Ex-Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings goaltender Roman Cechmanek has died at the age of 52, the Flyers confirmed Sunday.
Cechmanek played three seasons with the Flyers and one with the Kings. Philadelphia drafted him at age 29 in 2000 with the 171st overall pick. He made an instant impact in 2000-01, going 35-15-6 with a .921 save percentage and 10 shutouts in his first NHL campaign. Cechmanek finished fourth in Hart Trophy voting and second among Vezina Trophy ballots that season.
Two years before arriving in the NHL, he was a member of the Czech Republic squad that won gold at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Cechmanek served as Dominik Hasek's backup but didn't play a game in the tournament. Hasek won the Vezina in 2001 when Cechmanek finished as the runner-up.
However, Cechmanek made his mark in North America during his brief NHL tenure. In his second season with the Flyers, he equaled the save percentage he posted in his first campaign while going 24-13-6.
He authored a 33-15-10 record and a .925 save percentage with Philadelphia in 2002-03, sharing the William M. Jennings Trophy with teammate Robert Esche and New Jersey Devils netminder Martin Brodeur.
Cechmanek enjoyed further international success, helping his home country claim gold at the World Championships in 1999 and 2000. He started and finished his career in what is now Czechia, playing four seasons with Vsetin before heading to North America and spending his final four pro campaigns in his homeland, Germany, and Sweden.
Jared Bednar believes his Colorado Avalanche finished Saturday's 8-2 defeat to the St. Louis Blues with an unprecedented lackluster effort.
"(Our) third period was a joke," Bednar said postgame. "That was the worst period of hockey I've ever seen from our club."
He added: "The third period (was) unacceptable, unexplainable. That's why it's a blowout. We stopped playing. (It) looked like we couldn't make it past 10 feet in the third period, giving up odd-man rushes every five seconds. Every rush attack they had ended up in a scoring chance against (us).
"Not good enough. It's just guys quitting and not doing what they're supposed to be doing. Feeling sorry for themselves."
The Blues led 4-1 through 40 minutes and scored four straight in the final frame, including a pair in a span of 1:29 early in the period. St. Louis outshot Colorado 19-14 in the third while controlling 72.86% of the expected goals, according to Natural Stat Trick.
The Avalanche had 79.54% of the expected goals in the second period when they outshot the Blues 11-6. But Colorado failed to dig out of a 3-0 deficit, matching St. Louis' one goal in the middle stanza before the wheels fell off for the hosts in the third. Brayden Schenn and Pavel Buchnevich both produced hat tricks for the victors.
Bednar has coached the Avalanche since 2016-17. They went 22-56-4 in his first season, finishing with only 48 points in the standings - the worst total of the salary cap era.
Colorado fell to 8-5-0 with Saturday's loss. The Avalanche occupy second place in the Central Division in spite of goaltender Alexandar Georgiev's .887 save percentage and a team goal differential of zero that enters Sunday tied for 17th in the league. The club's power play ranks 22nd despite boasting the likes of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Cale Makar.
The Avalanche will travel to face the Seattle Kraken on Monday night.
A trio of contenders have their eye on Calgary Flames defenseman Nikita Zadorov.
The New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Vancouver Canucks have strong interest in the Russian blue-liner, reports TSN's Darren Dreger, who adds that fellow Calgary rearguards Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin are also garnering attention from clubs.
However, the Flames aren't rushing to offload those players, according to Dreger.
Zadorov reportedly requested a trade through his agent, Dan Milstein.
The 28-year-old showcased himself to the Leafs on Friday night, scoring a goal and levelling Toronto forward Tyler Bertuzzi with a big hit.
Zadorov often ranks among the league leaders in hits and boasts 1,615 in his 11-year career. The 6-foot-6, 248-pounder led the NHL with 278 hits in 2017-18 while with the Colorado Avalanche. He's in his third season with the Flames.
The versatile left-shot defenseman is in the final year of a two-year agreement at a $3.75-million cap hit, per CapFriendly, and he's a pending unrestricted free agent. Calgary reportedly paused extension talks with its pending UFAs last month following the team's disappointing start.
Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving signed Zadorov to his current pact when he was GM of the Flames in 2022, and he also acquired him for Calgary one year earlier in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Zadorov has collected four assists in addition to the goal he scored Friday night. He's averaging 18:12 of ice time through 12 games but played only 15:33 in the shootout loss to Toronto.
No Pittsburgh Penguins player will ever wear No. 68 again.
Jaromir Jagr's number will be raised to the rafters on Feb. 18, the club announced Friday.
The legend will join Mario Lemieux (No. 66) and Michel Briere (No. 21) as the only players to have their numbers retired by the Penguins.
Jagr ranks fourth all time in goals (766), fifth in assists (1,155), second in points (1,921), fourth in games played (1,733), and first in game-winning goals (135) in NHL history. The future Hall of Famer played 11 of his 24 seasons with Pittsburgh, helping the team win back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 1991 and '92.
The former winger won the Art Ross Trophy five times and the Hart Trophy once, in 1998-99.
Jagr, who'll turn 52 three days before his jersey retirement, still hasn't hung up his skates for good. He owns and plays for Rytiri Kladno, a Czech Extraliga squad based in his hometown.
We're less than a month into this NHL season, but two big developments have already affected the hunt for the Hart Trophy.
For one thing, the Edmonton Oilers are off to a terrible start - which undoubtedly jeopardizes Connor McDavid's candidacy. One might say the most valuable player is just that, regardless of how his team performs, but reaching the postseason has become an unwritten prerequisite. And when a team is this bad, it becomes that much harder to disagree with those who believe the Hart winner needs to be on a playoff team - or at least a moderately competitive squad.
The other significant storyline is Jack Hughes' status. The New Jersey Devils forward remains week-to-week after sustaining a reported shoulder injury last Friday. On the bright side, his ailment doesn't appear too serious. His pre-injury dominance needs to be highlighted here, along with the stellar play of one of his brothers.
Here are our top five MVP contenders in the very early going of this 2023-24 campaign.
5. Artemi Panarin
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Panarin has been on a tear ever since opening night, riding a 13-game point streak. The Russian playmaker has eight multi-point efforts - six of which have come in his last seven games.One thing that always works in a Hart contender's favor is having large disparities between himself and his teammates in offensive production. Panarin hassix more assists and 10 more points than the closest New York Rangers skaters.
Aside from Chris Kreider's nine goals (six of which came on the power play), the "Bread Man" has done most of the offensive heavy lifting for the injury-riddled Rangers. Panarin's defensive play hasn't been as strong, but he's still giving New York plenty of value.
4. Quinn Hughes
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The suddenly thriving Vancouver Canucks have gotten big contributions from several players, including league points leader Elias Pettersson, goaltender Thatcher Demko, and ever-reliable forward J.T. Miller. But Quinn Hughes hasn't just been the Canucks' most valuable player; he's been one of the most important and impactful skaters in the league thus far in 2023-24.
Vancouver's Hughes is our current Norris Trophy favorite, and he should be in the Hart conversation, too. Defensemen aren't often considered in the MVP race, but Quinn shouldn't be ignored just because of his position. Unlike Pettersson, he has favorable xGF% ("Petey" has an unflattering rate of 45.94%). He's also on par with his Swedish teammate in WAR (just 0.2 off the league lead) and close to him in GAR while sitting near the top of the NHL in the category.
The pair have eerily mirrored each other at or near the top of league leaderboards in numerous statistical categories in the campaign, but Quinn has logged more ice time because he's a defenseman. Petterson deserves some credit for doing it while playing less, but Quinn excelling like he has while skating for nearly 24 minutes per gameconveys how much more valuable the rearguard has been.
3. Auston Matthews
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Matthews has scored goals in bunches, with three hat tricks in his first 11 games and a two-tally effort Monday night. He's the league leader in goals this season, and the American center sits atop the NHL in individual expected goals while ranking second in ixG per 60 minutes. That's all impressive, but as was the case when he claimed this hardware two seasons ago, he's doing more than just putting the puck in the net.
The Toronto Maple Leafs sniper owns theNHL's second-most wins above replacement so far. That's a good indicator of all-around proficiency, and though we're working with a small sample size at this point in the campaign, Matthews certainly appears primed to replicate his well-rounded 2021-22 MVP form.
Matthews is also shouldering a heavier workload than usual to begin the season, ranking seventh among the league's forwards in average ice time. His current ATOI is tied with the career-best he established in the abbreviated 2021 campaign.
The Leafs sit near the bottom of the league in xGF%, and they've been a borderline playoff team in the early going after many assumed they'd cruise to the Atlantic Division title. William Nylander's 13-game point streak out of the gate has undoubtedly helped, but Matthews' unparalleled scoring and reliable defensive play are the biggest reasons Toronto isn't lower in the standings.
2. Jack Hughes
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It's unclear when the younger of the two more experienced Hughes brothers (and the elder of the two Hughes brothers on the New Jersey Devils) will return from his injury. Whether he'll be included on the next edition of this list in a month is also in doubt. But one thing can be said with certainty: Jack Hughes belongs in this edition in recognition of everything he accomplished over the vast majority of the campaign's first month.
Jack produced at an incredible clip before he left the game against the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 3. The 22-year-old still leads the NHL in points per game among players who've played more than one contest this season. He's collected three goals and nine assists on the power play and has posted exemplary underlying numbers at five-on-five. For example, New Jersey controlled 62.82% of the scoring chances with Jack on the ice in those situations.
The Devils' brightest star is still in the top 20 in WAR and GAR (both cumulative stats as opposed to averages) despite playing fewer games than the others at the top in those departments.
Jack may have deserved to be the leading candidate here if he was still in the lineup and dominating; he's only missed two games so far. Unfortunately, it doesn't make sense for an injured player to be the front-runner, and the ailment will also affect his candidacy going forward, especially if he's out for several weeks.
1. David Pastrnak
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While the Maple Leafs have underwhelmed to a degree, the Boston Bruins are shockingly back on top of the division by a wide margin despite losing Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci to retirement and Tyler Bertuzzi and Dmitry Orlov in free agency. Both of Boston's goaltenders have been excellent, but Pastrnak has been the biggest reason the Bruins remain a juggernaut at 11-1-1.
The Czech winger has four more goals and seven more points than his closest teammate, Brad Marchand. Remember last season when Pastrnak led the NHL in even-strength goals and ranked second in even-strength points by one? Matthews is thriving in those categories in 2023-24, but Pastrnak is tied for second in the former and third in the latter.
Pastrnak is far from a one-dimensional player, sitting among the NHL's best in WAR and GAR with favorable underlying numbers across the board. Pastrnak isn't logging over 20 minutes of ice time per night like some of his counterparts on this list, but he's certainly making the most of his shifts. Last season's Hart runner-up is right back in the hunt and is a worthy front-runner for the time being.
Ottawa Senators forward Claude Giroux is clearly frustrated with the speculation about D.J. Smith's job security and some fans' desire to see the team replace the head coach.
"It's getting pretty old, the fans and the media talking about D.J.," Giroux told reporters Tuesday. "(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 that we don't need right now, and I think we've done a pretty good job of not getting caught up into that."
Some Senators supporters chanted "Fire D.J." during Saturday's loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. After the game, Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk criticized the fans who chanted that and the ones who booed the team off the ice that same night.
On Tuesday, Tkachuk said he's trying to move forward and isn't fixating on the comments.
Giroux acknowledged he and his teammates felt bad when they heard the chanting but denied that it affected their play.
"In the room, guys care a lot, and I don't think we're a team that's going to quit or stop working hard," the Senators' oldest player said.
The loss dropped the Senators to 4-6-0 this season. They've lost four of their last five games and their last four on home ice.
The club recalled the 22-year-old forward from the AHL's Toronto Marlies, loaning Pontus Holmberg to the farm team in a corresponding move.
"I would say I'm really confident now," Robertson said following Monday's morning skate, according to the Toronto Sun's Terry Koshan. "I got my reps (with the Marlies). Last year, I played a couple games and played up here and was trying to find my confidence that way. I'm going in here with a lot of confidence, a lot more touches than last year."
Robertson hasn't yet played a game with the NHL club this season, but he racked up five goals and a team-leading six assists in nine contests with the Marlies. His 11 points also lead the AHL squad.
The Leafs' former top prospect has dealt with numerous injuries in recent years and was limited to only 15 NHL games last season. He's played only 31 contests at the highest level in the last three campaigns due to his various ailments.
The Maple Leafs have lost four straight games, including a 6-4 defeat to the Buffalo Sabres on home ice Saturday. They entered Monday sitting fourth in the Atlantic Division with 12 points and a 5-4-2 record but fifth in terms of points percentage (.545).
Toronto will play its next four games at home, beginning with a rematch of the first round of last season's playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night.
The dynamic center initially didn't miss a shift but later left the contest and was ultimately ruled out for the remainder.
Hughes entered Friday leading the NHL in assists (15) and points (20) while ranking sixth among the league's forwards in average ice time (21:49) across nine games.
The 22-year-old is coming off a season in which he racked up 43 goals and 56 assists over 78 contests, setting a Devils record for points in a single campaign.
Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren won't be back in the lineup any time soon after Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand injured him during Thursday's game.
"He's going to miss ... it looks like significant time," Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said postgame. "We're not going to know for sure until we get him home and get a (scan). It’s not short term at this point, the way it looks."
Liljegren left the game after Marchand hit him into the boards with what's known as a "can opener" in the final minute of the first period and wasn't penalized for the incident.
Timothy Liljegren has been helped down the tunnel and has left the game after this play against Boston. pic.twitter.com/KOJ6YZ3XMq
“I got nothing. He just didn’t see the stick go in between his legs, a can opener, and you can go feet first into the boards in the most dangerous area of the ice," the bench boss said.
McCauley appeared to be looking right at the two players as they went into the boards.
Liljegren didn't emerge for the start of the second frame and was later ruled out for the remainder of the game. The 24-year-old is in Toronto's top four on the back end, and he started the contest playing alongside Mark Giordano on the Leafs' second pairing.
The Swede collected one assist while averaging 19:23 of ice time over nine games entering Thursday.
Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Carter Hart departed Wednesday's game against the Buffalo Sabres in the first period due to what the Flyers eventually called a "mid-body injury."
Hart left with exactly 10 minutes remaining in the opening frame, and Samuel Ersson relived him. Shortly before exiting, the Canadian netminder had difficulty getting up after stretching out to make a save, but he stayed in the game.
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) November 1, 2023
However, Hart left immediately after Brandon Biro's goal that gave the Sabres a 2-1 lead halfway through the period.
Hart was off to a strong start to the season, entering Wednesday with a .921 save percentage over seven games. He made three saves on five shots before leaving the game.
The 25-year-old is in his sixth campaign with the Flyers, who drafted him 48th overall in 2016.
