NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – September 22, 2024
The preseason begins, Jonathan Marchessault’s junior team retires his number, Robin Lehner explains his absence from Golden Knights’ training camp, the Canucks sign Kevin Lankinen, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
PRESEASON SCORES
NHL.COM: Preseason play began with three games on Sept. 21.
Buffalo Sabres center JJ Peterka (NHL Images).
The Buffalo Sabres thumped the Pittsburgh Penguins 7-3. JJ Peterka led the Sabres with a hat trick while Jesse Puljujarvi tallied all three goals for the Penguins.
Minnesota Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt kicked out 35 shots in a 5-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets. Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 23 shots for the Jets.
The Dallas Stars nipped the St. Louis Blues 2-1. Casey DeSmith stopped all 14 shots he faced through two periods while Kyle Capobianco and Colin Blackwell scored for the Stars. Kasperi Kapanen replied for the Blues as Jordan Binnington saved all 10 shots he faced in the first period.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Preseason play runs through Oct. 5. Ten games are on tap for Sunday including the Ottawa Senators meeting the Toronto Maple Leafs, the New York Rangers facing off against the Boston Bruins, and split-squad games between the Nashville Predators and the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
RDS.CA: The QMJHL’s Quebec Remparts retired Jonathan Marchessault’s No. 18 jersey at the Videotron Centre. The Nashville Predators winger played for the Remparts from 2007-08 to 2010-11.
It was an emotional ceremony for Marchessault. During his remarks, he revealed that his mother had recently passed away.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: My condolences to Marchessault for his loss.
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: Golden Knights goaltender Robin Lehner released a statement explaining why he didn’t report for his training camp medical. He’s been sidelined since April 2022 after undergoing shoulder in May 2022 and hip surgery in August and has been on long-term injury reserve ever since.
“All I can say at this time is everyone knows why I couldn’t be there. I was waiting calmly for things to be sorted out.”
All players, including those on LTIR, are supposed to undergo a physical before the start of each season. The Golden Knights are in contact with the league and the NHL Players’ Association about the matter.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Lehner has a year remaining on his contract with an annual cap hit of $5 million. However, it could be terminated if the league and PA agree that he violated the terms of the CBA.
THE PROVINCE: The Vancouver Canucks signed goaltender Kevin Lankinen to a one-year, $875K contract.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Canucks had been in talks with Lankinen for several weeks as starter Thatcher Demko continues to rehab a nagging lower-body injury. He’s taking a significant pay cut to join the Canucks after earning $2 million with the Nashville Predators last season.
OTTAWA SUN: Senators center Josh Norris and goaltender Linus Ullmark didn’t participate in the club’s intra-squad game on Saturday. Head coach Travis Green said they’re keeping Norris out of scrimmages over the last two days for precautionary reasons while Ullmark was having a maintenance day.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Norris’ three shoulder surgeries have Senators fans understandably on edge whenever he’s absent from practice.
MAYOR’S MANOR: Los Angeles Kings forward Arthur Kaliyev is expected to miss an extended period after suffering an injury during a scrimmage on Friday.
THE TENNESSEAN: Nashville Predators defenseman Spencer Stastney will be absent from training camp for personal reasons.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: The Oilers promoted Warren Rychel to pro scouting director and added former Oilers winger Zack Kassian to their pro scouting staff.
THE ATHLETIC: A recent poll of NHL players revealed 62.5 percent don’t want the league to address the advantage teams have in “no-tax” states.
Two players said there are various reasons why their peers might choose to play with a specific team. One player noted there was a time when players wanted to go to cities like Chicago and Pittsburgh with higher taxes. Another observed that teams in higher tax states like Chicago, Pittsburgh and Detroit were destination cities when they were winning Stanley Cups.
Meanwhile, 71.8 percent of the players believe the league should address LTIR and tweak the rule, perhaps by implementing a playoff salary cap.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly seemed unenthused about the league implementing a cap on teams in no-tax states when the subject was raised to him earlier this month. However, he also admitted that most general managers prefer some sort of adjustment to the LTIR rule.
Based on these results, The Athletic’s Michael Russo predicted the LTIR rule will be adjusted in the next round of collective bargaining.
That comment by Robin Lehner is the biggest “non-answer” one might give. I wonder if his absence has to do with his personal bankruptcy, and the fact any income he might receive would be eaten up, so why bother. He has certainly led a peculiar life after hockey.
$50 million is a pretty deep hole.
Bankruptcy case:
https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/goldenknights/one-part-of-knights-goaltenders-bankruptcy-case-is-closed-3090072/
so he isn’t showimg up because it might all be garnished and paid to his creditors? is that the implication?
I recall he has suffered from mental health issues. Constant physical injuries and now bankruptcy aren’t likely to help.
Surprised Lankinen signed for what he did.
Both the Tax and LTIR issues make sense as voted by the players. Good to see.
LA signed Kaliyev cheap… but this injury isn’t going to help move him for something of greater value… unfortunately.
zimmer, a couple of weeks back he turned down the Canucks’ p.t.o. offer
https://athlonsports.com/nhl/vancouver-canucks/report-canucks-goalie-kevin-lankinen-rejects-contract-offer
I figured he’d be the first go-to guy when and if a goalie injury occurred in the first weeks of the season, and had he waited until then he likely would have received a higher offer.
But it looks like he got a bit antsy and figured one year at $875,000 was better than nothing.
The whole “no tax states” thing is a chimera. It doesn’t matter how much you spend, but how you spend. Also all prices are higher due to hidden taxes implemented to compensate for the lack of a state income tax. I know this because I lived in northern Nevada for four years.
Re Josh Norris … time to fish or cut bait in his case.
I wish the kid nothing but the best. However, neither he nor the team can continue to approach each practice as if he’s skating with eggs in his pockets.
Either the surgery worked or it didn’t. The doctors have thoroughly examined him and cleared him to participate …. so, participate.
If the team and he are reticent about full involvement, he’s essentially a useless drain on the cap to the tune of $7,950,000 unless they can somehow put him back on LTIR. Which, of course, they can’t do since the doctors have cleared him to play.
Harsh, I know, but he and the team must find out sooner rather than later if the shoulder can take the game grind.
If it’s harsh, it’s also the reality of pro sports George. I wish the guy well, but I also have concerns about the durability of Dach. For a one line team like the Habs, much rests on his shoulders, so to speak. His cap hit is a lot less, but if he gets hurt again for a significant stretch, then the Habs will have to start trading D prospects to come up with a decent 2C.
It certainly doesn’t help with team cohesion to have that sort of situation perpetually uncertain LJ.
Fingers crossed for both Norris and Dach. Would love to see both Ottawa and Montreal pushing up tight against playoff territory come the New Year. and both fully healthy.
Here, it was nice to see owner Michael Andlauer, on the 1st anniversary of his team purchase and also the first fluently-bilingual owner of the team, showing the flag across the river in Gatineau
https://ottawasun.com/news/local-news/ottawa-senators-hold-intra-squad-game-meet-fans-at-gatineau-arena
Andlauer wants to engage fans; Melnyk seemed to want to berate them.
Yu can bet he’ll hold a “Gatineau” night at some point during the season – even if most who show up are Habs fans – 🙂
Checked the box score at ESPN of that Pittsburgh-Buffalo game. Whereas the Sabres’ lineup included a significant number of regulars, the Penguins iced an entire prospects group.
One thing that jumped out – Puljujarvi, while logging a hat trick, also managed to wind up with a minus 2.
I caught the 3rd period of the game, and 2 of JP’s goals. He skated around Power on the first one from the right wing, cut across the crease, and backhanded it inside the far post – the other was a wicked writer from the slot – showing some of the offense everyone has been looking for.
Looked like there is a little hope.
One way to fix the LTIR. If a player spends the period of time from the TDL to the end of the season on the LTIR, he can`t play in the first round of the playoffs. It might hinder teams for keeping a player on the LTIR longer than he should be and using the cap space to trade for extra help, if they`re not sure they can win the first round without that player who`s on the LTIR. eg Stone (Vegas) Kucherov (Tampa) It appeared both players could`ve come off the LTIR before the end of the season and they both went on to have a great playoff performance those years. The NHL either has to clamp down on the return dates of players or at least hinder teams from keeping players on LTIR longer than they should be
Your proposal punishes players who were hurt but are now ready to return to play. How is that fair?
The best solution I have heard is that your playoff lineup cannot exceed the salary cap, as if it were a regular season game.