NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – October 30, 2024
Alex Ovechkin continues his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s goal record, Penguins fans salute Marc-Andre Fleury in his last game in Pittsburgh, the Red Wings ship Olli Maatta to Utah, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin continued to pursue Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record, tallying twice in a 5-3 victory over the New York Rangers. Aliaksei Protas has a goal and two assists for the Capitals, who improved their record to 6-2-0. Igor Shesterkin made 41 saves for the Rangers, who were outshot 46-19 by the Capitals.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Capitals defenseman Jakob Chychrun left this game in the first period with an upper-body injury. Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery mentioned a little concern in his postgame press conference but didn’t know the extent of the injury.
Minnesota Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (NHL Images).
Minnesota Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves as his club beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-3 in what is likely his final game in Pittsburgh. Frederick Gaudreau scored twice and collected an assist and Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and two assists for the Wild. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby had three assists and teammate Rickard Rakell scored two goals.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Fleury began his NHL career in Pittsburgh, playing 13 seasons for the Penguins and helping them win three Stanley Cups. He intends to retire at the end of this season. The fans chanted Fleury’s name following the game as he saluted the crowd to a standing ovation.
Pittsburgh has lost six straight (0-5-1) and sits at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. They also announced winger Bryan Rust is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury suffered during Saturday’s loss to the Vancouver Canucks.
The Seattle Kraken thumped the Montreal Canadiens 8-2. Brandon Montour led the way with his first career hat trick and added an assist while Chandler Stephenson had two helpers for the Kraken. Montreal goaltender Sam Montembeault got the hook after giving up five goals on 10 shots. Canadiens winger Cole Caufield sniped his ninth goal, tying New Jersey’s Nico Hischier for the league goal-scoring lead.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Montour and Stephenson came to Seattle as free agents this summer. Their performance against the Canadiens puts them among the Kraken’s leading scorers.
Ottawa Senators forward Tim Stutzle scored two goals and collected two assists as his club crushed the St. Louis Blues 8-1. Brady Tkachuk and Adam Gaudette each scored twice and Linus Ullmark turned aside 26 shots. Blue goalie Joel Hofer was pulled after giving up five goals on 21 shots.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The start of this game was briefly delayed by a power outage at Canadian Tire Centre due to electrical storms in the area. Blues winger Kasperi Kapanen left this game with an upper-body injury in the second period. There was no postgame word regarding his condition. Before the game, the Blues announced forward Alexey Toropchenko agreed to a one-year contract extension worth $1.7 million.
Philadelphia Flyers netminder Samuel Ersson made 23 saves to shut out the Boston Bruins 2-0. Tyler Foerster and Joel Farabee were the goal scorers. Joonas Korpisalo stopped 17 shots for the Bruins (4-5-1) as they slipped into last place in the Atlantic Division.
The San Jose Sharks doubled up the Los Angeles Kings 4-2 to pick up their second straight win after starting the season 0-7-2. Jake Walman had a goal and two assists and Vitek Vanecek made 26 saves for Los Tiburones. Akil Thomas and Alex Laferriere replied for the Kings.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kings forward Kevin Fiala was a healthy scratch for missing a team meeting. Meanwhile, the Sharks placed Ty Dellandrea (upper body) on injured reserve.
Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal kicked out 40 shots, including 17 in the first period, in a 3-1 victory over the New York Islanders. Frank Vatrano and Mason McTavish each had two points for the Ducks. Mathew Barzal scored for the Isles.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury and is listed as day-to-day.
HEADLINES
MLIVE.COM: The Detroit Red Wings traded defenseman Olli Maatta to the Utah Hockey Club in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Utah needed to add some experienced depth to their injury-battered blueline with Sean Durzi and John Marino out for months recovering from surgeries. The 30-year-old Maatta has averaged over 18 minutes of ice time per game in his 11 NHL seasons and won two Stanley Cups with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: The Oilers called up forwards Noah Philp and Drake Caggiula from their AHL affiliate in Bakersfield as they await word on the severity of Connor McDavid’s leg injury. The Oilers captain was sidelined on Monday after falling awkwardly into the boards during the opening shift against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
SPORTSNET: The NHL’s department of player safety fined Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin $5,000 for high-sticking Florida Panthers forward Anton Lundell.
CALGARY SUN: Flames captain Mikael Backlund is scheduled to play in his 1,000th career NHL regular-season game when his club faces Utah HC on Wednesday.
SPORTSNET: The Toronto Maple Leafs sent forward Fraser Minten to their AHL affiliate.
RG.ORG: Hockey Hall-of-Famer Sergei Zubov believes Philadelphia Flyers forward Matvei Michkov and Montreal Canadiens prospect Ivan Demidov represent the future of Russian Hockey. Zubov praised Michkov’s focus on goal scoring and Demidov’s growth playing alongside veterans like former NHL center Evgeny Kuznetsov.
TORONTO SUN: Steve Simmons ponders the mystery of Alexander Mogilny’s exclusion from the Hockey Hall of Fame.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Simmons isn’t the only person wondering why the HHoF continues to snub Mogilny. The Sun scribe says he’s asked several Hall of Fame voters about it but they’re sworn to secrecy about the selection process.
Hey, George! Do you think the Sens paid attention to your comment from yesterday?? I wish the Habs took it to heart…
Most of the entire clutch of games last night could be filed under “Weird Results” everydayboots.
Given that the first game back home after a road trip is more often than not a poor effort by the home team, that is definitely what I thought would be the result.
But what transpired in Ottawa, Montreal, L.A. and especially Boston has to be filed away under “Just One Of Those Nights.”
should read “that definitely NOT what ….”
Maybe, but maybe Molson should move the franchise to Houston.
LOL. Touché.
Hey, there’s room in Texas for both – Houston and San Antonio could accommodate them!
I have a darker, hotter place in mind George. I know the Habs have, what, 4 rookies in the line up and several others in early stages of their careers, but last night some of the veterans were nowhere to be seen. Or obscene, take your pick.
LJ, I kept clicking back and forth between the Ottawa-St. Louis, Montreal-Seattle and Boston – Philadelphia games, and actually saw quote a bit of the Habs game thanks to a lightning storm power failure which delayed the start of the Ottawa game by half an hour. That meant the period breaks came far enough apart to enable me to see a lot of the other 2 games.
Watching Montreal, I noticed at one stage early in, one of the coaches leaning in close to Xhekaj’s ear following a gaffe committed by the kid on a recent play, ostensibly telling him what NOT to do out there.. Nothing out of the ordinary there … happens a lot with young players – but the fact the cameraman made sure to capture that had me wondering when, in an 8-2 drubbing, I didn’t see similar instructions being passed along to anyone else in that fashion.
Yeah, Xhekaj seems to be in St Louis’ doghouse, and certainly in the refereeing gang’s doghouse. He has made some mistakes but as you point out there is a whole lot of opprobrium to be shared.
Twice in the last two games I have seen him get penalties in scrums where he didn’t start the fray but gets more than he deserves.
Mogilny and the Hall of Fame. Tough one. Daniel Alfredsson being in for the Senators (and I’m biased) is a good comparable. I love Daniel he’s an amazing man and has been a better Canadian than many who were born here…but you could make a case for him just as easily to NOT be in the hall. Mogilny has the cup but he was a late add that season. He has the gold medal. So does Daniel. Mogilny has one NHL individual award. Daniel has 2. I would say Alfie’s points seem more consistent than Alexander’s. Though Alfie wasn’t the big goal scorer like Mogilny. It’s just a weird quirk that he’s not in there. Like, why did it take so long for Barasso to get in there? Cause he’s a jerk? Who knows.
Without a doubt Mogilny has done more than enough to be inducted but he may not be due to how he entered the league when he did. You can’t help but think when he defected, the Russians and the NHL might have been working on some sort of transfer agreement that went sour. I, like anyone else that heard this, don’t have much proof of this being a fact or reality. It’s just a mystery for now because looking at the player, he’s more than deserving.
Being in the HoF should never be about strictly points and trophies and individual achievements. To me, being inducted into the Hall results from having an impact on the game in whatever fashion it is.
Alfie was a Calder winning long serving captain that gave credibility to a previously floundering expansion team and put them on the map of respectable clubs for over a decade.
Mogilny was a impactful scoring machine and great player, AND he was the ambassador for defecting and joining the NHL and showcasing Russian hockey in a whole new way.
Put AMo in the Hall. There is no way he doesn’t deserve to be there.
McDavid’s injury will definitely hurt the already struggling Oilers. For Oilers sake, this needs to be a quick recovery for him
Sad to see Fleury play for the last time here. Great memories. I expected (and it became true) that he’d play very well in his last game here.
Last in East; 2nd last in League. If Sharks and Ducks win on Halloween, we’re last place in the entire League
This is NOT a goalie issue. It’s the complete fiasco of defensive play by the 18 skaters in front of them.
Dubas is mostly to blame for his repeated trade and acquisition blunders; but Sully has to be held accountable. He MUST start sitting players. He has press box and call up options that are far better than some that are getting regular minutes. Sully is still rewarding over 19 min (average over last 6 games) to a player who has been on for 38% (last 6 games) of the goals against (excluding EN goals).
Pens quite literally have nothing to lose by sitting/demoting 3 or 4 and promoting 3 or 4
The defensive play in front of all 3 goalies is just plain awful.
If this continues, people are going to start looking at getting Sully replaced.
Truthfull, even if ALL the changes you advocate were implemented tomorrow, do you see them surging from their current .318 points % pace to a .620 one – which they’d need to do just to get into a WC race?
All through the off season there were any number in here posting that, being the oldest team on average in the league, and with one of the lowest-ranked prospect pools as assessed by The Hockey Writers, it was past high time that they stop with the tinkering and get into a full re-build mold,
Sure, with Crosby, Malkin, Rust (when he’s healthy), Letang, Karlsson and Jarry all enjoying a rare good night – or even a few in a row – they will string together points over a short stretch … but it’s not sustainable.
I think one of your Penguins cohorts – conspicuous by his absence since the start of the season – has realized that his oft-stated assurance that they would be a playoff team (accompanied by the reminder that they missed “by only 3 points last season), was only engaging in wishful-thinking in the extreme.
Puustinen, we were assured, would open eyes (he’s played 3 games with 1 goal), and Bunting would light things up playing on the top 2 lines (10gp 1 assist). Puuljujarvi – every night – just confirms that he has earned his place among the highest draft selections to totally disappoint.
So, the basic question is, what earthly difference will the roster changes you keep beating to death have on their ultimate finish? And does it matter? Unlike the Lemieux draft year, finishing at the bottom won’t guarantee the # 1 pick, but it will certainly put them in a very good position to get that pick and at the very least, one of the top 3.
James Hagens RW of the U.S. Development League would be a good start to a re-build.
Hi George
Would those suggestions I had off season have gotten them into the playoffs? Don’t know; but I Rudy believe those changes would have given them a fair shot at WC, and late in the season, who knows
Can the changes (sitting the sloths and damage makers for younger better bigger stronger faster talent ) make a difference? Without a doubt
Crosby publicly said that Dubas committed to him that he would improve the roster. This has not happened
Current roster is just destroying the last part of 3 (2 for sure) Hall of Fame Careers
My point is that making a change is fully in Sully’s power;
sit or send down 3; replace by 3 either currently in press box or currently down in WBS
This will get them competitive again and at least put the brakes on this abysmal performance so far
31st place is embarrassing and the argument re continued tanking to get Martone OR Hagens OR McQueen (all 3 late ‘06 birthdays) OR Misa; doesn’t hold as last place doesn’t guarantee a top2 pick
Note ; putting Accairi AND/OR Gryzlyk AND/OR Hayes on waivers and replacing with youth has 3 excellent advantages:
Team improves and halts/crimps slide
Although almost 0% chance any team picks them up off waivers, but if this miracle happens it’s a huge win for Pens; off roster, off team, off Cap
Each of them in WBS means that $1.15 M comes off total Cap Hit
Staying the course with current roster is a mess and disenfranchises the fan base
Give them at least a glimmer of hope
Stop ruining Crosby’s twilight years
I’m a bit confused as to how you’re confused. You spent the entire offseason complaining about what Pittsburgh did or did not do to improve the roster. You said in the offseason they would not be a good / playoff team.
Now you seem somewhat surprised and frustrated about what you and most people knew in July? They are just not good.
This is what I don’t get in his reasoning, CaptainObvious. The best any Pittsburgh fan could hope for if they implemented the changes he’s advocating would be to get them from where they are now to perhaps the upper portion of the bottom half . and what good would that be? Their picks would also be mid-range each round.
And to start another year with that “improved” roster would also mean each of Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Karlsson and several others getting longer in the tooth just another year older – and definitely not better.
The only answer – even to a non-fan – is to play it out as is and get a pick at or near the top. This year and next – and perhaps the season after that. Maybe they’ve forgotten by being spoiled, but NO team has done a complete rebuild and turnaround in 2 or 3 years. It’s a long, long process – as Chicago is discovering now and as Buffalo, Detroit and Ottawa fans are well aware.
Denial isn’t helpful. In any situation.
Snold 49, yesterday you asked my opinion on the Blues and since I saw it too late to respond, I’ll try and answer you here.
Truthfully, I haven’t seen a whole lot of the Blues this season, so far, but I had caught their 3-2 loss to Winnipeg, where I thought they deserved better, out-chancing the Jets, and watched their 5 – 1 win in Toronto where they took advantage of several Leafs gaffes. I only saw bits and pieces of their 5 – 3 loss in Montreal, but enough to see that, depending upon which lined and D combos were out there, they were having trouble keeping up with the speedy Habs.
The Broberg – Holloway offer-sheet acquisitions were obviously solid moves by a GM taking advantage of a perfectly legal manoeuvre which, in my opinion anyway, should be used much more frequently. I haven’t seen enough of Kessel, Bolduc or Texeir to give an honest opinion and last night’s debacle wouldn’t be a good place to start,
They looked like a bunch tired of living out of suitcase with little or no effort up and down the line-up.
But I wouldn’t read too much into the outcome – it seems last night just got an early start on trick or treating, judging by the outcomes – Seattle hammering Montreal 8 – 2, the hapless Sharks doubling up L.A. 4 – 2, Anaheim knocking off NYI 3 – 1 and Philadelphia, outscored 28 – 18 over the previous 6 games in which they went 1 and 5, goes into Boston and shuts out the Bruins 2 – 0.
As I say, weird night.
I listened to parts of the Ottawa game and they seem to be a different team when they`re playing in front of Ullmark. A looser more confident bunch, also St. Louis was in Ottawa on Sunday morning I believe. So they were well rested, while Ottawa was the travelling team coming in from Denver. Watching the condensed game, a lot of standing around by the Blues, not good considering they had a couple of days to rest up and it`s way too early in the season to claim fatigue
George, thanks for the response after I saw the score I wanted to go back and delete my comment. I agree with your analysis and I would add that Schenn is no longer a top line player and Buchnevich is lost centering any line. Move Texier to center, move Holloway up at center and tread water until Thomas comes back.
George O you can see Hagens playing at Boston College this season!
Good program … and an annual contributor to the ranks of the NHL. I bet he’ll do well there and be in the Hobey Baker discussion.
Wings create space to play the rookie Johansson and bring back Tyler Motte without sending rookie Marco Kasper down. They also have $3.6M in cap space to aid any future moves.
Meanwhile, another ex-Wing D-man, Jake Walman has 2 3-pt nights in a row to help SJ gain their first 2 wins of the season.
Los Tiburones? Can someone please bring me up to speed?
Something to do with the monstrous shark that ruled the oceans sometime before the advent of the dinosaurs. Apparently it’s become a “thing” in local Spanish culture, so San Jose has developed a series of warm-up jerseys feature some depictions of what it might have looked like … a promotional effort to draw in more the community.
It’s “The Sharks” in spanish.
Well, there’s that too – lol
Ottawa somehow looked like the rested team.
Ullmark played much better than previous games. I think he may have been playing conservatively after the injury and now feel confident in his body.
The defense group is finally playing with some confidence. I honestly feel like they have had such horrible goaltending behind them for so long, it’s taking some time to shake that off and play a different style.
I am not planning a parade, but I am sure happy to see some of the previous seasons’ tendencies starting to melt away. The forward are definitely playing a much better style of hockey and playing to their strengths. DJ never seemed to have a clue what to do with quick scoring forwards and Jacques was probably the worst interim decision at the time. He had no defense to work with, and he wasted all the scoring potential.
I would not be surprised to see both Brady and Tim hit 100 points this year if they can keep clicking like this. Hell, even Giroux is playing like he did 2 seasons ago,
Binnington is such an asshat. I had to close with that. Faux tough guy… needs to check himself.
theSaint, my own cautious optimism is tightly held in check by the memory of the two road games in Vegas and Colorado where they played well enough to win both … IF they hadn’t suffered brain farts that did them in a combined (2 games) space of about 3 and a half minutes.
Last night that wasn’t noticeable thanks largely by the poor play of St, Louis and the huge lead.
I just hope they don’t play the upcoming back-to-backs (NYR on Friday and home to Seattle Saturday) needing a few of those 8 goals – which often is the case. Win or lose at MSG I’ll be happy if, by the end, they’ll have played a solid 60-minute effort.
Likely Ullmark in NY and Forsberg back home against the Kraken.
A Good Salary Dump $3.6M Bye Red Wings tradeding defenseman Olli Maatta to the Utah Hockey Club in exchange for a third-round pick
nice one Steve Y…..
as the Wings continue to Re-build👍
The Wings still have a couple of young d/men to bring up 22 yr old Wallinder & 19 yr old RD offencive d/man Sandin-Pellikka that putting up very good numbers in Sweden
they still have 7 d/men RD, Justin Holl to move out at $3.4 M…
they dont look like a playoff team this season❓
One final note for the day – even this early in it’s a bit of surprise to see Boston and Nashville, along with last season’s cup finalists despite their annual early-season funk, sputtering along with the usual cellar-dwellers, so I thought I’d look at the next 10 games for each to see who they’ll have to play to snap out of it:
Boston
@ Carolina Oct 31
H to Philadelphia Nov 2
H to Seattle Nov 3
@ Toronto Nov 5
H to Calgary Nov 7
H to Ottawa Nov 9
@ St. Louis Nov 12
@ Dallas Nov 14
H to St. Louis Nov 16
H to Columbus Nov 18
Edmonton
@ Nashville Oct 31
@ Calgary Nov 3
H to N.J. Nov 4
H to Vegas Nov 6
@ Vanc Nov 9
H to NYI Nov 12
H to Nashville Nov 14
@ Toronto Nov 16
@ Montreal Nov 18
@ Ottawa Nov 19
Nashville
H to Edmonton Oct 31
H to Colorado Nov 2
H to L.A. Nov 4
@ Washington Nov 6
@ Florida Nov 7
H to Utah Nov 9
@ Colorado Nov 11
@ Edmonton Nov 14
@ Calgary Nov 15
@ Vancouver Nov 17
And it looks like Edmonton will be playing most of those – if not all – without McDavid – 2 to 3 weeks is the prognosis
Re the Oilers,
last year in there first 10 Games, 2-7-1
this year in there first 10 games, 4-5-1
A lot of this is Skinner he is a VERY slow starter every year including the AHL…….
and
2nd paring d… its horable & add in lack of goal scoring…there it is
they need to play pickard more over the next 10 games untill Skinner gets it together…❗️🤔