NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – January 28, 2025
Recaps of Monday’s games, the Sharks unveil their Quarter-Century Team, the mid-season Rookie All-Stars are revealed, and much more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPPING MONDAY’S GAMES
NHL.COM: Detroit Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond had a goal and three assists as his club overcame a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Kings 5-2. Marco Kasper tallied twice and collected an assist as the Wings (53 points) sit two points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for the final Eastern Conference wild-card berth. Kevin Fiala and Quinton Byfield scored for the slumping Kings (58 points), who hold third place in the Pacific Division but have dropped six of their last eight games.
Detroit Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This was a big night for Detroit forward Dominik Shine. The 31-year-old forward made his NHL debut after spending nine seasons with the Red Wings AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids. He saw 9:50 minutes of ice time and logged two hits and a blocked shot.
Kings defenseman Drew Doughty hopes he’ll get an opportunity to replace Alex Pietrangelo for Team Canada in the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off. Doughty’s been sidelined with a fractured ankle since preseason but hopes to return to action in time for the tournament. Pietrangelo withdrew citing an injury.
The Vancouver Canucks got two goals from Conor Garland in a 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues. Quinn Hughes picked up two assists while Tyler Myers and Pius Suter had two points each as the Canucks (54 points) moved to within one point of the Calgary Flames for the final Western Conference wild-card spot. St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington gave up three goals on 18 shots and was replaced by Joel Hofer in the second period. The Blues have lost three straight and sit four points back of the Canucks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before this game, the Blues traded Scott Perunovich to the New York Islanders for a conditional fifth-round pick in 2026. The 26-year-old defenseman played sparingly for the Blues as injuries and inconsistent play frequently sidelined him. The Isles hope a change of scenery will improve his performance as they bring him in to replace Ryan Pulock, who is on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
Meanwhile, Canucks forward Kiefer Sherwood missed this game as he’s day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid scored in his return from a three-game suspension to double up the Seattle Kraken 4-2. Mattias Ekholm had a goal and an assist for the Oilers, who’ve won seven of their last nine games to sit atop the Pacific Division with 67 points. Eeli Tolvanen and Vince Dunn replied for the Kraken.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl (75 points) collected an assist to move within two points of Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon for the league lead in the points race.
The Philadelphia Flyers got a two-point performance from Scott Laughton (one goal, one assist) in a 4-2 upset of the New Jersey Devils. Travis Konecny and Rasmus Ristolainen each had two assists while Samuel Ersson stopped 31 shots as the Flyers (52 points) moved within three points of the final Eastern wild-card berth. Dougie Hamilton and Timo Meier scored for the Devils, who are third in the Metropolitan Division with 62 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Flyers captain Sean Couturier missed this contest due to illness.
San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini snapped a 1-1 tie to nip the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1. Mikael Granlund also scored and Yaroslav Askarov made 29 saves as the Sharks snapped a six-game losing skid. Sidney Crosby replied for the Penguins, who’ve lost seven of their last nine and are seven points behind the Lightning.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Penguins placed sidelined center Evgeni Malkin (undisclosed) on injured reserve and recalled winger Jesse Puljujarvi. Meanwhile, Fenway Sports Group is reportedly looking to sell a minority stake while retaining a controlling stake in the team.
HEADLINES
NHL.COM: The Sharks unveiled their Quarter-Century Team on Monday.
Forwards Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski highlight the First Team, which includes defensemen Brent Burns and Marc-Edouard Vlasic and goaltender Evgeni Nabokov.
The Second Team features forwards Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl and Owen Nolan, defensemen Erik Karlsson and Dan Boyle, and goaltender Martin Jones.
Sharks center Macklin Celebrini and Calgary Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf are among the players chosen for the NHL’s midseason Rookie All-Star Team. The roster also comprised Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson, Philadelphia Flyers winger Matvei Michkov, Dallas Stars forward Logan Stankoven, and Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Nolan Allen.
Boston Bruins winger David Pastrnak, Anaheim Ducks center Mason McTavish, and Utah Hockey Club forward Barrett Hayton are the NHL’s three stars for the week ending Jan. 26.
TSN: Mikko Rantanen said he was blindsided by the blockbuster trade that sent him from the Colorado Avalanche to the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday. The pending unrestricted free-agent forward said he was willing to accept a significant discount from his market value to stay with the Avalanche.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Rantanen’s discount wasn’t significant enough to keep him in Colorado. Pierre LeBrun reported the two sides discussed a contract extension but the club believed the gap between them couldn’t be breached, leading to the trade.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: The Washington Capitals signed goaltender Logan Thompson to a six-year, $35.1 million contract. The average annual value is $5.85 million.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Thompson’s getting a significant raise over the $766,667 he’s earning this season. He’s been outstanding for the Capitals since his acquisition from the Vegas Golden Knights last summer. Management must also decide the fate of backup goalie Charlie Lindgren, who is UFA-eligible and playing well in his contract year.
TAMPA BAY TIMES: Lightning defenseman Emil Lilleberg received a two-game suspension from the department of player safety for an illegal hit on Detroit Red Wings forward J.T. Compher on Saturday.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: An immigration issue is delaying Oilers defenseman John Klingberg from joining the team. He’s expected to make his season debut later this week.
DAILY FACEOFF: The Buffalo Sabres placed winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel on waivers.
TSN: The NHL and NHL Players’ Association have informed the International Ice Hockey Federation they intend to move forward on the 2028 World Cup of Hockey without IIHF involvement. They hope to announce the World Cup during the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off in February.
OTTAWA SUN: The Senators created a furor among their fans when team mascot Spartacat donned a jersey that was half-Senators and half-Quebec Nordiques as part of the club’s announcement it would play two preseason games this fall in Quebec City.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The outrage among Sens fans reached the point where team president Cyril Leeder took to social media to apologize for their mascot’s split jersey and allay concerns that the club might be relocating.
Heh. That recent announcement that the Senators will play 2 pre-season games in Quebec City this coming Fall not only has the Nervous Nellies squirming, but will for sure generate dire rumours from among the troll crowd.
https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/ottawa-senators/latest-news/ottawa-senators-president-addresses-fans-concerns-as-team-announces-games-in-quebec-city
George, has there been any indications of construction starting for the new arena?
No … and it’s starting to piss Andlauer off to the point where he might start looking at city-owned sites nearby.
A couple of years ago – in here – I posted that any dealings with bureaucrat minor functionaries and their little fiefdoms can turn out to be among THE most frustrating exercises in futility. Something I learned the hard way when working at Canada Immigration years ago. Nothing has changed in that regard.
I figured if there were at least signs of construction had started that would pretty much end any thoughts of Ottawa moving. I read an article when they were first making all the announcements that construction could start as early as late November. Even if all it was the moving of equipment into the area and some surveying, it would`ve been encouraging
The dissecting of the Pittsburgh carcass has begun in earnest as evidenced by just these three recent articles, each of which is in agreement that the impending tear-down will NOT include Crosby or Malkin – and probably not Letang either. Last night’s loss to the league’s worst team will simply put exclamation points on the consensus that it has to start as soon as possible.
As of this morning they sit second-last in the Conference with the 7 teams ahead of them leading up to the 2nd WC slot (Tampa – 7 points ahead of them) having anywhere from 1 to 4 games in hand. In fact, they are also exactly 7 points ahead of last-place Buffalo, who have 3 games in hand.
The writers are also more or less in total agreement that any deals made from this stage onward can’t be looking at either high-cost impact players coming back or, realistically, given what they’re willing to deal, highly-rated prospects (something they COULD acquire if the untouchable-three were made available … but that appears to be their choice. As for the prospects already in their system, so far anyway they remain just that – prospects who haven’t shown anything at the NHL level yet to suggest they are definite parts of a solution that is being engineered by a GM who doesn’t have an encouraging resumé.
In this regard they appear to be at the same stage each of Buffalo, Detroit and Ottawa were at 7 to 14 years ago, indicating a long, bleak wandering in the wilderness may be in store.
Dan Kingerski
https://pittsburghhockeynow.com/pitsburgh-penguins-trade-targets-finding-young-players-ready-for-nhl/
Adam Gretz
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10152414-win-win-trade-ideas-for-the-pittsburgh-penguins-and-nhl-contenders
Kelsey Surmacz
https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/pittsburgh-penguins/latest-news/the-trade-floodgates-have-opened-are-the-penguins-next
Ya, the inevitable is happening in Pittsburgh. The only team I can think of that really avoided it for any length of time was DET, who either had better scouting across Europe, or simply got lucky with Datsyuk and Zetterberg in the late rounds. And it eventually got up to them as well. My Bruins before them I suppose as they made the playoffs for more than 20 yrs straight, but that was a different era.
I think my B’s will get there eventually too, after spending years middling around the mushy middle of the league.
My son in law, and Oiler fan, asked me on the weekend if I wanted the Bruins to hurry up and start the rebuild so I will still be alive when they are good again.
Well played young man, best chirp I have heard in a while.
Tell me about it, Ray! LOL. When the Senators were last competing I was still in my 70s!
I’ll turn 60 this year so have a bit more time George! Which kinda made his chirp even better IMO, but they best get on it as tear down rebuild take a looong time, as you are experiencing now. Retools very rarely, if ever, get you to the promised land, and rebuilds often fail for that matter. Enjoy the opportunities while you can I guess.
The Sens almost got er done in 07 for ya George. I’ll be rooting for them in the east if the B’s don’t make it or get knocked out first. Oil in the west.
I’ll root for all Canadian teams, if the B’s are out. 3 of the 4 division leaders are Canadian clubs this season, not sure it will end that way, but those 3 have real shots regardless of winning the division. Yes, even the Leafs.
Hoping MTL doesn’t make it, as I REALLY don’t want to be forced to root for them. Get this CDN team winning thing over and done with so I can go back to rooting against the Habs a Leafs.
Rookies getting a lot of attention are Celebrini, Michkov, Stankoven as forwards.
A dark horse rookie even in the city he plays in s Montreal’s Emil Heineman.
This kid is 3rd in rookie goals with 10, unlike the -20 and -12 of Celebrini and Michkov, he’s a +2.
His toi is only 11 min and plays bottom 6.
This kid continues to impress as the season goes on.
Sr,
Yvan Cournoyer was scoring 20 goals a year and only played on the powerplay.
MSL decides where and when to play him, perhaps liking his 200 ft game develop with linemates Armia and Evans.
We’ll see where he is in the lineup next year.
Habfan30,with those stats and positive plus/ minus why isn t he in their top 6?
Several reasons:
The first is the cohesiveness of the 3rd line with Heineman, in turn giving depth to the bottom 6 match ups which often favour the Habs.
Another reason is that one can’t assume the same success going from a third line match up to a second line match up. Heineman is a rookie, after all.
It would not surprise me if we see him in a top 6 position in a couple of years.
Ray/George…since we’re talking age, I was 24 when the French Connection took the Sabres to the SC Finals in their 5th year of existence. The future really looked bright. Now 50 years later they can’t even make the playoffs Who’da thunk?
Yep, enjoy it while you can.
Not trying to trigger you HarryO, but that 3 OT goal in game 6, when Hull was clearly in the crease had to sting in 99.
It was a stupid rule, but they had been disallowing that goal all season and all playoffs, and then to not call it on the one that ended it? Ouch.
Again sorry, but WTF.
HarryO
This is sacrilegious but watching Lafleur and Perreault, Gilbert put Guy in his pocket in Junior when the Remparts played the Baby Habs, with crowds of 18,000 in Montreal.
On to the NHL, Lafleur was the superstar but Perreault controlled the play.
He was one of those guys who was cheered at the Forum despite playing for the enemy.
The French Connection showcased hockey at its best.
Not that it’s important, but seeing Erik Karlsson on the Shark’s 2nd team all-stars, given all that he didn’t do for the Sharks is a bit of an insult.
Rock, just to put things in perspective with Karlsson, let’s start with the well-established statistical fact that, by the time he was dealt to San Jose, his style of play was never going to be confused with the defensive greats of the game. To date in his career, he has played 1,054 games with 82-game averages of 15g 51a 66 pts.
Prior to joining the Sharks, his 82-game offensive averages with Ottawa over 578gp were 18g 56a 74 pts. When he joined San Jose at age 28 he eventually played 342 games there where his 82-game averages were 15g 46a 61 pts. A bit of a dip, but still well ahead of most D in the league when it came to offensive contributions. Since joining Pittsburgh at age 33 he has played 134 games with 82-game averages of 9g 45a 54 pts, still respectable from that aspect, but definitely slowing down as he nears his mid-30s.
Just out of curiosity, what D in San Jose’s recent history would you see replacing him?
Hey, my vote would be for Douglas “Crankshaft” Murray! Haha…Ya, you got me there. I absolutely can’t think of anyone else to take Karlsson’s spot.
Cheers!