NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 24, 2025
Recaps of Wednesday’s playoff action, the Rangers sign GM Chris Drury to a contract extension, no front-office shakeup for the Bruins, the fallout from the Islanders firing Lou Lamoriello, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPPING WEDNESDAY’S PLAYOFF GAMES
NHL.COM: An overtime goal by Tyler Seguin lifted the Dallas Stars to a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 3 of their best-of-seven first-round series. Valeri Nichushkin opened the scoring for the Avalanche early in the first period but Stars captain Jamie Benn tied it in the third period, setting the stage for Seguin’s game-winner. The Stars hold a 2-1 lead in the series with Game 4 on Saturday, Apr. 26, at 9:30 pm ET.
Dallas Stars forward Tyler Seguin (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Stars’ win spoiled the return to action of Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog after nearly three years sidelined by knee surgeries. He saw 13:16 of ice time and led the Avs with six hits.
The Los Angeles Kings got four-point performances from Adrian Kempe (two goals, two assists) and Anze Kopitar (one goal, three assists) to beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-2 in Game 2 of their opening-round series. Oilers forwards Leon Draisaitl and Viktor Arvidsson narrowed the Kings’ early 3-0 lead to 3-2 before the latter pulled away with three unanswered third-period goals, two of them from Kempe. The Kings hold a 2-0 lead in the series, which shifts to Edmonton with Game 3 on Friday, Apr. 25, starting at 9:30 pm ET.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Oilers winger Evander Kane and defenseman John Klingberg returned to action after missing time this season due to injuries. It was Kane’s first game after being sidelined for the entire regular season, while Klingberg played only 11 games.
However, their return couldn’t save the Oilers from being soundly beaten in this contest. Starting goalie Stuart Skinner gave way to backup Calvin Pickard after giving up five goals on 23 shots while the Kings went 3-for-5 on the power play.
Washington Capitals forward Connor McMichael tallied twice in a 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens in Game 2 of their series. Logan Thompson stopped 25 shots as the Capitals overcame a 1-0 deficit in the second period with two quick goals by McMichael and Dylan Strome. Josh Anderson scored for the Canadiens, who got a 29-save performance from Sam Montembeault. The series moves to Montreal for Game 3 on Friday, starting at 7 pm ET.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Game 2 was nearly identical to the opening contest, with the Capitals dominating the first two periods before the Canadiens rallied back in the third. The Habs pushed back hard for the equalizer in the final frame, but Thompson shut the door before McMichael sealed it with an empty-netter with two seconds left.
Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis sent an unsubtle message to underperforming forwards Patrik Laine and Joel Armia. Laine was benched for the third period while Armia saw only one shift in that frame.
HEADLINES
NEW YORK POST: The Rangers announced that general manager Chris Drury signed a multi-year contract extension. This move comes after the Blueshirts missed the playoffs a year after winning the Presidents’ Trophy as the top regular-season team in 2023-24.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Some Rangers fans didn’t receive this news well, taking to social media to voice their displeasure. Nevertheless, Drury’s extension is ownership’s stamp of approval on his somewhat heavy-handed efforts to retool the roster since last summer.
BOSTON HOCKEY NOW: It appears Don Sweeney will return as general manager of the Bruins. Despite missing the playoffs this season, CEO and team chairman Charlie Jacobs praised Sweeney’s management of the club, citing their impressive winning percentage under his stewardship, including eight straight postseason appearances before 2024-25.
NYI HOCKEY NOW: Russ Macias cited Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reporting the Islanders nearly fired Lou Lamoriello in December before finally relieving him of his duties as GM and team president earlier this week.
Friedman claimed Lamoriello was clashing with team minority owner and Business Operations Director John Collins. There was also friction between Lamoriello and head coach Patrick Roy, and unhappiness over the historically bad season for their AHL affiliate in Bridgeport. A late-season blowout loss to the Rangers appeared to be the final straw.
Meanwhile, the Islanders also parted ways with long-time radio broadcasters Chris King and Greg Picker.
NEW YORK POST: Former Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck announced his retirement on social media yesterday. Clutterbuck spent 17 seasons in the NHL, beginning with the Minnesota Wild from 2007-08 to 2012-13 before being traded to the Isles, where he spent the remainder of his career to 2023-24.
A gritty checking-line forward, Clutterbuck played 1,065 NHL regular-season games, finishing with 143 goals and 150 assists for 293 points. He also had 12 goals and 20 points in 81 playoff contests.
STLTODAY.COM: Blues center Robert Thomas missed practice for maintenance reasons, but he will be ready for Game 3 against the Jets on Thursday.
SPORTSNET: Speaking of the Jets, sidelined forward Gabriel Vilardi (upper-body injury) traveled with the team to St. Louis. Meanwhile, winger Nikolaj Ehlers (lower body) remained in Winnipeg. The Jets hold a 2-0 lead in their series with the Blues.
PHILLY HOCKEY NOW: The Flyers announced they are moving on from assistant coaches Rocky Thompson, Darryl Williams, and assistant/skills coach Angelo Ricci.
TSN: Czechia leaders are condemning apparent threats by former Russian prime minister and president Dmitry Medvedev against Hall-of-Fame goaltender Dominik Hasek for his critical comments about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Was this the Spencer Carbery pep talk pre game?:
“Listen, that was way too close last game. Forget about finishing your checks, I need you guys to cross check to the face, elbow them to the head, slash their calves and forearms , and hit them on the numbers into the boards. The refs won’t penalize us”
Dream came true
2 cross checks to the face—- not called
2 high sticks—-not called
2 hits from behind—- not called
1 elbow—you guessed it, not called
2 two hand slugger slashes—-anybody? —- anybody??—- Bueller??— you got it; not called
I fully sympathize with Habs
Huge domination in both 3rd periods of third series; absolutely deserve at least a split; down 2-0
Meanwhile in Game 1 of Sens and Leafs the refs called the softest calls of the playoffs, the first with stutzle “boarding” tanev who went to the corner knowing a sens player was coming, and secondly the push from Gaudette clearing Mathews from the crease on a rebound with Mathews falling down. This is not consistent with any other game I’ve seen. I get it, Leafs need to win this year, but the refs in Game 1 was weakest I’ve seen. The habs had two easy high sticks and cross checks with blood and no call. Fans just want consistency.
These playoffs got under way last Saturday but the Florida-Tampa series – probably the shortest distance between venues – didn’t begin until April 22, by which time Winnipeg-St. Louis and Colorado-Dallas were playing their 2nd game. Tonight the Florida teams play their 2nd game while Colorado-Dallas have finished 3, and each of Ottawa-Toronto, Vegas-Minnesota and Winnipeg-St. Louis will be playing their 3rd. Bit of a strange scheduling. Has it had something to do with arena availability?
Drury. Is there a Rangers fan that is pleased with him enough to give him an extension? Did Dolan think he was going to bolt to the open position for the Islanders? wtf
This extension did not shock me at all. Drurys record in NY for his 4 years in the role is 193-105-30. The best record of any GM in Rangers history. 3 playoff appearances, 2 ECF’s.
He was not going anywhere over this season. My biggest issue with Drury was not firing Laviolette after or during their horrendous skid in December/ January which was the death of their season.
“ The best record of any GM in Rangers history.”
*****over that same time frame *****
numbers yeah…
his Pro from last season was removing 2 overpaid players but at the expense of losing the team. Lavi was passive but not sure he could of fixed the crying baby room
@captain
you are happy with where Drury has the team?
imagine the Rangers without Igor
I’m in the middle with Drury. He’s done some good, some bad. I think how he handles this offseason and next season will define him a little better.
On Shesterkin I’m not exactly a fan of the deal. It’s just too much cap space spent on a tender imo. They’ve had the same exact issues for years and signing that deal makes it extremely hard to cure those issues.
Is Drury extended through 2026-2027? If so, he and the head coach he selects should have two seasons to make an impact.
8787,sounds like playoff hockey to me.That is the way it s called in the second season.Now Montreal and Ottawa will reconstruct their personel to get ready for the playoffs.
Hi Sr
Playoff hickey does seem to have refs not calling the ticky tack calls; agree
But this was in no way like any other game I’ve ever seen
Two crosschecks right to the face (and another in game 1)( completely ignored. Two drew blood; so they would have been 5 minutes each
Two high sticks; one with a cut (another 4 minutes PP missed)
Two blatant hits from behind into the boards; not called
An elbow right to the face that whiplashed the head back; ref looking right at it; no call
I’ve seen many times the whistles put away for the hooks, trips, slashes, but this was ridiculous
I’m not s Habs fan; but fully empathize with their pain. That was egregious and blatant refusing to call penalties on Caps
They already have the size, strength, and veterans advantage; they shouldn’t be gifted free reign to inflict injury and mahem without being penalized
3 cross checks to the face (in two games) not being called is egregious enough
Add the others; it’s at the nigh insanity level
Now just watch in next game; I can envision another blatant miss of an obvious 4 minute penalty for Caps; followed by a Hab retaliation on next shift, that results in a Caps PP that gets a goal; and the Caps win the game by 1 goal
This series should be tied
Hi Dark G
Haven’t seen any of that series yet
But, depending on what they ate earlier in day, farting on an opponent could be deemed intent to injure; and then DOPS king Paros will have an in person hearing where the deemed offender must duplicate said fart for Parros’ objective evaluation to determine if there is further discipline warranted
All kidding aside; we all here that are not considered Leaf fans, already know the world revolves around LeafLand
Agree there sometimes certainly appears to be bias
This bias can at times be related to a team or in some cases an individual
(Need only cite Ovi the destroyer. Elbows are his weapon of choice, and a close second is charging and hitting nothing but numbers into the boards; no call. Just watch last night’s game; one of each by Ovi; only thing missing was a high five or pat on the back by the refs)
oh..you haven’t been watching the Ottawa series then. If a Senator farted near a Leaf in the first game they were getting a penalty. SOFT calls. So it makes what Washington got away with that much more laughable.
I’m not a foil helmet wearing conspiracy theorist but it’s long been my belief that the league wants certain teams to win over others..and that the commish is involved in making that happen
Hmmm blame game sounds about right.
Totally agree Dark G. They fortunately figured it out in Game 2, but Game 1 was a joke. See my rant above. I think fans and players just want to see consistency in what refs call in playoffs. Stutzle’s and Gaudette’s penalties were the weakest calls of the playoffs i’ve seen and Gaudette’s resulted in an almost 2 min 5 on 3. What’s done is done, and like I said the refs obviously looked at the tape and figured it out in Game 2, but still annoying to see the first call of a series be such a weak “boarding” call when hab players are getting cross checked and high sticked in the face with no calls.
Oilers allow SIX GOALS in back to back games.
Ridiculous. Their D and team D has been atrocious. You would like to Skinner make a save or 2 more for sure but all else remaining equal not Roy Hasek or Brodeur would have gotten them the win last night. Brutal
Neeley was non commital about extending Sweeney as he approaches the end of his contract next year. Reading into this if Boston falls short of the playoffs he will be out. Ten years as the GM is an eternity. Even Lou L. Was given the gate.
I normally don’t like to complain about refereeing on the basis of you need to play through it and adjust accordingly.
With that being said when a team’s clear intent is to ramp up the physicality, running the D into the boards, the refs shouldn’t ignore the boarding and crosschecking to the face as the Capitals kept taking and increasing the liberties.
I have no problem with hard hitting and grinding down the opposition, no problem with taking some playoff advantage of refs keeping the whistles in the pocket compared to regular season but there are limits.
8787’s list is pretty accurate and they are all the type of infractions that fit the game plan.
Gallagher is fair game for anything the Caps do to him as is Caufield.
The Habs worked through it and pressured the Capitals in the third period, tilting the ice and could have used a smidgen of puck luck.
It isn’t just officials in Czechia who should be taking Medvedev to task for threatening a former NHL star and Hall of Famer. Bettman must condemn these remarks. As must leading Russian NHLers starting with Ovechkin. Something tells me we may be waiting a while.
They are Hockey Players not Politicians. They have no need to comment at all.
One does not have to be a politician to condemn threats. If the target was another politician I would agree with you. But in this case, the target is a hockey hall of famer and one of the best goalies ever. This requires a response from the hockey community. Especially from those players who have been only too glad to show themselves as close to the Russian government.
So, in your view, citizens not connected to the government in any way should go about their daily lives without commenting on a despot supporting a war-monger, including hockey players. Or do hockey players, in your view, hold some special niche in society that precludes them from exercising their rights as a citizen?
I sincerely hope YOU’RE not connected to a government!
Amen Howard & George
Not commenting is also their right. Getting political opinions from athletes is like getting medical advice from a chef, I don’t prescribe to either.
No it’s not snold but ex-players, like most of us are free citizens, and as such have a right, at least I thought so in a free society to make comments. The only difference is theirs get amplified because of what they accomplished in their life and are given a platform to do so. I guess one way I think of it is like, are you the guy looking at a burning house or are you the guy who tries to save people from the burning house?