NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – October 3, 2024
Recapping Wednesday’s preseason action, injury updates, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPS OF WEDNESDAY’S NHL PRESEASON GAMES
NHL.COM: Four first-period goals powered the Nashville Predators to a 6-4 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center in Raleigh. Jonathan Marchessault tallied twice for the Predators while rookie forward Felix Unger Sorum had a goal and two assists for the Hurricanes.

Nashville Predators winger Jonathan Marchessault (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Hurricanes raised nearly $300K from ticket revenue, donations, and a silent auction from the sellout crowd which will be used for Hurricane Helene relief efforts.
The Florida Panthers nipped the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 on an overtime goal by Sandis Vilmanis. Spencer Knight made 26 saves for the Panthers. Nikita Kucherov scored for the Lightning.
Winnipeg Jets winger Nino Niederreiter scored two goals and Gabriel Vilardi collected three assists in a 5-2 win over the Calgary Flames. Niederreiter snapped a 2-2 tie with 6:38 remaining in the third period. Dustin Wolf stopped 22 shots for the Flames.
The Seattle Kraken thumped the Edmonton Oilers 6-2. Shane Wright scored twice and Philipp Grubauer made 28 saves for the Kraken. Leon Draisaitl scored and picked up an assist and Darnell Nurse logged 22:17 of ice time in his preseason debut. Nurse has been dealing with an undisclosed injury since the Stanley Cup Final in June.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kraken winger Jared McCann was a late scratch with a lower-body injury. Head coach Dan Bylsma listed him as day-to-day.
Anaheim Ducks forward Leo Carlsson had a goal and two assists in a 5-2 victory over the Utah Hockey Club. Lukas Dostal kicked out 35 shots for the Ducks. Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka stopped 32 shots.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Utah defenseman John Marino will miss the club’s season opener with an upper-body injury. He’s missed all of training camp and preseason dealing with this ailment.
HEADLINES
OTTAWA SUN: Senators forwards Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle and defenseman Thomas Chabot are all okay after leaving Tuesday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens with injuries. Meanwhile, Carter Yakemchuk is making the case to start this season with the Senators. The 19-year-old defenseman is their leading scorer in this preseason with five points, including two goals.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Senators can keep Yakemchuk in their lineup for up to 10 regular-season games without using up the first year of his entry-level contract. He was chosen seventh overall in this year’s NHL draft.
SAN JOSE HOCKEY NOW: The Sharks and their fans are breathing a sigh of relief after Macklin Celebrini was listed as day-to-day after crashing hard into the boards during Tuesday’s game against Utah. The 18-year-old center was chosen first overall in this year’s draft.
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE/CBS SPORTS: Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Winger Blake Lizotte is out indefinitely with a concussion after being struck by a puck during last Sunday’s preseason game against Ottawa.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: St. Louis Blues defenseman Justin Faulk looks forward to a healthy season after nursing ankle and shoulder injuries that limited him to 60 games in 2023-24.
SPORTSNET/THE PROVINCE: Vancouver Canucks forward Pius Suter is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. They also lost goaltender Jiri Patera off waivers yesterday to the Boston Bruins.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: The Washington Capitals could keep promising prospect Andrew Cristall on their roster for the opening games of this season. The 19-year-old had a strong training camp and performed well in preseason action.
DETROIT HOCKEY NOW: The Red Wings released forward Alex Chiasson from his professional tryout offer.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Minnesota Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury didn’t play in his club’s preseason home game on Tuesday against the Chicago Blackhawks. Nevertheless, he still found a way to get on the ice, pranking his teammates by disguising himself as an ice crew member and chirping the Wild bench during a TV timeout.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Admit it, folks, we’ll miss Fleury when he retires at the end of this season.
That Ottawa roster situation is close to ranking right up there with that of the Leafs in terms of decisions to be made. At the moment Puckpedia shows Staios with cap space of $1,884,285 and 21 of 23 positions filled (12F 7D 2G), with probable line-ups as follows:
Tkachuk – Stutzle – Batherson
Norris – Pinto – Giroux
Perron – Greig – Amadio
Gregor – Cousins – MacEwen
Sanderson – Zub
Chabot – Jensen
Kleven – Bernard-Docker
Hamonic
Ullmark – Forsberg
Among the Fs only Greig has options, and he’s not going anywhere, nor is Sanderson on D, one of two D with options, the other being Kleven. If, as being speculated, the decision is to add rookie RD Carter Yakemchuk and his $975,000 ELC for at least 9 games, that would give them 8D, and they almost have to elevate left-shot C/W Jan Jenik ($775,000 ELC – obtained in the deal for Egor Sokolov) if they want to retain him since, to start the year in Belleville, he would need to be waived, and almost certainly would be grabbed. He’s had a VERY good camp. Keeping both would give them a roster of 23 and about $100,000 in cap space.
The hard decision to make will surround Yakemchuk. Yes, they can keep him for 9 games before sending him back to Major Junior in Calgary without losing a year of his entry-level status, but in that scenario what’s the use if they don’t play him regularly? If they do go that way, who do they pair him with and at whose expense? If he’s making rookie mistakes or they feel he needs to work on his skating, then they’d send him back to Junior. However, if he continues to progress and play well, they obviously have a hard decision to make (a trade? Zub? Bernard-Docker?) since it’s pointless to keep 8 D up.
They also still have RD Addison on a p.t.o. (along with goalie Tokarski) and just a few more days to decide.
On paper that looks like a solid lineup George! OTT fans have reason to be optimistic, considering there should be “internal growth”.
I guess the question is will the younger guys game mature, and will they have the focus on the details required to play as a group in all 3 zones. That and special teams of course. Ullmark should help the PK, plus Jensen and Gregor have killed penalties in the past. Kleven being 6’4″ seems built for it.
Amadio and Perron (PP) both play the game the right way for the 3rd line.
Reasons to think they improve in the win column, just will it be enough in a tough division. Bruins tending situation doesn’t hurt their chances either, it should be tight.
As I posted some time ago Ray, I’m not about to predict a playoff spot and at whose expense. What I DO predict in the Atlantic, however, is the tightest race from top to bottom than we’ve seen in a long time, with far fewer points separating the teams and Detroit Buffalo, Ottawa and Montreal all finishing with somewhere between 85 and 90 points.
Unknown factors will, of course come into play: injuries, unexpected individual break-out seasons, goalkeeping issues, internal/coaching issues.
Hold onto your hat! 🙂
IF Detroit Buffalo, Ottawa and Montreal all finish with somewhere between 85 and 90 points, then none of those teams will make the playoffs.
Cut-off is usually around 92-93.
George: there is no way the Sens will trade Zub. He’s been their steadiest defenceman over the past few years (+12 since 20-21) and would be very difficult to replace. Also, fans would be furious. JBD is the obvious odd man out if Yakemchuk stays with the big team. But I think they will give him 9 games and then send him (perhaps regretfully) back to the WHL.
HossaHeat, don’t get me wrong … I like Zub. I only mention his name in the equation that involves retaining Yakemchuk solely on the basis of his tendency to be out of the line-up fairly frequently (he’s missed 17% of the team’s games since his arrival), and how his $4.6 mil cap hit freed up would give Staios more options as the season wears on.
As I point out above, whether it’s Yakemchuk and Jenik who become the 22md and 23rd roster players – or two others from Belleville- they’re reduced to squat in terms of wiggle room.
Zub’s $4.6 mil would provide something closer to $3 mil in that regard AND he would garner a bigger return by far than would Bernard-Docker – who, anyway, has improved exponentially since being drafted and will do fine on the 3rd pairing with Kleven.
If Yakemchuk stays up he’s not going to play 3rd pairing minutes. He either pairs with Chabot, moving Jensen up to join Sanderson, or goes right to the first pairing with Sanderson.
Very true Hammer_of_the_Gods. I won’t predict a playoff spot for any of them (I subscribe to the Toe Blake philosophy that “predictions are for gypsies 🙂 , just saying I can see all improving to the point where the top teams in the Atlantic (Florida, Boston, Tampa, Toronto) and Conference WC playoff teams like the NYI and Washington, are going to feel a lot more seasonal heat than has been the case for a number of seasons now.
And if any of those unknown factors materialize, who knows?
The Yakemchuk kid has a Shea Weber shot.
He does, Uwey, and he’s also very adept at moving in close and deking a goalie.
Re Sen’s team..
been away at my youngest doughters wedding and just got back
-Did big Zack Ostapchuk get send down…?
i was hoping he would be there 4th line centre?
-What about Carter Yakemchuk…? heard lots about about him this week in Calgary..on the raido that
they are hoping to keep him around for 8-9 games
So if he stays up he need to play with Chabot or Sanderson a Good LD man for training and development and then maybe go down…. or stay,🤔
that could make Zub trade bate, But Zub to train young Tyler Kleven could be Very Very Valuable in the long run for his development❗️👌
I still think we need a tough guy on the RW….
like UFA Cal Clutterbuck and not Zack MacEwen,âť“
Welcome back williew
Ostapchuk is still up – and they just recalled a number sent down to the Belleville camp earlier since they play back-to-back this week-end in their final ex games.
The final cuts will likely be announced next Sunday … but I bet the roster looks like the one posted above – with the possible exception of Yakemchuk and Jenik being kept up.
I understand what you’re saying about Zub being valuable trade bait and possibly solving their cap situation but a) I have no faith in JBD and b) Zub is too valuable to give up.
I think Jenik will make the team and Yakemchuk will get 9 games. I’ve been impressed with both players. Too bad Yakemchuk can’t be sent to the AHL – that would be perfect for him.