NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – August 4, 2024
Matthew Tkachuk talks about celebrating his Stanley Cup win with his father, former Sharks GM regrets letting Joe Pavelski depart from San Jose, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
THE SCORE: Matthew Tkachuk said he never saw his father, former NHL star Keith Tkachuk, cry before until the Florida Panthers won the Stanley Cup.
Florida Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk (NHL Images).
“He was bawling his eyes out like a big baby in the stands as those few minutes went by after we won,” Tkachuk said during a recent appearance on “The Jim Rome Show”. “The emotion from my family…it was something that I’ll never forget.”
Keith played 18 seasons as a power forward in the NHL but never got to win the Cup. Matthew said he was honored to celebrate the victory with his father.
“It was a dream,” he said. “Me handing the Cup to my dad when all the family came on the ice was one of the highlights of my entire life.”
SAN JOSE HOCKEY NOW: Former Sharks general manager Doug Wilson recently paid tribute to Joe Pavelski and his long NHL career. The 40-year-old forward announced his retirement last month.
Wilson admitted he regrets letting Pavelski depart as a free agent in 2019. “We should have found a way to get it done,” he said. “It was a mistake.”
Chosen in the seventh round of the 2003 NHL Draft by the Sharks, Pavelski leads his draft class with 476 goals and 1,068 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Patrice Bergeron and Marc-Andre Fleury are the top two players to emerge from the 2003 Draft but Pavelski will forever be its leading scorer. The only player who could’ve caught him was Eric Staal (455 goals, 1,063 points) and he announced his retirement last week.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Randy Gregg and Craig MacTavish are the 2024 inductees into the Edmonton Oilers Hall of Fame. They will be honored at Rogers Place on Oct. 25 before the game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Gregg spent nine seasons as a defenseman with the Oilers from 1981-82 to 1989-90, winning five Stanley Cups. MacTavish spent nine of his 17 NHL seasons as a checking-line forward with the Oilers from 1985-86 to 1993-94, winning three Cups in Edmonton. He went on to coach the club from 2000 to 2009.
THE SCORE: James Hagens is setting his sights on becoming the top prospect in the 2025 NHL Draft.
The 17-year-old playmaking center netted 102 points in 58 games last season with the US National Team Development Program Under-18 team. He also made history at the 2024 U-18 Championship with a record-setting 22 points in seven games.
Hagens also hopes to make the cut for Team USA at the 2025 World Juniors after being one of the final cuts from the 2024 squad. “I want to be on that team really bad,” he said, admitting it hurt getting cut but is using it as motivation this year.
The 5’10”, 172-pound Hagens turns 18 in November and will play for Boston College this season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Hagens is the consensus early favorite to be chosen first in next year’s draft. It’ll be worthwhile to keep an eye on this kid throughout this season.
Imagine that. The 2003 draft is regarded as among the best ever. And it’s leading scorer was taken in the 7th round.
Drafted by San Jose scout Tim Burke,born in Melrose Mass.
Interesting comment in this morning’s article in the Ottawa Sun by Kurt Leavins: “In this space last week, I talked about a pending contract for Leon Draisaitl. While I believe this is headed down a very positive path, I said at the time that “some people who should know these things did not think it was imminent”. And that sense has proven to be true enough.”
Seems, when August rolls around, everything associated with hockey pretty much takes a sabbatical, including contract negotiating for both RFAs and some approaching UFA status within a year whose deals can be re-negotiated.
It certainly does when it comes to those current UFAs still dangling in the wind waiting to see if their NHL careers are over. A few weeks ago I posted a list of the “best” of what’s left and, since then, just two from that list know if and where they’ll be playing in 2024-25 – Alexander Barabanov, 30 y/o RW last with San Jose who has signed with a team in the KHL, and Alex Nylander 26 y/o LW not re-upped by Columbus and who has settled for a minor league deal with the AHL Toronto Marlies.
These continue to wait, showing their position, age, last season stats, and expired deal.
Forwards
Cal Clutterbuck RW 36 y/o 7g 12a 19 pts +4 82gp NYI – exp. $1.75 mil
Nick Cousins LW 30 y/o 7g 8a 15 pts + 1 69gp Fla – exp. $1.1 mil
Mike Hoffman RW 10g 13a 23 pts -21 66gp San Jose – exp. $4.5 mil
Tyler Johnson RW 33 y/o 17g 14a 31 pts -35 67gp Chi – exp. $5 mil
Dominik Kubalik LW 28 y/o 11g 4a 15 pts -30 74gp Ottawa – exp. $2.5 mil
Kevin Labanc RW 28 y/o 2g 7a 9 pts -27 46gp San Jose – exp. $4.73 mil
Max Pacioretti LW 35 y/o 4g 19a 23 pts -14 47gp Wash – exp. $2 mil
James Van Riemsdyk RW 35 y/o 11g 27a 38 pts +7 71gp Bos – exp. $1 mil
Jacob Vrana LW 28 y/o 2g 6a 8 pts -7 21gp St. Louis – exp. $5.25 mil
Blake Wheeler RW 37 y/o 9g 12a 21 pts +2 54gp NYR – exp. $800,000
Filip Zadina RW 24 y/o 13g 10a 23 pts -44 72gp San Jose – exp. $1.1 mil
Defense
Tyson Barrie RD 33 y/o 1g 14a 15 pts -10 41gp Nash – exp. $4.5 mil
Tony DeAngelo RD 28 y/o 3g 8a 11 pts -2 31gp Carolina – exp. $1.68 mil
Mark Giordano LD 40 y/o 3g 6a 9 pts +10 46gp Toronto – exp. $800,000
John Klingberg RD 31 y/o 1g 4a 5 pts -7 14gp Toronto – exp. $4.15 mil
Oliver Kylington LD 27 y/o 3g 5a 8 pts -6 33gp Calgary – exp. $2.5 mil
Justin Schultz RD 33 y/o 7g 19a 26 pts -23 70gp Seattle – exp. $3 mil
Kevin Shattenkirk RD 35 y/o 6g 18a 24 pts -2 61gp Boston – exp. $1,050,000
Goalies
Kevin Lankinen 29 y/o 2.82gaa 0.908 save % 24gp Nashville $2 mil
Anti Raanta 35 y/o 2.99gaa 0.872 save % 24 gp Carolina $1.5 mil
Nice stuff, George.
I read somewhere that Tony DeAngelo was apparently going to sign a contract in Russia this week.
Leon should join Boston after next season. He’s a perfect fit.
Salary cap be damned.
Nah, SOP.
Leon is taking the long view. He sees the Bs in a slow decline, and the Habs now in an upright trajectory.
He’s going to sign with the Habs for pennies on the dollar so his buddy McDavid can join him.
You scoff?
Remember, just because the Greeks didn’t believe Cassandra didn’t mean she was wrong.
Lol. That’s crazy talk, LJ.
The Bruins have supposedly been in a decline since 2013, yet here we are, near or at top of the league year after year.
Leon needs to figure out what’s best for me, and sign a max term, bargain contract and take over the coveted 1C spot on God’s favorite team.
Any talk of the Habs making a play for his services is all Greek to me.
Well played, SOP.
Shoreorrpark, there appears to be several sites indicating DeAngelo’s signing with the KHL, including this one from Sports Illustrated:
“After spending the 2023-24 season with the Carolina Hurricanes, DeAngelo is reportedly signing a deal with SKA St. Petersburg. First reported by Hockey News Hub on Twitter, the word is DeAngelo will join St. Petersburg for at least the upcoming season.”
I guess even the scarcity of RD wasn’t enough to land him a deal somewhere in the NHL.