NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – May 8, 2024
The Rangers take a 2-0 series lead over the Hurricanes, the Avalanche win their series opener with the Stars, the Sharks win the draft lottery, the Hart Trophy finalists are revealed, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: The New York Rangers took a 2-0 lead over the Carolina Hurricanes in their best-of-seven second-round series with a 4-3 victory in Game 2.
Vincent Trocheck scored in double overtime, Igor Shesterkin kicked out 54 shots, Alexis Lafreniere scored twice and Artemi Panarin collected three assists for the Rangers. Jake Guentzel tallied two goals, Sebastian Aho had three assists and Frederik Andersen stopped 35 shots for the Hurricanes.
New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin (NHL Images).
The series moves to Carolina for the next two games with Game 3 on Thursday, May 9 at 7 pm EDT.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Another entertaining game between these Metropolitan Division rivals. It also got chippy at times with Shesterkin getting run over by Carolina’s Andrei Svechnkov and Guentzel punching Rangers defenseman Adam Fox during a scrum.
Special teams made the difference in this contest. The Rangers went 2-for-7 on the powerplay and held the Hurricanes scoreless in their five attempts with the man advantage.
Evgeny Kuznetsov was a healthy scratch as Max Comtois replaced him in the Hurricanes’ lineup.
An overtime goal by Miles Wood capped a four-goal rally by the Colorado Avalanche to defeat the Dallas Stars 4-3 in Game 1 of their second-round series. Nathan MacKinnon and Valeri Nichuskin each had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche. Jamie Benn had a goal and an assist and Wyatt Johnston netted his team-leading fifth goal of this postseason for the Stars. Game 2 is on Thursday in Dallas at 9:30 pm EDT.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Avalanche showed the rust from their layoff in the first period but regained their legs throughout this game. Meanwhile, the Stars faded a bit as this game went on having come off eliminating the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday.
Colorado’s special teams were a factor, going 2-for-2 on the power play and killing off three of four penalties.
HEADLINES
NHL.COM: The San Jose Sharks won the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery, ensuring them the first-overall pick in this year’s draft, scheduled for June 28-29 at Sphere in Las Vegas. The Sharks had the best odds of winning the lottery after finishing last in the overall standings.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Sharks are expected to select Boston University center Macklin Celebrini. Winner of the Hobey Baker Memorial Award as the top NCAA men’s ice hockey player, Celebrini has family ties to San Jose. He played minor hockey in the Jr. Sharks program as a 13-year-old after his family moved from Vancouver to the Bay Area when his father took a job with the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov, Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid, and Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon are this year’s finalists for the Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded to the most valuable player to his team.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Congratulations to the three finalists. McDavid is a three-time winner of the Hart (2016-17, 2020-21, 2022-23) while Kucherov took home the Hart in 2018-19. This is the fourth time MacKinnon has been named a finalist.
OTTAWA SUN: The Senators officially named Travis Green their new head coach, signing him to a four-year contract. Green spent nearly five seasons as coach of the Vancouver Canucks and was named interim coach of the New Jersey Devils after they fired Lindy Ruff in early March.
STLTODAY.COM: The Blues announced they signed Drew Bannister to a two-year contract, officially removing the interim tag from his position as head coach. Bannister took over from Craig Berube after he was fired in December.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’s no surprise that Blues general manager Doug Armstrong stuck with Bannister. Under his coaching, they went 30-19-5 over the rest of the season and narrowly missed a wildcard playoff berth in the Western Conference.
THE SCORE: cited Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reporting that Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko will be sidelined until Game 5 of their second-round series with the Edmonton Oilers. He’s been out with a knee injury since playing in Game 1 of the Canucks’ first-round series with the Nashville Predators.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The solid play of Canucks’ first-round hero Arturs Silovs has bought Demko time to recover rather than rushing back into action.
CHICAGO HOCKEY NOW: The Blackhawks signed winger Lukas Reichel to a two-year contract extension with an average annual value of $1.2 million.
Now all that Celebrini has to do is convince the Sharks first round pick in 2023 Will Smith from BC to go with him to SJ!
How it’s the beginning of something good in SJ. They are a mess….
OK Staios, now that you know for certain that you’ll be picking 7th get busy with the deals that will make your team a better collection for Green to deal with. And don’t be afraid to use that pick in one of those deals. You have another at 26 in the 1st round.
No matter who you pick at 7 – or 26 – chances are they won’t see the NHL for at least 2 years -especially if they are D, which is the projection at 7 anyway. You already have Kleven and Guenette almost ready for the jump – you don’t need another at this time. Belleville roster players, for a season or two, can be filled from the UFA heap.
Show us your stripes as a GM.
Re Sen’s Draft
George, I think with the 7th pick the bigest hole they need to fix (apart from Goaltending ) with the pick is RD, Sens getting a Offencive RD-man to be in there top 4 in the next 2-3 years
Then pick up a RD in the UFA period like A Chris Taneve there are quite a few avalable
both of these RD Levshunov & Parekh looks like they will go between 3-7 ❓then Carter Yakemchuk from Calgary
1st to go
Artyom Levshunov, RD 6ft 2″ 210.lb
2nd to go
Zayne Parekh, RD 6ft 0″ 180.lb
3 rd to go
Carter Yakemchuk, RD, 6ft’ 3″201 lb
For
The Yop LD/men (Sens Don’t Need more LD)….
Big
6.ft7 LD/man Anton Silayev could go top 5
and these 2 could go 6-10 Sam Dickinson & Zeev Buium
5-6 d/men could go Top 10 in the NHL draft in June this year🤔
williew, Bernard-Docker is a RD and he looks as if he’s finally solidified a spot after being drafted in the 1st round several years ago. Artem Zub is a RD – a free-agent signing. Maxence Guenette is a RD and has a better-than-even chance of making the jump. Lassi Thompson is a RD and he, too, was a 1st round pick in 2019 and still hasn’t made it.
All this to simply say, being picked 7th overall does not mean a player is automatically going to become an NHLer either immediately or even within two years. It’s a crapshoot.
Where the Senators find themselves now with their consensus core – Chabot, Sanderson, Zub, Tkachuk, Pinto, Giroux, Norris, Stutzle, Batherson – they need to find at least 3 veteran players to add to the mix, including a proven goalie (if that is even remotely possible).
A 7th pick 2 or possibly more years removed (if ever), regardless of his position, is NOT what they need now.
I’m thinking Sweeney might trade OTT Ullmark for that 7th OA pick George. He’s from Sweden, he’ll probably like Ottawa and may sign an extension.
Thoughts?
Other than some exceptions D don’t play a regular shift in the NHL until they are 21 or 22. Just takes time. And ya, plenty of D ranked in the top 10.
Silayev is an interesting prospect who might fall a bit due to Russian factor.
Ray, if Boston would go for that – on the surface, sure. But the problem for Staios is shedding Korpisalo and, probably, Forsberg as well.
He doesn’t want to find himself making that deal with Boston and having THREE goalies under contract making a total of $11,250,000 off his cap and sudenly absolutely NEEDING to shed at least Korpisalo – that’s when rival GMs tend to take advantage of a bad situation.
I’m betting he finds a trade partner at the draft table (and not necessarily for a goalie at this time) where the receiving team takes the 7th pick AND Korpisalo and his $4 mil per deal which still has 4 years to run.
Either that, or they decide to keep Korpisalo and ensure that the team is infused with players who can make the overall defensive game better, including and especially the pk. That’s where Green comes in.
Getting rid of Forsberg shouldn’t be too difficult at $2,750,000 with 1 year to go.
Well Forsberg and the 7th OA for Ullmark probably works too. BOS will need a backup, although they seem to like Bussi will have to clear waivers.
Nothing insurmountable to prevent it.
Still Ullmark is getting a raise on his next deal, so the position still gets expensive for OTT after next season. NJ still stands out as a place for Sweeney to be calling.
A Boston University player convincing a Boston College rival to join him in San Jose? That oughta be a hoot.
Hey George,
The Sen’s have Nobdy in the System coming up to be a offecive RD man….⁉️
out all the RD prospects the Sen’s have…
Bernard-Docker look like he could be a 3rd pairing RD man and Big Tyler Kleven 3rd pair LD
RD, Lassi Thomson looks like he wont make it he is 24 in sep & time to trade him out❓
RD, Maxence Guénette who just turend 23 last month has a chance but it would also be a 3rd paring d
and yes being drafted in the 1st round means nothing unless they work hard
Thats why i think they should pick up one of these RD offencive d/men with the 7th pick.. thats the main position they really need to fill with an offencive d/man
yes it could take them a few years to get to the NHL
Zub at the end of his contract in 3-4 years is going to be 33yrs old Just like Travis Hamonic @33 he Zub will be done Also ….❓
thats why they need one of these good RD who can also Run a PP
1-Artyom Levshunov
2-Zayne Parekh (getting compared to
3-Carter Yakemchuk, if Calgary dont get to pick Iginla they are going for him
Good RD/men are so hard to get now the chance for them to get one good one
Re; 2024 NHL Draft Lottery,
What a Boring Non Event…👎 They got to come up with something more Exciting than this…
or just say where you finish that where you pick
That should prevent teams from intentionally tanking.😁
One way to do that and remove ANY tendency to tank might be to allot the bottom 3 or 4 picks the exact same % chance
You say that like teams don’t tank already. They do it by trading their decent players for draft picks. Do you really think SJ, Chicago, and Anaheim really tried to make the playoffs?
I get your point Ed, only because management – and to a certain degree coaches because they control ice time – can manipulate a game to foster “tanking” (Eddie Johnson did that famously to make sure he got Mario Lemieux).
But players I cannot see going along with that … whoever a coach puts on the ice is going to do his very best (Johnson once stormed into the dressing room between the 2nd and 3rd periods of a game when a 3rd string goalie he had called up from the minors was pitching a SO, demanding to know “what the Hell is going on?”
Ed, but they still have to think about the lottery. Finishing dead last does not assure you’re getting #1.
Do I think they didn’t make the playoffs intentionally? Hmmm? Looking at San Jose and Anaheims roster, no, I don’t think that at all. They’re god awful. Anaheim has a lot of good young pieces, but young and still developing.
Chicago on the other hand? Well , trading / giving away Hagel, Strome, Debrincat etc sure looks suspect.
My thought on the draft George?
How about a mini summer tournament with teams 17-32 playing for the #1 pick? (Best of 3) same format as playoffs.
Draft order would be #1 for the first placed team, #2 goes to second place and so on?
Would help prevent tanking, and would assure the top picks don’t rot for years. Why shouldn’t the team closest to being a competitor be awarded with a player that may put them over the hump rather than a cellar team be constantly rewarded with players?
But that would be shot down by the NHLPA, owners alike.
That idea of tournament of losers to determine draft order does have some merit but at a much smaller scale. The 17th placed team, just missed playoffs (could have been due to a tie-breaker) and has a medium strong team; should be favoured in a tournament, and then would move up 15 spots to pick first. That would be unfair.
The logistics of 16 teams playing out in summer would be problematic
That said, the current lottery system does seem to “encourage” taking and/or trading out key contributors on team
Using your idea, top 6 teams in mini tournament (and can be done concurrently with play-offs
5th and 6th place team get byes for first round
Last v 4th last; 2nd worst v 3rd worst (best 2 of 3)
Losers pick 5th and 6th overall
Winner of last v 4th worst play 6th (had bye) etc, best 2 of 3
Losers pick 3rd and 4th
Winner plays winner , best 2 of 3…. Winner picks first overall
5 mini series…. So between 10 and 15 games
There is a downfall to a mini tournament strategy (previously traded 1st round picks where there is (or never was) no top 6 protection (team trades a first with top 10 protection ; that allows them to shift to following year…. If finish bottom 6 then… they are effectively in a tournament playing to better another teams pick…. No chance they try at that)
Picks 7 through 16…. Two lottery drops for any potential move of up to 9 spots with following weights:
End reg season finish:
23rd to 26th (4 teams each equally with 14% chance)
19th to 22nd (4 teams each equally at 8.5 % chance)
17th-18th both at 5% chance
Or, to really shake things up and prevent tanking:
Reverse the order, and award the #1 pick to the team with the most number of points that didn’t make the playoffs, and the team with the fewest points picking 16th.
2nd round, reward team on their finish, with the Cup winner picking 33rd, and the team with the fewest points picking 64th.
Rounds 3 – 7, order picks as we do now.
If a D is behind the net, handling the puck, he’s fair game for body contact … why should a goalie be any different? I can remember John Ferguson’s eyes lighting up whenever he saw a goalie far removed from his crease playing the puck.
They have more protection than a Sherman tank … what is the opposition supposed to do in that instance — pause and wait until he plays the puck somewhere and skates back to his crease?
I don’t disagree, but the play was more of a pick / trip taking Shesterkins legs out from under him. That’s a call on a forward or defensemen anyway. The puck was already moved out as well.
Had it been Fox or Lindgren the result would have been the same.
Igor can certainly embellish very well too! I don’t know if he did on that play, but athleticism has him doing some spectacular flopping! 😖
In other words, every Ranger player is dirty? Lol. Tell us you hate the Rangers without telling us you hate the Rangers.
May want to look into the plays in the season against Carolina that sent Fox and Chytil to the LTIR this year, and Lindgren last year.
I guess they were diving too? Oh, that’s different, somehow… I guess? Nothing to see here folks!
George I like the idea of the bottom 3 or 4 teams having the same %
Fox punched Jake first and got away with it. Fox is sneaky dirty and a world class diver! He had other plays during the game to support my assertions.
you mean Aho?
did you see Guentzel shoot the puck a few seconds before the issue with Fox?
anyways great pace of that game
Lmao? Fox is a dirty player? Oh boy. Yeah, a real Tom Wilson out there!
Without question, Fox threw that first punch, but seriously, cmon man!
Aho got away with a knee to knee on Fox earlier in the season which the Caps targeted and the Canes do as well.
and Guentzel shot the puck into the net during the scrum. thats a beer league move
and Guentzel is a great player
Ds, the next thing you know, it will be every member of the team that’s dirty.
I absolutely love the disrespect from other fan bases at the moment. It’s actually hilarious!😆
Every single accomplishment is met with this kind of 💩.
I’ll go further with this when the playoffs are complete.
But not today!
and guentzel deserved the jab for shooting the puck into the net
svech hit igor. igor was dramatic but it was still contact on the goalie that was on purpose
and the rangers are targeting jarvis every chance they get. just like canes are doing to panarin
Ds,
If you have Facebook and some spare time, you need to visit Washington Capitals fan pages. Absolutely hilarious!
Sounds like every good playoff game I have watched my entire life and I’m pretty old.
Not like George old, but getting up there.
Hey! LOL
Re; Sens
Senators officially named Travis Green their new head coach i think thats a good move,👍
the next 2 years the sens will be working on fixing the Mess in Ottawa so dont expect great things
I think Craig Berube ends up in NJ or Toronto as Coach bye the weekend❓
Staios & Green have Lots of Work to do…..⁉️
-They need a Starter in Net,
-Work on the young d
-Work on the forwards
Two OT games in one night was great to see.
I still expect the Rangers/Canes series to be the most exciting of the second round. I will not be surprised to see series tied heading back to NY for game 5.
Scheduling for this round seems so disjointed (I realize that dual sport arena nuances force the issue) in that it is possible two series are up 2-0 before (albeit by minutes) the final 2nd round series (Oilers vs Canucks) actually starts.
First time in a decade and a half that lottery ends up irrelevant (didn’t change things) regarding draft order.
For Pens , that meant their 3.2% chance at Lidstrom went up in smoke AND simultaneously, Sharks get to selectCelebrini AND 14th as well.
The Karllsson trade just got even more lopsided in favour of Sharks.
Dubas’ two major trades (Karllsson and Guentzel) were lost and lost by a huge margin to boot. His UFA deals last summer also big time busts.
The only real positive move he did make was firing Reirdon and that was at least 3 months late.
If Dubas continues down this path he might lose us Crosby. Maybe Dubas’ main goal is tank city for 24/25 with a top 5 pick?
Or maybe Dubas bends over for Grier again and pays Grier a 1st plus a prospect for Vlassic (with zero retained).
Or maybe there is a tiny dramatically underperforming mid 30’s UFA Fwd out there currently at/near league minimum(on a 1 year contract) that Dubas will pay 3 years @ $4 M for
Feels good to see Mason Lohrei getting his chance in the playoffs and so far playing well … with the top 4 Dmen including ML and possibly Peeke adding a tough Dman this offseason would set the Bruins up nicely for multiple years ..
Ya, he’s been good Joe. Biggest thing is it allows them not to play Grz. I like how Grz plays, and his willingness to take a sh*t kicking in the playoffs. The will is there, but the physics don’t work.
Nice to see Forbert in the lineup as his size helps too, as does the depth. What a difference in how he is moving vs earlier in the year when he had multiple injuries. He just had surgery in March, and per the analysts, he worked his butt off to get back. He looked good considering, and will eat some big PK minutes.
HUGE game tonight.
Start Ullmark…
Kidding! Someone on TV suggested it the other day to get Swayman some rest.