Monthly Archives: November 2017
NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – November 4, 2017
McDavid sets up 3 goals as Oilers crush Devils
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) Connor McDavid had three assists and the Edmonton Oilers beat New Jersey 6-3 on Friday night to hand the Devils' their first road loss of the season.
Drake Caggiula, Ryan Strome, Oscar Klefbom, Milan Lucic, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for the Oilers. They snapped a two-game losing streak to improve to 4-7-1.
Taylor Hall, Jesper Bratt and Brian Gibbons responded for the Devils. They dropped to 9-3-0.
Edmonton started the scoring five minutes into the opening period on the power play as McDavid sent a pass through the crease to Caggiula, who tapped the puck in before goalie Cory Schneider could get across.
The Oilers made it 2-0 three minutes later when Adam Larsson's point shot ended up going off Strome and in.
Hall came back to haunt his old team with five minutes left in the first when he backhanded the rebound from Miles Wood's shot past goalie Cam Talbot.
New Jersey tied it five minutes into the second period when Bratt's spin-around shot hit the post and caromed into the net.
The Oilers regained just over a minute later on Klefbom's blast on the rush.
Edmonton made it 4-2 with 1:04 to play in the second when a rebound hit Lucic while he was driving to the net and bounced in.
The Oilers added some insurance with seven minutes remaining in the third period when McDavid made a perfect pass to Draisaitl at the side of the net for his third of the season.
The Devils got that goal back just over a minute later on a tip by Gibbons, his team-leading sixth.
Edmonton got an empty-net goal as Hall sent the puck back to the point and almost scored on his own net, leading to a tap-in by Nugent-Hopkins.
NOTES: The clubs will meet again Thursday night in New Jersey. ... Devils forward Marcus Johansson missed the game with a concussion suffered on Wednesday in Vancouver.
UP NEXT:
Devils: At Calgary on Sunday night.
Oilers: Host Detroit on Sunday.
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Report: Potential 3-team deal sending Duchene to Senators falls apart
Talks on a proposed three-way trade that would have sent Matt Duchene to the Ottawa Senators ended with no deal, TSN's Darren Dreger reports.
Senators general manager Pierre Dorion has been pursuing Duchene since mid-September and discussions heated up in the last couple of weeks, according to Dreger.
More to come.
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Projecting Tavares’ next contract amid his scorching start
For general managers planning to get in on the John Tavares sweepstakes this coming summer, the beginning of the 2017-18 season has been bittersweet.
The New York Islanders captain has been on a goal-scoring rampage over the last couple weeks. He has positioned himself among the hottest players in the league through the first month of the season, which is sure to raise his asking price this offseason.
Tavares has already tallied two hat tricks and in all has collected 12 goals and 17 points in 13 games in a contract year. His hot start - whether or not he maintains this torrid pace - puts him in a good position to not just surpass last season's totals of 28 goals and 66 points, but also his career year in 2014-15 when he finished second in league scoring with 38 goals and 86 points.
The Mississauga, Ontario native is in the final season of a six-year, $33-million contract that has seen the Islanders get tremendous bang for their buck.
However, Tavares is soon to get his due. He will be an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career - unless he re-ups with the Islanders - and given his body of work and the current contracts of the game's best centers, he could very well score one of the league's wealthiest deals.
Connor McDavid is, of course, at the top of the totem pole. His $12.5-million cap hit over eight years trumps all deals, but it might not be far off from what Tavares could command.
At 27 years of age, wisdom would suggest Tavares is in his prime and likely to demand a max eight-year deal - and rightfully so. As for what his cap hit should look like, consider the five top-earning centers in the league as of next season:
| Player | Cap Hit | Age at Signing | PPG in Contract Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| McDavid | $12.5M | 20 | 1.22 |
| Toews | $10.5M | 26 | 0.89 |
| Eichel | $10M | 21 | 0.93 |
| Kopitar | $10M | 28 | 0.91 |
| Malkin | $9.5M | 26 | 1.06 |
Since breaking into the league, Tavares has paced Evgeni Malkin, Jonathan Toews, and Anze Kopitar in points. Additionally, Tavares plays all situations, wins more than half of his faceoffs, and boasts a Corsi For rating of 53.12 this season.
At his current pace, Tavares would tally 75 goals and 107 points in 82 games. That number is sure to drop, at least in the goal-scoring department as he is currently rocking a shooting percentage of 26.1 percent, more than double his career average.
He's on course to take a career-high 290 shots, and even if Tavares regresses to his career average shooting percentage the rest of the way, that would still see him record 43 goals - the highest mark of his career.
Tavares is on pace to finish well below his average assists total, but given that he's averaged 41 helpers over the last four seasons, chances are he will finish with a respectable number. If he can come close to that total, a career year may be in the cards.
Given that teams tend to overpay in free agency - should Tavares get there - it's reasonable to expect Tavares to put pen to paper on an eight-year, $80-million contract, especially if his blistering pace continues.
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Resurgent Devils meet low-scoring Oilers
EDMONTON, Alberta -- The resurgent New Jersey Devils boast a spotless 5-0-0 road record. The Edmonton Oilers are a disappointing 2-5-0 on home ice.
So, when former Oilers forward Taylor Hall and his Devils teammates visit Rogers Place on Friday night, they will have road-ice advantage, correct?
The Devils (9-2-0) enter the game on a three-game win streak. The Oilers (3-7-1) have dropped two in a row, both on home ice.
New Jersey, which has endured a five-season playoff drought, is off to its best start in franchise history. For a team that always was known as a defense-first organization, it is stunning to see the Devils scoring an average of almost four goals per game.
"I think we want to continue to build an identity and try to get stronger and stronger as the year goes on," Devils coach John Hynes said.
"We don't seem to break too often or too easily," New Jersey goalie Cory Schneider said. "There might be some moments where we get running around or are on our heels a bit, but I think mentally we've had that resolve this year. We don't get down, we don't get discouraged, we don't look lost and just wait for something bad to happen. When we've needed responses, we've gotten them."
Meanwhile, with just 24 goals in 11 games, the Oilers have the worst offensive ledger in the league. This was a team that was expected to light it up with the league's top scorer from last season, Connor McDavid, leading the offensive charge.
The Oilers' penalty kill is running at a dreadful 68.3 percent. The power play is at 13.2 percent. The wisdom in hockey is that your penalty-kill and power-play percentages should add to more than 100; that means you're scoring more with a man advantage than you're giving up short-handed. The Oilers' total barely adds up to more than 80.
Edmonton has scored two goals or fewer in eight of 11 games. Eleven of the players on the Oilers' roster have yet to score. It is not as if the Oilers have one major issue that is leading to such a disappointing start; the team has a large number of things to address -- but the special teams come first.
"We're still trying to solve the special teams issue," Edmonton coach Todd McLellan said after practice Thursday. "There's improvement, but not where it needs to be. We've only won that battle once this season, and we happened to win that game. And if you're not winning (the special-teams categories) you've got to at least be able to tie. A lot of our time was spent dealing again with situational play on penalty kill and power play."
"It's a sore spot, for sure," Oilers veteran Mark Letestu said of the team's poor penalty kill. "We've got to fix it, and fast. It's costing us hockey games. There's nobody coming, the guys in this room can fix it."
Adding to the Oilers' woes, Hall, traded by Edmonton to New Jersey before the start of last season in exchange for defenseman Adam Larsson, is off to a flying start. Hall has 15 points, a total that would put him on top of the Oilers' scoring chart.
Also, Devils rookie defenseman Will Butcher has 11 assists in 11 games. That's more assists than McDavid has right now.
The status of Devils forward Marcus Johansson is unclear for Friday. He left the team's 2-0 win over the Canucks on Wednesday after crashing into boards and did not return.
Friday will mark Brian Boyle's second game as a Devil. The center made his debut Wednesday after missing all of New Jersey's October games following a leukemia diagnosis. He is still taking medication.
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Kerry Fraser diagnosed with cancer
Longtime NHL referee Kerry Fraser revealed Friday that he has a rare, incurable form of cancer.
Fraser, who retired from officiating in 2010, has been diagnosed with essential thrombocythemia, a chronic blood disorder in the leukemia family.
The 65-year-old said his doctor told him that while it is an incurable cancer, those afflicted can live normal lives for many years, and that he will monitor the disease to make sure it does not progress.
Fraser believes he's fortunate to catch the condition early.
"I consider myself blessed that this rare disease was diagnosed before I had a stroke or heart attack," Fraser wrote. "At 65, I was planning on living a healthy, full life for many more years. Now that I know I have this disease I can take extra precautions to keep my blood thinner and hopefully prevent a blood clot from hitting my heart or brain."
Fraser spent 37 years as an NHL official beginning in 1973, and worked several international competitions as well, including the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and the 1998 Winter Olympics.
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Doan considered Olympic spot prior to retirement
Shane Doan turned down one last shot at winning it all.
The former Arizona Coyotes captain, who announced his retirement in August following a 21-year career, considered an invite from Team Canada for the 2018 Winters Olympics before ultimately declining the opportunity.
"If you're going to play in (the Olympics), you really need to be dialed in and really capable of doing your best," Doan told Sportsnet 650's "On Point."
"I didn't know if I'd be able to do that. I didn't know if I had the desire to move away and go play somewhere else for a little bit in order to stay ready."
Team Canada general manager Sean Burke, who played alongside Doan with the Coyotes from 1999-2004, initially reached out to Doan in August.
Doan scored 27 points in 74 games with Arizona last season. The 41-year-old accepted a position with the NHL's hockey operations department last month.
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7 players in need of a change of scenery
A move to new surroundings can often be the perfect remedy.
That's certainly been the case with several struggling players in the past. Just ask Joe Thornton, who won the NHL MVP with the San Jose Sharks after spending his first seven seasons with the Boston Bruins.
With a refresh in mind, here are seven players who could benefit from a similar change of scenery:
Sam Bennett
No player may be more in need of a shake up than Bennett, who has failed to find the scoresheet through 13 games this season. No doubt a disappointment, it's safe to say the Flames had high hopes for the 2014 fourth overall pick, who was drafted ahead of the likes of William Nylander and Nikolaj Ehlers.
Bennett tallied 36 points in his rookie campaign two years ago, but declined to just 26 points last season, despite averaging nearly identical ice time. To follow it up, Bennett and the Flames slogged through a difficult contract negotiation last offseason. Calgary ultimately bet on a two-year deal, but the likes of it paying off appear to be slim.
Mikkel Boedker
Boedker agreed to a four-year deal with the Sharks in 2016, but things have not gone swimmingly since his arrival in San Jose.
Sharks bench boss Peter DeBoer - who coached Boedker in junior - is tasked with helping the Danish winger find some consistency, and has moved him throughout the lineup in search of his scoring touch. Playing alongside Joonas Donskoi and Chris Tierney on the team's third line, Boedker picked up two points in his last game after tallying just one point in his previous six outings. If the Sharks would rather move on from Boedker, it'd be difficult to do so, given he's signed for $4 million through 2019-20.
Anthony Duclair
A frequent scratch by former coach Dave Tippett, it's been more of the same for Duclair with new bench boss Rick Tocchet. Despite chipping in three goals this season - only Coyotes rookie Clayton Keller has scored more - Duclair has been scratched for two of the past three games.
Duclair returned to the lineup for Thursday's 5-4 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, a contest in which he skated on the team's fourth line and finished last among forwards with just 10:49 in ice time. Originally acquired from the New York Rangers in 2015, Duclair could be a worthwhile trade chip to help right the last-place Coyotes.
Alex Galchenyuk
Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin sees forward Galchenyuk as a winger, a stance that coach Claude Julien agrees with, judging by his lineup. The point of confusion comes into play with where Galchenyuk has been slotted.
Skating on the team's fourth line, Galchenyuk has scored in three of the last five games, but has not been rewarded with a boost in the lineup. A third overall pick by the Canadiens in 2012, the hope was Galchenyuk would soon be the team's top center, a duty since filled by new recruit Jonathan Drouin. This offseason, the Canadiens committed to a two-year extension with Galchenyuk, but it may only be a matter of time before they move on.
Josh Leivo
The Toronto Maple Leafs winger is productive. The only problem is finding a regular roster spot. Depth at forward has seen Leivo scratched more often than not this season, as the 24-year-old sat out Toronto's first 10 games before drawing into the lineup for two of the past four contests. Leivo picked up a point in the process, but as of the team's last game, he was back to a familiar spot on the sidelines.
Leivo showed off his offensive chops last season when he picked up 10 points in 13 games, and that could pique the interest of rival GMs should the Maple Leafs wish to deal from an area of strength to shore up their defensive depth.
Sam Reinhart
The Buffalo Sabres center has made little progress over his first two seasons, and appears to be taking a step back in the early goings of this campaign as he's picked up just five points through 13 games.
While only three years removed from his draft class, it appears the Sabres made a devastating miss when they selected Reinhart one spot ahead of Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl. Reinhart is now in the final year of his entry-level contract, and first-year Sabres GM Jason Botterill has opted for a wait-and-see approach before locking in a big-ticket extension. Otherwise, he could elect to deal Reinhart to improve his roster elsewhere.
Jacob Trouba
Trouba and the Winnipeg Jets went through an ugly contract dispute in the lead-up to last season, so much so that the American-born blue-liner sat out the first 15 games. He eventually agreed to a two-year deal, a contract that expires at the end of 2017-18.
While Trouba will again be a restricted free agent - meaning the Jets still have more say in how his future plays out - the team could look to move on from a player who previously demanded a trade. Furthering those efforts could be Trouba's inability to live up to his offensive potential. With just four points through 12 games this season, his scoring game appears to have plateaued.
(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)
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Price sidelined with minor lower-body injury
Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price has been sidelined with what the team is calling a minor lower-body injury.
He'll miss at least Saturday's game against the Winnipeg Jets as a result.
Earlier Friday, the team announced Price was not participating in practice the morning after allowing five goals on 26 shots in a loss to the Minnesota Wild.
Related - Gallagher: Rest of Canadiens must help boost struggling Price
Price's performance has been uncharacteristically poor this season. In 11 games, he has a 3-7-1 record and .877 save percentage.
Al Montoya will start Saturday, and the Canadiens are scheduled to play Sunday in Chicago. A goalie will be recalled to serve as backup, and may or may not remain with the team through the weekend.
Montreal then returns home for a date with Vegas on Nov. 7.
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