HL ANNOUNCES 32 PLAYERS NAMED TO 2023 HONDA NHL ALL-STAR WEEKEND
The NHL announced 32 players named to the four divisional rosters for the 2023 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend. The 32 All-Stars – seven skaters and one goaltender for each of the four divisional rosters – were selected by the NHL’s Hockey Operations Department, with one player being chosen from each team. Click here to read more.
These Eastern stars will be shining down in South Florida for the #NHLAllStar Weekend! ⭐️
— NHL (@NHL) January 6, 2023
Head over to https://t.co/JOMxUndKd8 at 9p ET to help select the rest of the players in the #NHLAllStarVote! pic.twitter.com/rO0vKqOeX9
Western Conference is below.
from Mark Spector of Sportsnet
It’s a dynamic they’ve never been able to figure out here in Edmonton, going all the way back to the days when they handed the keys to the car to a bunch of teenagers named Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Back then the veterans became alienated, and lost ice time for making mistakes the kids made every night. And the team, well, it wasn’t close to being any good.
Because it wasn’t a team. It was a few elite guys, and the rest were simply “the help.”
Today, the Oilers’ drivers are far more elite. And players like Zach Hyman, Evander Kane and Nugent-Hopkins give the Oilers as high-end a Top 6 as there is in the game.
But as a “team” Edmonton has faltered. They’re becoming just a few high-end guys and a roster that can’t win unless the two big guys win it for them.
They held a players-only meeting before Wednesday’s practice, on the heels of another noncommittal, soft and disinterested loss the night before.
There are issues here, both on the ice and off.
from Eric Francis of Sportsnet,
Sportsnet.ca: If you had a new year’s resolution for the team, what would it be?
Brad Treliving: That’s a good one. You always hope for health. We want health and our team to play to the capabilities they’re capable of, and we’ve seen that the last month.
SN: You went into the season being public about your desire to add help to your top 9 up front, but given the fact you’re scoring at the same clip as last year has your wish list changed?
BT: No I don’t think it has changed.
That’s still an area, if you look at our group and the way it has performed, another forward in that top 9 group is something we could use. Whether that’s internal or external is yet to be seen.
SN: How would you describe the first half Huberdeau has had?
BT: I think there’s been a lot of adjustment for him in a lot of different ways, but I think he’s building.
I don’t care if you are 18, 20 or 30, a big part of this game is confidence and you’re seeing him build his confidence on a daily basis.
He’s changed a lot, especially the way our team plays compared to what he played in the past. His whole world was flipped upside down. I think we’re just seeing him more comfortable as we get going.
The guy is an elite player and we’re starting to see some of those plays getting made. You’re seeing him settle in with linemates – the chemistry between him and Naz is building,
We’ve had challenges with him and our group as we put all those pieces together, but I’ve seen growth there.
* Nico Hischier celebrated his birthday with a goal for the second time in his career as the Devils continued their success as the visitors in 2022-23 and improved to 14-2-1 on the road.
* Rookie defenseman Calen Addison accomplished a franchise-first as his Wild captured their 10th consecutive home victory against the Lightning.
* Alex Ovechkin eyes his 30th goal and a rare feat in NHL history when he leads his Capitals into Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets on ESPN.
from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,
They played like a team that was owed two points. As if, like the 18,297 fans, the Seattle Kraken had paid their way in to witness the mighty Edmonton Oilers dangle through another evening, just happy to have a front row seat to watch Connor McDavid tack on a few more points en route to his Art Ross Trophy.
So the Edmonton Oilers did the same, putting their feet up and taking the night off.
When it was over, and the Kraken had scored five consecutive goals to win 5-2, the Oilers said all the same things they’ve been saying for far too long now. The things they’ve been saying after each of their five consecutive losses at home.
“It is consistency. It is doing it every single night,” said Zach Hyman, an intelligent — and increasingly frustrated — spokesman in this dressing room. “We talk about it, but you have to go out there and do it for the entire game.”...
"We just stopped playing,” said Hyman, of an 11-minute stretch of the second period where the Kraken scored four times. “We weren’t tight on checks and they had a couple of faceoff goals, which we talk about all of the time. We go over things and talk about it, but it is just mental lapses and not being hard on the puck.”
Soft?
This team can be disturbingly soft, especially the blue-line corps.
If there was any disagreement over what the team needs as the Trade Deadline approaches, a night like this drives home the need for an assertive, hard-edged defenceman who can keep the slot clean.
from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,
We know that Mika Zibanejad contributes in myriad ways even when he is not scoring. But here’s the thing, the Rangers need their No. 1 center to score if they are going to make an imprint on the NHL.
And No. 93 is off on one of his patented streaks, scoring goals even when he loses the puck on a move, as he did Sunday in Florida against the Panthers, and even when he is trying to make a pass to the front, as he did at the Garden on Tuesday against the Hurricanes.
“Obviously I want to score and help the team,” said Zibanejad, who has scored four in the last three games after going eight straight without one. “But I try not to focus on too much. The focus is on winning games.
“That’s all it is.”
The Rangers recorded one of their most impressive victories with this 5-3 triumph over a Carolina team that had won 11 straight games and had gone 17 straight (15-0-2) without losing in regulation. The Blueshirts competed and improved from start to finish, overcoming deficits of 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 (entering the third period). They are 10-2-1 over their last 13 contests.
Game highlights are below.
The TSN Hockey Insiders Chris Johnston, Pierre LeBrun and Darren Dreger discuss why Connor Bedard's amazing World Juniors run could spark teams to fortify their draft lottery chances via January trades, the status of former No. 1 pick Alexis Lafreniere in New York, and what the future may hold for Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.
Watch and read the transcript of the segment at TSN.
from Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic,
“I think we can all agree on Bedard’s ability/talent — but that he wants to make a difference almost every shift is exceptional.
“Exceptional players win championships.”
The injury-riddled Jackets, last in the Eastern Conference standings, will have a shot at him in the draft lottery, along with the Blackhawks, Ducks, Sharks, Coyotes, Canadiens and Flyers, among others.
I say among “others” because there’s lots of hockey left and time for teams to stumble down the standings and enter the Bedard-lottery fray. What about the Blues after the injury news Monday regarding Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko?
What will be interesting to follow in the next few weeks is how quickly some of those teams start to trade away players ahead of the March 3 deadline.
As they do, of course part of the aim will be recouping futures-type assets. But the other benefit, especially with the trades that happen sooner rather than later, will be to further weaken those teams’ current NHL rosters and help fortify the draft lottery chances.
more ($)
from Ethan Sears of the New York Post,
Lane Lambert has spent the season trying to say as little as possible when in front of reporters. So when he criticized specific elements of the Islanders’ performance following Sunday night’s 4-1 loss to the Kraken, it perked up the ears.
“We weren’t clean on our breakouts,” Lambert said. “It starts there. You can’t play with speed if you don’t execute or exit your zone cleanly and we didn’t do that. Then, when we did have the puck in the neutral zone at times, we turned it over instead of getting it in deep and establishing our forecheck.”
The Islanders spent much of Monday’s practice at Rogers Arena working on breakouts. But more telling than the minutiae is that entering Game 39 of the season, the Islanders are still struggling to find consistency in how they play.
The Islanders won three games on the hop before venturing out West for a four-game trip, clinically suppressing shots and forechecking as they gave up just three goals across those victories. The Kraken game was so bad, though, with the Isles giving up more shots than they generated on the power play, that Lambert went to an option he emphatically shot down less than a week ago and changed the composition of his five-on-four units at practice.
“That was last week,” he said. “Things have changed for sure.”
It’s nearly the midpoint of Lambert’s first season in charge of the Islanders and this season will be judged almost entirely on whether the team makes the playoffs. At 21-15-2 entering Tuesday’s game against the Canucks, they’re on the wrong side of the cutline, albeit only due to the Penguins — who are tied with them at 44 points and have one fewer regulation win — owning a game in hand. All of five points separate the Islanders, in sixth place and barely out of the playoffs, from the second-place Devils.
For much of the season, the Islanders have played up to good competition, with most of their poor performances coming against worse opposition.
* Playing in front of a sold-out crowd of 39,243 fans at the 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic, the Bruins staged a third-period comeback – and narrowly avoided what could have been a last-second tying goal by the Penguins – to claim their second victory at historic Fenway Park.
* The NHL announced that the Kraken will host the Golden Knights in the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic on New Year’s Day at T-Mobile Park, home of the Seattle Mariners.
* Steven Stamkos, Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews all can reach a “500” milestone during Tuesday’s 11-game slate.
from Steve Buckley of The Athletic,
Nice try by the hockey people in assigning Suite L-8 to Bobby Orr during Monday’s Winter Classic at Fenway Park.
Yes, No. 4 retreated to No. 8 after participating in a pregame “first puck” ceremony with former Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek, but soon he was stepping into the next suite, and then the one after that, and he appeared to be having as good a time as any of the 39,243 fans who filled this ancient ballpark to watch the Bruins emerge with a 2-1 victory over the Penguins.
Watching Orr shake hands and slap backs and flash that smirky grin of his — which always suggests he knows something that maybe you don’t — it occurred to me that we need more of this sort of thing. We need more of Orr. And if his appearance at the Winter Classic is any indication, 2023 is off to a fine start.
For those who don’t know the backstory, Orr has made only limited public appearances since October of 2020. It was around that time that an ad appeared in the Manchester (N.H.) Union-Leader in which Orr endorsed Donald Trump’s bid for reelection as president of the United States. The ad featured a photo of Orr and his wife Peggy posing with Trump, and the bottom of the ad included the words “Paid for by Bobby Orr.”
continued ($)
from Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times,
On an October day the Mariners were to play one of their first divisional playoff games in two decades, their top ballpark officials met with NHL counterparts about a completely different sporting event featuring the crosstown Kraken.
The culmination of that meeting and others was announced Monday, with the Kraken being awarded their first-ever outdoor game to be played next Jan. 1 at T-Mobile Park against the Vegas Golden Knights. Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke said in a phone interview Monday the NHL’s decision to play the 2024 Discover Winter Classic in a city known for rain this time of year had plenty to do with the Mariners’ flexibility in making their retractable-roofed ballpark available for several weeks.
“They were just so impressed that they were even meeting with them the day of one of their playoff games,” Leiweke said of the meetup, which took place in the hours leading up to a Mariners road contest against the Astros in Houston. “And given the uncertainty of the weather and the risk involved, it helps to have that safeguard in there.”
Beyond the team’s flexibility in making T-Mobile Park available for the lengthy process of building the temporary hockey rink inside, the NHL liked that it would have the ability to only partially close the stadium’s roof directly over the rink if it rains. That would enable them to keep the remainder of the venue in an open-air environment the league believes is crucial to the appeal of its outdoor games.
NEW YORK (Jan. 2, 2023) – The National Hockey League (NHL) today announced details for the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic®. The outdoor contest will feature the Seattle Kraken hosting the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday, January 1, 2024, at T-Mobile Park, home of the Seattle Mariners, and will be broadcast exclusively on TNT in the U.S. and on Sportsnet and TVA Sports in Canada. In addition, Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) and the NHL announced a multiyear extension of their U.S. partnership that includes Discover maintaining its status as the Official Credit Card and Official Bank of the NHL® in the U.S.
NEW YORK (Jan. 2, 2023) – Nashville Predators left wing Filip Forsberg, San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson and Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta have been named the NHL’s “Three Stars” for the week ending Jan. 1.
Batters up. ⚾️ pic.twitter.com/51aWZ8kMku
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) January 2, 2023
ST. LOUIS - St. Louis Blues President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Doug Armstrong announced today the team has placed forwards Ryan O'Reilly (broken foot) and Vladimir Tarasenko (hand injury) on injured reserve.
O'Reilly will be re-evaluated in six weeks, while Tarasenko will be re-evaluated in four weeks.
In addition, the team recalled forward Jake Neighbours from its AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds.
BOSTON (Dec. 30, 2022) – A look at the 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic® “By the Numbers.”
1 – The 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic is expected to be the first outdoor game to feature three 1,000-point scorers, in Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron and Penguins teammates Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. The only previous outdoor game to feature multiple players with 1,000 or more career points entering play was the 2018 Stadium Series at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (Patrick Marleau, TOR; Alex Ovechkin, WSH).
2 – The 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic marks the second outdoor NHL game at Fenway Park, following the 2010 NHL Winter Classic. It will become the fourth venue to host multiple outdoor NHL games, joining Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field (2011 NHL Winter Classic and 2017 NHL Stadium Series™), New York’s Yankee Stadium (two 2014 NHL Stadium Series contests) and Edgewood Tahoe Resort in Nevada (both NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe™ contests).
2 – Number of GRAMMY nominations The Black Keys received in 2022, bringing their career total to 16. The Black Keys will headline the first intermission presented by Ticketmaster performance at the 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic.
* The League-leading Bruins play host to the Penguins in the 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic at the “Cathedral of Boston” and home of the Red Sox, Fenway Park, during the 36th regular-season outdoor game in League history Monday.
* The Hurricanes earned their 11th straight victory, trailing only the Devils (13 GP) for the longest winning streak in the NHL this season
* Erik Karlsson set a franchise record and hit the 40-assist mark en route to becoming just the sixth defenseman in NHL history to post an assist streak of at least 13 contests.
NEW YORK (Jan. 1, 2023) – Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin, Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid and Buffalo Sabres center Tage Thompson have been named the NHL’s “Three Stars” for the month of December.
via the NHL PR department,
As we celebrate the start of a new year, here’s an #NHLStats look back at 2022, which saw the most games (1,492 including playoffs) and most comeback wins (648; 43% of all games) in NHL history, and also finished as the highest-scoring year in nearly three decades (6.4 G/GP).
All goals, all the time: There were 8,984 regular-season goals scored across 1,403 games in 2022 (including 97 shootout-deciding goals), the most in a calendar year in League history. The 6.4 goals-per-game rate in 2022 was the highest in a calendar year in nearly 30 years (6.4 G/GP in 1994).
Take off those hats: Fans threw their hats 117 times in 2022 (109 regular-season season, 8 playoffs) – the eighth year in League history with as many and first outside the 1980s. The others: 156 in 1981, 138 in 1988, 126 in 1984, 123 in 1983, 121 in 1985, 121 in 1982 and 118 in 1986.
from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,
- There’s a Top Four all-time in hockey, all by themselves. Wayne Gretzky, Lemieux, Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe. You pick the order. There are no wrong answers here. So who becomes No. 5? It might be Jean Beliveau today. But soon it will be Crosby or McDavid or both, players so different but so accomplished.
The Buffalo Sabres have scored more goals than the Avalanche, the Lightning, the Blues, Capitals, Penguins, the Blackhawks and Kings — those are winners of the past 11 Stanley Cups.
Eric Lindros completely turned around hockey in Philadelphia when he came to a downtrodden Flyers team. Could Connor Bedard do the same thing in Philly? … Or could he do what Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews managed in Chicago? Bedard is making us follow the bottom of the NHL standings this year as much we normally follow the top
more notes
The Bruins extended their season-opening home point streak to 21 games and will look to continue their run when they host the Penguins for the 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic on Monday.
* The highest-scoring year in NHL history (regular season, including shootout-deciding goals) was capped off by Alex Ovechkin and Filip Forsberg both netting the final hat tricks of 2022.
* The “Year of the Comeback” had a fitting close, with eight teams earning come-from-behind wins on the final day of 2022.
via the YouTube page of Sportsnet,
On this edition of 32 Thoughts, Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek discuss what the Maple Leafs' trade deadline priority will be, Max Domi's future in Chicago, Carter Hart's status with the Flyers, and more.