via Sportsnet's YouTube page,
Elliotte Friedman brings Ron MacLean the latest on some of the NHL's top stories, including where things stand between the Calgary Flames and Nikita Zadorov after his trade request and what the Edmonton Oilers are considering on the trade front.
from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,
- The player at the top of the Hart Trophy leaderboard after a month’s worth of games is no other than Artemi Panarin, who has elevated his game to previously unforeseen heights. That should tell you something about this player who has been dancing on the pinhead of NHL excellence for nearly a decade.
The 32-year-old is driving the Rangers, perhaps the most pleasant surprise in the league at 10-2-1. Panarin has returned unencumbered by last spring’s disappointment through which, we have been told, there was visible tension between the winger and head coach Gerard Gallant — who parted ways with the club within a week after elimination by the Devils....
- Lou Lamoriello made nine in-season coaching changes over his 28 years running the Devils, but none in his three years as GM of the Maple Leafs and none in his five-plus years with the Islanders.
So far, that is.
Lane Lambert may not be the problem — Noah Dobson in 2018 is the last Islanders draft pick to make an impression while Mat Barzal in 2015 is the last drafted forward to make an impact — but there is no indication that the coach is (or has) the solution, either....
- Two years ago, Jay Woodcock was a genius behind the Edmonton bench. That changed the moment GM Ken Holland presented the coach with the netminding tandem of Jack Campbell and Stuart Skinner.
This is the flawed Philadelphia model in the late 1990s and early 2000s when Bob Clarke was running the hockey show. Don’t bother to get quality in goal when you can settle for less.
It was always a bizarre philosophy given the fact that just the two Cups in franchise history, in 1974 and 1975, were a product of Bernie Parent’s incomparable Conn Smythe goaltending each year.
- Finally, endorsing the need for protective equipment is all the rage these days, but then why did no fewer than a half-dozen Red Wings take pregame warmup at the Garden on Tuesday without wearing their helmets?
more on the first two topics plus other notes too...
* Alex Pietrangelo posted a three-point performance to help guide the Golden Knights to their eighth win at T-Mobile Arena in 2023-24 – tied for their second most through their first 10 home games in a season.
* William Nylander extended his season-opening point streak to 14 games as the Maple Leafs extinguished a Flames rally to close out the 2023 Hockey Hall of Fame game with a victory.
* A four-game Hockey Night in Canada broadcast will feature both the Maple Leafs and Senators in action in their final contest before heading overseas for the 2023 NHL Global Series – Sweden
from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,
The best two things about the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday were the points they collected for beating the Ottawa Senators 5-2.
Whatever was next best was a distant third.
Actually, the Canucks defended efficiently, limiting prime scoring chances during stretches when the Senators controlled play. But Vancouver managed only 16 shots, and were stuck at 10 six minutes into the third period.
Vancouver’s forecheck failed to cause its usual havoc, and the Canucks were certainly the second-fastest team for most of the night.
And yet, they won.
What a difference a year makes as Canucks avenge their loss with a win over SenatorsPlay VideoPlayMuteCurrent Time 0:00/Duration 1:51Loaded: 8.88% Fullscreen
And they won going away, scoring three times in the final 22 minutes to extend the team’s points streak to nine games (8-0-1). This kind of a result, let alone the confidence and accountability players displayed afterward, would have been unthinkable here a year ago when the Canucks were crashing and about to turn into a fireball.
Until the last four weeks, this was a game the Canucks would probably not have won. But when you’ve already won nine of your first 12, winning No. 10 becomes a little easier – at least mentally.
Game highlights are b3elow.
from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,
It’s likely over for Jay Woodcroft, the whip-smart head coach who simply has run out of answers for his Edmonton Oilers.
Edmonton lost 3-2 to the woeful San Jose Sharks on Thursday, dropping into a tie with San Jose for 32nd place in the 32-team National Hockey League. Edmonton is 2-9-1 on the season, and is already 14 points back of third place in the Pacific Division.
With only the faint hope of a wild-card berth as their fading goal, if general manager Ken Holland still believes his team has a playoff prayer, he will fire Woodcroft on Friday in Seattle.
For this team to be in this position — with a roster of this pedigree — is a firing offence. It’s time for a new set of eyes and a new voice, before this season becomes a long, painful march to the World Championships.
“I worry about taking care of my daily business and my daily process,” said Woodcroft, when asked about his level of concern about his job. “Making sure that I give my players something to focus on and concentrate on.
“No one's happy with where we're at. We all own it.”
Highlights are below.
* Connor Bedard made more franchise history with 2-2—4 at AMALIE Arena and became the third-youngest NHL player to record a four-point game. The 11-game slate also featured multiple hat tricks, point streaks extended and veterans climbing all-time League lists.
* Thursday marked the sixth day in NHL history with at least 11 contests on the schedule where each game had at least one tying goal (also 12 GP on Jan. 15, 2011, 11 GP on Mach 21, 2017, 11 GP on Nov. 20, 2014, 11 GP on March 28, 2009 & 11 GP on Feb. 10, 2001). Nearly two-thirds of all contests this season have seen at least one team pull even (65.0%; 132 of 203 GP).
* Friday’s slate is highlighted by the annual Hockey Hall of Fame game in Toronto, which opens a busy Hockey Hall of Fame Induction Weekend that culminates with the Class of 2023 Induction Celebration on Monday.
Gino Reda is joined by TSN Hockey Insiders Darren Dreger, Pierre LeBrun, and Chris Johnston to discuss if the Toronto Maple Leafs are active in the trade market, the latest on the Ottawa Senators’ general manager search, where free agent Patrick Kane may end up, and more on Insider Trading.
Watch and/or read the transcript at TSN
from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,
One of Ken Holland’s challenges, like he doesn’t have enough of those these days, is to make a trade for a goaltender when no one wants his goalie in return.
Historically, a team trading a goalie requires one back. Usually, they’re moving their No. 2 guy and need a replacement because now they are short a netminder in their organization. On the other side, teams only need so many goalies — you don’t want too many, or somewhere along the way you run into ice time and practice issues.
But in trying to replace Jack Campbell, who is expected to start for the Bakersfield Condors tonight in Abbotsford against the Canucks’ top farm team, it’s nigh impossible to ship that contract back the other way. Although most teams could stomach Campbell as a backup, if was being paid as one, nobody wants a backup with nearly $20 million owed over the next four years.
Holland met with Campbell before placing him on waivers, telling him to work on his game as if he will play in Edmonton again soon. And our sources say he can expect lots of work with Bakersfield, who ironically play in Abbotsford on Thursday and Saturday, then have a Tuesday-Wednesday set in Calgary against the AHL Wranglers next week.
But that’s Plan B.
Holland’s Plan A is to find a guy who can share the crease with Skinner, taking the pressure off the sophomore to be “the man” in the Oilers' net. If that plan can be executed, there is no place for Campbell in Edmonton, barring injury.
from Eric Francis of Sportsnet,
Brad Treliving isn’t interested in talking publicly about his former club, or the Friday night Calgary Flames matchup in Toronto that has his fingerprints all over it.
Although as savvy with soundbites as anyone in the National Hockey League, the personable executive would rather lay low despite the obvious spotlight he’ll be under this week.
“The teams and players are the story,” said the Flames-turned-Maple Leafs architect.
Fact is, as a Canadian general manager, you’re always the story.
Right now, he’s double-shifting, taking considerable heat from two fanbases.
from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,
- During previous conversations with GM Ken Holland, he has always maintained that, if you are going to make a change in goal, you must be convinced it is an actual upgrade when giving up serious assets. I don’t think anyone would disagree with that philosophy, but there are times you have to grab your poker chips and say, “Screw it, I’m all in." Edmonton’s there, with so much at stake: McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in their primes, nearing the end of their contracts. This is your window, there’s no choice but to go for it, even if the price makes you want to hold your nose.
I do think they are contemplating things, looking at several options. There’ve been reports of Jordan Binnington, but unless the Blues are giving up on the season, they need to replace him and won’t be taking Campbell. Binnington’s also a $6-million cap hit, which would take quite a bit of finagling. Not impossible, but challenging. They’ve talked to Montreal — which doesn’t need a goalie — about the possibility of Jake Allen, but I don’t sense anything imminent. Watching Juuse Saros almost single-handedly beat the Flames on Tuesday reminds that he’s the true prize, but in addition to any return, it might cost the team an 18-wheeler full of Alberta crude and media-meal perogies....
- The Senators delivered Wednesday night. Whatever you think about Brady Tkachuk’s defence of coach D.J. Smith, one thing is true: after a passionate outburst, you have to walk the walk. They could have fallen apart several times in their 6-3 win over Toronto, but scored three in a row late to win it.
One of the things I heard from an Ottawa player is that they told new ownership/management “there’s been too much chaos” around the Senators, and what they considered most important was a calmer, less-crazy environment. So, when president of hockey operations and interim GM Steve Staios said last week the “first priority is to install stability and confidence in the group,” I believe he’s very serious about it, and that’s where it comes from.
more Thoughts, including a look at the Travelling Jagrs...
* Anze Kopitar’s 400th career goal helped the Kings continue their success as the visitors and did so by defeating the NHL’s top team at T-Mobile Arena. Los Angeles joined rare company in NHL history in the process with their seventh straight road win to start the season.
* Tim Stützle continued to leave his mark in the “Battle of Ontario” by collecting his fifth career four-point game and boosting his career points per game in the history of the rivalry to 1.00 in 18 contests.
* Thursday features an ESPN+ and Hulu doubleheader, which opens at 7:30 p.m. ET when Joe Pavelski and the Stars visit Adam Fantilli and the Blue Jackets and closes at 10:30 p.m. ET when Tomas Hertl and the Sharks host Leon Draisaitl and the Oilers.
* The 11-game slate also includes Quinn Hughes and the Canucks looking to earn their 10th win of the season, Rangers forward Artemi Panarin putting his lengthy campaign-opening point streak on the line as well as Blackhawks forward Connor Bedard playing his first head-to-head contest with Lightning captain and fellow No. 1 pick Steven Stamkos.
from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,
It was the summer of 2022, and Ken Holland succumbed to the pressure.
His Edmonton Oilers had just suffered through the Mikko Koskinen years, and Mike Smith was ready to retire. Edmonton’s goaltending pipeline consisted of a rookie named Stuart Skinner, and nothing else of NHL pedigree.
The steward of Connor McDavid’s Stanley Cup future, Holland simply had to come back in September with a No. 1 goalie. He owed it to the sport, but at that moment in time, the pickings were slim.
Detroit had snapped up the untested Ville Husso and signed him to a three-year deal with an AAV of $4.75 million. Today, Husso awaits his first season with a save percentage exceeding .896 in Detroit.
The other viable option was the oft-injured Darcy Kuemper, who had rejected Edmonton’s overtures the previous summer. He took his talents to Washington, D.C.
So Holland and Campbell were the last two at the dance. Bedfellows by chance.
At that moment, the Oilers GM had two choices: Overpay and over-term a guy who had briefly found his game in Toronto — but had serious question marks regarding his mental game. Or walk away and temporarily solve his issues in the trade market.
Choose the latter and fail, and he would have been crushed by Oilers fans. They had suffered through the Three Metres of Koskinen, and borne nervous witness to the puck-handling foibles of an ageing Smith.
Now they wanted a true No. 1, and it was Holland’s job to provide. To those who much is given, the old saying goes, much is expected.
Holland jumped to his fatal mistake, choosing Campbell. And today, that chicken roosts on the National Hockey League’s waiver wire.
TSN’s Hockey Insiders examine other potential options for the Oilers after waiving Jack Campbell, the Canucks’ search for a right shot defenceman, the Sharks dealing with their rough start and the Hurricanes’ goalie situation.
via the NHL's YouTube page,
A creepy surprise for John Tortorella, Fleury and Jack Hughes share a lighthearted moment, O'Reilly scores twice during the same shift and a unique assist from Alex Ovechkin.
Claude Giroux on the talk about Smith's future : "It's getting pretty old, the fans and the media talking about D.J., it's pretty frustrating actually. He's our coach, he's not going anywhere. We want to play for him. It's just a distraction we don't need right now." #Sens
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) November 7, 2023
from Helene Elliott of the LA Times,
There’s a resoluteness to Ducks coach Greg Cronin that has rubbed off on his players and made them believers in him and in themselves.
It’s early in the season, as he frequently says, but his influence was evident Sunday in the Ducks’ impressive 4-2 victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights at Honda Center, another jewel in a shiny six-game winning streak built on gutsy comebacks against some of the NHL’s premier teams.
Maybe Cronin’s patience comes from having toiled for so long in the minor leagues, in college rinks and as an NHL assistant coach, a journey that didn’t bring him an NHL head coaching job until he was 60. Maybe his firmness comes from his instincts to be a teacher and to be fair, to not play favorites and stick to his principles when he easily could give in to superstars who have greater job security than most coaches do.
When creative young forward Trevor Zegras played shoddy defense in a game at Columbus last month, Cronin didn’t hesitate to bench him for the third period. When dynamic center Mason McTavish made a bad decision during four-on-four play Sunday that gave Vegas an outnumbered rush, Cronin made sure McTavish — a cornerstone of Ducks’ future — knew he had goofed.
from Mark Madden of t5he Pittsburgh Penguin Review,
When the Penguins kept the core three together, it guaranteed the Penguins would ultimately go splat.
A few disclaimers:
• Trading Evgeni Malkin in, say, 2018 for the huge return he would have fetched would have been no guarantee that the Penguins wouldn’t go splat. But it would have provided a legitimate chance to rebuild around Sidney Crosby and maybe win again.
• The Penguins may not be going splat just yet, though warning signs are plentiful. It is, however, 100% inevitable.
• The Penguins won’t avoid going splat, however temporarily, via changing their on-ice method. They refuse to do that. They will play fast despite getting slow. (Barring a coaching change.)
• Going splat is no insult to your precious fandom. No team wins forever. The Penguins were legit threats to win the Stanley Cup every year between 2008-18, doing so three times and making another final. Be grateful.
An update on Freddie Andersen pic.twitter.com/UDQPHmlEt1
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) November 6, 2023
NEW YORK (Nov. 6, 2023) – Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes, Los Angeles Kings goaltender Cam Talbot and Anaheim Ducks center Mason McTavish have been named the NHL’s “Three Stars” for the week ending Nov. 5.
Auston Matthews leads NHL in scoring.
— Travis Yost (@travisyost) November 6, 2023
Toronto’s been outscored 8-0 with Ryan Reaves on the ice.
We call those “fancy stats”. https://t.co/VwegI3zM29
* The Ducks rallied from a multi-goal, third-period deficit to hand the Golden Knights their first regulation loss of the season and did so just 10 days after serving the Bruins their first defeat.
* Vitek Vanecek earned his 80th career win with a 32-save performance, including an save-of-the-year candidate, against the Blackhawks.
* A four-game Monday features a doubleheader on Sportsnet and TVA Sports as the Maple Leafs host the Lightning while the Canucks eye their 50th goal of the season when they host the Oilers.
from David Staples of the Edmonton Journal,
This in from former NHL referee Tim Peel, now a hockey commentator on the Snipes and Stripes podcast with former Blackhawks star Jeremy Roenick, his viral and provocative suggestion that the Edmonton Oilers should fire Jay Woodcroft and hire Joel Quenneville as coach.
Peel’s suggestion is, of course, setting hair on fire. It’s gone viral on social media, just as most wild-eyed things do. I’m not going to dig into Quenneville’s case, partly because I think his hiring is a non-starter in Edmonton, but mainly because I’m surprised to see fans and pundits so quickly abandon Jay Woodcroft.
Yes, the Oilers now have the second worst record in the NHL. But talk of axing Woodcroft has escalated rapidly? But to what end? What good will it do? Is it not far more prudent to allow a successful coach like Woodcroft and his successful players some time and space to work their way out of this? Ten more games at least?
We’re going to hear plenty such talk “Fire Woodcroft” in days to come, with plenty of names mentioned as possible replacements for Woodcroft. That talk will only end when Woodcroft gets this team winning again. But I expect that will happen.
from Tracey Myers of the NHL's webssite,
Jack Hughes is week to week with an upper-body injury the New Jersey Devils forward sustained in the first period of a 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Friday.
Hughes is in New Jersey with the Devils' medical staff and will not play against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; MSGSN, NHLN, NBCSCH, SN, TVAS).
The 22-year-old crashed shoulder first into the end boards at 9:56. He split two defenders and carried the puck into the slot before taking a shot that was stopped by Blues goalie Jordan Binnington. Hughes then lost his balance and slid into the boards.
He got up on his own and skated to the bench, then was part of a power play that began at 10:50 but soon left the ice for good. He missed the final 9:05 of the first and all the second period before New Jersey announced he would not return.
"Actually, I think we're fortunate," Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. "He came back, he tried a shift, we got him on his way home to be taken care of by people back in Jersey."
Video of the injury is below.