NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – December 19, 2024
Recaps of Wednesday’s games, the Rangers trade Kaapo Kakko to the Kraken, the Predators ship Alexandre Carrier to the Canadiens, Blake Wheeler calls it a career, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Dallas Stars 5-3. Joseph Woll kicked out 36 shots and William Nylander scored twice as the Leafs (20-10-2) have won four of their last five games to sit first in the Atlantic Division with 42 points. Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger got the hook after the second period, giving up four goals on 12 shots.
Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Stars captain Jamie Benn set a franchise record playing in his 1,143rd NHL regular-season game, surpassing Hall-of-Famer Mike Modano. The Stars placed defenseman Matt Dumba (upper body) on injured reserve and recalled Alexander Petrovic.
Florida Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk tallied two goals and teammate Aaron Ekblad had a goal and two assists in a 6-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild. Sergei Bobrovsky got the win with a 26-save performance. Marco Rossi netted the Wild’s only goal.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Panthers (20-11-2) are tied with the Leafs but the latter holds the division lead with a game in hand. Wild defenseman Brock Faber left the game in the final minute after being struck in the face by the puck. There was no postgame update regarding his condition.
The Detroit Red Wings beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6-4 on a game-winning goal by Patrick Kane, who finished the night with two points. Lucas Raymond and J.T. Compher also had a goal and an assist each for the Red Wings, who’ve won three of their last four. Flyers captain Sean Couturier picked up two assists as his club remains two points out of the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot with 32 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvidsson left the game in the first period with an upper-body injury. There was no postgame update on his condition.
Anaheim Ducks winger Troy Terry scored with 26 seconds remaining in the third period to lift his club to a 3-2 upset of the Winnipeg Jets. Frank Vatrano tallied twice for the Ducks, including the tying goal midway through the third period. Gabriel Vilardi and Mark Scheifele scored for the Jets, who remain in first place in the Western Conference with 47 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers picked up an assist in his return to action after missing nine games with a lower-body injury.
An overtime goal by Mikhail Sergachev gave the Utah Hockey Club a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. Utah HC overcame a 2-0 deficit on goals by Clayton Keller and Dylan Guenther. Danton Heinen and Dakota Joshua scored for the Canucks as Thatcher Demko stopped 28 shots.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Utah (35 points) has won five of their last six games, including their last three contest. They’re one point out of the final Western Conference wild-card berth.
HEADLINES
NEW YORK POST/SEATTLE TIMES: The New York Rangers traded Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken in exchange for defenseman Will Borgen, a third-round pick and a sixth-rounder in the 2025 NHL Draft.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kakko was the second-overall pick in the 2019 draft. He was projected to become a top-six scoring winger but struggled to meet expectations with the Rangers. That made the 23-year-old winger the frequent subject of trade speculation since last season.
The Kraken made this move to boost their offense. They hope a fresh start away from New York’s harsh spotlight will help Kakko become a reliable scorer.
Borgen, 28, was an original member of the Kraken. He’s slated to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Rangers fans aren’t pleased with the return. However, it reflects how much Kakko’s value declined since his career-best 40-point performance in 2022-23.
MONTREAL HOCKEY NOW/THE TENNESSEAN: The Nashville Predators traded defenseman Alexandre Carrier to the Montreal Canadiens for blueliner Justin Barron.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Canadiens had sought an experienced top-four defenseman with a right-hand shot since October. Carrier reached a career-high 30 points in 2021-22 and 20 points last season but his specialty is killing penalties. The 28-year-old is in the first season of a three-year contract with an affordable average annual value of $3.75 million.
Carrier was the subject of trade speculation last season before re-signing with the Predators. However, their struggles this season have forced general manager Barry Trotz to shake things up. This trade is his fourth since Nov. 25, which included shipping Philip Tomasino to Pittsburgh and swapping Scott Wedgewood for Justus Annunen with Colorado.
Barron struggled to crack the Canadiens lineup full-time. The 23-year-old is younger than Carrier and more of a puck-moving defenseman. Barron is also more affordable for the Predators with an AAV of $1.15 million.
TRIBLIVE.COM/STLTODAY.COM: The Pittsburgh Penguins reacquired defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph from the St. Louis Blues for future considerations.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Joseph began his NHL career with the Penguins, spending four seasons with them before signing a one-year contract with the Blues as an unrestricted free agent. He became the odd man out with the Blues following their acquisition of Cam Fowler from the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Penguins needed some short-term blueline depth with Marcus Pettersson sidelined week-to-week and reserve blueliners Sebastian Aho and Jack St. Ivany hobbled by injuries.
SAN JOSE HOCKEY NOW: Sharks goaltender Vitek Vanecek is sidelined for at least two weeks with an upper-body injury after being struck by an errant puck while sitting on the bench during Tuesday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets. They’ve recalled netminder Yaroslav Askarov from their AHL affiliate.
THE ATHLETIC: Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Dante Fabbro’s lower-body injury isn’t as serious as feared. He’s expected to miss a few games with what GM Don Waddell called a charley horse.
WINNIPEG SUN: Former Jets captain Blake Wheeler is hanging up his skates. During an appearance this week on the Beyond High Performance podcast, the 38-year-old left winger said he could no longer face the grind of an 82-game NHL season.
“It’s just the emotional, get up 82 times – I don’t want to do that. There’s only so much gas in the tank for that,” said Wheeler. He’s been an unrestricted free agent since July.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Wheeler played 16 NHL seasons with the Boston Bruins, Atlanta Thrashers, Winnipeg Jets and New York Rangers, with 13 of those seasons with the Thrashers/Jets. He was captain of the Jets from 2016-17 to 2021-22.
Wheeler tallied 321 goals and 622 assists for 943 points in 1,172 regular-season games, including back-to-back 91-point performances in 2017-18 and 2018-19. He also had 45 points in 66 playoff games.
Three trades , more to come?
Pens get back a young D (who was gelling with Letang and knows the team and their systems) that they never should have been let go (no QO). The bonus in this is that he returns and at a lower Cap hit (than QO).
Easy to figure out that “future considerations” was actually “past considerations”. Dubas helped Army (trading back the 2nd so he could do the offer sheet). So Army probably said “do me a solid now, and I’ll do you one down the road”
This is a good move for the Pens.
Dubas, are you turning the corner? Tomasino, now P-O J?
Get an RD (in his 20’s) in. Desharnais would be a great add for 3rd pairing RD.
KK for Borgen and picks
KK had been bandied about regarding moving for a while. Drury was effectively forced into doing something. KK usage had been down. Rangers get a big lower pairing D-man and pics; a bit less than value (as Drury was not dealing in a position of power) and got pics for future moves. Krakken win this deal. KK should prosper with them
Carrier/Barron
Habs got an older more experienced, yet smaller D man, while Trotz knew he had to do something (got younger, saved Cap). This will likely mean a short term gain (in the deal) for Habs but Trotz winning the long game.
Not so sure Trotz will win the long game. I’ve had high hopes for Barron and wanted the Habs to give him more ice time, but his defensive game had always been weak and hasn’t improved. And he wasn’t contributing offensively either.
Carrier won’t contribute much offense but can handle second line minutes and should contribute 20-25 points per season. Hopefully a couple of years down the road the Habs will have a solid RD of Reinbacher, Mailloux and Carrier.
Fair points Howard
I was thinking more in terms of age; having that “asset” (Baron) owned longer.
For sure as at now and next year; Predators have the better “asset”
If Barron remains as a bottom pairing guy; is several years of that worth more than a couple years of the smaller (but currently much better) player? That was where I was positioning my argument.
Can’t accurately project Barron’s long term path.
Time will tell.
For sure , Habs immediately improve
@8787 Agree with you on Desharnais..disagree on P.O Joseph.
Why bring someone back you got rid of for overall underachieving in hos time in Pittsburgh just as he just did in St. Louis.. he is barley an nhl player.
Does he help for now yes he does..but Justin Baron from Montreal would have been better…bigger stronger has a higher upside.
I would prefer Vincent Desharnais..
P-O J was not let go
Dubas explained :
“We offered P.O a contract, but it became one of those situations where he had arbitration rights, and by qualifying him, it would have put us at the mercy of various other cases signed by the comparison group over the summer, so we elected not to qualify him. ……..It happens pretty frequently with players in P.O’s situation that have arbitration rights.
His (P-O J) add is a good move
I saw several times last year that you posted you wanted to trade him.
Not sure why, I completely disagree.
He gelled very well with Letang and was very much on the rise developmentally last year after November.
He has great speed ; good breakouts; plays in both ends equally well; has a good reach and can battle in-front of Jarry or Nedjelkovic.
This is good for Pens.
Almost all of the key Pend journalists (including Kingerski , Yohe, etc) had praise for him last year.
For sure P-O J is better than
Shea.
We get P-O J at much much less than he would have got in Arbitration
We’re out Pettersson right now; so we’re out a Leftie
You know Sully would have used some of those Pettersson minutes and given them to Grzylcyk. Ouch!!!!
A Deharnais add solidifies our right side. St. Ivany struggled and they sent him down rightfully so. He’d not ready yet for prime time NHL
He is injured now anyway.
They were going to bring up Clurman (who is not even WBS’s best RD. Apparently Hallowell got permission to play in the Spengler Cup ; so he’s heading there (may be there now)
Cannucks are looking to move Deharnais for space; so acquisition cost will be low
When healthy , this would bd best
Letang Pickering
Karllsson Pettersson
Deharnais *P-O J
*You know Sully will play Grzylcyk instead, and we still have Graves on Roster
What might happen with Pettersson out:
Letang Pickering
Karllsson P-O J
Grzylcyk (playing RD) Graves
Fingers crossed on a Deharnais trade
I HATE “future considerations” (what the heck does it even mean???)
Are you telling me that P O-J is not even worth a 6th rounder in return???
Angry IP
Sometimes they do trades for the player’s sake. Army gave away POJ so that he could get some playing time.
Hi Iowa Prince
See my post above.
The trade was for “past considerations”
Kakko will do better in Seattle, away from the harsh media and cut-throat managed NYR. He may never live up to his draft status, but he will be a dependable top 9 winger.
The Rangers are starting to appear to be in panic mode.
You give a player 3rd minutes and expect 2nd line production. anyone who watches Kakko play knows he is a 200ft player who you can trust. you also know he has not shown the elite skills of a 2nd overall pick but the Rangers messed the kid up with coaching or lack of it.
he was going to be an afford able middle six wing for the next years…he was not the reason this team is falling hard….. but for the kids sake glad to see him get a fresh start.
predict he is a 20-20 guy for the next 5-6 seasons for Seattle which is a nice NHL player
People keep talking about the multiple chances Kakko received.
In the bottom six getting patchwork 1/2 games thrown into the top six here and there?
Laffrienere was finally given a real shot at top 6 last year, on his off wing. He struggled at times but they stuck with him and he grew as a player.
That’s opportunity.
I hope this kid thrives to make Drury eat 💩.
This is a god awful trade. And again, much like the Trouba trade . Ny is not a better team going forward.
This is making a deal for the sake of making a deal. Ill advised!
The list of bust or traded 1st rounders since the “rebuild “ is very telling that this organization cannot scout or develop talent at all!
the Rangers FO…..’We expect our first round picks to produce like where they were drafted’//////
while getting 12 minutes a night with random linemates and no powerplay time.
True story.
I fully understand the rationale behind not playing 18/19/20 yr old players in your top 6 unless they are truly special offensive players.
First off, your trying to win games, even if you are a bottom feeder. IMO the culture of losing and getting blown out on the regular will be an anchor on your team for years. You need to compete, even if losing.
Also, players need to earn those spots. You best be producing offence, and playing the within the team structure, or at least improving at it. The reason is players know. If they are out their busting their ass, not cheating for offence, then that 19/20 yr old kid better working hard at it too. Respect is earned.
There is a really simple solution to all of this, it’s called the AHL, or staying in Jr or NCAA until they are able to move into the AHL or NHL. That is where those skills are developed, plus you aren’t burning years off their ELC if staying in Jr or NCAA. The NHL is not developmental league, especially if the goal is to build offensive skills at the pro level.
Kakko never played a game in the AHL and he could have started there after his draft year. He was a good young player as an 18 yr old, but he isn’t McDavid, Matthews or Celebrini.
I simply do not understand why some teams keep guys like Kakko, or Edmonton with Puljujarvi, in the NHL right after their draft year. I get it the player and agent complain, but so what. Do what is best for the player, it’s your job to know, not the kid’s.
Ray Bark,Boston does the opposite with their players! They have 2 talented forwards on their AHL team in Lysell,Merkulov and now Poitras! This is the 3 rd year in the AHL and 2 of them have had hardly a shot in the NHL! And all you hear about is Boston needing a top 6 winger!I don’t t get it!
Hey Sr, agree on Merkulov, disagree on Poitras.
Poitras is only 20 and needs to play in offensive situations, learn and develop his skills at the pro level. Hit the gym too. He really struggled earlier in the year. Go to Providence and start celebrating some goals and gain confidence without the pressure. Game seemed too fast for him, he’s not a speed demon by any stretch, but needs to get faster making plays and moving the puck.
I think Merkulov would help the B’s too, he’s 24 now and has the reps. His problem is he doesn’t have to clear waivers, where the other guys on the Boston roster do. They would lose a player IMO. Unfortunately for him is he has to wait for an injury to get a chance.
B’s need to fix the PP, which seems doable, and Swayman needs to find his game, which I am less sure about. New contract, new pressure maybe.
Sr, maybe one of them will now that the Bruins
have decided that the Tyler Johnson experiment is a bust. 9 games – 2 assists.
They just put him on unconditional waivers.
Toronto iced a line of Marner Matthews and Nylander against Dallas worth a whopping 35,653,000 a year. The result, worst line, on the ice for all 3 of Dallas`s goals. Got out muscled, out hustled and out scored. The Leafs went 7 and 2 with Matthews out of the line up because they played a solid 200′ game by forechecking, backchecking, hitting, blocking shots and a ton of hustle. The PK and PP were both clicking with as many as 7 players out of the lineup. Since Matthew returned, Toronto hasn`t put together a complete 60 minute game. This isn`t on Matthews or Marner or Nylander or any player, it`s on the way the team seems to play with a full roster and their play is getting worse. Woll stole the game last night, as he and Stolarz have done a number of times this year. Can`t pin this on Berube because this team has done it a few times under Keefe too. It does show one thing for sure, teams win because of hard work more than talent. Domi`s line was worth a lot more last night than the Matthews line. Upping the max cap next year to 96 million won`t make Toronto any better unless they make a major change to this lineup. Or Tre could have the NHL maybe put a soft couch in front of the oppositions net so a few more of the Leafs, besides Knies and Tavares, will spend some time there. Pay more get less I guess
Cherry pick much, Yogi? That expensive line has been together for two whole games !
And Domi scored his second of the year!
Yup, you’re a true blue Leafs fan.
BCLeafFan quit making excuses for them for crying out loud and if you think that over the years that those 3 have never played together before the last 2 games shows how little you pay attention to the team. Every time Keefe thought they needed a push he`d take Nylander off Tavares`s line and put him with Matthews and Marner. Everytime somebody criticizes Marner or Matthews you and a couple of others start crying, you`re not a Leafs fan. A Leafs fan never criticizes my hero. Fans like you allow the Leafs to get away with playoff failures year after year. Domi`s line played great, Matthews line stunk and that`s the fact of it. Give Domi Robertson and McMann credit they deserve it for playing a great game. Guys like you love to criticize them when they don`t play the way they should and rightfully so, but seem to have a different take on when the big boys stink. Try taking your lips off of Marner`s and Matthews butts for a while. If you actually understood what I was saying, I was talking about how the team played when someone like Matthews was missing. Remember Toronto`s record is I believe 42 21 2, can you explain that BC, probably not
Yogi, you need to lower your expectations. You seem to forget the other 31 teams out there has similar or worse issues.
Nothing is quick nor simple and your outlook seems to cater to one who believes the answers are quick fixes and simple solutions.
I get how frustrating this team can be but if you read the comments, your frustrations can get in line with the other teams fans in that department.
If winning was easy, we would see more teams dominate than we currently see. The money equation is something in itself and completely a waste of time bellyaching about. You should enjoy the success this team has had as well as one of the best teams this 100 yr old organization has ever had…there are plenty of people who have delight in seeing nothing more than this team to fail.
Good trade for the Habs filling a position of need this year.
Barron didn’t fit and hasn’t improved a lick in the few years since he was traded for.
His supposed offensive upside isn’t needed as there are better guys to fill that role and his defense has been glaringly missing.
Carrier isn’t flashy but he’s solid D-man strong on the pk and plays bigger than his size. He’s top 4 now, something Barron will never be.
Barry Trotz is proving that great coaches don’t necessarily become great GMs.
A ;ot of questionable moves this year.
Habfan30, my concern stockpiling all these young players and draft picks is when do you cut the cord if they don’t t project as you expected!It seems your roster still has veterans that you can’t get rid of,and young players that aren t quite ready yet!
Sr,
Habs addressed exactly that, moving young D-men Harris and Barron who weren’t in the future and picked up Laine and Carrier.
The old guys they an’t get rid of, Anderson,, Armia, Dvorak, Gallagher happen to be having decent years so there’s no harm in letting young guys like Beck, Roy, Kapanen percolate and force their way up.
There are a dozen picks in the draft so there will be further weeding going on. I won’t bore you with names but there are a number of kids flying under the radar who are making decisions difficult.
RayBark,descent years? They are 1 point out of last place!The team below them hasn’t won a game in their last 11?
I’m assuming you meant HF30 Sr?
Not sure of Jamie Benn’s career statistics but pretty sure he’d be up there for career crosschecks in the back.
Gee, Yogi, something I said?
Let’s see, cherry picks and has a thin skin.
Not a healthy combination, Yogi.
Relax, man, it’s hockey.
And, BTW, our first born son arrived in 1967 so, yes, I’ve seen a few Leaf games.
@ BC Leaf fan
Disregard any Yogi’s comments
He always makes assanine comments on here
I think Yogi should choose another team to cheer for
In a more positive note :
I am sure Robertsons parents enjoyed the game last night
I like Robertson , hopefully that line continues , lots of energy the past few games
Geez Ken you seem to like telling others what to do, isn`t that being asinine. But if you 2 ever want to sit down and have an honest chat about how the Leafs are playing, I`m all for it. But, I`m not into the butt kissing, boot licking and worshipping like you 2. Sorry, for not being the same as you guys