from Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News,

When the Red Wings were threatening new lows a few weeks ago, dropping the occasional 7-1 stinker, the coaching verdict seemed clear. Progress was minimal, and with Jeff Blashill’s contract expiring after his sixth season, change was needed.

And then some things did change. The Wings’ defense tightened and their young players competed harder and they even beat Tampa Bay three times. The Wings don’t have the worst record in the NHL — sixth-worst at 18-27-9, for the record — and with two games remaining, it’s time to ask: Have they improved enough to buy Blashill another year?

By a slim margin, I’d say yes. Not a full-throated endorsement but an acknowledgement he’s faced challenges beyond the massive rebuild, and on most nights, the Wings are competitive. Steve Yzerman hasn’t indicated anything, other than to say he’ll sit down with Blashill “very quickly” after the season, which means a resolution could come soon after the Saturday finale in Columbus.

Yzerman doesn’t make decisions based on loyalty or sentiment, and doesn’t make mandates or threats. He also doesn’t veer suddenly from a charted plan, and in two years as GM here, he has pleaded for patience.

continued (subscription)

18 teams in action tonight, I will be monitoring Caps/Rangers along with all the other games.

Tonight's schedule is below.

added 7:31pm, The first fight of the night between Caps/NYR is below. added 7:34pm, Smith/Wilson fight is below. added 7:38pm, more fights added below.

I guess the track record of Player Safety vis a vis Tom Wilson kind of proves your suggestion, that you know, look he’s put himself in this position but the spotlight’s on him and everything he does is scrutinized to the nth degree and probably far more than other players doing similar things. And again he’s earned that. He’s put himself in that position. But the fact of the matter is that is how the Department of Player Safety has treated him over time. I can’t get into the rationale for this particular decision other than I think it was a little bit different than anything else he’s ever done. But the fact of the matter is he is held to a higher standard and probably rightly so.

-Bill Daly. Pierre LeBrun and Scott Burnside have more (paid) topics from Daly in a Q & A.

NEW YORK, May 5, 2021– The New York Rangers announced today that team President John Davidson and General Manager Jeff Gorton are leaving the organization, and Associate General Manager Chris Drury has been promoted to President and General Manager, effective immediately. Senior Advisor Glen Sather will work with Drury during this transition and continue to consult with the team.

”We want to thank JD and Jeff for their contributions to the organization. They are both great hockey professionals who worked hard for the Rangers, however, in order for the team to succeed in the manner our fans deserve, there needs to be a change in leadership,” said James L. Dolan, executive chairman, MSG Sports. “Chris is a very sought-after executive and a strong leader, who has proven himself to be one of the top young minds in hockey. We are confident he will effectively guide the team to ensure the long-term success we promised Rangers fans.”

Two games for boarding.

added 2:56pm,

With the clock ticking down to only a month away from the 2021 National Hockey League (NHL) season, the teams have already begun their training regimens to see who will take the top spots as one of the Stanley Cup contenders.

Below, Jeff Blashill after practice and Bobby Ryan.

Ansar Khan tweets,

RedWings return to practice after two off days, wrap up season at Columbus Friday and Saturday in games that will determine 7th/8th place in Central and affect draft lottery odds.

Robby Fabbri no longer practicing in blue non-contact jersey, so might return Friday after missing 15 games with an upper-body injury.

added 11:31am, below is the live stream of The Word on Woodward.

Topics include prospects in the organization and some of the champions of youth hockey in the Detroit area.

from Sean McIndoe of The Athletic,

So today, we’re going to break out a gimmick I’ve tried a few times in the past and see if we can come up with three positive thoughts for each of the 15 teams that will miss the playoffs. That’s it — no nitpicking, no complaining, just three nice things to say about each team.

Detroit Red Wings

The negative: They’re going to miss the playoffs for the fifth straight year, and while their record will be better than it was during last year’s disaster, it’s on pace to be worse than in any of the first three years of the rebuild.

Positive thought #1: They finally escaped the bottom five! That was good, right? (Please don’t read this week’s rankings, where they might be right back in.)

Positive thought #2: The whole Yzerplan thing is going slowly, sure, but progress is being made. They’ve got some prospect help on the way, a ton of picks this year, lots of cap room to work with, and (maybe) a new set of eyes behind the bench to help it all along. The pain isn’t over yet, but you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and Red Wings fans seem like they’re willing to be patient.

Positive thought #3: The new draft lottery system means they’ll only drop two spots this year instead of the customary three.

14 more ($$$) teams...

Watch the incident below.

THREE HARD LAPS

* Sebastian Aho found the score sheet yet again to help the NHL-leading Hurricanes pad their lead in the standings and extend their point streak to 12 games.

* Sidney Crosby leads the NHL with 151 three-point games since debuting in 2005-06 and helped Pittsburgh overtake Washington for first place in the MassMutual East Division.

* Connor McDavid inched closer to 100 points in 2020-21 and Leon Draisaitl scored twice as the duo collected multiple points in the same game for the 18th time this season.

Tom Wilson's antics on the ice overshadowed another big story in Washington: That Evgeny Kuznetsov and Ilya Samsonov were benched for disciplinary reasons and as Pierre LeBrun explains, the Capitals may explore their options with Kuznetsov in the summer.

Plus some Norris talk.

Watch at TSN.

Evgeny Svechnikov mic'd up against his brother on April 29th.

Svechnikov remains on today's Covid list.

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

Gagner signed a one-year contract worth $850,000 last offseason as general manager Steve Yzerman gathered veteran complementary players to strengthen the Wings’ roster.

Yzerman has lengthy list of unrestricted free agents to deal with this summer, Gagner being one. But it wouldn’t be shocking to see the two sides reach some sort of agreement.

Gagner can help the Wings, and t a fair price. He doesn’t think the rebuild will last long.

“We’ll see what happens after the season but I really enjoy it here,” Gagner said. “I feel like my responsibility has grown over my time here. I really like my role and that we’re closer (to being competitive) than a lot of people would project.

“(There were) a lot of injuries this year. The division we’re in, we have an opportunity to turn things around quicker than people expect and I’d like to be part of it.”

much more

NEW YORK, May 4, 2021 – The New York Rangers are extremely disappointed that Capitals forward Tom Wilson was not suspended for his horrifying act of violence last night at Madison Square Garden. Wilson is a repeat offender with a long history of these type of acts and we find it shocking that the NHL and their Department of Player Safety failed to take the appropriate action and suspend him indefinitely. Wilson’s dangerous and reckless actions caused an injury to Artemi Panarin that will prevent him from playing again this season. We view this as a dereliction of duty by NHL Head of Player Safety, George Parros, and believe he is unfit to continue in his current role.

from Michael Russo of The Athletic,

The playoffs are obviously a different animal than the regular season, and the path to where the Wild want to ultimately get to this postseason will have to go through Vegas or Colorado, and, quite frankly, probably both.

But doesn’t it feel like there’s something different about this team and that something possibly special could be brewing with the Wild?

They’ve got threats on every line, including two bonafide game breakers in Kevin Fiala and Kirill Kaprizov. They’ve got a goalie in Cam Talbot that makes the clutch stops when it most matters. They’ve got one of the best shutdown centers in the league in Joel Eriksson Ek who also happens to be on a near 30-goal pace over an 82-game season. They’ve got guys with Stanley Cup pedigree such as super-handy Nick Bonino, who’s consistently scoring, winning big draws and sacrificing his body to block shots. They’ve got defensive stalwarts such as Jonas Brodin, who in his ninth season is finally becoming an offensive threat.

Heck, even Victor Rask (yes, that Victor Rask) is making big plays of late.

Every time one counts this deep Wild team out, every time one questions their goaltending or the number of turnovers they commit or their thinness up the middle or confusing line combinations, the Wild find a new way to make the naysayers feel foolish.

continued

A little over 3 minutes long.

NEW YORK (May 4, 2021) – Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for roughing New York Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich during NHL Game No. 814 in New York on Monday, May 3, the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety announced today.

The incident occurred at 7:40 of the second period. Wilson was assessed two minor penalties for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct.

The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

from Paul Friesen of the Winnipeg Sun,

Now this is a losing streak with teeth.

The Winnipeg Jets’ skid has taken on a life of its own, baring its fangs in Ottawa on Monday.

Make it seven: Jets find another way to lose

These things don’t become living, breathing beasts until a team begins finding multiple ways to lose.

The Jets found a whole new way against the Senators: anemic on the power play, dominant at even strength but with just enough mistakes to ultimately wind up on the short end of a 2-1 score against a team out of playoff contention and playing its fifth goalie of the season.

Oh, and the dagger coming with just 1:13 to play.

You can almost hear the streak laughing as it grows, now seven games long – the ugliest run since this franchise relocated from Atlanta to Winnipeg.

continued

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

Stock up
Thomas Greiss
What a performance he delivered. Back-to-back 33-save outings to set up 0-0 shootouts. The second game, against the Lightning, was a lopsided affair; the Wings were outshot, 11-4, after the first period and 33-15 after overtime. The shootout went eight rounds. Greiss posted a 1-0-1 record on the week, with a 1.00 save percentage and 0.00 goals-against average in 130 minutes to land on the stock up for a second straight week.

Jonathan Bernier
He continued his season-long role as the team’s rock, making 29 saves April 29 in a game in which the Wings were outshot, 32-17, and 40 saves in Sunday’s loss to the Lightning. Bernier’s performances last week yielded a .932 save percentage and 2.61 GAA in 114:48 minutes.

Joe Veleno
He’s played four NHL games, and looked like he belongs. That’s a good sign for the organization from the 30th overall pick in 2018. Veleno has made a favorable impression towards being a regular out of camp next season, playing with physicality and winning draws. He set up Sam Gagner for a good scoring chance. It’s a solid showing for a short time.

read on (paid) for the stock down players, Hronek and Stecher.

from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

It has been inevitable for some time now, so it’s easy for hockey fans in other markets to see the Edmonton Oilers clinch a playoff spot and simply shrug their shoulders.

But for long suffering Oilers fans, whose team has made the playoffs exactly five times now in this 21st century — and just twice in the past 14 seasons — it is time to stop, maybe crack a beer, and enjoy a long slow pull.

With a 5-3 win against the Vancouver Canucks Monday night, the Oilers clinched only their second playoff appearance since Connor McDavid joined the team six seasons ago. Even though they were a playoff lock when the pause hit last March, a loss in the Qualifying Round does not qualify as a playoff appearance.

That loss to Chicago counted for only one thing: a hard, embarrassing lesson that this Oilers team took to heart.

“Everyone left the bubble in a bad mood. No one felt great about where we were at, or how that series went,” said McDavid, fresh off of lighting the Canucks up with two goals and four points. “It was a good moment to step back and learn from it. Learn what it takes to win.”

continued

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

The NHL’s ultimate decision whether and for what duration to suspend Tom Wilson for twice body-slamming Artemi Panarin, who will miss the final three games of the season, to the ice after the Washington recidivist went upside a prone and defenseless Pavel Buchnevich’s head with a sucker punch during a second-period incident at the Garden on Monday will not be a reflection on Wilson, but instead on the league, itself.

This was not only bush-league stuff from this notorious headhunter who has been suspended five times in his NHL career, it was frightening how close his initial body slam of Panarin, on which the Washington winger grabbed a chunk of hair to gain leverage, came to causing calamitous damage.

Had Panarin’s head, rather than shoulder, hit the ice full force, the NHL might be presiding over a death.

This is reckless stuff that is repeated over and over again and is enabled over and over again by the Washington organization. Just as Caps coach Peter Laviolette shrugged off Wilson’s blow that concussed Boston’s Brandon Carlo in early March that earned Wilson a seven-game suspension, the coach did it again after Monday’s match.

continued

To watch the video, head to a previous KK post and discussion from last night.

THREE HARD LAPS

* Connor McDavid eclipsed 90 points on the season as the Oilers became the second Scotia North Division team to clinch a berth in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

* The Bruins locked up a postseason berth and moved past the playoff-bound Islanders for third place in the MassMutual East Division.

* The Canadiens, Predators and Blues, who occupy fourth place in their respective divisions, earned wins to improve their playoff chances.