NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – February 10, 2025
Recapping Sunday’s games before the 4 Nations Face-Off Break, the latest on Quinn Hughes and Rasmus Ristolainen, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: A shootout goal by Nick Schmaltz lifted the Utah Hockey Club to a 5-4 upset of the Washington Capitals. Utah had a 4-2 lead heading into the third period but Capitals forwards Dylan Strome and Tom Wilson tied the game to force overtime and the shootout rounds. Dylan Guenther, Jack McBain and Josh Doan each had a goal and an assist and Karel Vejmelka made 30 saves for the win. Wilson had two goals and an assist and Alex Ovechkin collected three assists for the Capitals, who sit atop the Eastern Conference with 80 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Vejmelka relieved Connor Ingram after the latter left the game in the first period after suffering an upper-body injury when he stopped an Ovechkin slap shot. Wilson is on pace for a career-best performance. The Capitals winger has matched his career high for goals (24) and is 10 points from his career-best 52 points in 2021-22.
Tampa Bay Lightning captain Victor Hedman (NHL Images).
The Tampa Bay Lightning held off the Montreal Canadiens 5-3. Victor Hedman and Anthony Cirelli each had a goal and an assist while Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 32 shots for the Lightning, who sit third in the Atlantic Division with 66 points. Brendan Gallagher scored twice for the Canadiens, who are 1-7-1 in their last nine.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov was a late scratch with an upper-body injury. Sam Montembault replaced Jakub Dobes in the Canadiens’ net after the latter gave up three goals on eight shots. Montembault stopped 11 of 12 shots.
LATEST 4 NATIONS FACE-OFF NEWS
NHL.COM: The schedule for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off is as follows:
Feb. 12: Canada vs Sweden (8 PM ET),
Feb. 13: United States vs Finland (8 PM ET),
Feb. 15: Finland vs Sweden (1 PM ET), Canada vs United States (8 PM ET).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Those games will be held at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
Feb. 17: Canada vs Finland (1 PM ET), Sweden vs United States (8 PM ET),
Feb. 20: Championship Game (8 PM ET).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Those games will be held at TD Garden in Boston.
THE PROVINCE: Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes will not be playing for the United States in the 4 Nations Face-Off due to an oblique injury.
TSN: Ottawa Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson will replace Hughes on the United States roster.
DAILY FACEOFF: Senators defenseman Nikolas Matinpalo will replace Philadelphia Flyers blueliner Rasmus Ristolainen on Team Finland. Ristolainen is out with an upper-body injury.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The status of Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby could be clarified as early as Monday. Crosby is the captain of Team Canada and traveled to Montreal but he’s still nursing an injured left arm.
Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings replaced Alex Pietrangelo on Canada’s blueline. The Vegas Golden Knights defenseman recently announced he wouldn’t attend the tournament to treat a nagging ailment.
New York Rangers defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and Buffalo Sabres defenseman Henri Jokiharju were named as injury replacements for Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen and Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Jani Hakanpaa on Team Finland.
Penguins winger Rickard Rakell and Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson are injury replacements for Golden Knights forward William Karlsson and New Jersey Devils goalie Jacob Markstrom.
IN OTHER NEWS…
THE TENNESSEAN: The Nashville Predators signed defenseman Adam Wilsby to a two-year, $1.55 million contract extension. The average annual value is $775K and is a two-way deal in the first season and a one-way deal in the second.
DAILY FACEOFF: Washington Capitals prospect Cam Allen was charged with drunk driving, among other charges, following a single-vehicle collision in London, Ontario.
With the 4 Nations break here I thought it might be interesting to some to compare team records since the 41-game half-way mark to pinpoint those trending up – trending down – or maintaining almost or exactly the same pace – using points % rather than actual points in light of the differences in games played. The two Conferences will be in separate posts due to their length, starting with the East.
For ease of reference the top entry shows a repeat of the records at the 41-game half-way point, followed by their results since that stage, and ending with their current records, which also show – in brackets – the difference in their % pace from the half-way point to the current record which more or less gives you a good idea as to those teams trending up, down or essentially maintaining the same pace where the difference is negligible.
41-Game Half-Way
(1) Washington 27 10 4 .707 150 109 +41
(2) Toronto 26 13 2 .639 129 113 +16
(3) New Jersey 24 14 3 .622 132 104 +28
(4) Florida 24 15 2 .610 136 127 + 9
(5) Carolina 24 15 2 .610 137 117 +20
(6) Tampa 23 15 3 .598 151 113 +38
(7) Boston 20 17 4 .537 107 129 -22
(8) Montreal 20 18 3 .524 125 138 -13
(9) Ottawa 20 18 3 .524 119 118 + 1
(10) Detroit 19 18 4 .512 115 131 -16
(11) Columbus 18 17 6 .512 141 148 – 7
(12) Pittsburgh 17 17 7 .510 125 152 -27
(13) NY Rangers 19 20 2 .488 120 130 -10
(14) Philadelphia 17 19 5 .476 125 147 -22
(15) NY Islanders 16 18 7 .476 112 128 -16
(16) Buffalo 15 21 5 .427 126 149 -23
Records Since Half-Way Mark
(1) Washington 14gp 9 1 4 .786 46 31 +15
(2) Detroit 14gp 9 4 1 .679 45 40 +5
(3) Carolina 15gp 9 4 2 .667 47 37 +10
(4) Florida 16gp 10 5 1 .656 56 38 +18
(5) NY Islanders 14gp 9 5 0 .643 40 34 +6
(6) NY Rangers 14gp 8 4 2 .643 45 38 +7
(7) Ottawa 15gp 9 5 1 .633 39 38 +1
(8) Tampa 14gp 8 5 1 .607 46 40 +6
(9) Columbus 15gp 8 5 2 .600 43 38 +5
(10) Buffalo 13gp 7 6 0 .539 45 36 +9
(11) New Jersey 16gp 7 6 3 .531 43 38 +5
(12) Toronto 14gp 7 7 0 .500 40 43 -3
(13) Boston 16gp 7 7 2 .500 50 53 -3
(14) Philadelphia 16gp 7 7 2 .500 37 45 -8
(15) Pittsburgh 16gp 6 8 2 .438 39 49 -10
(16) Montreal 15gp 5 8 2 .400 38 56 -18
Current Record
(1) Wash 55gp 36 11 8 .727 196 140 +56 (up .020)
(2) Car 56gp 33 19 4 .625 184 154 +30 (up .057)
(3) Florida 57gp 34 20 3 .623 192 165 +27(up .046)
(4) Tor 55gp 33 20 2 .618 169 156 +13 (down .139)
(5) NJ 57gp 31 20 6 .596 175 142 +33 (down .091)
(6) Tampa 55gp 31 20 4 .600 197 153 +44 (up .002)
(7) Detroit 55gp 28 22 5 .555 160 171 -11 (up .167)
(8) Ottawa 56gp 29 23 4 .554 158 156 +2 (up .109)
(9) Clmb 56gp 26 22 8 .536 184 186 -2 (up .088)
(10) NYR 55gp 27 24 4 .527 165 168 -3 (up .155)
(11) Bos 57gp 27 24 6 .526 157 182 -25 (down .037)
(12) NYI 55gp 25 23 7 .518 152 162 -10 (up .167)
(13) Mtl 56gp 25 26 5 .491 163 194 -31 (down .033)
(14) Pha 57gp 24 26 7 .482 162 192 -30 (up .024)
(15) Pit 56gp 23 25 9 .482 164 201 -37 (down .072)
(16) Buf 54gp 22 27 5 .454 171 185 -14 (up .122)
Here’s the Western Conference
41-Game Half-Way
(1) Vegas 28 10 3 59 .720 143 111 +32
(2) Winnipeg 27 12 2 56 .683 147 104 +43
(3) Minnesota 26 11 4 56 .683 127 111 +16
(4) Dallas 27 13 1 55 .671 134 101 +33
(5) Edmonton 25 13 3 53 .646 135 114 +21
(6) Los Angeles 24 12 5 53 .646 121 100 +21
(7) Colorado 25 15 1 51 .622 146 131 +9
(8) Calgary 20 14 7 47 .573 110 123 -13
(9) Vancouver 18 13 10 46 .561 121 139 -9
(10) Utah 18 16 7 43 .524 116 123 -7
(11) St. Louis 19 18 4 42 .512 114 123 -9
(12) Anaheim 17 19 5 39 .476 105 127 -22
(13) Seattle 17 21 3 37 .451 118 130 -12
(14) Nashville 13 21 7 33 .402 100 128 -28
(15) Chicago 14 25 2 30 .366 105 138 -33
(16) San Jose 12 23 6 30 .366 107 147 -40
Records Since The Half-Way Point
(1) Winnipeg 15gp 12 2 1 .833 55 30 +25
(2) Edmonton 14gp 9 4 1 .679 47 38 +9
(3) Dallas 14gp 8 5 1 .607 48 38 +10
(4) Vancouver 14gp 8 5 1 .607 34 27 +7
(5) Anaheim 13gp 7 5 1 .577 32 38 -6
(6) Colorado 16gp 8 7 1 .531 40 43 -3
(7) Calgary 13gp 6 7 1 .500 38 42 -4
(8) Los Angeles 12gp 5 5 2 .500 30 36 -6
(9) Seattle 16gp 7 8 1 .469 51 53 -2
(10) Minnesota 15gp 7 8 0 .467 36 48 -12
(11) Utah 15gp 6 7 2 .467 42 47 -5
(12) Nashville 13gp 6 7 0 .462 44 51 -7
(13) St. Louis 15gp 6 8 1 .433 40 48 -8
(14) Vegas 15gp 5 7 3 .433 42 44 -2
(15) Chicago 14gp 3 6 5 .393 44 53 -9
(16) San Jose 16gp 3 12 1 .219 41 69 -28
Current Standings
(1) Wp 56gp 39 14 3 .723 202 134 +68 (up .040)
(2) Dallas 55gp 35 18 2 .655 182 139 +43 (up .048)
(3) Edm 55gp 34 17 4 .655 182 152 +30 (up .009)
(4) Veg 56gp 33 17 6 .643 185 155 +30 (down .077)
(5) Minn 56gp 33 19 4 .625 163 159 +4 (down .058)
(6) L.A. 53gp 29 17 7 .613 151 136 +15 (down .033)
(7) Col 57gp 33 22 2 .596 186 174 +12 (up .065)
(8) Van 55gp 26 18 11 .573 155 166 -11 (down .034)
(9) Calgary 55gp 26 21 8 .545 148 165 -17 (up .045)
(10 Utah 56gp 24 23 9 .509 158 170 -12 (down .015)
(11) Ana54gp 24 24 6 .500 137 165 -28 (up .024)
(12) St. L 56gp 25 26 5 .491 154 171 -17 (down .021)
(13) Sea 57gp 24 29 4 .456 169 183 -14 (up .005)
(14) Nash 54gp 19 28 7 .417 144 179 -35 (up .015)
(15) Chic 55gp 17 31 7 .373 149 191 -42 (up .007)
(16) SJ 57gp 15 35 7 .325 148 216 -68 (down .041)
Crazy amount of work, George. Surprised that in the face of a death spiral the Habs’ record only fell .033.
It is revealing what a slight dip – or equally slight increase – in the % pace can do, LJ.
It’s also indicative as to what the right addition through trade can do to improve a team’s performance … and the earlier the better., which is why I believe Lamoriello always struck early instead of waiting the trade deadline DAY.
Team strategies will be revealed the next 7-10 days!Change your roster now or wait until the last minute and react March 7th!Most teams have 7-9 games before the deadline! Interested in what people think teams will do based on the standings! Western Conference looks already determined! Easter conference is a Cluster !Which teams make moves,and for whom! Retool seems to be the buzz word for desperate GM S!
Sr, 92 points appears to be the consensus projection for playoff cut-off in the East, so it’s probably safe to conclude – barring a total collapse down the stretch – that these 6 teams will be in somewhere in the top 8 given the pace at which they’d need to play the rest of the way to reach 92
Wash – .723 now – needs to play .222
Carol – .625 now – needs to play .423
Fla – .610 now – needs to play .420
Tor – .618 now – needs to play .444
NJ – .596 now – needs to play .480
Tampa – .600 now – needs to play .481
That leaves 2 spots open and this is where fans need to look at their team of choice and say “can they elevate their game to the extent necessary without making significant changes
Detroit – .555 now – needs to play .574
Ottawa – .554 now – needs to play .577
Columbus – .536 now – needs to play .615
NYR – .527 now – needs to play .630
Boston – .526 now – needs to play .640
NYI – .518 now – needs to play .648
Montreal – .491 now – needs to play .712
Pittsburgh – .482 now – needs to play .712
Philadelphia – .482 now – needs to play .740
Buffalo =- .454 now – needs to play .768
As for the West, where 94 points looks to be the cut-off, the pace needed by these 7 teams down the stretch is – again barring a total collapse – easily attainable:
Winnipeg – .723 now – needs to play .250
Dallas – .655 now – needs to play .407
Edmonton – .655 now – needs to play .407
Vegas – .643 now – needs to play .423
Minnesota – .625 now – needs to play .462
Los Angeles – .613 now – needs to play .500
Colorado – .596 now – needs to play .520
From Utah down to San Jose the task is hopeless, ranging from a need to play .712 the rest of the way to something OVER 1.000 in the casee of San Jose. All should become sellers to some degree.
That leaves just 2 vying for the last playoff spot
Vancouver – .573 now – needs to play .574
Calgary – .545 now – needs to play .630
both should be buyers to some degree.
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Great analysis George! Calgary is one where many of us are realists. No one was expecting us to be anywhere close & the only reason why is Wolf. Our D is horrid & without Bahl it’s especially awful. We have a 1-2, 4 & 5 when healthy. The rest dont even belong on our roster. After the 4 Nation we have a road trip that is going to put a lot of clarity to our year, we may even drop to a bottom 10 if things go real bad. Just cant see Flames being buyers. They should be selling cap space.
Thanks potlicker … just hoping to initiate some dialogue while I ignore the 4 Nations (lol).
Concerning the Flames, their 165 goals against isn’t that bad, given they’ve been without Bahl and Handley (both of whom should be back after the break along with F Zary). It’s 9 less than allowed by Colorado, just 1 more than Vancouver, 9 more than Minnesota and 11 more than Vegas – and that’s over 50-odd games played. And Wolf, as you point out, is emerging as one of THE stories of the year in nets.
If they have to improve somewhere it’s their offense. 148 goals scored puts them well back of the Avalanche (186), Vegas (185), Edmonton & Dallas (182 each) and, of course, Winnipeg (202) – but it is competitive with Vancouver (155) and L.A. (151). Losing Kirkland and Mantha each for the season hasn’t helped, but if they can find a deal where they don’t have to rob Peter to pay Paul. when it comes to other parts of the roster, they should go for it in terms of relinquishing picks and/or prospects.
They’ve played so far at a ,545 clip, which isn’t bad given their absences, but with 3 expected back all they need to do is increase that by .085 down the stretch which, over the possible 54 points facing them, works out just the additional 5 points needed to get to 94.
I think they can battle Vancouver right down to the wire.
From this distant vantage point, the path to the playoffs in the East seems reasonably viable for Detroit and Ottawa, given that they need to improve their current pace by just .019 (Detroit) and .023 (Ottawa) to get to 92 – very doable if both can remain healthy and especially if they make a key addition or 2 through trade.
For Columbus it becomes marginally more difficult at a necessary increase if .079 – but with the way they’ve continually surprised us so far this season – far from impossible.
For each of NYR (+ .103), Boston (+ .114) and NYI (+ .130) it looks daunting, while for Montreal and Pittsburgh (+221), Philadelphia (+ .258) and Buffalo (+ .314), it’s essentially over.
Out West, the “race” is reduced to which one of 2 teams – Vancouver or Calgary – grab the 2nd WC slot.
“You’re never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you’re never as bad as they say when you lose.”- Is what Dobes and the Habs are going through and the reason why this fall off was not unexpected.
Admittedly it’s the reason I throw water on most trade rumors involving Montreal.
Habs don’t need draft picks, grizzled vets, they need to continue internal growth and competition leaving the pro-scouting team to perhaps pick a prospect needing a change of scenery.
Tampa was outplayed and very beatable, Habs outplayed them most of the game yet were let chasing the game. TB just isn’t the team it used to be.
I still see the Sens and Wings making the playoffs
i
If Andersen could ever hit the net he would be a superstar. If he had scored on half his chances he would have had 5 goals against Tampa. The Habs still have no clue how to get the puck out of there end leaving me to think the players just aren’t very good or the coaching needs to be upgraded. I hope the Habs make some deals and not expect getting much in return before the trade deadline. Gathering cap space and bringing some young prospects to play is more important.
As per the 4 Nations Tournament
R All of the games held at the Bell Center in Montreal ?
Do you think we will see a lot trade activity during this time or afterwards
Ken, as per the report, the games from Feb. 12 – 15 will be held in Montreal. The remainder will be in Boston.
As for trade activity, there is no roster freeze so trades could still happen. However, it’s assumed there will be little or no activity because no one wants to take the spotlight off the tournament. We’ll find out over the next 10 days if that’s the case.
Thank you very much Lyle