NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – March 13, 2024

by | Mar 13, 2024

NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – March 13, 2024

The Blackhawks’ Connor Bedard matches two franchise records, the Panthers and Rangers expand their leads in their respective divisions, and former player Anson Carter heads a group that wants to bring a franchise to Atlanta. Details on these and other stories in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.

GAME RECAPS

NHL.COM: Chicago Blackhawks rookie star Connor Bedard had a goal and four assists in a 7-2 rout of the Anaheim Ducks. Bedard matched the single-game franchise records for assists and points (five) by a rookie. Nick Foligno and Philipp Kurashev each had four points for the 18-43-5 Blackhawks. Brett Leason tallied twice for the 23-39-3 Ducks.

Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard (NHL Images).

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Bedard also became the fifth 18-year-old player in league history to have a five-point game, joining Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (2011), Ilya Kovalchuk (2002), Dale Hawerchuk (1982) and Jack Hamilton (1943). The young Blackhawks star has eight points in his last two games and 10 in his last four. He leads this season’s rookie class with 51 points (13 more than Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber) and 20 goals (three more than the Wild’s Marco Rossi).

The league-leading Florida Panthers scored three unanswered third-period goals to nip the Dallas Stars 4-3, snapping the latter’s five-game win streak. Aleksander Barkov scored twice while Sam Reinhart tallied his 46th goal of the season for the 45-17-4 Panthers (94 points), who opened a three-point lead over the Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins atop the overall standings. Joe Pavelski, Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston each had a goal and an assist for the Stars (40-18-9), who sit in first place in the Central Division with 89 points.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Panthers played without forward Evan Rodrigues due to a lower-body injury.

New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin made 28 saves for his second straight shutout to blank the Carolina Hurricanes 1-0. Adam Fox scored for the 43-18-4 Rangers (90 points) to open a six-point lead over the second-place Hurricanes atop the Metropolitan Division. Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 23 shots for the 39-20-6 Hurricanes.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before the game, Rangers rookie center Matt Rempe received a four-game suspension by the NHL department of player safety for elbowing New Jersey Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler in the head on Monday.

The Colorado Avalanche moved closer to the Central-leading Stars with a 6-2 victory over the slumping Calgary Flames. Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist to extend his points streak to 13 games while Mikko Rantanen has two goals and two assists for the 41-20-5 Avalanche (87 points) as they’re two points back of the Stars. Dan Vladar made 29 saves for the 31-29-5 Flames, who have lost three straight games.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: MacKinnon leads all scorers with a career-high 113 points. Three key Flames players were absent from this game. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, forward Andrei Kuzmenko was a late scratch with an upper-body injury, and winger Andrew Mangiapane was sidelined with an illness.

Speaking of slumping teams, the Detroit Red Wings suffered a 7-3 upset at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres. Defenseman Bowen Byram scored twice and Zach Benson had a goal and two assists for the 31-30-5 Sabres (67 points), who moved to within five points of the New York Islanders for the final Eastern Conference wildcard berth. Lucas Raymond had a goal and an assist for the 33-26-3 Red Wings (72 points), who lost their sixth straight game and slipped out of that wildcard spot.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: When this month started, the Wings held the first Eastern wildcard berth with 72 points with a seven-point lead over the ninth-overall Washington Capitals and the 10th-overall Islanders. The Isles now have the same number of points as the Wings but they hold that wildcard spot with a game in hand.

Jack Eichel’s 200th career goal came in overtime to lift the Vegas Golden Knights over the Seattle Kraken 5-4. Eichel also had two assists while Jonathan Marchessault tallied twice for the Golden Knights (35-23-7), who hold the final Western Conference wildcard spot with 77 points. Philipp Grubauer stopped 29 shots for the 28-24-12 Kraken.

Philadelphia Flyers winger Owen Tippett snapped a 2-2 tie as his club defeated the San Jose Sharks 3-2. Travis Konecny and Morgan Frost each had two points for the Flyers (34-24-8), who hold third place in the Metropolitan Division with 76 points. Filip Zadina scored both goals for the 16-41-7 Sharks.

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Cayden Primeau kicked out 41 shots for his second shutout of the season in a 3-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Brendan Gallagher, Juraj Slafkovsky and Joshua Roy were the goalscorers for the 25-30-10 Canadiens. Elvis Merzlikins gave up three goals on four shots and was replaced by Daniil Tarasov as the Blue Jackets sank to 22-33-10.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Blue Jackets forward Yegor Chinakhov left this game in the first period with an upper-body injury.

A two-goal performance by Kirill Kaprizov gave the Minnesota Wild a 4-1 victory over the Arizona Coyotes. Kaprizov also collected an assist for the 32-27-7 Wild. Nick Bjugstad replied for the 26-35-5 Coyotes.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Wild center Joel Eriksson Ek left the game with an undisclosed injury in the third period. Meanwhile, the Coyotes played without forward Barrett Hayton as he could be out longer than day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

The Ottawa Senators snapped a seven-game skid as they downed the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 on an overtime goal by Drake Batherson. Joonas Korpisalo made 34 saves and Jake Sanderson also scored for the 26-33-4 Senators. Michael Bunting replied for the 28-27-9 Penguins.

HEADLINES

SPORTSNET: Former NHL player-turned-broadcaster Anson Carter is heading a group that made a formal request to the league to begin the process of adding an expansion franchise to Atlanta.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Three times the charm after two previous teams (Flames and Thrashers) were relocated from Atlanta. Meanwhile, potential ownership groups in Salt Lake City and Houston have also expressed interest in bringing NHL franchises to their cities.

While the league continues to play coy over the possibility of expanding into new markets, it seems inevitable that it will grow by at least another two teams before the end of this decade. One of those cities could become the next home of the Arizona Coyotes if their current owner’s efforts to build a new arena in the Phoenix area fall through.

NHL.COM: Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko is listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury. He is expected to return before the Stanley Cup playoffs begin next month.

TSN: The Canucks also placed winger Dakota Joshua (injured hand) on long-term injury reserve.

THE TENNESSEAN: Nashville Predators defenseman Dante Fabbro is out for two to three weeks with an upper-body injury.

THE SCORE: The Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils will open the 2024-25 season on Oct. 4 and 5 in Prague, Czechia. The following month, the Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers will face off in Tampere, Finland on Nov. 1 and 2. These games are part of the NHL’s 2024 Global Series.










NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – September 13, 2023

by | Sep 13, 2023

NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – September 13, 2023

The Blue Jackets refute a privacy violation accusation against coach Mike Babcock, Carey Price admits his playing career is likely over, the Blues’ Torey Krug will miss the start of training camp, and much more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH: The Columbus Blue Jackets released statements from head coach Mike Babcock and team captain Boone Jenner refuting allegations that he invaded his players’ privacy.

“Spittin’ Chiclets” podcast host Paul Bissonnette said he got a text from an unnamed player claiming Babcock called Jenner into his office asking to see his phone in order to view the photos on it to determine the type of person he was.

Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Mike Babcock (NHL Images).

After looking into the allegation yesterday, the Blue Jackets released statements from Babcock and Jenner with their versions of what happened, stating Bissonnette’s depiction wasn’t delivered in the proper context.

Babcock said that he asked players and staff to share family photos off their phones as a way of getting to know them better. He called Bissonnette’s depiction of events “a gross misrepresentation of those meetings and extremely offensive.”

Jenner, meanwhile, said he was “happy to share” some of his photos of his family, pointing out Babcock had done the same with him. “I thought it was a great first meeting and a good way for us to start a relationship. To have this blown out of proportion is truly disappointing.”

Blue Jackets winger Johnny Gaudreau fully supported Babcock and Jenner. He said the coach also asked him to share some of his family photos. “It was his way of kinda getting to know me, and I got to know him,” said Gaudreau, adding he had no problem with it.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Babcock was hired as the Blue Jackets coach earlier this summer. He is under a harsher spotlight following allegations in 2019 that he bullied players during his coaching tenures with the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs.

Bissonnette is standing by his comments claiming “tons of players” have confirmed the accusation. However, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the league doesn’t consider this to be an issue. He also said the NHLPA has followed up, claiming Bissonnette’s depiction of the events wasn’t consistent with what the players reported to the PA.

Babcock and Jenner also spoke to the media yesterday after their statements were released. They insisted what happened was taken out of context and blown out of proportion.

MONTREAL GAZETTE: Canadiens goaltender Carey Price admitted that his knee injury has likely ended his playing career. He missed all of 2022-23 and is expected to be sidelined again this season.

Price, 36, said his knee feels good on a day-to-day basis and he can do things that are strenuous for a short period of time. However, he cannot handle the brunt of a full season of goaltending as he still gets tremendous swelling in his knee as a result. Price indicated that it was swollen for two weeks following his participation in a charity softball event this summer.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Price still has three seasons remaining on his contract with an average annual value of $10.5 million. He will be placed on long-term injury reserve this season once he completes his training camp medical next week.

STLTODAY.COM: St. Louis Blues defenseman Torey Krug will miss the start of training camp after injuring his right foot during off-season training. He’ll be reevaluated on Oct. 1.

Krug, 32, has been hampered by injuries in recent years. He missed 19 games last season and 18 contests in 2021-22.

NHL.COM: Seth Jones said he’d be honored if he were to be named the next captain of the Chicago Blackhawks. “I’ve always wanted to be a captain,” said Jones, adding he’d learned from some great leaders such as Shea Weber, Nick Foligno and Jonathan Toews over this career.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Blackhawks have yet to name a replacement for Toews, who captained the club from 2008 to April of last season. Jones could be the front-runner for the role.

WINNIPEG SUN: The Jets named center Adam Lowry as their new team captain. Lowry, 30, takes over from Blake Wheeler, who was bought out of the remaining year of his contract in June.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Jets head coach Rick Bowness cited Lowry’s work ethic, competitiveness and ability to communicate with his teammates as reason why he was tapped as the new captain. The Athletic’s Murat Ates cited Lowry as “a level-headed, inclusive, passionate, honest and consistently hard-working player.”

COLORADO HOCKEY NOW: The Avalanche signed free-agent winger Tomas Tatar to a one-year, $1.5 million contract.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Rumors linked Tatar to the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders. Instead, he lands with one of the top teams in the Western Conference.

The 32-year-old winger has a reputation as a solid regular-season performer who struggles in the postseason. Perhaps he’ll have better luck in the playoffs with the Avalanche.

CALGARY SUN: Mikael Backlund hasn’t closed the door on signing a contract extension with the Flames. The 34-year-old center is slated to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Backlund is taking a wait-and-see approach to this season to determine if the Flames are ready to become a Stanley Cup contender.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Backlund could be shopped by the March 8 trade deadline if the Flames are out of playoff contention by then.

VEGAS HOCKEY NOW: The Golden Knights signed winger Maxime Comtois to a professional tryout offer (PTO).

TSN: Speaking of the Golden Knights, Nick Holden is joining their front office after announcing his retirement yesterday. The 36-year-old defenseman played 654 career regular-season games over 12 seasons (2010-11 to 2022-23) with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Colorado Avalanche, New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, the Golden Knights and Ottawa Senators, finishing with 178 career points.

DAILY FACEOFF: The Edmonton Oilers signed forward Adam Erne to a PTO contract.

THE SEATTLE TIMES: Kraken prospect Shane Wright will be granted an exemption from the OHL allowing him to play for the club’s AHL affiliate if he fails to make the Kraken roster this season. In other words, he won’t have to return to his junior club because he missed the age eligibility cutoff by just five days.

NHL.COM: The Boston Bruins announced their “Historic 100” list of the 100 most legendary players in franchise history ahead of its “All-Centennial” all-star roster reveal on Oct. 12. Among the notables are Bobby Orr, Raymond Bourque, Phil Esposito, Eddie Shore, Brad Park, Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, Gerry Cheevers, Tim Thomas, Brad Marchand, Jean Ratelle, Rick Middleton and Joe Thornton.

ESPN.COM: NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly believes a third attempt at operating an NHL franchise in Atlanta could be more successful than the previous two attempts. He indicated the market demographics have significantly improved in that area but noted that the rink location would be important.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The report also indicated that league commissioner Gary Bettman has said that expansion isn’t a priority for the NHL right now.

Nevertheless, there’s been speculation among some pundits that another franchise in Atlanta could become a possibility down the road. In addition to the construction of an arena in a suitable location, it will also require a deep-pocketed ownership group willing to pay over $1 billion in expansion fees.

TSN: The NHL and NHLPA are planning on staging a scaled-down version of the World Cup of Hockey in February 2025 given the timeframe and uncertainty over the participation of Russian players. It will not be a “typical tournament” of eight national teams playing over 16 days.










NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – June 7, 2023

by | Jun 7, 2023

NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – June 7, 2023

Reaction to the three-team trade that sent Ivan Provorov to the Blue Jackets, the latest Stanley Cup Final news, an update on Timo Meier and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.

REACTION TO THE PROVOROV TRADE

THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: Flyers general manager Daniel Briere thanked Ivan Provorov for his years of service to the club after trading the defenseman on Tuesday to the Columbus Blue Jackets in a three-team deal involving the Los Angeles Kings.

Philadelphia Flyers general manager Daniel Briere (NHL.com).

Briere indicated that the deal was “really enticing” based on the draft picks the Flyers received and the direction the club is going as it rebuilds. “For us, what we were looking at is young guys and picks. We’ve said it from the beginning, so that was the major reason behind it,” said Briere.

“In exchange for Provorov and veteran minor leaguers Kevin Connauton and Hayden Hodgson, the Flyers will receive a first-round draft pick from Columbus (No. 22 overall), veteran goaltender Cal Petersen, defenseman Sean Walker, defensive prospect Helge Grans, a conditional second-round pick from Columbus, and a 2024 second-rounder from Los Angeles. Provorov heads to Columbus, while Hodgson and Connauton go to L.A. The Kings will pay for 30% of Provorov’s contract for Columbus.”

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH: Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen considers Provorov “a defenseman who slots in perfectly with our group.” He believes his club now has “two really strong defensemen on the left side of our top four with Zach Werenski and Ivan Provorov”.

Meanwhile, some LGBTQ+ Blue Jackets fans and community members are disappointed about the club’s addition of Provorov, citing his refusal in January to wear a Pride Night jersey when he was a member of the Flyers. Provorov cited his Russian Orthodox beliefs for declining to take part in the pregame formality.

Kekalainen defended the acquisition of Provorov. “We’ve always been an organization that promotes inclusion and diversity and all those things,” he said. “Hockey is for everyone, but we also respect freedom of opinion and freedom of choice.”

SPECTOR’S NOTE: You can read my take on the Provorov trade here.

Speculation abounds in the aftermath of the Provorov trade over whether Briere has other offseason moves in the works and how it affects the Kings’ efforts to re-sign a couple of key free agents. I’ll have more on that in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.

STANLEY CUP FINAL NEWS

NHL.COM: Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights averaged 2.8 million viewers in the United States across TNT, TBS and truTV. It was the second-most watched Cup Final game ever on US cable. Viewership peaked at 3.3 million viewers between 10:45 – 11 PM ET.

Game 3 goes Thursday night in Florida at 8 pm ET. The Golden Knights hold a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. 

LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: Golden Knights winger Jonathan Marchessault’s play since the middle of the second round has pushed him into the Conn Smythe Trophy conversation.

The 32-year-old has scored nine goals in his last nine games and leads the Golden Knights in this postseason with 12 goals in 19 games. He also has the best plus-minus (plus-16) among postseason players.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: At this stage, I’d say it’s between Marchessault and Jack Eichel as the favorites among the Golden Knights as this postseason’s MVP. Nevertheless, there’s no question he’s played a big role in his club’s playoff run thus far.

THE SCORE: Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said he has “complete faith” in Sergei Bobrovsky, who was pulled in Game 2 after giving up four goals on 13 shots in the Panthers’ 7-2 loss. He dismissed any talk of Bobrovsky wearing down from the grueling playoff run.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Bobrovsky’s teammates also defended the goaltender. They cited their own poor defensive play and vowed to play better in front of him. 

IN OTHER NEWS…

NHL.COM: New Jersey Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald said his club will begin serious contract discussions with Timo Meier’s agent to sign the winger to a long-term contract. The 26-year-old winger is a restricted free agent on July 1 and is also a year away from unrestricted free-agent eligibility.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: A sticking point is Meier’s salary. He’s coming off a four-year contract with an average annual value of $6 million but earned $10 million in actual salary this season. That’s how much it’ll cost the Devils to qualify his rights unless he and the club reach an agreement on a new contract before July 1.

NEW YORK POST: The Islanders will maintain its status quo in the front office and behind the bench for 2023-24. Lou Lamoriello will be back as general manager while Lane Lambert remains their head coach.

Lamoriello said he intends to prioritize signing key free agents such as Zach Parise, Scott Mayfield, Pierre Engvall and Semyon Varlamov. However, he suggested winger Josh Bailey’s 15-year tenure with the club may be coming to an end. Bailey, 33, has a year left on his contract with a cap hit of $5 million.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: It appears that Lamoriello will attempt to trade Bailey, who lacks no-trade protection. Failing that, the Isles GM could buy out that remaining year before the buyout period ends on June 30.

THE HOCKEY NEWS: The Nashville Predators have announced their new ECHL partnership with the Atlanta Gladiators.

THE ATHLETIC: Speaking of Atlanta, there’s some talk that the NHL could one day try again to establish a franchise in that city. Two previous teams, the Flames and Thrashers, relocated to Calgary and Winnipeg respectively.

Bad rosters, poor ownership and an arena in a bad location were cited as reasons why the Thrashers failed during their 11-year tenure there. However, if those issues are addressed and accounted for, there could be another opportunity to put an NHL franchise there.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly acknowledged the two previous failed attempts in Atlanta. However, he didn’t rule out the possibility of a third effort at making it work there. However, he indicated the issue of expansion will not be on the table during the league’s upcoming board of governors meeting.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The size of the Atlanta market and the potential money it could generate explains why the league won’t shut the door on returning there. It’s the same reason behind the NHL’s stubborn efforts to keep the Coyotes in Arizona.










An NHL Franchise In Quebec City Remains A Fantasy

by | Mar 15, 2023

An NHL Franchise In Quebec City Remains A Fantasy

Shortly after the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline, ESPN’s Jon Buccigross and Kevin Weekes made cryptic tweets raising speculation the 32-team league could expand into Houston and return to Atlanta.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly subsequently denied that the league had plans afoot for further expansion. He claimed it wasn’t a priority but didn’t rule out entertaining offers from groups that had interest, including those in Houston and Atlanta.

That prompted The Hockey News’ Adam Proteau to wonder if Quebec City would ever get an NHL franchise before Houston or Atlanta. While acknowledging Houston and Atlanta have the advantage in terms of market size, Proteau made the case for Quebec City to have a second chance at getting a team, citing its modern, publicly funded, 18,000-seat arena and deeply ingrained hockey culture.

Proteau acknowledged Quebec City’s market would be the league’s smallest with its population of 550,000 while the metro population of 800,000 would be the second-smallest. However, he also pointed out the Arizona Coyotes’ ongoing arena woes that have them skating in a 4,600-seat college arena while awaiting approval to construct a new venue in Tempe.

Centre Videotron in Quebec City (NHL.com).

He also pointed out that Quebec City, like the Winnipeg Jets, already has a built-in, ready-to-go fan base that would have little difficulty filling their building. He dismissed concerns over the language issue by pointing out that Quebec City worked fine before as an NHL city while Montreal has no issues as a bilingual hockey city.

Those are worthwhile arguments in Quebec City’s favor. It would certainly be more deserving than Atlanta, which has already failed twice as an NHL city thanks to the mismanagement of those previous franchises.

Sadly, however, those arguments will likely continue to fall on deaf ears at NHL headquarters. The league wants to continue expanding in the larger, lucrative US markets at the expense of smaller, hockey-mad Canadian cities.

It’s why Quebec City was passed over in favor of Las Vegas and Seattle. It’s why it will be passed over if a group in Houston is willing to pony up what’s likely to be a $1 billion expansion fee. It’s why there’s actually talk of a third attempt to establish an NHL presence in Atlanta. It’s why Kansas City and Portland stand a better chance at landing a franchise if someone with deep pockets wants to put an NHL club in either city.

It’s all about which markets can generate the most revenue, and Quebec City comes up short against Houston, Atlanta, Kansas City and Portland.

Getting an expansion team is a pipe dream for Quebec City. Their best hope for landing an NHL franchise is if an existing one is forced to relocate to a new city.

The Winnipeg Jets were resurrected in 2011 because the NHL needed a new location quickly when no one could be found to purchase the struggling Thrashers and keep them in Atlanta. Winnipeg’s True North Sports and Entertainment were the only viable alternative at the time.

The Arizona Coyotes could become a relocation candidate if their current owner fails to get approval for their Tempe arena project. With no other viable arena options, the franchise would have to be moved despite the NHL’s best efforts to keep it in Arizona.

Houston would be the most likely destination if the NHL finally waives the white flag on Arizona. Failing that, it would be Atlanta, Kansas City or Portland. Only if no suitable potential ownership group can be found in those cities would Quebec City get its chance.

The odds of that happening, however, seem quite long. As long as the NHL remains enamored of expanding into non-traditional hockey markets in its ongoing quest to “grow the game,” a natural hockey market like Quebec City will remain on the outside looking in.