quality players who cost less. Those are not in the UFA market.
I also don’t think there is a chance in hell B’s will be sellers, nor should they be. It’s not fair to the players who got them in this position.
Sweeney must be seeing what we can see. This team can win a round with hot tending, maybe even 2 if one or both can stand on their head. Even that is unlikely, but that is the ceiling for this team IMO.
Stand pat and a least don’t give up young players and another 1st.
I thought I heard that the Flames were more interested in prospects than draft picks. They keep saying they are retooling and not rebuilding.
Hanifin only has an 8-team no-trade list. He would prefer to go to Florida, Tampa, or Boston but the Flames have at least 10 other playoff teams they can deal with. I excluded the Jets, Oilers, and Canucks because apparently, they are on his no-trade list. From what I have heard Florida, Tampa, and Boston lack the high-end prospects the Flames are looking for to get for Hanifin.
Kevjam i think there is more than one issue in Calgary:
Markstrom isn’t happy with how things were handle, he could be dealt.
They are 7 points out with 2 games in hand on Nashville.
Strength of schedule Nashville has 12 games remaining against none playoff team and Calgary 10
Best return for Hanifin would be a sign and trade. This is where Hanifin hold some leverage to potentially determine where he lands.
Not sure where i read it but it claimed NJ was trying to land both.
RayBark, Let s be honest,the 2 players that got the Bruins where they are,are their goalies! And this team can no longer afford to have 1 of it s top 5 players sitting every other night!
I would think Lohrei, 2025 1st & perhaps Debrusk as the cap dump may work. Deal should happen soon to give Conroy time to flip Debrusk & retain 50% for best picks he can get to the likes of the Oilers or Knights or even the Rangers.
I agree Sr, I’m not sure when the best time to make that deal is though. The market will be larger in the off season, as more teams will have the cap space.
I would want to know:
1 – what will it cost to extend each of them.
2 – what will the return be for each of them.
They have been able to extend Swayman for a while now., and it hasn’t happened. Last year it went to arbitration between the 2 sides. Not a great sign, but probably not a big issue for Swayman.
They can’t get Ullmark signed to a contract extension until July 1, but I would want to know prior to the draft in June what that deal would look like. I think you can discus a contract prior to July 1 a year prior, but I don’t know that. Does anybody else? Maybe Ullmark wants to test the market? Who knows.
I would want to know as much as I could prior, in reality you could trade either one. Even teams like OTT might be interested in a guy like Swayman vs Ullmark as he takes longer to hit UFA status, plus he doesn’t have a NTC.
The tending position will be expebsive if you keep both as Swayman is getting a significant raise IMO.
I know we talk about the “cap era” as slowing down the TDL, but somehow people forget that it is more the “cap freeze” era of the pandemic that has cause so much issue.
I foresee this being a slow deadline with some random rentals being sent around, but I see this draft day as being maybe a little more frenzied than it has been in the past years.
July 1 may also be much more hectic than it’s been in recent years.
“Cap Freeze” is a far more accurate phrase to explain the slow build to trade deadline day.
Not to beat a dead horse but I’d ask neutral observers to watch the hit by Rempe on Lybushkin and ask yourself, “If this happened to one of the guys on my team, what would my reaction be?
And remember, no penalty was called and, of course, no suspension.
Have seen the play many times and looking at it as an outsider…. Player Safety should have written this up as charging that led to a injury in my opinion…
BCLeaf Fan, I wouldn’t be happy a guy from my team got hurt. Not sure I would blame the NHL or the DOPS.
What rule did he break? Charging maybe, as he came from distance hard. One foot came off the ice prior to contact.
He didn’t hit him in the head or target his head. The puck just left, so not late. Was from the side, shoulder hit shoulder. Head hit glass.
Seems like a really big guy, hit a fairly big guy really hard from the side, fast.
Probably a charging penalty, but not black and white IMO.
I’d like to see the perspectives / opinions of the more neutral fans on here. Which are few and far in between.
Leave all Toronto and Ranger fans out of the equation, along with those who every other comment is just grossly one sided and biased toward their team, and really don’t have much insight other than that.
Ray and Joe are great starts.
Love to see the opinions of Lyle, Tommyboy, Richard Ifeild, and the couple of Columbus fans (sorry, I can’t remember names)
I’d say George as well, but too many Toronto fans will play the never ending “hater” card.
Imo, the play, and rule is very subjective. I think even outside opinions will see it both ways and you’re not going to get a clear cut answer either way.
Honest opinions, of people that have or will watch the clip multiple times only.
And then maybe we can put it to bed?
CO,
It was a big hit on a physical D by a bigger physical F.
It wasn’t a charge, , at 6’8 each stride goes far and truth be told he’s a decent skater.
It was a hockey play,
Lyubushkin made a mistake that most guys do nowadays and keep a bit of distance from the boards and that increases the impact of the hits.
Years ago the Habs had a D-man, Josh Gorges that hugged the boards while getting plastered, even to the numbers and he never got hurt. Flopped to the ice like gumby and got right back up.
As a neutral fan from out West, I thought 5 games was too steep versus some of the viscous hits from behind Ive seen & way less suspensions.
Probably 2-3 games would have sent the same message. Greig wasnt injured & kind of instigated it but Reilly was out of line.
Fair enough, CO, and let’s do that. Appreciate the comments made above.
On to the next.