Articles in NHL Talk

from Mike Vorkunov,

FuboTV, a live TV streaming platform, has launched a civil lawsuit against Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, alleging that the media companies have engaged in anticompetitive practices for years and that they are continuing to do so through the combined sports streaming app they intend to launch later this year, according to court documents.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, also names ESPN and Hulu as defendants.

In the suit, FuboTV, which has been in business since 2015, alleges that the companies have engaged in a campaign that has resulted in suppressed competition in the U.S. sports-focused streaming market causing harm to FuboTV and its customers and the companies’ latest joint venture will continue to suppress competition.

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via TSN's YouTube page,

TSN’s Hockey Insiders have more on Flames blueliner Noah Hanifin, how buyers are patiently waiting for the list of sellers to grow, and the latest on the Penguins, Stars and Panthers, the Coyotes in the market for more draft picks.

* Matinee madness! The Wild and Canucks combined for three hat tricks and 17 goals in the NHL’s highest-scoring game of the season so far.

* Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, J.T. Miller and Sean Monahan each potted hat tricks to raise AstraZeneca’s donation to the Hockey Fights Cancer Fund of the V Foundation by $20,000. After also seeing four three-goal performances on Nov. 4, the 2023-24 campaign became the first season to feature multiple days with at least four hat tricks since 2008-09 (4 on Dec. 11, 2008 & March 7, 2009).

* An eight-game Tuesday features a doubleheader on Sportsnet ONE and TVA Sports that closes with Ryan O'Reilly and the Predators clashing with the Golden Knights.

NEW YORK (Feb. 19, 2024) – Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews, Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid and Florida Panthers left wing Matthew Tkachuk have been named the NHL’s “Three Stars” for the week ending Feb. 18.

from Ryan Dixon of Sportsnet,

It’s the Age of Auston; the era of Crosby and the Connors; Kuch and Mac; Quinn and Cale.

And on the weekend that the Pittsburgh Penguins paid tribute to one of the game’s all-time greats, it’s impossible to deny these golden offensive days for hockey.

Until a very short time ago, the achievements of Jaromir Jagr and his ilk seemed like they were from a different sport. Seventy-goal seasons, 130-point campaigns; it almost seemed like a baby boomer’s exaggerated tale of the league they watched.

We just lifted No. 68 into the PPG Paints Arena rafters Sunday night and the entire weekend helped drive home the fact that seasons like the ones Jagr and his contemporaries used to put up are truly attainable again.

Auston Matthews netted his second consecutive hat trick and sixth three-goal game of the year on Saturday in Toronto’s trouncing of the Anaheim Ducks. It’s starting to feel inevitable that the 26-year-old American will give us our first 70-goal season since 1992-93 and if I told you he was going to bury 75, you’d probably nod along in I-could-see-it fashion.

The top two guys in the Art Ross chase — Nikita Kucherov and Nathan MacKinnon, the latter scoring in his team’s 4-3 win over Arizona on Sunday — are both on pace to hit 130 points. The league hasn’t seen two 130-point guys in the same campaign since Jagr and Mario Lemieux did it as teammates in 1995-96. Connor McDavid — No. 3 in the scoring race after his assist against the Stars on Saturday night — basically needs to play at a 130-point pace the rest of the year to hit that number, too. In his past 33 contests, he’s playing at a 160-point clip.

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* The Rangers won in overtime to become the first team to rally from a three-goal deficit to win an NHL outdoor game and did so by erasing a two-goal deficit in the final five minutes of regulation.

* More than 150,000 fans attended outdoor hockey at MetLife Stadium within a 24-hour period during the two games as part of the 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series to push the total attendance across the NHL’s 41 outdoor games to over two million.

* Nathan MacKinnon became the second player to hit the 90-point mark in 2023-24 and extended his season-opening home point streak to 26 games – the second-longest run in NHL history.

* A busy 10-game Presidents’ Day in the U.S. and Family Day in Canada will see Auston Matthews aim to hit the 50-goal mark during a doubleheader on ESPN when the Maple Leafs visit the Blues at 1 p.m. ET.

NEW YORK (Feb. 18, 2024) – The New York Islanders will host the 2026 NHL® All-Star Weekend at UBS Arena, in Elmont, N.Y., the National Hockey League® announced today. Additional information on the League’s midseason showcase, including its dates, ticketing and broadcast information, will be announced when available. Fans can sign up to receive news and updates on the 2026 NHL All-Star Weekend here.

“The National Hockey League is thrilled to have the best and brightest of our game hosted at the spectacular UBS Arena for the 2026 NHL All-Star Weekend,’’ NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “We have been looking forward to UBS Arena playing host to one of our major League events since before construction of this wonderful arena began. We have every confidence that the Islanders organization, led by Scott Malkin and Jon Ledecky, will deliver a celebration that will make the greater New York region and the NHL proud.”

* Rookie goaltender Nico Daws (45 saves) set the record for most saves in an NHL outdoor game to help propel the Devils to a victory at MetLife Stadium in the first of two contests in the 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series. The Rangers and Islanders will contest the second half of the event with an afternoon game Sunday.

* A second straight hat trick from Auston Matthews added to AstraZeneca’s donation to the Hockey Fights Cancer Fund of the V Foundation as the Maple Leafs and Panthers both scored nine goals and combined for a feat last achieved 17 years ago.

* The NHL announced the 2025 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series between the Blue Jackets and Red Wings at Ohio Stadium, home of the Ohio State University football team, on March 1, 2025.

* Sunday’s three-game slate also features the Penguins raising a franchise icon’s number to the rafters at PPG Paints Arena.

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

- The greatest spectacle on ice this weekend might not have taken place on a football field in New Jersey but instead in Toronto on Friday where 19,285 fans packed the house to set an all-time attendance record for women’s hockey.

The path forward for women’s professional hockey has been challenging and littered with obstacles that ultimately became immovable objects. Good people have tried and failed, perhaps by undermining their own efforts in senseless turf wars.

But this inaugural season of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) represents the template that has the greatest chance of long-term success and that is a cause for celebration....

- All has been forgiven in Pittsburgh, where hockey’s Methuselah will have his No. 68 retired on Sunday almost a quarter of a century after he left town.

Jaromir Jagr, who celebrated his 52nd birthday Thursday and is still a part-time active player for the Kladno team in Czechia that he owns — four assists and no goals in 15 games this season — has come home again after having been mercilessly booed every time he played as a visitor in Pittsburgh for the final decade of his NHL career....

more on the above topics including this,

OK, which is the more famous goal?

The Wayne Gretzky shorthanded slapshot from the left circle that beat Mike Vernon in overtime to win Game 2 of the 1988 Smythe Division final or the Steve Yzerman slapshot from just across the blue line that beat Jon Casey in double overtime to win Game 7 of the 1996 Western Conference second round?

added 9:16pm, via Sportsnet,

In this edition of Saturday Headlines, Elliotte Friedman discusses the on-going rumours regarding the Flames, what the Blue Jackets are looking for in their new GM, and why Predators' Brunette cancelled their trip after a blowout loss.

* The 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series gets started Saturday with a pre-game concert from the Jonas Brothers at 6:30 p.m. ET followed by the Flyers facing the Devils outdoors at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey (8 p.m. ET on ABC, ESPN+, SN1, TVAS-D).

* Jordan Martinook jumpstarted a five-goal outburst by the Hurricanes on Friday by scoring the ninth-fastest (tied) goal to start a game in franchise history.

* The NHL, ESPN and Disney Branded Television are once again teaming up to bring fans the second “NHL Big City Greens Classic,” a live, animated NHL game telecast featuring the Penguins and Bruins at 3 p.m. ET on March 9. Click here for details.

* Saturday’s 13-game slate also includes a matinee doubleheader on ABC, ESPN+ and Sportsnet as well as a three-pack of Hockey Night in Canada games including Auston Matthews, Alex Ovechkin and a showdown between Canada’s top two teams in the overall standings when the Jets visit the Canucks.

NEW YORK (Feb. 16, 2024) – The National Hockey League (NHL) today announced the full lineup of performers and special guests that will take part in the 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series™, the two regular-season outdoor games at MetLife Stadium featuring the Philadelphia Flyers vs. New Jersey Devils on Saturday, Feb. 17, and New York Rangers vs. New York Islanders on Sunday, Feb. 18.

New York Giants stars Saquon Barkley, Sterling Shepard, Tommy DeVito and legend Carl Banks; New York Jets stars Breece Hall, Quinnen Williams and alumni Greg Buttle and Damien Woody; former NHL players Martin Brodeur, Adam Graves, Henrik Lundqvist, Mark Messier, Denis Potvin, Bryan Trottier, Mike Richter; and New Jersey Hall of Famer Max Weinberg are among the special guests expected to join more than 140,000 fans at MetLife Stadium this weekend.

from John Shannon at Global News,

The hockey world is never boring, that’s for sure. Suspensions, firings, injuries, the impending trade deadline — all of these things fill the airwaves, the internet, podcasts and good old-fashioned conversation every day, particularly in Canada, where hockey seeps out of the concrete, and there are millions who claim they can run a team.

But as someone who has been around the game for all too long, I find so much of any discussion today to be negative. And I wonder why that is. This is a game that appears to eat its own.

We all love the game, don’t we? We all feel the exhilaration of our team scoring and eventually winning. Why do we have to be so negative? It was the great Lester Patrick who said hockey is “a game of mistakes.” But does that mean we have to always be negative? It’s as if we can never do anything right in the game of hockey.

I will say one thing: it is much easier to be negative — to say no — than it is to be positive.

But why is there space in our hockey world for people to make fun of former Winnipeg Jet Patrik Laine, who is in the NHL/NHLPA Assistance Program? That should never happen. Laine should have our support, not our disdain.

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* The Panthers extended the League’s longest active road win streak to nine games and moved within two points of the Bruins for first place in the Eastern Conference standings with the help of Matthew Tkachuk, who became the sixth player to record 20 career three-point outings with the franchise.

* Connor Hellebuyck hit the 25-win mark for the seventh time in his career with a shutout performance and joined a short all-time list by allowing three goals or fewer for his 30th straight appearance.

* Thursday marks the first day in NHL history to feature five Stanley Cup Final rematches, with one involving the two Art Ross Trophy race leaders going head-to-head at Amalie Arena. The 12-game slate also features the Predators hosting the Stars on ESPN+ and Hulu.

from Ryan S. Clark of ESPN,

The Rangers are in a city that's relatively close to several teams within the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference. Of their 12 back-to-back sets, eight have one home game and one road game while three have both games on the road. All but one of the back-to-back game sequences have at least one game in their home time zone, and their average flight time for the trips is one hour.

For the Panthers, playing in South Florida means they're the southernmost team in the NHL and have only one team -- the Tampa Bay Lightning -- that's less than an hour away by flight. Five of their eight back-to-backs are on the road, and only one has both games at home. Seven of those back-to-back sequences have at least one game in their home time zone, and their average flight time for the trips is 56 minutes.

Although the Blackhawks have a central location, they spend quite a bit of time in the air. Five of their 12 back-to-back sets have both games on the road, and six have at least one game in their home time zone. The Blackhawks' average flight time for back-to-backs is 84 minutes, which means they're going to spend nearly 30 more minutes on a plane in those situations than the Panthers and Rangers.

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from Steve Dryden at TSN,

With Markstrom firmly already ensconced on the Trade Bait Board, his performance reaching the highest of levels, and news that New Jersey and Calgary were in serious – if failed for now – trade talks involving him, the 34-year-old Swede is first and foremost on the list.

Tanev is No. 2 and Hanifin, an impending UFA yet to re-sign, is No. 3.

Rounding out the Trade Bait top five are Pittsburgh left winger Jake Guentzel at No. 4 and the Edmonton Oilers’ 2024 first-round pick at No. 5.

Guentzel has been connected to Edmonton and it’s expected any substantive move by the Oilers – whether it’s acquiring the Penguin who has 34 goals in 58 career playoff games or someone else – will cost them their first pick in the draft.

New Jersey, Carolina, and Colorado are all believed to be seeking goalie upgrades.

Markstrom is having an excellent season, posting a 17-4-2 record, 2.50 goals-against average and .916 save percentage.

more, includes the Top 50 on the list...

* Connor McDavid had a career night as the Oilers captain posted 0-6—6 while becoming the fourth-fastest player in NHL history to reach the 600-assist milestone.

* The two highest-scoring players in the NHL, Nikita Kucherov and Nathan MacKinnon, both boosted their point totals and helped their clubs collect two points as the race to the 2023-24 Art Ross Trophy continued.

* Wednesday night will feature another NHL on TNT matchup as the Panthers and Penguins clash on a three-game slate.

* The Rangers, Devils and Flyers – three of the four teams skating in the 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series – each picked up wins Monday in the lead up to the upcoming weekend festivities.

* Alex Pietrangelo became the sixth defenseman in NHL history to record multiple assists in his 1,000th career game – a list that includes Ryan Suter, Sergei Zubov, Kevin Hatcher, Brad Park and Tim Horton – on a night his teammate, Jonathan Marchessault, joined a short list of players to score in under 30 seconds in consecutive contests.

* An 11-game Tuesday will include the Islanders welcoming the Kraken at UBS Arena for their lone visit in New York’s final game before the 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series.

NEW YORK (Feb. 12, 2024) – Calgary Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom, Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and Montreal Canadiens center Nick Suzuki have been named the NHL’s “Three Stars” for the week ending Feb. 11.

* J.T. Miller scored the winner in the dying seconds of overtime as the Canucks padded their lead atop the NHL standings, while Torey Krug had five assists to help the Blues score a touchdown (plus the extra point) on Super Bowl Sunday.

* Krug became the second defenseman with a five-assist game this season, joining Kris Letang (0-6—6 on Dec. 27, 2023). The 2023-24 campaign marked the first season to feature multiple five-assist games by blueliners since 2003-04 (Sheldon Souray & Marek Zidlicky).

* The week ahead features several national broadcasts, including a Sportsnet and TVA Sports doubleheader Monday as well as the 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series from Saturday to Sunday.

from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- When the Maple Leafs signed Tyler Bertuzzi on the second day of free agency last summer, one of the people involved in his draft and development with the Red Wings predicted it to be a great fit for Toronto.“If you play him with (Auston) Matthews and (Mitch) Marner or with (John) Tavares and (William) Nylander, I think he’ll score 30 goals,” the Detroit voice said. “He’ll make that team better. He’ll go to the hard places on the ice. He’ll bring an element they don’t have.“Look at what he did with Boston in the playoffs (10 points in seven games). I think he’ll do the same thing with the Leafs.”

That was said in July. This is February. Bertuzzi has been a rather dreadful addition to the Leafs. He had just six goals on the season heading into Saturday night. He hasn’t been a physical factor of any real kind. He hasn’t really fit in considering the grand opportunities he has had to play with either Matthews or Tavares. In no way has he justified the $5 million he is being paid to contribute....

- The best 25-and-under players in hockey: Cale Makar in Colorado; Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson in Vancouver; Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt in Jersey; Rasmus Dahlin in Buffalo; Tim Stutzle in Ottawa; Jason Robertson in Dallas; Moritz Seider in Detroit; Robert Thomas in St. Louis; Connor Bedard in Chicago; and Noah Dobson with the Islanders.

more on the first topic and some little bits on hockey....

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

Maybe ownership and management perceive this as a Gap Year for the Devils, when the players go off on their own pursuits after having put so much work the previous year into not only making the playoffs but winning the first round Battle of the Hudson.

Maybe that is why there has been no material improvement at all to the roster of one of the most disappointing teams in the league, which has been fiddling along below the cut line just about all year.

The goaltending issue that has been allowed to fester has swallowed much of the team’s morale, and it is kind of a surprise that Martin Brodeur, as executive vice president of hockey operations, has, in part, presided over this chaos in the crease.

The Devils rank 32nd, last overall, in save percentage and 30th overall at five-on-five. That goes a long way in explaining the team’s plight — fifth in the wild-card chase — but not entirely, since the Lightning, Avalanche and Hurricanes all have save percentages ranked in the NHL’s bottom five and have not been knee-capped by it....

continued plus more, including topics like this,

Finally, did you hear that the NHL has added to the Blackhawks’ punishment for the organization’s misbehavior as applies to the Kyle Beach sexual assault scandal by awarding Chicago the 2025 Winter Classic at Wrigley Field?

This action, following the 2023 lottery victory that granted the team first-overall draft pick Connor Bedard, should close the book on the disciplinary portion of the program.

And you thought the league wasn’t taking this seriously.

* All eyes at Xcel Energy Center were on Marc-Andre Fleury from start to finish Friday evening, from celebrating his 1,000th NHL game to withstanding a flurry of saves within the final minute of regulation to hold off former teammates Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

* #NHLStats Packs for the 2024 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series and 2023-24 NHL Trade Deadline are now available on the League’s Media site. The Rangers, one of four teams heading to MetLife Stadium for the NHL’s fourth and final outdoor game of the season, captured their fourth straight win thanks to Mika Zibanejad’s franchise-record eighth overtime goal.

* A total of 26 teams are in action today, with Alex Ovechkin looking to extend his goal streak during an ABC Hockey Saturday doubleheader and Auston Matthews aiming to add to his League-leading 41 tallies this season on Hockey Night in Canada.

via the NHL PR department,

The 2023-24 NHL Trade Deadline is 3 p.m. ET on Friday, March 8.

BY THE NUMBERS
1,260 – Number of players traded on deadline day since 1979-80. This excludes players involved in trades later invalidated by the NHL (one deal in 2022, one in 2009 and one in 1999).

693 – Number of trades on deadline day since 1979-80. This excludes trades later invalidated by the NHL (one deal in 2022, one in 2009 and one in 1999).

495 – Number of draft picks traded on deadline day since 1979-80. This excludes conditional picks where conditions were not met.

from Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic,

• The Coyotes haven’t given up hope on making the playoffs and view the next three weeks as critical in forming their decisions ahead of March 8. That goes particularly for pending UFA blueliner Matt Dumba, who carries a $3.9 million AAV. He could be an intriguing name to throw on the market. You might wonder why Arizona would need draft picks — they’ve already got 10 second-round picks over the next three years (!), including three this June — but Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong is a scout at heart and I think he’s pretty high on the 2024 draft class, so adding another pick or two would be of interest to him for sure if his team falls out of it.

• If the Caps fall out of playoff contention, they could be a busy seller with pending UFAs on the roster including Anthony Mantha ($5.75 million AAV), Max Pacioretty ($2 million AAV), Nicolas Aube-Kubel ($1.225 million AAV) and Joel Edmundson ($1.75 million AAV).

It won’t be easy to move Mantha even with retaining salary given his AAV, but Pacioretty and Edmundson are intriguing. For starters, Pacioretty has a 100 percent, full-no move clause, so he and agent Allan Walsh control that process. But my sense is, for the right fit and a chance to chase a Cup, he might waive. Edmundson’s Cup-winning pedigree and cheap AAV will interest a contender in a secondary role.

• David Savard is very much in that Tanev, playoff-warrior mold, helping Tampa win the Cup in 2021. Except he’s not a pending UFA. He’s got another year on his deal next season at a reasonable $3.5 million. That actually could make him more alluring for some teams, who would like him for two playoff runs. While the re-tooling Habs always listen, my understanding is Montreal isn’t committed to trading Savard, who is valued for many reasons inside that organization. So it sounds to me like a team would need to be pretty aggressive there to force things. Which is always a possibility.

more ($), mainly on the plans for the Oilers