NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – November 7, 2024
Alex Ovechkin extends his goal streak, Connor McDavid returns from injury sooner than expected, and the latest on Cale Makar, Gabriel Landeskog, Dylan Holloway, Thatcher Demko and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin scored the winning goal and picked up an assist as his club nipped the Nashville Predators 3-2. Ovechkin extended his goals streak to five games and Dylan Strome collected two assists for the Capitals, who sit second in the Metropolitan Division with 18 points. Juuso Parssinen and Steven Stamkos scored for the Predators, who’ve dropped four of their last five games (1-3-1).
Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Ovechkin needs 34 goals to break Wayne Gretzky’s record of 894 goals. He has eight goals in 12 games this season.
Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Noah Hanifin scored twice in the third period as his club doubled up the Edmonton Oilers 4-2. Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev each finished with three points as their team sits atop the Pacific Division with 19 points in 13 games. Brett Kulak and Zach Hyman replied for the Oilers (6-7-1).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Oilers captain Connor McDavid returned to action after missing 10 days with an ankle injury. He was originally expected to be sidelined for up to three weeks. He played over 21 minutes but was held scoreless.
The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1. Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat each had a goal and an assist and Cam Talbot stopped 29 shots for the Wings. Nick Foligno scored for the Blackhawks.
HEADLINES
THE DENVER POST: Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said Cale Makar is ok after suffering a lower-body injury on Tuesday against the Seattle Kraken. He traveled with the Avs and could play Thursday against the Winnipeg Jets.
TSN: Bednar also said captain Gabriel Landeskog suffered a setback as he attempts a comeback after knee surgeries sidelined him for the past two seasons. Bednar said it’s part of the on-again, off-again recovery process and remains hopeful Landeskog can return to action this season.
SPORTSNET: St. Louis Blues forward Dylan Holloway suffered no ill effects from taking a puck to the neck in Tuesday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He left the game on a stretcher and was taken to a hospital for observation but was released and rejoined his teammates in practice yesterday. Holloway hopes to play against Utah on Thursday.
TSN: Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko participated in some practice drills on Wednesday with some of his teammates. It’s the latest step in his recovery from a nagging knee injury that has sidelined him since Game 1 of the opening round of the 2024 playoffs.
DAILY FACEOFF: Canucks defenseman Derek Forbort is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
Dallas Stars forward Mason Marchment is out day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.
OTTAWA SUN: Center Shane Pinto and defenseman Artem Zub could return to the Senators lineup for Thursday’s contest with the New York Islanders. Zub has missed nine games with a concussion while Pinto was out six games with an undisclosed ailment.
SAN JOSE HOCKEY NOW: Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky said defenseman Jake Walman was a healthy scratch from Tuesday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets for non-hockey reasons. “Jake did not play because of hockey play,” said Warsofsky. “There was nothing to do with that. It was something in between (us) that we’ll keep in-house.”.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Walman’s absence raised eyebrows given his role on the Sharks. He logs the second-most minutes and is their best offensive defenseman.
MONTREAL HOCKEY NOW: The Canadiens have loaned forward Oliver Kapanen to Timra IK in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL).
NEW JERSEY HOCKEY NOW: The Devils announced they’ve relieved Kevin Dineen of his duties as head coach of their AHL affiliate in Utica. Assistant coach Ryan Parent takes over on an interim basis for the rest of the season. The move comes as Utica is off to one of the worst starts (0-9-1) in franchise history.
ESPN.COM: Emily Kaplan recently examined several key issues potentially at stake in the next round of collective bargaining between the NHL and NHL Players’ Association. The current agreement will expire in September 2026.
The players hope for a bigger slice of the growing revenue pie. Many would like to see escrow eliminated. They’d also like to get a cut of future expansion fees. Some players wonder if the league might implement a luxury tax given the willingness of some teams to spend over the salary cap.
Some players would like to see the preseason shortened and expand the regular season to 84 games if it means starting the season earlier. Others would like to see the playoff schedule return to the 1-8 seeding by conference.
TSN: Pierre LeBrun reports the CBA negotiations are expected to start in the New Year. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly will summarize the main points he’s learned from meeting with individual general managers at the upcoming GMs meeting.
The general managers would like to tweak the salary arbitration process and revise the compensation rates for offer sheets. One GM would like to see them revisit term limits on player contracts.
LeBrun doesn’t feel either side wants to have a big war in this round of CBA negotiations. He believes they want this to go smoothly.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kaplan cited one player saying growing league revenue was the priority and doesn’t want to squabble about points. That is the main factor for both sides. Revenue has grown significantly in recent years and neither side wants to do anything that could jeopardize that growth.
There will be some tweaks coming out of the next round of CBA but nothing that will require a work stoppage. There is no rancor between the two sides and no sense of foreboding compared to the lead-up to the three previous lockouts. Some think an agreement could be reached next summer.
I m all for shorter preseason,84 game schedule and 1-8 seeding by conference!Creates a more balanced playoff structure!My main point is the preseason is to long,and not many players want to participate in games that mean nothing!Injuries are also a factor,like Doughty in LA!
Is the injury any less if it occurs in a regular season game?
Exactly.
I think the point Sr was making is players who know they have a spot on the roster, and the coaches and GM’s, don’t want to risk injury for games that have no points attached to them.
Which is why key guys don’t play many preseason games.
True Ray. But then they DO have to play enough in order to get into “game” shape – both from a physical as well as line or D-partner familiarity aspect – especially if the team has undergone a number of roster changes.
If, when the season begins, they are not up to snuff in either aspect, you can expect injuries in the strain – muscle ranges and/or on-ice lack of cohesion.
Of course there are – and always will be – those who come to camp in tip-top shape and so don’t really need the exhibition games to shape up. But what do you do in those cases? Excuse them from the games? That would do wonders for line or D-pairing cohesion, made even worse if there are new goalies in the mix or D who have never played in front of the goalies in question – and that lack of familiarity can also work to a team’s poor showing early.
None among Winnipeg, Carolina, Washington, New Jersey, NYR, Minnesota, Vegas and L.A. seem to have suffered any ill effects from having gone through a full camp.
It would be interesting to see how many preseason games that Ovi,Hellebuck,Aho,Hughes,Shesterkin,Kaprizov,Eichel and Doughty played in!
All fair points George, teams weigh the benefits and risks of playing key players in preseason games.
Preseason stats are hard to find, well not the amount of effort I am willing to invest in finding them anyway. So I have no idea what the teams that started fast did in preseason vs the teams that have started slow with regards to vets playing more or less games.
But this was mentioned above in the context of a new CBA. I am sure the owners would like more regular season games as it brings in more revenue, that helps the players as well on the cap side. The trade off would be starting sooner with fewer preseason games as most NHL regulars only play a portion of them anyway.
It wouldn’t surprise me if it happens.
Heh … yeah, that information is still available at ESPN where you can access the box scores of all games to date – including the pre-season ones. But I’m not inclined to do that. LOL
Another important aspect of pre-season, to address the 5:09 post by Sr, is for coaches to see what newcomers and prospects can do in NHL game action. Certainly, the first 2 or 3 pre-season games for just about every team, is riddled with p.t.o’s, prospects and those acquired off-season in trade/UFA signings to both see what they have and for the players to get accustomed to team “style of play” including pk and pp duties.
I found this online (assuming its relatively accurate):
NBA players in aggregate receive between 49% and 51% of basketball-related income, NFL players get 48% of all revenue and NHL players get 50% of revenue. Those revenue splits capture the money generated from TV deals, ticket sales, merchandise sales and licensing.
Not sure how much more the NHL PA thinks they are going to get of the share.
And I guarantee that any increase the NHLPA negotiates will be funded by the fans. Buckle up !
All league revenue is funded by the fans, based on what each market can bear. Whatever share of the pie the NHLPA negotiates will have a negligible impact on that.
folyd7, the players are looking to get a slice of the expansion fees since that’s not included in the league’s revenue numbers. They also don’t like the way escrow is calculated. Valid points given the expected cap limit growth coming over the next few years.
Doubt nhlpa gets a increase in %
I would like to see luxury tax similar to MLB Also wouldn’t mind buyouts have option of full buyout of any contract with 2 or more seasons remaining without counting on the cap team gets relief at big cost to owner and player is free paid in full
Definitely need more buyout options, including some that don’t count against the cap. Too many teams are handcuffed by long, expensive deals (of their own doing mind you, but it still drags the team and the league down overall).
Mrbruin4 so want the teams to get a “get out of jail free card”
I good with the system as it is.
No luxury tax and no free buyout.
The system as it is presently works.
It’s not working, caper, if the perennial wish of reaching league-wide parity is left perpetually dangling in the wind.
Right now there are 6 teams sputtering along at something less than a .400 pts % pace,7 more that are in the .400 – ,499 % range and 3 that are exactly .500. So, exactly half the league are nowhere near parity, and it’s not apt to get any better as the season wears on. Again.
It’s working in the context of all teams, large and small markets, playing by the same rules. Large markets have an advantage already as they attract more players, so do low tax states (or at least they have a cap advantage), but it’s not a totally lopsided environment.
WPG is the smallest market in the NHL and have been competitive for years. CHI, MTL and DET are on the larger end and haven’t.
In the MLB the large market teams make the playoffs way more than the small market teams, it’s not even close. Juan Soto won’t be going to Pit, Cleveland or Milwaukee any time soon, and all have fielded OK teams of late. They have no chance of getting that guy, or keeping him if they had drafted him. Ain’t gonna happen.
Jets kept most of their key guys.
Have to agree with Caper it’s working pretty good, works in the NFL too. Seems to take longer to build a winning team in the NHL for a host of reasons. Every year there are plenty of teams that just miss out on the playoffs, including the half of them get in.
I have no doubt that Ovie will break the goal scoring record. Good on him.
But I am comfortable with the fact that he won’t come close to the number of assists or trophies during this time haha
Yeah, with Ovechkin currently sitting 13th on the all-time points record, it’s interesting to see that, for whatever reason, his assists per game ratio ranks dead last in that grouping.
Assists Per GP
Gretzky – 1.3
Lemieux – 1.1
Dionne – 0.8
Crosby – 0.8
Jagre, Messier, Ron Francis, Yzerman, Sakic, Esposito, Bourque – each 0.7
Howe – 0.6
Ovechkin – 0.5
Check to see where all those other scorers are in terms of hits,
?
Sandman, how about you check if you’re trying to make a point.
I don’t see how “hits” can help a player completely dominate the sport… I mean… literally the proof is in the pudding…Ovie hits more, and has won FAR less than those who don’t… Lindros also was a hitter, and he won nothing and he career fizzled out due to it.
@George… Ovie is a hard player and a great goal scorer, but just has NEVER been a pure playmaker.
Does Ovi and Howe being the only wingers on that list mean something!
Heh. It’s certainly an endorsement for the theory regarding “strength down the middle”