NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – February 19, 2025
The latest 4 Nations Face-Off updates, plus updates on Thatcher Demko, Evgeni Malkin, Jacob Markstrom and more as NHL teams return to practice in today’s Morning Coffee Headlines.
LATEST 4 NATIONS FACE-OFF NEWS
DAILY FACEOFF: Team USA defenseman Charlie McAvoy is listed as week-to-week following a procedure to address an infection stemming from a minor upper-body injury. He was ruled out of Thursday’s 4 Nations Face-Off championship game between the United States and Canada.
Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This is a big blow for the Americans and the Boston Bruins. His absence could jeopardize the latter’s efforts to secure a wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference.
NHL.COM: Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes was expected to join Team USA following the news about McAvoy’s condition. However, that doesn’t appear to be a certainty after Hughes practiced with his Canucks teammates in a non-contact jersey on Tuesday.
Hughes missed the Canucks’ final four games before the tournament with a lower-body injury. He said he “felt pretty good” during his skate on Tuesday. However, he acknowledged that tournament rules forbid him from joining Team USA unless another American defenseman was injured.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported the situation remained fluid whether Hughes will join Team USA in Boston. Stay tuned.
Ottawa Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson replaced McAvoy in the American lineup in Monday’s 2-1 loss to Sweden. If Hughes can’t join the roster, Sanderson will remain in that role for the championship game against the Canadians.
Dallas Stars defenseman Thomas Harley joined Team Canada for Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the Americans because Shea Theodore was injured earlier in the tournament and Cale Makar was sidelined by illness.
Makar returned to action for Canada’s 5-3 win over Finland on Monday, meaning Harley couldn’t play in that game and won’t play in the championship game unless another Canadian defenseman is sidelined by injury or illness.
OTTAWA SUN: The Tkachuk brothers and Auston Matthews are expected to play for Team USA on Thursday. Matthew Tkachuk and Matthews missed Monday’s loss to Sweden with injuries while Brady left that game for precautionary reasons after crashing into the Swedish net.
NHL HEADLINES
THE PROVINCE: Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko is listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
TSN: Speaking of the Canucks, they signed Drew O’Connor to a two-year, $5 million contract extension. The average annual value is $2.5 million.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Canucks acquired O’Connor and defenseman Marcus Pettersson from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Feb. 1. Five days later, Pettersson signed a six-year, $33 million extension.
TRIBLIVE.COM: Pittsburgh Penguins forwards Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust returned to practice with their teammates on Tuesday. Both are on injured reserve.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: They could be taken off IR before Saturday’s game against the Washington Capitals.
COLORADO HOCKEY NOW: Avalanche winger Valeri Nichushkin is expected to return to the lineup after missing 19 games with a lower-body injury. The Avs’ next game is Saturday against the Nashville Predators.
ROTOWIRE: New Jersey Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom (knee) was placed on injured reserve Tuesday. He’s expected to return to action by early or mid-March.
DAILY FACEOFF: Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler underwent a procedure to address a lower-body ailment. He will be re-evaluated in two to three weeks.
OTTAWA SUN: Senators forwards Josh Norris and Shane Pinto remain sidelined by injuries as their teammates returned to practice on Tuesday. Both players skated on their own but it seems doubtful that they’ll be in the lineup for Saturday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens.
THE BUFFALO NEWS: Sabres forward Jordan Greenway is set to return after being sidelined since Dec. 20 following surgery for a middle-body injury.
CALGARY SUN: Flames center Connor Zary and defenseman Kevin Bahl practiced with their teammates yesterday. A knee injury sidelined Zary since Jan. 7. Bahl had been out since Jan. 25 with an upper-body injury.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Nashville Predators defenseman Jeremy Lauzon has been ruled out for the rest of the regular season. He was sidelined since Dec. 31 by a lower-body injury.
TSN: Speaking of the Predators, they acquired minor-league forward Grigori Denisenko from the Vegas Golden Knights for future considerations.
Is anyone else starting to think that Demko is becoming Carey Price in his last few years? A great goalie who just can’t stay healthy.
Hi Howard, Demko’s situation is concerning. I remember reading a report out of Vancouver earlier in the season that he would never fully recover from his injury. We never really know if his new injuries are related to that injury that took him out of the playoffs last year, or just remotely related in the sense that he is not fully recovered and now putting strain on other parts of his body – unless the Canucks explicitly state an injury is upper-body and/or unrelated. Regardless, week to week does not sound good and I hope that the team can make a decision that is in the best long-term interest for Demko.
Hey Howard
Re; Demko & Canucks
You’re 100% Right ….❗️❗️
We were talking about Demko yesterday the Canucks start this guy’s always hurt like last year this year. He looks like a liability.
He’s a UFA in a year time I don’t know who’s gonna touch him for more than what he’s got paid just now 5 million
Be interesting to see what happens in the next 3.6 weeks with him
Hopefully they can sign Kevin Larkin goaltender has been backing him up to 3–4 year deal or something like that because it’s obvious you can be a starter
Very interesting to see what’s gonna happen with the Canucks….⁉️
I was just thinking the same thing talented but injury bug has him…. too bad
I know I’m in the minority on this, but it’s great to read some hockey news that doesn’t concern that meaningless exhibition tournament.
I agree and disagree about the meaningless. It seems to have taken on a bit of an us vs. them for many people who are triggered by a certain political leader who – like most of them – come and go quickly.
I would say the meaningful part was the amount of eyes, that normally don’t even know the game of hockey exists, suddenly hearing about a spectacle unfolding Saturday night while trying not to puke on another NBA all star weekend. I’m normally not a big PK Subban fan but he sure did nail it on the head with his comments.
If the NHL managed to win a few NBA fans Saturday night with a best on best tournament, which in the grand scheme of things is meaningless. Then I’m all for something every couple years.
I’m always amazed at how well Canadians know their sport though. We knew before that goaltending would be an issue. It IS the issue. It has been for a while. Quebec was an absolute goalie factory. That has stopped. For a myriad of reasons. As a house league coach I can tell you that it’s always an issue. It’s the most expensive position to play in an already expensive sport. Hockey Canada – use that war chest for paying off sa victims and sell those Toronto condos and give all parents of 100% full time goalies a free registration pass. For starters…
Hockey in general is crazy expensive. When I was a kid a long time ago 2nd hand gear was used. Now everyone wants the newest and greatest because that’s what advertisers tell us you need to go to the show. It’s all big business as usual. Low enrolment numbers are the result. Sad
Out of curiosity I thought I’d list country of origin for the goalies primarily used so far this season – in no particular order and with apologies for anyone omitted:
Canada 16: Joel Hofer; Scott Wedgewood; Eric Comrie; Calvin Pickard; Tristan Jarry; Connor Ingram; Jordan Binnington; Jake Allen; Logan Thompson, Darcy Kuemper; Mackenzie Blackwood; Stuart Skinner; Adin Hill; Marc-Andre Fleury; Sam Montembeault; Cam Talbot
U.S. 16: Cayden Primeau; Jonathan Quick; John Gibson; Casey DeSmith; Spemcer Knight; Alex Nedeljkovic; Alex Lyon; Charlie Lindgren; Connor Hellebuyck; Joke Oettinger; Dustin Wolf; Joseph Woll; Jeremy Swayman; Anthony Stolarz; Thatcher Demko; Joey Daccord
Sweden 7: Jacob Markstrom; Jonas Johansson; Arvid Soderblom; Anton Forsberg; Samuel Ersson; Fi vsson; Linus Ullmark
Russia 6: Ilya Samsonov; Andre Vasilevskiy; Igor Shesterkin; Sergei Bobrosvky; Ilya Sorokin; Pyotr Kochetkov
Finland 5: Justus Annunen; Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen; Joonas Korpisalo; Juse Saros; Ken Lankinen
Czech Republic 4: David Rittich; Petr Mrazek; Kunal Vejmelka; Vitek Vanacek
Denmark 2: Frederik Andersen; Leevi Merilaineen
Czechia 1: Lukas Dostal
Germany 1: Philipp Grubauer
Latvia 1: Elvis Merzlikins
That Swedish goalie before Ullmark should read Filip Gustavsson – must have typed that with my elbows! Also, it’s Jake Oettinger … not Joke … sheesh
Alas, George, it is clear that Cayden Primeau is not an NHL goalie.
Heh ,,, I’m not casting judgement on any of them LJ … I’m sure fans of some of the other teams would have the same opinion about others listed.
I just wanted to get a comparison on the distribution of the goalies used the most to date by country of origin. Dobes is now close to Primeau in games … I suppose I could have listed him as well, which would put the Czech Republic at 5 – tied with Finland.
I thought it was interesting that the U.S. and Canada have the same number as well – 16 each
friends that do not watch much or follow hockey are into it here in the states
I agree with you. First of all not all best teams are participating (Russia f.e) Second – there are some injuries that can jeopardize playoff chances for Boston (McAvoy) or Cup hopes for Vegas (Theodore). Tkachuk brothers are also banged up. Third – many players will be emotionally emptied after this tournament especially Canadians and Americans who took it personally because of political situation between two countries.
The only good thing is that no players from my Capitals participate in 4 Nations Cup.
Arthur..well said unfortunately like the US Russia has a crap leader in Putin invading Ukraine. (I do feel sorry for the Russian hockey players)
Look injuries are part of it Canada didn’t have Makar vs United States in the round Robin or She Theodore or Alex Petrangelo.
Looks like US will not have McAvoy but dont fool yourself the Hanson Brothers are playing and they may try to squeeze Hughes in there too.
And yes a lot of these players will be emotionally drained after…and who do my Penguins open up against freaking Washington who are playing great and rested. The Penguins Crosby Rakell Karlson all will be wiped.
Bit of news gone unnoticed for the most part is the re-location of the Notre Dame Hounds in Saskatchewan from their long-time location, Some very good NHLers came through that program
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/other/saskatchewan-hockey-team-notre-dame-hounds-set-to-relocate/ar-AA1ziTNc?ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=3dc1fa66d75d45aeaccfd494d9a7f8d0&ei=118
Not only Notre Dame in trouble George, it appears jr. A across the board is going to suffer from the rule changes about the CHL players getting scholarships. Here the Penticton Vees are pushing to get a WHL franchise. The BCHL lost a number of players to the CHL soon after the rule change. The quality of play has dropped this year even though they`ve increased the amount of imported players by a lot. Nadeau and Pridham may be the last of the more notable players to be drafted out of the BCHL
Yeah, they’ve been talking about that in this region too, Yogi. In addition to the 67’s and Olympiques in the Major Jr. OHL and Q, there are several Junior A leagues in both provinces.
I have a minority opinion about the scraps on Saturday. It was good for hockey, good for the USA, not good for team Canada on Saturday and Canada shouldn’t have taken those fight invitations.
Hagel said is was to get the crowd into it – they were already into it! USA bench was uptight and we gave them the chance to settle in and get comfortable by engaging. Perhaps it was all meaningless because Thursday final Canada/USA matchup was likely win or lose but it took away from our chances on Saturday.
As a hockey fan it was fun to watch – fights usually are good entertainment when its not guys who train to fight more than hockey. Any hockey sense I may or may not have was telling me it was not helping our cause in that game.
I’m probably wring, but I though the NHL introduced a rule some seasons back that automatically ejected any player getting into mutually-agreeable, time-wasting fights even before the opening face-off of a game.
George I`m not sure the fights were mutually agreed upon, especially Miller vs Parayko, Miller had dropped his gloves and was looking to jump some one. Then he saw Parayko coming and had no choice. I`m sure Millers first thought was “Oh sh^t”. Sometimes you know the fights coming and the your choices are fight or run from the bully and not very many of the Canucks will ever run, just not in our nature
Canada will win unless hellebuck steals it or binington loses it Both are possible IMHO
I hope Hughes plays. He was originally on the line up so I’m hoping to see him. It would make things spicy.
I don’t have any favorite to win but I’m hoping for a real good game of hockey, period. I’m hoping Boston fans be as Bostonfan like as possible to make the teams feel like this is more important than they would ever think.
All we need to do is SHOOT, then SHOOT again, then SHOOT again on Binnington
The Canadians are way better than us offensively and slightly better than us defensively
Helleybuck over Binnington makes up for (and more) those disadvantages
If we win tomorrow night we have to give a ton of thanks to Cassidy and DeBoer for nixing Thompson on team
Helleybuck is just fractionally better than Thompson; and definitely not enough to overcome the Canadians advantage on offence
Thank you very much Cassidy and DeBoer for forcing Helleybuck vs Binnington
SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT
From ANYWHERE!
Arthur, I don’t think the fights to start the game had anything to do with politics, even though it drives hits and eyeballs on 24hr cable news and sports channels so they talk about it. It’s a hockey game.
We have multiple reports that it was the plan from the Tkachuk’s and Miller well before that anthem was sung. Papa Tkachuk did it too in the WC of Hockey in 96, Canada and the US were still allies then.
Beat the Canadians at playing Canadian style hockey which is be more physical than your opponent, and crank up the emotional intensity from the get go. A strategy almost as old as the game itself. Probably because it works quite often, at least for Team Canada historically. Or maybe it’s just because we used to have a talent advantage. I dunno. Today the US and Canada are very even talent wise.
2.0, IMO Canada had to take those fights and glad they did. You can’t back down in that situation, EVER. You would rather lose the fight than turn it down. It didn’t drive momentum to the US, Canada took the lead. What changed the momentum was a goal that Binnington would likely want back. When a tender let’s in a perceived soft goal, it deflates the bench, like, every time. It took a while for Canada to get the edge in play again.
This tournament isn’t meaningless, not to anyone I grew up playing with or know period. And it sure as heck isn’t meaningless to the players. That is obvious. And it has nothing to do with the current political situation and everything to do with the players pride in their country and wanting to be the best in the world. Both side were jacked before the tourney ever started, these guys have been dreaming about this opportunity since childhood.
Arthur..well said unfortunately like the US Russia has a crap leader in Putin invading Ukraine. (I do feel sorry for the Russian hockey players)
Look injuries are part of it Canada didn’t have Makar vs United States in the round Robin or She Theodore or Alex Petrangelo.
Looks like US will not have McAvoy but dont fool yourself the Hanson Brothers are playing and they may try to squeeze Hughes in there too.
And yes a lot of these players will be emotionally drained after…and who do my Penguins open up against freaking Washington who are playing great and rested. The Penguins Crosby Rakell Karlson all will be wiped.
I might be missing on this but I believe Mcavoy got hurt in the Finland game on a blind side hit by Armia!Hit from behind after the whistle!
It was some sort of infection.
For the most part. People here get along as long as hot topics are left out of the conversation.
The minute race, LBGTQ, or political bs come up, this place becomes an absolute dumpster fire.
Wake me up when people are done passively/ aggressively poking at each other’s county , or about their political affiliation.
Agreed. Just don’t engage. People are so willing to just lose it for something or someone who’s time will be finite.
Anyhoo. Hughes wasn’t playing anyhow he’s not medically cleared. I agree, as I said above, that goaltending will win this.
Canada loses in a close one tonight. And, we were predicted to lose this to the American’s before the tourney started.
Hey 8798,
I think the Penguins and Kyle Dubbie are going into a Re-Build and Re—tool,
More than likely the latter❓
We only have two first round pics this year in the 2025 draft and No Second round pics,
But they do have lots & Lots of players that can trade at the trade dead line this year and the trade dead line next year if they can get a couple more first pics this year or maybe a couple of seconds this year that’s a really good start to doing it.🤔
I think they may look for defence men that should’ve 21–22 years old so they can step in in next one or 2 to 3 years so they can start training them up.
The pens have 2–3 young defence men 19 to 20 that could potentially step in in the next couple of years, but then you really need to add to that probably need a good offensive defence men.
We have a couple of forwards and some wingers that could potentially make the team but not a lot. That’s what they need to draft for pics prospects to help rebuild. We have like $25 to $ 28 million next season in cap space the following year they have 60 million in cap space so that’s not a problem for them
They also have two young goaltenders or 24 year-old and a young Russian who is 21. They have some pieces but not enough but they do have lots to trade so hopefully you get a couple of pet first pics this year that she set them on the right track.
They really need to get a couple of STAR Forwards in the next two drafts and it looks like they could pick
Top six or lower in the 2025 draft if they don’t add too many Good Players,
They could Very Well pick top 4 or five and 26.NHL draft Also…..❓🤔🤔
Counting on a good shot at McKenna (‘26) and/or Dupont (‘27)
I still think we’ll be picking in the 7-12 spot this year
Retool/rebuild/whatever; trade the aging and non productive along with our extra pics (I think we have 29 over next 3 drafts) to bring in young NHL ready players
I disagree that the need is for more than one young defenseman.
Letang, Deharnais, P-O J, Pickering, Brunicke
Retain 50% on Karllsson and get a first; *young NHL LD; plus prospect
Move Grzylcyck for a 4th maybe 3rd
Buyout Graves
Under no circumstances re-sign Shea
Use 1st (Karllsson trade) plus at least 2 3rds , plus say McGroarty for young **RD with top 4 career path
Next year:
Righties: Letang, ** (see above), Brunicke, Desharnais
Lefties: Pickering, P-O J, *(see above); and one of Belliveau, Pieneiemi , Koltachonok
Draft mostly forwards; keep eye open for using our ‘26 2nd/3rds for available RFA offer sheets (see what Blues did this year)
Accari and Hayes must be let go. Hayes might garner a 5th
Get absolutely anything (or nothing- future considerations) for Accari
Re-sign Glass, Tomasino, Bemstrom, Beuvillier
Test for a Lizotte return. If we can get another 3rd in ‘25 take it
Move up (from WBS) at least 3 forwards
Sign no UFA over the age of 28
That’s a retool/rebuild