Tag: national hockey league

Categories
Hockey Feed

Sheldon Keefe appears to give Matthew Knies some bad news on Sunday.

There will be tremendous pressure on the Toronto Maple Leafs as they head into their first round Stanley Cup playoff matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning, pressure that will be felt at all levels of the Maple Leafs organization.

Keeping that in mind, it will fall to head coach Sheldon Keefe to field the lineup that he feels will give the Maple Leafs the best possible chance of emerging victorious in Game 1 of this series, and that means making some tough decisions when it comes to personnel.

That appears to include giving some bad news to newcomer rookie forward Matthew Knies, who on Sunday was spotted wearing a grey jersey out on the ice. That color is usually reserved for players that will be extras and that appears to indicate that Knies will not be in the lineup for Game 1, although of course things can change quickly at this time of year.

There’s a good case to be made for not using Knies, including giving the opportunity to players that have grinded all year to showcase their compete factor in the playoffs. Knies is also relatively inexperienced at the NHL level, having played only 3 regular season games and having just 1 assist to his name thus far, but that doesn’t mean that the 20 year old winger couldn’t slot in later in this series or even further down the line.

Although as I’ve mentioned things could change, Sheldon Keefe and the Maple Leafs may have given us a preview of their Game 1 lineup with their lines in practice on Sunday.

Forwards:
Bunting — Matthews — Marner
Tavares — O’Reilly — Nylander
Aston-Reese — Kämpf — Lafferty
Kerfoot — Acciari — Järnkrok

Defensemen:
McCabe — Brodie
Giordano — Holl
Rielly — Schenn

Presumably it will be Ilya Samsonov who gets the start in goal, but no official confirmation on that front just yet either.

Categories
Hockey Feed

Insider reveals shocking reason behind Brad Treliving’s departure.

HabsolumentFan

The Calgary Flames surprised many of their fans on Monday morning when they announced that they had mutually parted ways with longtime general manager Brad Treliving.

It’s true that the Flames failed to make the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs in spite of high expectations on their team, but nonetheless Treliving was heralded as a hero just last summer when he turned lemons into lemonade when both Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk made it clear that their futures were not in Calgary.

The language used by the Flames, a mutual parting of ways as opposed to a termination or a non-renewal of a contract, was also curious and according to NHL insider Frank Serravalli there may be good reason to be curious.

On Monday, Seravalli revealed that a major contributing factor to Treliving’s departure may have been the status of head coach Darryl Sutter. Seravalli reports that Sutter will remain with the Flames, and “that fact played a role on whether or not Treliving would remain at his post.”

This would appear to indicate that Treliving felt Sutter was not the right coach for the group of players that he had assembled under the Flames banner, with ownership seemingly seeing things differently.

Given that Sutter is under contract through the 2024-25 season it’s not hard to see why ownership was reluctant to replace him, but the reaction to this news from fans in Calgary has not been positive.

Categories
Hockey Feed

GM Brad Treliving out in Calgary!

Getty Images

The Calgary Flames have made some major changes at the top levelings of their organization this morning.

According to an official announcement from the Flames organization, the team has mutually agreed to part ways with general manager Brad Treliving. Furthermore Don Maloney has been promoted to president of hockey operations and will also serve as the organizations interim general manager.

Maloney has experience as an NHL general manager having previously served as the general manager of the Arizona Coyotes, and was acting as vice president of hockey operations for the Flames prior to being promoted today.

Update: NHL insider Frank Seravalli has shared more details on the motivations behind the split.

Categories
Hockey Feed

Lightning get a big weapon back hours before Game 1.

The Tampa Bay Lightning appear to have received some very good news on Monday morning, good news that comes just hours before Game 1 of their first round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

A video published by Eduardo Encina of the Tampa Bay Times clearly shows recently injured forward Tanner Jeannot taking practice with his Lightning teammates for the first time since he was injured.

Jeannot was injured roughly two weeks ago when he got tangled up with the New York Islanders’ Scott Mayfield, resulting in the weight of both men coming down awkwardly on Jeannot’s leg.

Jeannot taking the ice this morning is no guarantee that he has been medically cleared to play in Game 1, but it certainly has to be viewed as an extremely positive sign for a Lightning team headed into a tough playoff series. 

Update: Lightning head coach Jon Cooper has officially confirmed that Jeannot will not play in Game 1, but is now being listed as “day to day.”

Categories
Hockey Feed

Senators officially cut ties with goaltender Cam Talbot.

Marc DesRosiers/USA TODAY Sports

The Ottawa Senators are moving on.

There had been reports indicating that veteran goaltender Cam Talbot had rejected a contract offer from the Senators during the course of the 2022-23 NHL regular season, and on Monday morning Senators general manager Pierre Dorion confirmed those rumors… and then some.

Dorion not only confirmed that the contract offer had been rejected by Talbot, but shared specific details about the negotiations. Dorion revealed that the Senators offered Talbot a one-year deal with a significant pay cut, understandable given that Talbot posted a 2.93 goals against average and a .989 save percentage over 36 regular season games, not exactly inspiring numbers.

Dorion went on to reveal that Talbot wanted a two-year contract, with rumors suggesting that Talbot also wanted a raise to go along with it. It comes as no surprise that the Senators balked at this suggestion and instead opted to move on from Talbot, something Dorion also confirmed on Monday.

Now that we know that Talbot will not come back next season, the next questions become how will the Senators look to shore up their goaltending in the offseason and where might Talbot end up next?

It seems likely that Talbot’s options will be relatively limited, despite a weak goaltending market this summer, given the struggles he had between the pipes for the Senators this season.

Categories
Hockey Feed

Updates on Bergeron, Marchand and Krejci on Saturday.

Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports

The Boston Bruins are just days away from the start of the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs and after such a successful regular season effort, you know the expectations being placed on the Bruins’ shoulders are at an all-time high.

That being said things aren’t perfect for the Bruins coming into the playoffs and unfortunately that appears to include a few things on the injury front as well. On Saturday, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery provided a number of status updates regarding his core players, including an update on the status of Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron.

“You know we’re just giving him extra rest,” said Montgomery on Saturday. “He’s had a long year.”

Bergeron was notably absent from practice on Saturday and after he left the final game of the regular season early, that has understandably caused some concern ahead of the playoffs. That being said Montgomery downplayed the situation as best that he could and did something similar when the topic of Bruins forward Marchand came up.

“Same thing with Marchy,” said Montgomery. “Marchy wanted to give it a try today and he had a little bit of soreness so I said ‘Get off the ice.'”

Montgomery cited a hard practice repeatedly as the reason for being extra careful with some of his guys on Saturday, something that lines up with the scrimmage the Bruins had on the day. It sounds like Nick Foligno, Derek Forbort, and perhaps the returning David Krejci were the motivating factors behind that particular decision.

“The reason I wanted to have a hard practice with some scrimmage involved is we’re looking at Foligno and Forbort and we wanna see where their condition at game speed is,” confirmed Montgomery.

You can hear the full comments from the Bruins head coach in the short clip below:

Categories
Hockey Feed

Ilya Samsonov makes a bold statement about his Maple Leafs.

Steve Russell/Toronto Star

The Toronto Maple Leafs are now just days away from the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs and there will be a ton of pressure on this team to deliver after failing to do so many times in recent history.

While that may be a burden on some players, it would appear that at least some of the members of the Maple Leafs roster are welcoming those expectations as the playoffs draw near. On Saturday, Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov was asked about his expectations headed into the Stanley Cup playoffs, and he could not possibly have set the bar any higher. When asked if he felt the Leafs were the best team in the league, Samsonov left no doubt.

“Oh for sure,” answered the Maple Leafs netminder as per TSN, without a hint of doubt in his voice.

Asked to expound on why he felt that way, Samsonov’s comments grew even bolder.

“Because we have a nice group,” said Samsonov matter of factly. “We have the best doctors, best therapists. best workout coaches, we have the best coaches, we have the best players here.” 

Although some may scoff at the confidence from Samsonov given the team’s relative lack of playoff success in recent years, it may be a much needed boost of confidence for a team that has fallen in the first round of the playoffs, or the qualifying round in the case of the bubble playoffs, in six consecutive seasons.

It’s worth noting that Samsonov wasn’t a part of those previous teams either, having only joined the Maple Leafs this season, and his confidence may be a reflection of the fact that he didn’t experience some of the heartbreaking losses that other members of his team have.

Categories
Hockey Feed

Marc-Andre Fleury gets revenge on Filip Gustavsson.

Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune

The Minnesota Wild will be relying heavily on their strong goaltending tandem of Filip Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury when the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs officially get underway, but if the two goaltenders are feeling any pressure they aren’t showing any outwards signs of it.

In fact, Fleury and Gustavsson appear to be in the middle of an all-out prank war as they head into the playoffs with Fleury being the latest to fire off a shot at his fellow teammate. On Saturday, the Wild players who hit the ice were greeted by a bizarre sight as a mock representation of Gustavsson had been erected in the net, and I’m sure you can guess who the man behind the prank was.

If you zoom in to the picture, I thought the face that I presume Fleury drew himself was particularly amusing.

It was of course notorious prankster Marc-Andre Fleury, but in this case it sounds like he may actually have been provoked by Gustavsson.

You see Fleury recently had his socks sewn together by a sneaky prankster, but the veteran goaltender had been left unaware of who had pulled off the stunt. That was at least until Gustavsson outed himself during a recent interview, something that no doubt led to Fleury’s act of revenge on Saturday.

In fact, Fleury specifically mentions that he usually doesn’t target his goaltending partners, but Gustavson’s own prank appears to have prompted a change to that rule.

“I never go for my partner,” said Fleury when learning of the prank. “But I’ve got to give it to him… He must be big-time.”

Not only is this hilarious from the perspective of fans on the outside looking in, but it is also likely doing wonders to keep things loose and jovial as the Wild gear up for a tough first round playoff matchup against the Dallas Stars.

We likely haven’t seen the last of this little prank feud between the two goaltenders either, and quite frankly I can’t wait to see how Gustavsson will respond to this latest stunt from Fleury.

Categories
Hockey Feed

Huge update from Bruins forward Nick Foligno.

The Boston Bruins were the National Hockey League’s best team in the 2022-23 regular season and, unfortunately for their opposition in the upcoming Stanley Cup playoffs, it sounds like everything is starting to line up for the Bruins as they head into those playoffs.

Injured Bruins forward Nick Foligno has provided a huge update on his status as far as the playoffs are concerned, indicating that he would be ready to go immediately. There was the expectation that Foligno would return at some point during the playoffs, but for him to return so quickly is a huge boon for the Bruins.

Foligno has been working hard to get healthy and last week even joked about the fact that he might make a few threats to make sure he was ready for the first round.

“I’m gonna try my hardest and probably throw some threats at people if not,” joked the veteran forward.

On Saturday, Foligno appeared to confirm that those threats were successful, hinting at the fact that he will be back in Game 1.

“I think I’ve made all the threats I need to make to everybody. So hopefully that did the trick and I’ll be back for Game 1,” joked Foligno once again.

There is still some concern around the status of Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron, but other than that everything is lining up for the Bruins.

Categories
Hockey Feed

Two more NHL coaches fired on Saturday.

Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

The National Hockey League’s regular season has come to an end and teams from around the league that failed to blossom into a playoff contender this season are now doing some major spring cleaning.

On Friday, we saw a number of high profile firings that ranged from executives to coaching staff and it would appear that the trend is set to continue over the course of the weekend.

The latest comes to us courtesy of Columbus Blue Jackets insider Aaron Portzline, who reported on Saturday morning that 2 members of the Blue Jackets coaching staff had been given their walking papers. According to Portzline’s report, both head coach Brad Larsen and goaltending coach Manny Legace were informed that they would no longer be with the team moving forward. Legace, a former NHL goaltender in his own right, simply did not have his contract renewed whereas Larsen was fired from his role.