Category: Hockey Feed

Categories
Hockey Feed

Full schedule announced for Bruins vs. Panthers in Round 1.

AP

The Boston Bruins and the Florida Panthers are set to clash in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs and now we have a better idea of how the series will play out.

On Saturday, the National Hockey League released the full schedule for the upcoming series with the notable exception of the exact start time for games 5, 6, and 7 likely due to the fact that they might not be needed should one team or the other dominate the series.

The Bruins and their impressive record this season have earned home ice advantage and that means that the first two games will take place in Boston on Monday and Wednesday. Following the conclusion of Game 2 on Wednesday, the Bruins will then travel to Florida for a pair of games, the first of which will be on Friday and the second of which will be on Sunday.

Should the series require more than 4 games, the series will head back to Boston the following Wednesday for Game 5, back to Florida on the following Friday for Game 6, and finally back to Boston on the following Sunday should Game 7 be required.

Here’s a full look at the schedule, including the start times for the first four matchups:

Monday, April 17 – 7:30pm EST – TD Garden
Wednesday, April 19 – 7:30pm EST – TD Garden
Friday, April 21 – 7:30pm EST – FLA Live Arena
Sunday, April 23 – 3:30pm EST – FLA Live Arena
Wednesday, April 26 – TBD – TD Garden
Friday, April 28 – TBD – FLA Live Arena
Sunday, April 30 – TBD – TD Garden

Categories
Hockey Feed

Avalanche make an absolutely brutal announcement heading into the playoffs

Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche have announced that captain Gabriel Landeskog will be out for the entire 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs due to a knee injury.

Landeskog, of course, has missed the entire regular season with the same injury.

The 30 year old winger led the Avs to a Stanley Cup championship last summer, but won’t be around this Spring/Summer to help with the repeat effort. In last year’s post-season the gritty winger put up 11 goals and 22 points in 27 post-season games. More than that though, he was the team’s heart and soul player, doing whatever was needed to ensure victory. It may be a lazy comparison given their nationality, but Landeskog is very much like a B Level Peter Forsberg. Equally adept defensively as he is offensively and with a surprising mean streak underneath it all. Both men were fierce competitors who put their entire being into representing the Avalanche. To say that this is a tough break for the Avs is the understatement of the season.

If you’re an Avs fan, this has to be concerning news. Landeskog is 30 years old, has missed an entire season and post-season with a knee injury and is just one season into a massive eight year deal that pays him $7 million per season. That’s… that’s a risky contract. Obviously, we wish the best for Landeskog in his health but things aren’t looking so great at the moment from a salary cap and roster management perspective.

Add in the fact that the Avs didn’t weaponize Landeskog’s full salary cap relief at the trade deadline and things look even more bleak. Joe Sakic and GM Chris MacFarland could have acquired a replacement on the trade market, say someone like Ryan O’Reilly, Tyler Bertuzzi, Vladimir Tarasenko, Patrick Kane or Bo Horvat. Instead, they rolled the dice that Landeskog would be healthy enough to return and revitalize their lineup. Today’s news confirms that that won’t be happening and that the team will be forced to move forward with the group they have. How you feeling, Avs fans? 

Categories
Hockey Feed

Report: Jets at risk of relocation after losing thousands of season ticket holders

Winnipeg Jets

Earlier this week when the Winnipeg Jets were fighting for their playoff lives, the team’s marketing department was planning their own battle against a declining customer base.

The Jets released an oddly timed video that… well… basically begged for people to buy season ticket packages.

Check it out:

That’s… odd… right?

So, what gives?

Well, Jets chairman Mark Chipman isn’t one to hold back words and he put it bluntly earlier this week saying that the team lost over 3,000 season ticket holders during the COVID-19 pause that it has yet to regain. Chipman gathered Winnipeg businesspeople to voice his concerns at Winnipeg’s Chamber of Commerce Luncheon yesterday.

“That challenge has become far more daunting now that the effect of the pandemic is fully understood,” the Jets chairman, quoted in the Winnipeg Free Press, said. “After 10 years of consecutive sellouts, we now find ourselves in a very different world.

“You’re now figuring out why we are here today.”

Just 15% of the Jets season-ticket base is from businesses, Chipman pointed out, far less than the other Canadian teams.

And he claimed ticket prices are only lower in one Canadian city.

“As we enter another post-season … we thought this was an opportune time to humbly remind the community that we need your support,” he said.

It’s not difficult to read between the lines of the team’s promo video and Chipman’s luncheon meeting. This team needs more ticket sales in order to sustain itself. Now, things have gone very well for the Jets in the 10+ years that they’ve been back in Winnipeg, but it’s been clear from the start that this team would only be successful if it could fill its building. This is the first that we’ve heard of them having financial difficulty.

Frankly, I hope Jets fans step up and deliver on their team’s request but at the same time I can’t blame fans for staying away. Sure, the Jets have a good, exciting team, but NHL tickets are an extreme luxury these days and with costs going out of control everywhere there’s no shame in tucking aside your money for a rainy day.

Categories
Hockey Feed

Latest Red Wings lottery odds released

Winging It In Motown

So, you’re saying there’s a chance?

The Detroit Red Wings are once again on the outside looking in at the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and once their chances to qualify for the dance began dwindling away following a pair of back to back blowout losses to the Ottawa Senators combined with their selling off assets at the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline, the question on the minds of many a fan of Hockeytown was Detroit’s positioning in the upcoming Draft. 

Of course, the main prize in this year’s festivities is phenom forward Connor Bedard, who is looked at with the same pedigree that stars Auston Matthews, Jack Hughes, Patrick Kane, and other future franchise altering talents were looked at upon their entrance onto hockey’s biggest stage. Having played in 57 games for the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League, Bedard absolutely tore it up, registering 147 points. 

There truly has been no team that has gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to luck in the Draft Lottery than the Red Wings, who had to settle for the 4th overall pick in 2020 despite having been the worst team in the League by a wide margin. They’ve also not had the opportunity to draft any higher than 3rd overall since 1990. Needless to say, it’s about time that they had some luck come their way.

As it currently stands, Detroit has the ninth best odds of landing the top overall selection. They’re in 24th place out of the 32 NHL clubs, meaning that they have a 5% chance of landing the top pick, followed by a 5.4% chance at landing the 2nd overall selection. 

However, if the Red Wings lose tonight to Tampa Bay in their regular season finale combined with the Washington Capitals potentially defeating the New Jersey Devils, their chances of the first overall pick increase to 6%. 54.4% shot at drafting eighth. Meanwhile, if they were to advance up to 23rd overall, their chances at the top pick drop to 3.5%. 

Simply put, Detroit’s chances of being able to select Bedard are extremely slim. But there’s nothing wrong with dreaming a little bit, right? 

Categories
Hockey Feed

Coyotes’ press conference with Bettman gets vandalized by protestors

Zuma Press

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Things don’t look good for the Arizona Coyotes.

The NHL’s doormat, the team with the lowest payroll in the league and the team that plays out of a college building half the size of most team’s practice rinks is once again having a tough go of things. Gee… call me crazy but I think after nearly 30 years of this that NHL hockey in the Arizona desert may not be a great idea after all…

Earlier this month azcentral.com reported that the city of Phoenix, Arizona is suing the Coyotes over their plans to develop a new arena and entertainment complex is neigboring Tempe, Arizona. As you might expect, this has put a bit of a wrench into the Coyotes’ plans.

Details from azcentral.com:

Phoenix is suing to stop Tempe’s $2.1 billion deal with the Arizona Coyotes, a move destined to reignite an inter-city conflict over a proposed entertainment district that appeared to have died out four months ago.

(The lawsuit) contends that Tempe’s approval of the deal violated a policy that limits how close housing can be to Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport, part of a 1994 agreement designed to spare residents from loud plane noise and protect the airport from noise-related litigation.

Phoenix is asking a Maricopa County Superior Court judge to prevent Tempe from moving forward with the project by undoing the initial approval of the deal in December.

“The City of Phoenix … is suing Tempe for breach of contract, asking the court to rescind Tempe’s recent zoning and land use changes and prohibit future residential uses in an area that the Federal Aviation Administration says is incompatible with residential development,” Phoenix wrote in a news release.

– azcentral.com

You know what’s actually really, REALLY funny to me though? NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and the Coyotes are expected to hold a press conference later today at… a local Goodwill location. I kid you not. 

What’s even better is that protestors vandalized the site of the press conference with large “VOTE NO” lettering for everyone to see on camera.

The vote on the Coyotes’ future in Tempe of course goes public next month.

I don’t know the first thing about lawsuits, public referendums or about how this will all play out but… seriously… SERIOUSLY can we just pull the plug on this dying franchise already?

Personally I’m actually flabbergasted that the Coyotes are still in the NHL. Again, they play in a literal college facility and they’re openly tanking for a top pick. They take the rest of the league’s garbage contracts via trades and the league doesn’t seem to really care. Hell… does ANYONE care about the Coyotes? Please just move this team already…

Categories
Hockey Feed

William Nylander swings for the fences with latest quote

The Athletic

It goes without saying that the upcoming opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is perhaps the most critical in the recent history of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have been unable to break through to the second round in 19 years. While they’ve enjoyed plenty of regular season success of late, it means nothing until they actually prove they can get it done in the playoffs. 

The Leafs will be facing a familiar opponent in the Tampa Bay Lightning, whom they held a 3-2 series advantage over last year only to have the then-back to back champions storm back with two straight victories to break the hearts of Leafs fans everywhere and send them home for yet another early summer.

General manager Kyle Dubas has made several moves since then, including overhauling his goaltending by bidding goodbye to Jack Campbell and Petr Mrazek in favor of Ilya Samsonov and Matt Murray. Additionally, he’s brought aboard valuable depth in the form of 2019 Conn Smyth Trophy winner Ryan O’Reilly in a Trade Deadline deal with the St. Louis Blues, while also welcoming back into the fold former Leafs 1st round draft pick Luke Schenn. 

Needless to say, there will be major changes in Leafs Land if they come up short yet again. And according to forward William Nylander, he’s not going to be happy until they do so.

With 39 goals and 47 assists, Nylander’s 86 points are a new career high.

“I think I’m playing to more where I can be as a player,” he said of his performance in 2022-23. 

“To my level,” he continued. “I think it’s been more consistency (this season). When I have a s****y game, maybe that lasts one game, two games. Before it’s maybe been five games, you know what I mean?”

But it all means nothing if they don’t get it done in the postseason, which Nylander is well aware of.

“I’ll be proud when we f***ing win,” he said when asked if he was proud of his accomplishments. 

Categories
Hockey Feed

Luke Hughes scores an OT beauty for his first NHL goal

New Jersey Devils

The who? The Sutter brothers? The Staals? 

Never heard of ’em…

The NHL’s newest family is the Hughes family and they’ve officially all arrived. Of course, both Quinn and Jack Hughes have established themselves as NHL superstars over the past couple seasons, but this evening Luke Hughes, the youngest of the trio, announced his arrival with an absolute BEAUTY of an OT winner for his first career NHL goal.

Check it out:

Are you kidding me, kid!?!?

Categories
Hockey Feed

Opponents shake hands with Craig Anderson in his final game

Buffalo Sabres

Veteran NHL goaltender Craig Anderson just did it the right way, folks.

The 41 year old Buffalo Sabres goalie just put up an OTW against his former teammates on the Ottawa Senators and will now ride off into the sunset and retire from professional hockey.

The festivities started earlier in the day for the Andersons when Craig’s sons Jake and Levi had the honor of calling out the game’s starting lineup.

Check it out:

The best moment of the night though for me was after Casey Mittelstadt scored the game winner in overtime he rushed down to celebrate the victory with Anderson in the crease.

How cool is this though? 

After the Sabres are done celebrating the Sens remained on the ice to shake Anderson’s hand and to give him a proper send off:

That’s hockey, baby.

 

Categories
Hockey Feed

Bergeron suffers upper body injury against Habs this evening

Boston Bruins

Boston Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron has left tonight’s game against the Montreal Canadiens with an upper body injury. The team has stated that Bergeron will not return to the game for precautionary reasons.

More to come on this developing story.

The irony, of course, is that Bruins fans have been asking for the team to rest its star players ahead of the playoffs, so as to not risk unnecessary injury. Bergeron though… he doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who will sit out ‘just because’. In fact, he went on the record earlier today talking about how much he loves playing in his hometown of Montreal.

I mean… does that sound like a guy who is going to sit out just because that’s what some fans on social media want? Nah… Bergy’s a gamer.

Categories
Hockey Feed

An emotional Jonathan Toews salutes the crowd in his final game as a Blackhawk

Zuma Press

Tonight Jonathan Toews plays his final game for the Chicago Blackhawks. 

Blackhawks’ GM Kyle Davidson issued a statement through the team earlier today, indicating that the team will NOT re-sign Toews as a free agent this upcoming offseason and that tonight will represent the end for Toews in Chicago.

Just prior to puck drop tonight, the Blackhawks faithful paid tribute to Toews with a touching, emotional round of applause.

Check it out:

The last one. What a run.

So… what’s next?

More insight from Blackhawks insider Mark Lazerus:

But TSN insider Pierre LeBrun states that Toews has not made a decision yet on whether he plans to continue his NHL career next summer.

Honestly… could you blame the guy if he just packed up and retired for good? He’s given his heart and soul to the Blackhawks for nearly two decades and has accomplished nearly every thing there is to accomplish in the sport. He’s a true champion and will go down in history as one of the best Blackhawks in history, with a real argument that he is THE best Blackhawk in history.

He’s a three time Stanley Cup champion, a two time Olympic gold medalist and one of the most respected players of his generation. His body is failing him and he has nothing to prove to anyone in the hockey world. Take a bow, Jonny… you’ve done well.

Last week though in conversation with Lazerus, Toews let it be known that he’d love to get the chance to play for a Stanley Cup contender one more time.

“There’s no doubt I’d love to know what that feels like again, to play hockey on the biggest stage and enjoy the spotlight and have an entire city on your back,” he said. “When you’re going through something real with your teammates, where you’re pushing through a lot and working through things together and figuring out how to reach the peak of the hockey world together. Nothing replaces that. You always kind of long for that experience.”

– Jonathan Toews

It sounds to me like there’s still a little fire in the belly there…

It makes me wonder if he might be interested in another spin around the sun with his good buddy Patrick Kane, now of the New York Rangers. Kane, of course, is a pending unrestricted free agent himself so his future is unclear as well.

“He’s a legend. I mean, he turned that franchise around. It’s pretty impressive what he’s done with his career, but just for that city … Great with the fans, great with the people. He was a guy that led our team so he’s a legend,” said Kane earlier today when told about the news.

“He’s had an amazing career. I really hope he enjoys tonight … & puts on a show for the fans because he gave a lot of people a lot of great memories.”