Articles in NHL Teams

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.

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.

via Sportsnet's YouTube page,

Watch Hockey Night in Canada's montage compiling the best moments in hockey that happened during 2022.

11 1/2 minutes to watch.

from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

Derek Sanderson, the NHL’s Rookie of the Year when finally cracking the varsity at age 21 in 1967-68, was claimed by the Bruins while in middle school. He recalled the other day that he signed his C-form, designating his pro playing rights to the Bruins, as a 12-year-old.

“Actually, it was my father who signed the C-form, for 100 bucks, put his name next to the X . . . 100 bucks for my professional rights,” recalled Sanderson. “My dad only made $26 in take-home pay, so to him that was a month’s pay — perfect! I don’t think my mother ever saw it, but, uh, yeah, 100 bucks.”

A bantam at the time, Sanderson that night played up a level in age with a midget team in a tournament in Paris, Ontario, just outside of Brantford.

“The first time I ever scored four goals,” he recalled, noting that his father, Harold, informed him that night he had signed the C-form with Boston. “He says, ‘By the way, you’ve got some bragging rights.’ I say, ‘What’s that?’ And he says, ‘Well, the Bruins just bought ya.’ ”

many more topics...

from Damien Cox at the Toronto Star,

In the past six games heading into Saturday’s road date with the Colorado Avalanche, the Leafs have won three and lost three. No big deal. But part of that has been a regression to the norm for Murray and Samsonov, both of whom were in the NHL’s top six in save percentage after the romp over the Ducks.

That regression hasn’t been due to overwork. In four of those six games, the Leafs have allowed 21 shots or fewer. But they’ve still allowed 19 goals (not counting empty-netters) on 140 total shots for a team save percentage of .864. Murray faced only 59 shots in three outings and gave up seven goals, including four to a bad Arizona team in a 6-3 defeat Thursday night. Samsonov, with more work, has surrendered 12 goals on 81 shots.

This may be a blip. The NHL schedule gets goofy around this time of year with the Christmas break. The first 30 games is also a larger sample size than the last six.

At the same time, it seemed unlikely that Murray and Samsonov had both suddenly found a higher level just by pulling Leafs jerseys over their heads. Their play of late feels a little like Paul Simon’s famous lyric: “Slip slidin’ away/you know the nearer your destination the more you’re slip slidin’ away.”

The destination, in this case, is the post-season. As the Leafs know well from the Freddie Andersen years, it’s once thing to look like one of the NHL’s best goalies in November, and quite another to look that way in April.

As 2023 dawns, the Leafs still don’t have a No. 1 goalie. By contrast, Tampa has used Vasilevsky for 25 games and Brian Elliott for nine. Boston has leaned more on Linus Ullmark than Jeremy Swayman, and both have been rock solid. These are likely the teams the Leafs will have to defeat in the spring.

more

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

SUNRISE, Fla. — Regarding the Rangers, who open 2023 here Sunday night against the Panthers.

In other words, regarding Alexis Lafreniere.

1. The latest L’Affaire Lafreniere does not look good on anybody: not the Rangers organization, not the coaching staff and not the player. That is no small issue.

It is incumbent upon president and general manager Chris Drury to put the full weight of the organization into working with Lafreniere and his camp to determine why it reached the point that on Thursday at Tampa Bay, the 2020 first-overall pick needed to be jolted by being made a healthy scratch.

The burden of proof is on everyone, but the Rangers do go back administration after administration culpable of either mishandling or misidentifying prospects. The organization is famous for eating its young, so it is not a particular reach to wonder how much of Lafreniere’s one-step-forward, two-steps-back dance this season is on the team.

Progress in fulfilling the potential of Lafreniere, Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko, Vitali Kravtsov and, soon enough, Brennan Othmann — all first-rounders — is paramount to the success of the franchise.

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from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

The injured Leon Draisaitl did not dress for Friday’s game in Seattle. When it was all said and done, he would play only four less minutes than Seattle starter Philipp Grubauer.

As it turned out, the Oilers were just fine without the NHL’s second leading scorer, leapfrogging both the Kraken and the Calgary Flames in the standings on a stunning five-point night by Connor McDavid, as Edmonton administered a 7-2 Pacific Northwest pounding of the Kraken.

“We were able to assert the game we wanted to play right off the bat,” said head coach Jay Woodcroft. “Put the other team on the back foot. We took the game to them.”

This, folks, was as stress free a hockey game as an Oilers fan has enjoyed in a looong time. Not a finger nail chewed or church candle lit.

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Watch the game highlights below.

* Connor McDavid did what he does best – collect points in bunches. While he assisted on two of Edmonton’s three goals in the opening 3:55, the Oilers captain finished with five points and four assists to eclipse the 70-point mark in 2022-23.

* The Hurricanes benefited from another shutout performance to push their win streak to a franchise-record 10 games while also extending their point streak to 16 contests.

* As the calendar year approaches its conclusion, many star players have milestones on their mind before the clock strikes midnight on an #NHLStats-filled 2022.

from Eric Duhatschek of The Athletic,

The NHL holiday roster freeze is over, New Year’s Day is just around the corner and the first handful of teams will reach the midpoints of their seasons next week already. You know what that means. We’re at the point of the season where things start to get interesting.

Where separation starts to occur.

When the teams begin to divide themselves into buyers and sellers, ahead of the March 3 NHL trade deadline.

And while there probably aren’t going to be many major deals until closer to the deadline (because teams need to preserve as much salary-cap space as possible), this is the point where the exploratory talks become something a little more than just idle chatter. Is Patrick Kane really going to move? Is Jonathan Toews? When will the Jakob Chychrun era finally end in Arizona?

There is always a difference between what will happen, what could happen and what should happen. We plant ourselves firmly in that third corner — what should happen if the NHL could ever get as bold as the NBA in terms of shuffling pieces around.

Sadly, if last year’s deadline proved anything it’s the teams that were the boldest and most aggressive — we’re thinking primarily of the Florida Panthers here — which didn’t get the result they wanted. Does that make teams more hesitant this time around? Possibly. Collectively, NHL general managers tend to be a conservative group at the best of times.

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from Salim Valji of TSN,

‘Unexpected’ might be the perfect word to describe Calgary’s calendar 2022 year. They unexpectedly rose to the top of the NHL standings last season, culminating in a Pacific Division title and playoff series win. They unexpectedly lost both Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, and unexpectedly replaced the two with Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, and MacKenzie Weegar.

After that off-season, the Flames enter the new year with sky-high expectations. With the calendar flipping soon, here are five bold predictions for what lies ahead for the Calgary Flames franchise.

We’ll get the boldest prediction out of the way early on.

Anything can change with a phone call, but at this moment I don’t think Brad Treliving will be back as the team’s general manager, a post he’s held since 2014. Treliving is in the final season of his contract and has not put pen to paper on a new deal, despite Darryl Sutter inking a two-season extension at the start of the season.

The power dynamic in Calgary is different. Sutter is extremely tight with Murray Edwards, the team’s principal owner, and has far more influence on different areas of the organization than most people can imagine. It’s also fair to ask if Sutter and Treliving have been on the same page this season regarding player usage and integrating young players into the lineup.

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* Aleksander Barkov made a splash with five points in his return to the Panthers’ lineup and was one of three players across the NHL to post a hat trick Thursday – Mark Scheifele and KyleOkposo also did so for their respective clubs.

* The Lightning, Kings, Flyers, Senators and Coyotes each earned third-period comeback wins, raising the NHL’s total in 2022 to 252 – tying the League mark for most in a calendar year (regular season & playoffs combined).

* A number of defensemen collected multi-point outings Thursday, including Erik Karlsson who became the first blueliner to reach the 50-point mark in 2022-23 and joined elite company in the process.

“Regardless of who you are, you’re going to go through adversity throughout your career. You find out what you’re made of and you keep trying to push through, it makes these moments that much more special.

“I’ve had my ups and downs, for sure. Getting sent down by Vancouver and then the following year by Edmonton again, you question how your career is going to end up. But you keep pushing along, keep trying to adjust to the modern game. It certainly feels good to get there. I wasn’t sure where the number would end up, you just want to keep playing and [I'm] certainly happy to get there.”

-Sam Gagner of the Winnipeg Jest on playing his 1000th game tonight. Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet has more.

15 saves in 5 1/2 minutes.

* The Red Wings rallied from a four-goal deficit completed by Jake Walman’s overtime winner which he celebrated with “The Griddy” – an NFL touchdown celebration converted to the ice.

* Andrei Vasilevskiy and Linus Ullmark each boosted their 2022 win totals to help the Lightning and Bruins earn victories Wednesday.

* Winnipeg forward Sam Gagner (190-326—516 in 999 GP) is set to become the 15th player to reach the 1,000-game milestone in 2022 as part of an 11-game Thursday.

NEW YORK (Dec. 28, 2022) – Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe has been fined $25,000 for demeaning conduct directed at the officials during NHL Game No. 553 in St. Louis on Tuesday, Dec. 27, the National Hockey League announced today.

The fine money goes to the NHL Foundation.

NEW YORK (Dec. 28, 2022) – The National Hockey League announced today that it has fined the Toronto Maple Leafs' organization $100,000 for the team's travel to St. Louis on Dec. 26, 2022. This team activity was in violation of Article 16.5(b) of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL and the NHL Players' Association.

The fine money goes to the NHL Foundation.