NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – August 17, 2024
A poll indicates Red Wings fans are losing confidence in their club’s management, three Predators with the most to prove this season, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
THE ATHLETIC: Max Bultman examined a recent poll indicating Detroit Red Wings fans are losing confidence in the club’s front office led by general manager Steve Yzerman.
Two years ago, the Wings ranked third in The Athletic’s annual survey of front-office confidence. They dropped to 12th in 2023 and are 21st in this year’s ranking.

Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman (NHL Images).
Wings fans aren’t happy with how the club has built the roster and managed its salary cap. They’re also critical of the club’s recent trades and free-agent additions.
Bultman believes Wings fans aren’t jumping ship but are losing faith despite the club’s upward trend in the standings.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Wings’ long playoff drought is taking a toll on their fans’ patience. They’ve missed the playoffs for eight straight seasons. That’s the longest drought in the franchise’s history, including the “Dead Things” era of the 1970s and early 1980s.
Yzerman took over as Wings GM in April 2019, by which point the Wings missed the postseason for the third straight year. Their fans were willing to be patient with him because of his great career as their team captain and his success building up the Tampa Bay Lightning into an eventual Stanley Cup champion.
The Wings have steadily improved over the past three years, narrowly missing last year’s playoffs. Nevertheless, the fans are getting restless awaiting their club’s return to playoff contention. Coming up short last season did little to restore their trust in Yzerman’s plans.
Yzerman isn’t in danger of losing his job yet. However, questions could be raised about his future if the Wings come up short this season.
THE TENNESSEAN: Alex Daugherty lists Tommy Novak, Gustav Nyquist, and Juuse Saros as the three Nashville Predators players with the most to prove this season.
Novak’s production dipped after signing his three-year, $10.5 million contract extension in March, especially during their playoff series against the Vancouver Canucks.
Nyquist is coming off a career-high 75-point performance, but the 34-year-old must repeat that output, potentially with different linemates. He clicked with Ryan O’Reilly and Filip Forsberg last season but could be moved down to make way for Steven Stamkos or Jonathan Marchessault.
Saros must rebound from a sub-par performance last season. He signed an eight-year, $61 million contract extension this summer, making him the fifth-highest-paid goaltender in the league.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Saros has the most to prove of the three given that huge contract extension. Daugherty believes the Predators will have immediate buyer’s remorse if Saros’ struggles continue.
SPORTSNET: The Carolina Hurricanes hired Tyler Dellow as their assistant general manager.
Dellow spent the past five seasons with the New Jersey Devils as senior vice president of hockey strategy and analytics. He previously spent two seasons (2014 to 2016) as an analytics consultant with the Edmonton Oilers.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Dellow was a lawyer in Toronto who started making his name in hockey analytics in 2006 with his blog mc79hockey.com. He was also a hockey analytics columnist with The Athletic from 2017 to 2019.
I have to admire Trotz and his aggressiveness this off season! He took a chance on his free agent signings with older players and he showed confidence in Saros when he could have traded him! Their top 6 forward group though long in the tooth should be solid! I still think O Reilly has one of the best contracts in hockey at 4.5 AAV!
Sr
Agree on all your points.
If Saros plays well; this team certainly has a shot at going deep.
Nashville is my sleeper pick in the NHL this year! Lot s of. Experience veterans with a solid coach behind the bench! Many veteran forwards who s teams gave up on them have something to prove! Top 6 forwards should be solid and O Reilly has the best contract in the NHL! I still think Roman Josi is the best D man in the league!Take my chances with Saro s in net!
Yzerman knows you have to have a strong foundation to build on. When he took over, the foundation was a dirt floor. Today they have one of the top prospect pools in the league and the young players are starting to join the team. The wings will make the playoffs and wings fans will think Yzerman is a genius.
Ed, completely agree here.
Detroit finished last season with a record of 41 32 9 for 91 pts, scoring 278 while giving up 274 for an overall aggregate of +4. that marked an improvement, over the previous season, of 6 wins, 5 fewer losses, 11 points, 38 more goals scored and 5 fewer goals against and a significant improvement in the overall aggregate which, the previous year, was minus 39!
In points they were tied with Washington – which did make the playoffs – with 1 more win. one more loss, and 58 more goals scored than Washington. However, they also gave up 17 more goals than did the Capitals and that’s where they need just enough improvement to reduce their losses by 4 or 5 – especially on the road where their record for each of the past 2 seasons was sub .500 (18-19-4 this past season and 18-20-5 the season before). That’s not a major hurdle to solve over 82 games.
Last season they had 11 players with 30 points or more, and their 278 goals scored placed them in the league’s top 10 in that category. There have been roster changes, including losing gritty David Perron to Ottawa via free agency, along with Fabbri and the puzzling Sprong to other locations, and while the departing players accounted for 75 of their 278 goals, they have taken steps to cover that, including bringing in 2-way Fs Vladimir Tarasenko, Tyler Motte and Joe Veleno, along with LD Erik Gustafsson (6g 25a 31 pts +3 with NYR last season.
You can understand the frustration among some of the fan base when you see that their other pro teams have also been out of the playoffs for some time – Tigers 9 seasons – Lions – 8 seasons – Pistons – 5 seasons – but hang in there – I can see the Red Wings improving their record by at least 6 – 8 pts – again, by better road efforts. That’s not a huge turnaround – 3 to 4 wins.
Lions went deep in the playoffs last year George.
lol – yeah – brain fart there chrisms … Hell, I should have caught that … I was pulling for them all the way.
It was that stretch before I was thinking about
I think Detroits improvements are due to improved talent and offensive coaching by Alex Tanguay. Unfortunately, there has been no improvement in team defense, and they look no different there than they did under Jeff Blashill. I think Lalonde is on the hot seat, and if their GAA continues to lag, look for Spuddy Gallant or Joel Quennville by January.
Iago, there’s still time for Yzerman to spring a trade to shore up his D as there are so many teams needing to shed cap space.
The question is, how much will he have left of that $17,648,194 cap space once Raymond and Seider are finally re-upped?
What do you think their totals will be?
George, if Detroit sign Seider/Raymond long term, I think it will take $15 – $16M to sign both. Maybe $12M oiif they sign a bridge. Throw in another $1M to sign Berggren, and most of that cap space could be gone.
Two red flags concerning the team defense has me thinking that Lalondemight be on thin ice. The first came after a home game against Philly just before Christmas. Detroit led 5 – 1 after the first period, and wound up winning 7 – 6 in OT. After the game, in an interview, Torts was asked about the comeback. He pointed out that the Wings weren’t defending the front of the net, so the strategy was to get players and pucks there !
The second came from Yzerman in his end of the season presser. He said that the number one goal for next year was to improve defensively, pointing out that, too often, his team wasn’t playing basic hockey 101 team defense, and it was up to the coaches to fix that. So, after 2 years as coach, Newsyhadnot been able to install a competent defensive strategy.
I am skeptical of his ability to do so in year 3, regardless of the roster he has to work with.
Wings desperately need a #2RD and some goaltending stability and no injuries to Larkin, Seider and Kane to make the playoffs
It is not gonna happen with the D they have now.
Sorry but finishing out of the playoffs for 6-8 consecutive years is poor management.
At this point the players don’t have a winning culture established and they are too accustomed to losing.
Buffalo, Detroit and Ottawa are in the same boat.
Add Montreal to that list habfan30!
HF30: The Wings got robbed last year. They finished in a tie for the last playoff position in their conference with 91 points, and had one more win than Washington, but Washington somehow got into the playoffs. I still don’t understand.
Sr: The Habs made it to the Cup final in 2021. And I don’t care if it was a different format, that format applied to all teams. The season previous to that they got to the second round. So not the same company at all.
Having said that, Habs fans count Cups, and 1993 is an unacceptably long way back.
Habs fans or anyone.
What would be the cost to habs to take the Carey price contract off there hands ?
Could save them potentially 15 million in real dollars , 2 million base plus 5.5 signing bonus for the next two years and open up 10.5 in cap space the next two years also .
The entire country can relate to that LJ!
They have his cap hit shown on the roster and still 5 million in space . I reaalize they can shift him to ltir, and don’t NEED to move him , but what do people think they WOULD pay to clear that hit , save the dollars and avoid going on ltir if they want to acquire players??
Craig, I don’t understand your point about saving $ while Price is on LTIR. Price’s contract is paid for by insurance, and LTIR doesn’t count against the Cap. So the Habs get cap relief while Price is on LTIR.
As trading an LTIR contract brings cap relief for the receiving team it has a benefit so the Habs would get something for the trade. The Habs got Dadinov when they traded Weber’s LTIR contract to LV.
As far as I understand, the Habs are open to trading Price’s contract, if the return is favorable enough.
Are we on the same wave length.
LJ
My original post I didn’t factor in insurance , good point, I understand what your saying .
What I don’t know is , is this 100% insured , does it cover the signing bonus as well as the base ?
Lyle , any insight on this ??
I believe everyone on here , myself included mix up the LTIR rules and all that go with it.. accruing cap space , not accruing , when it is moved , how close to the cap ceiling you are when it is moved , all factors and hard to know exacts ..
IF it is fully insured, not near the benefit I was thinking to the habs by moving it other than added flexibility
LJ
Washington had more regulation time wins than Detroit and that was the determinant. 31 vs 27
And LJ, when the Habs last made the playoffs in that oddity season, there were just 59 gp for most and that was under GM Marc Bergevin – who was fired that same year just after the start of the 2021-22 season. The last 3 years they have missed. Realistically, do you see the team, as presently structured, climbing over 7 teams to get anywhere near a playoff spot this coming season?
Hughes is going about the re-build the right way … but he’s still far from being a playoff contender.
Ottawa has missed for 7 years now – 6 of them under the departed Dorion. Staios has only been at the helm since Nov 2023.
Kevyn Adams, with Buffalo sitting at 13 years out, has been running things there since June 2020, while Yzerman has been in charge in Detroit since April 2019.
Rome wasn’t built in a day – as Habs fans will soon find out.
https://montrealgazette.com/sports/hockey/nhl/hockey-inside-out/stu-cowan-carey-prices-contract-is-still-a-big-problem-for-canadiens
This is Hughes and a small explanation of the cap , accruing space , flexibility and what you need to do to maximize ltir space.
Can’t find anything on if the contract is insured , some say yes , some say no , some say just the base , no firm answer I can find
HF30, thanks for the clarification. Makes me wonder how one type of win matters more than another …
George, no I do not see the Habs making the playoffs this year with the roster and prospects who could make the team out of camp. Realistically I think they are two seasons away from the playoffs and perhaps 4 for being a meaningful contender.
Too much this coming season relies on spells, potions, amulets and prayers for a team that struggles to score.
I just hope whatever mystery ailment impedes the Sens is not contagious.
LJ – LOL – no, if it’s contagious believe me, there’s no vaccine
habfan30,
yes not the best, the Red Wings missing the playoffs
for that long….
But Ken Holland did not leave the wings with much
Steve Y has been rebuilding on the fly as best as he can
Goaltending remains a big problem with Husso, Lyon & Talbot…….. ?
they do have young goaltender of the future Costa the who played here in edmonton for the Oil kings who could be a back up for the 2025/26 season, looks like he will be very good
the Wings still need help on the defence, with a bunch of fillins, 4 there top 6 …… they have 23 yr old Moritz Seider and young 21 yr old Simon Edvinsson
as i mentioned yesterday they could use a Nurse to help the top 4 and the do have lots of Cap space 17.6M & with Seider & Raymond to re-sign… ⁉️
I think Buffalo & Ottawa will make the playoffs this season…
The Wings as of today maybe not with there line up…..
WillieW,then which of the other Atlantic teams won t make the playoffs?
Detroit is a prime example of horrible asset management. They allowed this team to rot around its core. The result is inevitable. This is the result.
But hey at least guys like Zetterberg, Datsyuk etc got to play their entire career on one team!
This is what happens when you cave to “nostalgia “, “emotional “, retention / re-signing aging players at the expense of drafting retaining, acquiring younger players.
Great story for the fans, until it’s not.
The blueprint is clear. San Jose, Detroit, Washington, St. Louis, have shown us all.
Will Gms ever learn? Probably not. We’re watching the repeat on about 3-4 NHL teams today.
SR,
The 8 East teams that wont make the playoffs🤔
>Wings, Philly, NYI, Hab’s, CBJ,Caps,
>Pen’s ( Sorry Pengy 8787)
>The shocker is to miss the playoffs is Carolina
Teams to get in this year are,
1/NJ,
2/Ottawa,
3/ Buffalo
with the 5 others teams
Boston, Florida, NYR, Tampa, and
&
Toronto if there goaltending holds up…..❗️❓🤔
Sorry
and the Red wings to miss the playoffs, thats 8 teams
From my perspective you seem to not see forest of sports fandom through the trees. Those players only playing for Detroit is awesome.
Habs have gone from 55 t0 68 to 76 points in the last 3 years, the young players are improving every year and they are still the youngest team in the league.
The pace of rebuilding makes for a playoff possibility this season and an expectation the year after for the Habs.
Time will tell but the Habs rebuild appears to be on schedule.
For Montreal Dach needs to be healthy and show he can be their #2 center. They also need 15-20 goals from Anderson.