NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – July 18, 2024

by | Jul 18, 2024

NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – July 18, 2024

The Hurricanes terminate Evgeny Kuznetsov’s contract and re-sign Jack Drury, the Stanley Cup champion Panthers’ roster will look different this season, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.

THE HOCKEY NEWS: The Carolina Hurricanes announced Wednesday they placed center Evgeny Kuznetsov on unconditional waivers before terminating his contract.

Kuznetsov, 32, had a year remaining on his deal with an average annual value of $7.8 million divided between the Hurricanes and his former club, the Washington Capitals. This will free up $3.9 million from the salary cap payrolls of both clubs for 2024-25.

Former Carolina Hurricanes center Evgeny Kuznetsov (NHL Images).

Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky said both sides agreed this was the best course of action for the player and the team. Kuznetsov will reportedly return to Russia to sign a contract with KHL club SKA St. Petersburg.

The Hurricanes acquire Kuznetsov at the March trade deadline for a third-round pick. He had seven points in 20 regular-season games and six points in 10 playoff contests with his new club.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kuznetsov’s performance has been erratic since his career-best 83-point effort in 2017-18 when he helped the Capitals win the Stanley Cup. A bounce-back 78-point production in 2021-22 was followed by 55 points in 2022-23 and 24 points in 63 games last season split between the Capitals and Hurricanes.

In 743 regular-season games, Kuznetsov had 173 goals and 575 points along with 33 goals and 73 points in 97 postseason contests.

PuckPedia indicates Kuznetsov gets to keep the $2 million signing bonus he received on July 1. However, he’s walking away from the $6 million in salary he was slated to earn this season.

Meanwhile, the Hurricanes avoided salary arbitration with forward Jack Drury to a two-year contract with an average annual value of $1.725 million.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Hurricanes have $13.8 million in cap space for 2024-25. They still have to sign restricted free agents Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis but have more wiggle room to do so with Kuznetsov off their books.

FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW: The 2023-24 Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers will have a different-looking roster for next season.

Brandon Montour, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Vladimir Tarasenko, Kevin Stenlund, Anthony Stolarz, and Ryan Lomberg departed via free agency. Kyle Okposo is expected to retire and Nick Cousins, Josh Mahura and Steven Lorentz weren’t offered new contracts.

They were replaced by more affordable depth players like Jaycob Megna, Nate Schmidt, A.J. Greer, MacKenzie Entwistle, Jesper and Adam Boqvist, Tomas Nosek, Tomas Nosek, Rasmus Asplund, and Chris Driedger.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Panthers’ roster underwent considerable change this summer. It’ll be interesting to see how well they adjust this season.

THE SCORE: Shane Pinto revealed the details behind his 41-game suspension last season for violating the NHL’s gambling rules.

The 23-year-old center explained proxy betting was behind the suspension, having his friends place bets for him in the United States while he was in Canada. There is no evidence Pinto bet on NHL games.

SPORTSNET: The Calgary Flames, the city of Calgary and the province of Alberta will officially begin construction on Monday of a new $926 million Event Centre. It will include a new 18,000-seat arena for the Flames.

Construction is expected to be completed before the 2027-28 NHL season.

COLORADO HOCKEY NOW: Dan Hinote was named associate head coach of the Colorado Eagles, the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate. Hinote, 47, spent six of his nine NHL seasons with the Avalanche. He spent the past four seasons as an assistant coach with the Nashville Predators. Hinote was also a former assistant coach and scout with the Columbus Blue Jackets.










NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – September 10, 2020

by | Sep 10, 2020

NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – September 10, 2020

Lightning edge Islanders to take 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Final, Bruce Cassidy wins the Jack Adams Award, GM of the Year finalists announced, and more in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.

NHL.COM: Nikita Kucherov scored with 8.8 seconds remaining in regulation as the Tampa Bay Lightning edged the New York Islanders 2-1 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final. The Lightning holds a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Islanders winger Matt Martin opened the scoring in the first period but Victor Hedman tied it before the period was over.

This was a close-checking, physical contest. Lightning winger Alex Killorn was ejected early in the first period for boarding Isles center Brock Nelson, who left the game under concussion protocol but returned to action. Martin and Luke Schenn received fighting majors early in the second period. Martin and Pat Maroon received roughing minors later in the period.

It was a costly victory for the Lightning as first-line center Brayden Point left the game in the second period with an apparent lower-body injury. Head coach Jon Cooper said an update on Point’s condition could be revealed on Thursday.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: This was a heartbreaking loss for the Islanders. They rebounded well from their 8-2 blowout loss in Game 1 and did a good job for the most part shutting down the Lightning’s offense until Kucherov struck in the dying seconds. They outshot the Bolts 13-4 in the first period and 28-21 overall.

However, the Isles couldn’t get more than one puck past Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy and failed to capitalize on four power-play opportunities. They now find themselves in a deep hole against a very talented club approaching Game 3 on Friday night.

Bruce Cassidy of the Boston Bruins is the 2020 winner of the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year. He guided the Bruins to this season’s best record as they were the only club to reach 100 points, winning the Presidents’ Trophy for their efforts.

Julien BriseBois of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Lou Lamoriello of the New York Islanders, and Jim Nill of the Dallas Stars are this year’s finalists for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award.

TSN: NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the league is still targeting an 82-games schedule for 2020-21. However, he admitted the projected start date of Dec. 1 appears less likely. They’re also hoping to have fans in the stands when they reopen but can’t guarantee that’ll be the case. Daly also doesn’t think it would be a problem if the league staged games next summer, pointing to how well ice conditions held up in the bubble cities of Edmonton and Toronto.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Barring a miracle, next season won’t open on Dec.1. Or Jan. 1. And I have my doubts it’ll start on Feb. 1. My guess is we’ll see a shortened schedule between 50-60 games starting in mid-February at the earliest, with the playoffs running into late-July.

THE SCORE: NBC hockey analyst Pierre McGuire is no longer in the running for the Arizona Coyotes’ vacant general manager position.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Several folks on Twitter yesterday observed McGuire almost always seems to be in the running for a GM job and always seems to be the first one eliminated from the competition.

Meanwhile, Arizona Coyotes Insider Craig Morgan reports former Coyotes captain Shane Doan isn’t under consideration for the job. He cites several sources suggesting the club believes Doan, who works for the NHL, had a hand in the sanctions the league handed the Coyotes for violating fitness testing rules for draft-eligible players. However, there’s no indication Doan was involved in the league’s decision.

THE ATHLETIC: Dan Hinote is expected to join the Nashville Predators as an assistant coach.