The Boston Bruins will be without center Ryan Spooner for four-to-six weeks, as he nurses a right groin adductor tear suffered in Sunday's loss in Vegas, general manager Don Sweeney announced Wednesday.
It's a tough loss for the Bruins, as the club is already dealing with an injury to top-line pivot Patrice Bergeron, who has yet to play this season.
Spooner had only recorded one assist in five games before his injury, but has recorded 49 and 39 points, respectively, in the past two seasons. He signed a one-year, $2.825-million contract in the offseason to remain in Boston.
The veteran defenseman underwent surgery to remove a bone fragment in his right hand and is expected to be on the shelf for three-to-four weeks, the team announced Wednesday.
Schlemko suffered the injury early in training camp, and the surgery comes after he appeared in one game for Montreal's AHL affiliate on a conditioning stint.
Selected by Vegas from San Jose in the expansion draft, Schlemko was traded to Montreal on June 22. He recorded two goals and 16 assists in 62 games for the Sharks last season.
J.T. Brown is done raising his fist, but he's far from finished trying to affect change.
On Wednesday, the Tampa Bay Lightning forward provided an update on his efforts in the community since silently protesting during "The Star-Spangled Banner" earlier this month:
Brown became the first NHL player to protest inequality and racial injustice this season when he stood with his fist raised during the singing of the anthem before the Lightning played the Panthers on Oct. 7.
J.T. Brown is done raising his fist, but he's far from finished trying to affect change.
On Wednesday, the Tampa Bay Lightning forward provided an update on his efforts in the community since silently protesting during "The Star-Spangled Banner" earlier this month:
Brown became the first NHL player to protest inequality and racial injustice this season when he stood with his fist raised during the singing of the anthem before the Lightning played the Panthers on Oct. 7.
Steen missed seven exhibition games and the first six contests of the regular season after sustaining a hand injury in St. Louis' first preseason game on Sept. 19.
In accordance with Steen's activation from injured reserve, the Blues placed forward Wade Megan on waivers.
Steen is coming off his fourth straight season of at least 15 goals and 50 points.
The Winnipeg Jets might be 3-3-0 through six games, but it's about time for head coach Paul Maurice to put his foot down and make Connor Hellebuyck the team's No. 1 goalie.
Early on, the Jets have been hampered by one glaring weakness: Steve Mason. The club inked the netminder this offseason, believing he could bring some balance to the position that's plagued the team for a handful of seasons.
However, that experiment, albeit through just three games, is off to a disastrous start, as Mason is 0-3-0 and has given up 16 goals (including at least five in each game) while posting a 5.96 goals-against average and .846 save percentage.
Meanwhile, his counterpart, Hellebuyck, has been the polar opposite, going 3-0-0 with a 2.11 GAA and .937 save percentage.
Comparing the Jets' play through six games, there doesn't appear to be a dramatic discrepancy in their wins versus losses:
In wins
Stat
In losses
28
Shots for per game
30.33
33.33
Shots against per game
38.33
-5.33
Shot differential per game
-8.33
With no back-to-back scenario Tuesday, Maurice elected to go with Mason, likely in an attempt to get him back on track, but a 5-2 defeat to the Columbus Blue Jackets was the end result.
"I feel for (Mason) because I think he kept it right for as long as he could," Maurice said postgame, according to NHL.com's Scott Billeck. "We didn't have enough going for us in this game. Just too darn slow to give him a chance to win us a game."
The question is, how many chances can the Jets afford to give Mason before he finally wins a game? The answer should be none.
It's not quite panic time yet, but in a stacked division that includes the Blackhawks and Blues, who are off to hot starts, the surprising Avalanche, the reigning Stanley Cup finalists in Nashville, a rejuvenated Stars club, and the Wild, who are too good to finish last in the division, there's not much room to stumble.
It's time for Hellebuyck to take a run at the No. 1 position for a prolonged stretch, beginning Friday when the Jets host the Wild. From there, Winnipeg will enjoy a five-day break before a back-to-back against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets.
If Hellebuyck can shine in Pittsburgh, it doesn't make sense to go back to Mason against the Blue Jackets. Hellebuyck should realistically be able to play the next nine games before another set of back-to-backs.
With four of those games coming against division rivals (two each against the Wild and Stars) it's imperative the Jets get ahead of the competition, and that's best done with their strongest option between the pipes.
The Jets are still in the thick of it in the early going, and have the offense to contend with anyone, but the club can't let goaltending continue to be their Achilles' heel.
He sits 18th all time in games played and third all time among active players behind Jaromir Jagr (1,714) and Jarome Iginla (1,554), who's technically still active but remains a free agent.
Now in his 20th season, and first with the Leafs after leaving the San Jose Sharks over the summer, Marleau has 1,087 points in his 1,499 contests, and he's been remarkably durable throughout his career.
Patrick Marleau has missed only 31 of 1530 available games since breaking into #NHL.
The 38-year-old hasn't missed a regular-season game since 2008-09, and he was absent from only 10 contests in the last 10 campaigns entering this season.
If Marleau plays out his three-year contract with Toronto, he could conceivably move into the top five on the NHL's all-time games played list.
He hasn't slowed down from a production standpoint despite his advanced age, either. Marleau scored twice in the Leafs' season-opening win over the Winnipeg Jets and has five points in six games this fall.
Hockey fans clamoring for a book celebrating Doug Gilmour's Hall of Fame hockey career have finally been granted their wish.
Gilmour's memoir, titled "Killer: My Life in Hockey," hit bookstores Tuesday. It chronicles Gilmour's journey from undersized seventh-round pick to eventful 20-year career in which he recorded 1,414 points in 1,474 games with seven NHL teams, won a Stanley Cup championship, and became one of the most beloved players in Toronto Maple Leafs history.
The decision to share his biggest moments and fondest memories from his hockey career wasn't at the forefront of Gilmour's mind in the initial years following his retirement at the conclusion the 2002-03 season.
"I've been 14 years retired, and I've been asked pretty much every year to do a book," Gilmour told theScore earlier this week. "And I said no. I didn't want to, I didn't feel like it at the time. I didn't think anybody would be interested. But you're thinking all the time, and as time passes ... when my dad (Don) passed away five years ago, I started thinking about it.
"As I say that, about a year and a half, maybe two years later, my mom (Dolly) was diagnosed with dementia. And that's when I really got serious about it. When my marketing (rep) called me and said 'HarperCollins wants to do it,' and I said, 'Let me think about it.' I might have thought for half a day. I knew it would be work; I mean, it's my life, from growing up to where I am now."
Gilmour teamed with Rogers Sportsnet senior writer Dan Robson, who had previously co-written "Crazy Game" with one-time NHL netminder Clint Malarchuk and penned a biography of Pat Quinn, one of Gilmour's former coaches. Gilmour said those associations, among other reasons, made Robson an easy choice as co-writer.
"I met with Dan ... I knew his background," Gilmour said. "I know Clint Malarchuk, I obviously knew Pat Quinn, and after getting to know Dan in person, it was like, yeah. He was right on it, walking me through it. Honestly, it was a fun time ... Dan's a great guy, and it was fun to work with him."
The book opens with Gilmour, now the general manager of the Ontario Hockey League's Kingston Frontenacs, sharing intimate details from his childhood - including an incident in which his sister, Donna, nearly drowned after falling through thin ice on Lake Ontario. Gilmour says he wouldn't have told the story at all if not for Donna having reminded him of it.
"The part about my sister? I forgot about that," he admitted. "It never left my mind, but I didn't bring it up. Because I would never go back onto lake ice. People would ask me to go ice fishing. No.
"I grew up on Loughborough Lake (12 miles outside Kingston, Ontario); we moved out there when I was 13. Did I skate on the ice? Yes, I did. But it was only 3 feet deep underneath. I wasn't going out in the middle of the lake; it just terrified me. My sister was the one that brought the story up, and I was talking to Dan, and he said, 'You didn't tell me this.' and I said, 'I had kind of forgotten about it.' You don't want to remember certain things."
(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)
From there, the book mostly focuses on Gilmour's hockey career - from winning the Memorial Cup with the Cornwall Royals to being the 134th overall pick in the 1982 entry draft ("I had a chip on my shoulder. I was pissed."). From there, Gilmour shares a parade of career highlights with readers, including winning a 1989 Stanley Cup title with Calgary and leading the Leafs to back-to-back Western Conference final appearances in the early 1990s.
Yet, for all the great stories Gilmour tells - and there are a lot - he didn't get to share everything.
"There was probably another 150 pages that we had to take out," Gilmour said. "Dan had a good vision on where he wanted to go with it and what we were doing with it. It would have been great to get some other guys to tell stories, people who have passed on or other people who we really didn't get to. We really had so much in there."
Among the omissions are details of his personal life, which Gilmour made a conscious decision to leave out - though he doesn't mind discussing certain aspects. The 54-year-old has been married three times and has four children.
"This is not my personal life - this is my life in hockey," he explained. "And this is where I wanted to go with it. Dan asked me some questions about other things as far as my relationships, and I said no.
"A lot of that stuff with (his two ex-wives), there are things that are my business and their business. We're all friends to this day. You don't get married to get divorced, but it happens. I'm not here to say whose fault it is, it's nobody's business.
"I'm not ashamed of it. It's life, and it's my life. I made mistakes, they made mistakes. We're at the stage of our lives where I'm not going to worry about it. I don't live in the past. I still love my relationships, and I have great kids, and that's the most important thing to me."
That focus on family is clear throughout the book, particularly in an emotional final chapter in which Gilmour shares the experience of going through his father's garage shortly after he passed. As Gilmour comes across newspaper clippings his father had saved over the years, a song comes on the radio - "Big League" by Tom Cochrane, the same song that was played at Don's funeral a few days earlier.
"He always played it," Gilmour says in the book.
And in some bittersweet symmetry, Gilmour shared a similar story of the moments prior to his mother's death earlier this month.
"About 10 minutes before my mom passed away, we had the TV on for her, we're playing oldies music. Her name is Joan, but she was called Dolly before she had kids ... and 'Hello Dolly' came on. It was really sentimental.
"I was happy I wrote it, just to be able to thank her."
Gord Downie's death resonated deeply Wednesday morning.
The Tragically Hip frontman and devoted Boston Bruins fan died after his battle with brain cancer Tuesday night with his children and family close by, according to a statement on the band's website, and his passing brought out memories, tributes, and condolences from all corners of the hockey community.
I got into a crowded elevator leaving the arena In Toronto at last year’s World Cup. Packed in like sardines. In walked Gord Downie... pic.twitter.com/U2elkLAE8C
A post shared by Bob McKenzie (@bobmckenzietsn) on
Heartbroken today. Few Canadians touched this country like Gord Downie. Thank you for everything you gave us. My deepest condolences. pic.twitter.com/00DdU6IVZn
Condolences to the family and friends of Canadian music icon Gord Downie, whose music and love for hockey will echo through arenas forever. pic.twitter.com/4cxlvsXdGe
The soundtrack of car rides to practices, bus trips to tournaments, and dressing rooms across Canada. Hockey was a part of you and you will always be a part of hockey. Thank you, Gord Downie. pic.twitter.com/kHj8iPlUa4
Thank you for the music that fuelled Canada’s game in hockey rinks and communities from coast to coast to coast. RIP Gord Downie. 🇨🇦🎶🏒⭐️ https://t.co/t2AePyXn7Z
