NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – October 14, 2024

by | Oct 14, 2024

NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – October 14, 2024

The Jets, Stars, Flames and Golden Knights pick up their third straight wins to open the season. Check out the details and the latest injury updates, waiver news and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.

GAME RECAPS

NHL.COM: An overtime goal by Kyle Connor lifted the Winnipeg Jets past the Minnesota Wild 2-1. Mark Scheifele had a goal and an assist and Connor Hellebucyk made 26 saves for the win. Jake Middleton scored for the Wild while Filip Gustavsson stopped 33 shots.

Winnipeg Jets center Mark Scheifele (NHL Images).

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Jets are 3-0-0 partly because of Scheifele’s red-hot offensive play. He’s second in goals with four and points with six among all NHL skaters.

The Wild played without center Joel Eriksson Ek (broken nose) and defenseman Jared Spurgeon (lower-body injury). They also face a logjam in goal with Gustavsson, Marc-Andre Fleury and Jesper Wallstedt. That could result in Wallstedt bouncing between the Wild and their AHL affiliate for salary-cap reasons because he’s waiver-exempt this season.

The Dallas Stars picked up their third straight win by blanking the Seattle Kraken 2-0. Casey DeSmith turned in a 25-save shutout in his debut with the Stars while Sam Steel and Wyatt Johnston were the goal scorers.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Stars defenseman Matt Dumba missed this game with a lower-body injury suffered during Saturday’s game against the New York Islanders. He’s listed as day-to-day.

Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson had a goal and two assists in a 4-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers. Dan Vladar turned aside 25 shots while Anthony Mantha now has four points in his first three games with a goal in this contest. Jeff Skinner scored his first with the Oilers, who are still seeking their first win of the season. They had back-to-back goals called back for goaltender interference and offside.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Oilers remain out of sorts to start the season. They’re struggling partly due to the offseason departures of depth players Dylan Holloway, Philip Broberg, Warren Foegele, Ryan McLeod, Vincent Desharnais and Cody Ceci, who all played crucial roles in their march to the 2024 Stanley Cup Final.

One would expect the Flames to struggle this season after trading away key veterans like Jacob Markstrom, Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, Elias Lindholm, Andrew Mangipane and Nikita Zadorov throughout 2023-24. During training camp, center Nazem Kadri boldly stated his team would surprise folks this season. They’re doing just that thus far with a 3-0-0 start.

The Vegas Golden Knights are 3-0-0 after downing the Anaheim Ducks 3-1. Tomas Hertl snapped a 1-1 tie in the third period while Ilya Samsonov made 22 saves in his debut with the Golden Knights. Troy Terry replied for the Ducks.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Golden Knights center Jack Eichel collected an assist to sit atop the league’s scoring leaders with seven points.

IN OTHER NEWS…

STLTODAY.COM: Jordan Binnington holds the Blues franchise record for goalies with four season-opening wins. He’s also closing in on some other Blues goaltending milestones.

Binnington is tied with Curtis Joseph for third in games played and for second in starts with 275. With 146 wins, he’s two behind Jake Allen for second place and five away from career leader Mike Liut. He also needs 455 more saves to pass Joseph for second all-time.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Hockey-Reference shows Binnington now in sole possession of third place for games played by a Blues goalie with 282.

DAILY FACEOFF: The Detroit Red Wings placed goaltender Ville Husso on waivers. The Montreal Canadiens did the same with forward Alex Barre-Boulet.

CBS SPORTS: Red Wings forward Christian Fischer will miss Monday’s game against the New York Rangers with an upper-body injury. He’s listed as day-to-day.

BUFFALO HOCKEY NOW: The Sabres announced that the 2024-25 inductee into their Hall of Fame is former player and broadcaster Rob Ray. He spent 14 seasons and 889 regular-season games with the Sabres. He’s been part of their broadcast team since 2003-24.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Congratulations to Ray on receiving this honor. During his 16 NHL seasons with the Sabres and Ottawa Senators, he was a popular enforcer, amassing 3,207 PIMs in 900 total NHL regular-season games.

YARDBARKER: Former NHL forward Riley Sheahan announced his retirement at age 32. Sheahan spent 12 seasons in the NHL with the Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins, Florida Panthers, Oilers, Sabres and Kraken, amassing 74 goals and 120 assists for 194 points in 637 regular-season games and seven points in 33 playoff contests.










NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – March 14, 2023

by | Mar 14, 2023

NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – March 14, 2023

The Sabres, Avalanche and Stars are the winners in Monday’s action, the three stars of the week are announced plus injury updates and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.

GAME RECAPS

NHL.COM: The Buffalo Sabres snapped a four-game losing skid with two third-period goals by Alex Tuch to hold off the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3. Dylan Cozens, Owen Power and JJ Peterka each had two points for the Sabres, who improved to 33-28-5 (71 points) to sit five points behind the New York Islanders for the final Eastern Conference wild-card berth. Auston Matthews had a goal and two assists for the Leafs (40-18-8) as they sit second in the Atlantic Division with 88 points.

Buffalo Sabres winger Alex Tuch (NHL Images).

Colorado Avalanche forward Artturi Lehkonen scored twice and collected an assist in an 8-4 drubbing of the Montreal Canadiens. Cale Makar collected three assists and Valeri Nichushkin had a goal and two assists for the 37-22-6 Avalanche, who sit in third place in the Central Division with 80 points. Josh Anderson scored his 20th of the season for the 26-35-6 Canadiens, who’ve dropped seven in a row.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Lehkonen left the game in the second period with a broken finger after being struck by a shot. He’s returning to Colorado for surgery. Canadiens forward Rem Pitlick left the game in the first period after going head-first into the boards. No update was provided on his status.

The Dallas Stars downed the Seattle Kraken 5-2. Jamie Benn had a goal and two assists while Miro Heiskanen had three assists for the Stars (37-17-3) as they hold first place in the Central Division with 87 points. Vince Dunn had collected two assists for the 37-23-7 Kraken as they hold third place in the Pacific Division with 81 points.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Stars forward Tyler Seguin remains sidelined recovering from a superficial cut to his leg. He could return to action within the next couple of weeks.

HEADLINES

NHL.COM: Arizona Coyotes winger Clayton Keller, Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby and Toronto Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner are the three stars for the week ending March 12.

THE NEWS & OBSERVER: Carolina Hurricanes winger Andrei Svechnikov is sidelined indefinitely with a knee injury.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Svechnikov’s absence is a big blow to the Hurricanes’ offense. He’s third among their scorers with 23 goals and 55 points in 64 games.

GOPHNX.COM’s Craig Morgan tweeted that Coyotes forward Christian Fischer is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. There is no timeline yet for Nick Schmaltz’s return from a lower-body injury.

CBS SPORTS: Minnesota Wild winger Marcus Foligno suffered a lower-body injury during Sunday’s game against the Arizona Coyotes.

NBC SPORTS CHICAGO: The Blackhawks have shut down rookie forward Cole Guttman for the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury.

TSN: The Nashville Predators signed forward Mark Jankowski to a one-year, $775K contract.

SPORTSNET: Eric Engels reports a potential expansion of video review for high-sticking and over-the-glass calls was discussed during yesterday’s meeting of NHL general managers. There was also discussion about meeting with the NHL Players Association to potentially grandfather in cut-resistant equipment as mandatory.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Oh, goody! More things to slow down the game.

NORTH STAR BETS: Chris Johnston reports NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly takes a dim view of three-team trades where a club acts as a broker to allow trades among cap-strapped teams. He said the league has never favored such trades but relented to them years ago because general managers lobbied to have retained-salary transactions in the collective bargaining agreement.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: I believe that was implemented in the updates to the CBA following the 2012-13 lockout. Former Leafs general manager Brian Burke was reportedly among those GMs at the time leading the charge for retained salary transactions to facilitate more movement in the trade market. I doubt we’ll see the league clamp down on that in the next round of collective bargaining.

Johnston also reported Daly didn’t sound as though there is any need to implement a rule that would prevent teams from sitting out players for “trade-related reasons” as we saw in the weeks leading up to the March 3 trade deadline. However, he didn’t rule out the possibility if it were to become a trend.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Daly may have said the same thing to the general managers. Probably something along the lines of, “Don’t make it a habit, gentlemen, or else.”










NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – October 20, 2020

by | Oct 20, 2020

NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – October 20, 2020

Long-time NHL broadcaster Doc Emrick retires, the latest notable contract signings and more in today’s morning coffee headlines.

NBC SPORTS: Mike “Doc” Emrick yesterday announced his retirement after 47 years as an NHL broadcaster. He was the lead play-by-play man for NBC Sports’ NHL coverage for the past 15 years.

Mike “Doc” Emrick announced his retirement (NHL.com).

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Emrick was the voice of NHL hockey in the United States for many years. He belongs among the all-time greats with Foster Hewitt, Danny Gallivan, Bob Cole and Dan Kelly.

ARIZONA SPORTS: The Coyotes signed forward Christian Fischer to a two-year, one-way contract worth an annual average value of $1 million.

THE PROVINCE: The Vancouver Canucks signed center Adam Gaudette to a one-year, $950K contract and free-agent Jayce Hawryluk to a one-year, two-way deal worth $800K at the NHL level.

CALGARY SUN: The Flames signed former Boston Bruins winger Joakim Nordstrom to a one-year, $700K contract.

TORONTO STAR: The Maple Leafs and Ilya Mikheyev have submitted their paperwork in the latter’s upcoming arbitration case. Mikheyev seeks a one-year, $2.7 million contract while the Leafs countered with a two-year, $2 million offer. His hearing is slated for Wednesday but the two sides can continue to negotiate.

ICETHETICS.COM: Photos of what appears to be the “reverse retro” alternate sweaters for the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins have apparently been leaked.

IIHF.COM: The schedule for the 2021 World Junior Championships has been announced, with the tournament starting on Christmas Day 2020.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: TSN’s Bob McKenzie has a lengthy Twitter thread regarding which junior players (including those selected in the 2020 NHL Draft) might be eligible or allowed to play for Team Canada by their respective NHL clubs.










NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – October 19, 2020

by | Oct 19, 2020

NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – October 19, 2020

The latest on the Bruins, Blackhawks, Leafs and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.

THE SCORE: Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney is willing to let Zdeno Chara take his time to reach a decision for the 2020-21 season. He said he’s been in regular contact with the 43-year-old defenseman and his agent. Chara is an unrestricted free agent who’s spent the past 14 seasons with the Bruins.

Zdeno Chara has yet to reach a decision on next season (NHL Images).

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Chara’s agent recently said his client is drawing interest from multiple teams. For now, there’s no indication the long-time Bruins captain is planning to leave Boston. The uncertainty over what next season will look like could be a factor in his decision not to rush into signing a new contract.

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: Uncertainty over the status of Brent Seabrook, Andrew Shaw and Zack Smith is affecting the Blackhawks’ salary-cap flexibility. The trio missed the 2020 playoffs because of injuries and there’s some question whether they’ll be medically cleared to play next season. They could be placed on long-term injury reserve to start the season, which would allow the Blackhawks to address their goaltending and other roster issues.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Blackhawks have around $5 million in cap space with center Dylan Strome to re-sign. Seabrook, Shaw and Smith take up roughly $14 million.

TORONTO SUN: Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas doesn’t anticipate making any more significant offseason moves for the 2020-21 season. Dubas has added Joe Thornton, TJ Brodie, Wayne Simmonds, Aaron Dell, Zach Bogosian, Jimmy Vesey, Travis Boyd and Joey Anderson. He also brought back Jason Spezza. He doesn’t anticipate having to move out salary to re-sign restricted free agents Ilya Mikheyev, Travis Dermott and Anderson.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Cap Friendly indicates the Leafs have $1.469 million in salary-cap space. Dubas could bury some salary in the minors.

COLORADO HOCKEY NOW: Avalanche forward Tyson Jost elected to sign his one-year qualifying offer worth over $874K.