NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – November 16, 2024
Recaps of Friday’s games plus the latest on Auston Matthews, David Perron, Mats Zuccarello, Frederik Andersen and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: Washington Capitals forward Connor McMichael scored twice to lead his club over the Colorado Avalanche 5-2. Pierre-Luc Dubois collected two assists for the Capitals while Parker Kelly had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche, who pulled goaltender Justus Annunen after he gave up three goals on six shots.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Valeri Nichushkin, Jonathan Drouin and Miles Wood returned to the Avalanche lineup following long absences. Wood was the only one to collect a point, getting an assist on a goal by Nikolai Kovalenko. Avalanche netminder Alexandar Georgiev missed this game with an upper-body injury
Calgary Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf (NHL Images).
Calgary Flames rookie goalie Dustin Wolf stopped 29 shots for his first career NHL shutout in a 2-0 victory over the Nashville Predators. Daniil Miromanov and Blake Coleman were the goalscorers for the Flames. Juuse Saros turned aside 31 shots in a losing cause as the Predators have dropped six of their last seven contests.
The Vegas Golden Knights overcame a 2-0 deficit to double up the Utah Hockey Club 4-2. Golden Knights forwards Tomas Hertl and William Karlsson each scored two goals and Adin Hill made 32 saves for the win. Logan Cooley and Mikhael Sergachev were the goalscorers for Utah.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before puck drop, the Golden Knights announced they signed defenseman Brayden McNabb to a three-year contract extension worth an average annual value of $3.65 million. The deal includes a full no-trade clause in the first year, followed by a 10-team no-trade list in year two and a five-team list in the final season.
Anaheim Ducks rookie forward Cutter Gauthier scored his first NHL goal in a 6-4 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. Olen Zellweger had a goal and two assists for the Ducks, who were down 3-1 at one point in this contest. Marco Kasper, Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat each had a goal and an assist as the Red Wings dropped three of their last four.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before this game, the Ducks announced forward Robby Fabbri underwent arthroscopic knee surgery and will miss six to eight weeks.
The Columbus Blue Jackets snapped a six-game losing skid by thumping the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-2. Zach Werenski and Dmitri Voronkov each had a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets. Anthony Beauvillier and Michael Bunting replied for the Penguins, who have only one victory in their last six games (1-3-2).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry gave up five goals on 38 shots in his first game since Oct. 16. Penguins defenseman Kris Letang missed this contest with an illness while teammate Blake Lizotte (concussion) was placed on injured reserve, resulting in the Penguins activating forward Matt Nieto (knee) off IR.
HEADLINES
TORONTO SUN: Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews will not be in the lineup when his club faces off against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday evening. Matthews missed their last five games with an upper-body injury. Leafs coach Craig Berube said his captain has not suffered any setback as the club wants to give him time to recover fully.
OTTAWA SUN: Senators forward David Perron could suit up for Saturday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes. He’s missed the last 11 games after his infant daughter underwent surgery to remove a mass on her right lung. “We’re not fully out of the woods, but we’re getting there,” said Perron.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Best wishes to Perron and his family during this difficult time. Here’s hoping his daughter makes a complete recovery.
SPORTSNET: Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen will remain sidelined for the foreseeable future with a lower-body injury. His recovery period was originally listed as week-to-week but Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour indicated he’ll be out “way longer” than that. Meanwhile, netminder Pyotr Kochetkov is doubtful for Saturday’s game against the Senators. He’s dealing with an undisclosed injury but isn’t expected to be sidelined for long.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: The Minnesota Wild placed winger Mats Zuccarello (lower body) on IR for three to four weeks.
THE SEATTLE TIMES: Kraken captain Jordan Eberle will be sidelined for at least two games with a middle-body injury requiring further evaluation.
DAILY FACEOFF: The Los Angeles Kings placed netminder Darcy Kuemper and defenseman Caleb Jones on injured reserve.
RG.ORG: Size is becoming less of a priority when drafting NHL players. From 2005 to 2009, 34 percent of first-rounders were 205 pounds or heavier, but only 11.4 percent met those criteria in the last five NHL drafts. Height, however, has remained roughly the same, suggesting bulk has been deprioritized.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Teams favor skill over bulk as the speed of the game increases and individual abilities such as puckhandling and playmaking improve.
DAILY FACEOFF: Matt Larkin examines why this season’s NHL average save percentage has dropped to .900, which, if it holds, would be the league’s lowest mark in 29 years.
Larkin attributes the decline not to changes in goalie equipment or a simple matter as offense is rising while goaltending is getting worse. He believes changes such as a crackdown on slashing have resulted in more east-west puck movement, a deemphasis on defense, an increase in power-play efficiency, and a lack of true standout goaltending stars are the main factors.
Funny sport! All teams want speed and size! Speed is needed as you go through the regular season but size takes precedence when you enter the playoffs! Series that run deep need bigger bodies as referee s swallow the whistle and let the big boys play!The key is having enough of both type of players!Last years Panther team was a great example of that! Big,tough,quick and skilled!
Wolf looks like the real deal from what I’ve seen so far and could be a future star in the league.
You would think the Avalanche would be that much more inclined to be “jacked” for their game against the Capital ‘s due to having some significant guys return to the lineup? Instead, they play an unemotional game with no anything from their top dogs or the rest of the team. Except for a couple of guys : parker & kovalenko. And uninspired effort and subpar goaltending!!! The Avalanche need to crank it up. What kind of team are we: rest on our speed laurels or put on the work boots in addition to the speed. IMHO
RE; Penguins
Tristan Jarry GIVES up 5 goals on 38 shots in his first game since Oct 16th coming back after 4 week stint in the AHL⁉️
Thay have 3 goaltender that cant win expecting Jarry to start playing better
I’m wondering how long Sid will put up with this..as there is No Quick fix Especally after getting hamered by the lowly CBJ 6–2 last night
They really look like Bottom Dweller this season….
As the Pens fans groan
Dubas is gunning for Martone!
Or are they sagin’
For Hagens?
Unless they think they’re safer with Schaefer!
williew, based solely upon their points % pace to date (given the uneven number of games played), the Top 10 picks in next spring’s draft would go as follows for these 10 teams all performing sub-.400:
1. Montreal – .353
2. San Jose – .361
3. Nashville – .361
4. Chicago – .382
5. Pittsburgh – .395
6. Anaheim – .438
7. Columbus – .438
8. St. Louis – .441
9. Detroit – .469
10. Philadelphia – .471
Looking at the total roster, and especially goaltending and offensive potential, Nashville would be the best bet among those 10 to turn things around and get back into the playoff race, with Detroit and Philadelphia as much longer shots.
In that event, and again based solely upon their points % pace to date, the team(s) dropping down into the bottom 10 to make room for those moving up would come from one of the following: Utah, Seattle, Buffalo, Boston, Colorado (all playing at exactly a .500 pace), NYI (.529) and Ottawa (.531).
George,
i think by the 25th game mark, We will have a better idea of team’s that will make a push..
smame bottom dweller as last year, bottom 6-7
Sharks, Ducks, Hawks, CBJ, Pens,
joined by the Blues & Preds Wings, & Philly if they dont get going🤔
and
So will be the Habs will be in that mix also if they dont address 2 trades #/1Goaltending and the #2/ A top 4 RD,
St Louis Blue’s
They have a 3 injuries manly d, Krug out for the year, Broberg & leddy on IR,
they still have 7 NHL d/men and a sloo of young d/men & forward ready to come up…
24 yr old Hoffer is ready to be a starter❓
Pred’s
if they dont get going i can see them starting to Trade for top young prospects 20 to 23 yrs old to help with there re-tool🤔
williew, I think the 25-game mark will simply confirm what is shaping up to be now.
Looking at St. Louis first, and even if their injured players return soon, in order to get to their 92-point total of last season – which fell short of a WC slot by 6 points – they’d have to play the rest of the way at a .592 pace – which would be .031 better than they played all of last season. And to get to last season’s playoff cut-off of 98 points, they’d have to play the rest of the way at a .754 pace – a .162 improvement over last season’s %. To compare, the highest % pace by any team the past 4 seasons have been by Colorado (.732 in 2020-21), Florida (.744 in 2021-22), Boston (.823 in 2022-23) and NYR (.695 last season). St. Louis simply does not have the potential – even at full strength – to play at that level.
Even Nashville, with additions like Stamkos, Marchessault and Skjei, among others, and a very good goalie like Jaros, will still find it very difficult to to improve from their current .361 pace to .672, which is what they’d need to do in order to match last season’s 99 points, which was 1 point above the WC cut-off.
Unless both are well into a 7 or 8 game winning streak by the 25-game mark it isn’t going to happen in either case.
Saros …. not Jaros