NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – April 19, 2024
The Oilers and Kings have another first-round series, the Golden Knights face the Stars in the opening round, the Board of Governors approves the relocation of the Coyotes to Salt Lake City, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
GAME RECAPS
NHL.COM: The Los Angeles Kings clinched third place in the Pacific Division following a 5-4 overtime victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. Adrian Kempe tallied the game-winner, Viktor Arvidsson scored twice and Quinton Byfield netted his 20th goal of the season for the 44-27-11 Kings (99 points), who’ll face the Edmonton Oilers in the opening round for the third straight year.
The Vegas Golden Knights dropped a 4-1 decision to the Anaheim Ducks to finish in the final wildcard in the Western Conference. Jack Eichel scored his 31st of the season for the 45-29-8 Golden Knights (98 points) as they’ll meet the Dallas Stars in the first round. Ducks winger Frank Vatrano scored a hat trick to finish the season with a career-high 37 goals.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Promising Ducks forward Cutter Gauthier collected an assist in his first NHL game.
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon (NHL Images)
Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon picked up two assists to set the franchise single-season scoring record (140 points) in a 5-1 victory over the Oilers. Valeri Nichushkin scored two goals and Mikko Rantanen netted his 42nd of the season. The Oilers scratched Connor McDavid and Leon Draistaitl to rest them for the upcoming playoffs.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Avs’ previous single-season points record was 139 points set by Peter Stastny in 1981-82 when the franchise was called the Quebec Nordiques.
The Winnipeg Jets ended the regular season with their eighth straight win by doubling up the Vancouver Canucks 4-2. Cole Perfetti scored twice for the Jets while Canucks winger Conor Garland potted his 20th goal of the season. The Jets will face the Avalanche in the first round of the upcoming playoffs while the Canucks square off against the Nashville Predators.
Seattle Kraken winger Yanni Gourde scored two shorthanded goals in a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild. Kirill Kaprizov scored his 46th of the season for the Wild.
The Calgary Flames defeated the San Jose Sharks 5-1. Flames forward Blake Coleman reached the 30-goal plateau for the first time while teammate MacKenzie Weegar had his first 20-goal season. Fabian Zetterlund scored his 24th of the season for the Sharks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: And with that, the 2023-24 regular season is over. The 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs begin on Saturday, Apr. 20 with the New York Islander facing off against the Carolina Hurricanes while the Toronto Maple Leafs travel to Boston to meet the Bruins. You can see the updated first-round schedule here.
HEADLINES
NHL.COM: The league’s Board of Governors unanimously approved the relocation of the Arizona Coyotes to Salt Lake City, Utah. The board also approved a plan that renders the Coyotes franchise inactive, with a right to reactivate if owner Alex Meruelo has fully constructed a new, state-of-the-art facility appropriate for an NHL franchise within five years.
Effective at closing, the Coyotes franchise will transfer the totality of its existing hockey assets, including its full reserve list, roster of players and draft picks, and its hockey operations department to the Utah franchise.
Ryan Smith, the owner of Smith Entertainment Group and owner of the NBA’s Utah Jazz, is now the owner of the Utah franchise. While located in Salt Lake City, the club will be named after the state. Smith indicated the team will take time to determine its name, logos and colors.
DAILY FACEOFF: Smith said the Utah franchise has already sold over 11,000 season-ticket deposits in their first few hours on the market.
TSN: Pierre LeBrun reports the Coyotes franchise and its history and brand remain in Meruelo’s hands for the next five years. After speaking with governors around the league, LeBrun and colleague Darren Dreger said few have confidence that Meruelo can get that arena built.
The NHL still wants a franchise in Arizona. However, LeBrun isn’t sure it’ll be with Meruelo as the owner.
LeBrun also reported Smith won’t rush to decide on a team nickname. They’re looking for fan reaction and have hired a firm to look into branding. Smith is willing to start next season without a team nickname if that’s how long is needed to find an appropriate one.
Travis Yost explains why an NHL team will work in Salt Lake City. The city only has a quarter of a million residents but the county is five times that size while neighboring Utah County is a 30-minute drive from downtown Salt Lake City. That’s a total population base of nearly 2 million.
Yost also noted Salt Lake City and Utah are booming economically plus its tourism market draws a lot of winter sports enthusiasts. He also pointed out Salt Lake City is expected to win the bid for the 2034 Olympic Winter Games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Salt Lake City still needs a proper NHL-caliber arena but it’s expected that a state-funded one will be built soon to accommodate Olympic hockey and Smith’s Utah franchise.
The success of the NHL in Utah will depend on how much Smith is willing to invest in making this team a winner. It’ll also rely on how well-managed the franchise will be. The shine could come off this Utah franchise if they spend years as a pretender rather than a contender.
Current general manager Bill Armstrong was doing a good job rebuilding the Coyotes with affordable young talent on a shoestring budget. However, they need an infusion of talented veterans who can mentor those youngsters and turn the club into a perennial playoff team.
Armstrong could find some of that talent in the free-agent market if Smith is willing to spend to the salary cap. If he has the cap room, he can draw on his considerable depth in draft picks and prospects for trade bait to land a veteran star or two.
NHL.COM: Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov finished the season with a league-leading 144 points to win the Art Ross Trophy for the second time since 2018-19.
Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews won his third Maurice Richard Trophy as this season’s goal-scoring leader with 69 goals. He and Washington Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin are the only players to win that award at least three times.
Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck earned his first career William M. Jennings Trophy as the netminder who played at least 25 games for the team that allowed the fewest goals.
SPORTSNET: The final odds for the 2024 NHL Draft Lottery are confirmed. The San Jose Sharks have the best odds (25.5 percent) while the Buffalo Sabres have the lowest odds (3.0 percent). Click the link provided for the complete list.
PITTSBURGH HOCKEY NOW: Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said he intends to meet at some point with general manager Kyle Dubas to discuss a contract extension. He has one year remaining on his current deal and his future has become the source of media speculation.
Crosby didn’t indicate how many more years he intends to play. In the shorter term, he’s uncertain if he’ll suit up for Canada in next month’s World Championships in Czechia.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Crosby has plenty of time to sign an extension with the Penguins. He and Dubas will likely want that sorted out before the start of next season to avoid the situation becoming an unnecessary distraction.
PHILLY HOCKEY NOW: Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen underwent surgery to repair a torn triceps muscle two months following his injury. He’ll require three months of rehab and recovery but is expected to be ready for training camp in September.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Some are questioning why it took so long for Ristolainen to have surgery and why the Flyers provided no updates on his condition until now.
Now it’s time for those of us north of border (who also happen to follow the fortunes of a team LOCATED north of the border) to pick the Canada-based team with the best chance to either win the cup or at least go deep.
Based solely upon the pragmatic factors of offensive productivity of all 4 lines and defense pairings, Conference standings, Overall Standings, PP %. PK % and, not least, goaltending – and totally discounting “luck” – the best chance as I see it lies with – in order
Winnipeg
Edmonton & Vancouver – equally rated
Toronto
Good luck to all of them!
My picks – Winnipeg over Colorado in 7; Vancouver over Nashville in 6; L.A. over Edmonton in 7;
Boston over Toronto in 6
For the others: NYR over Washington in 5; Carolina over NYI in 6; Florida over Tampa in 5; Dallas over Vegas in 6
For the ultimate the was I see it it NYR over Dallas for the cup
So, we enter a 4th decade of no cup in Canada. Hope sincerely I’m wrong.
To put some perspective on my choices
In the overall standings Winnipeg ranks 4th overall with 110 pts; Vancouver sits 6th overall with 109 pts; Edmonton is 9th overall with 104 pts, while Toronto is 10th overall with 102 pts.
In the Conference, Winnipeg finished 2nd overall; Vancouver 3rd; Edmonton 5th, and Toronto 5th
In the PK catehory, the best among Canadian teams was Calgary at 80.82% for 8th overall (and they missed the playoffs). Edmonton was 79.46% for 14th overall; Vancouver 79.13 for 16th; Winnipeg 77.13 for 20th; Toronto 76.89 for 22nd.
For the PP rankings Edmonton was 26.34% for 3rd overall; Toronto 23.95 for 7th; Vancouver 22.66 for 11th; Winnipeg 18.75 for 22nd (but the late additions of Monahan and Toffoli will make a difference there)
In terms of goaltending, Winnipeg has a gaa of 2.42 for 2nd overall; Vancouver 2.70 for 6th; Edmonton 2.88 for 10th; Toronto 3.18 for 21st
George, I agree with your rating of the Canadian teams. Defence and goaltending win in the playoffs. Winnipeg and Vancouver have Vezna worthy goalies and play sound defensive systems whereas Toronto and Edmonton do not. Run and gun hockey may win a series but not a cup. I watched a TSN segment where their pundits debated which team was Canada’s best chance to win the Stanley Cup, Toronto or Edmonton. Clueless!
Not clueless at all Gored1790.
Can’t speak for the Leafs as the only reason I have them winning in RD 1 is they are playing a Bruins team that has been getting out played for 2 months.
Since the 1st week of November, and a coaching change, no team has a better record than the Oil. For the season they are 10th in goals against. And if you were to start in November likely in the top 6 or 7.
They dominate chances, they are #1 in high danger chances for % for. By a mile. Meaning they generate a whack of them, and give not very many.
They have had playoff success last 2 seasons winning 3 series. They have the best player in the world. They have size, they have toughness. They are deep. Vegas players and coaches said their toughest series last year was Edmonton.
Can they get goalie’d? Yep. They have also made plenty of good tenders look average or worse.
No idea who wins the cup, but the Oil have as good a chance as anybody. Only team I would take above them is Carolina, maybe Dallas, but it’s close. The west is a tougher road.
Gored1970 fully agree, they’re clueless to the point of only valuing the two teams.
Both Toronto and Edmonton are the same to me, they lack defense and goaltending.
Winnipeg has the best goaltender in the league, have 4 lines to roll over the boards and as long as they understand their defense isn’t strong and need to keep it to a structure they will be fine.
Personally i won’t be surprised if Winnipeg put Colorado out in 5 games.
All the sports tv and radio want to talk about is Matthews and McDavid and i don’t think either one brings home the cup this year.
I think they (the pundits) believe Winnipeg is somewhere in North Dakota
Here you go George,
My picks – for the West.
Winnipeg over Colorado in 6;
Vancouver over Nashville in 4;
Edmonton over LA in 5
Boston & Toronto, i still dont know🙈 its 50-50
crap shot.. both teams have issue’s i think it go’s down to game 7❗️
My picks – for the East.
NYR over Washington in 4.
Carolina over NYI in 5.
Florida over Tampa in 7.
Dallas over Vegas in 6
The Cup Final i have to say the Oilers and… Dallas Or Florida
PS
it depending on the Oilers d….. Ceci & Nurse are not the Best Pairing they fall apart way to often .
Nurse has more off days than on days😩here’s hoping
I totally agree George with your choice of Winnipeg. All four lines are kicking, the defense is good, and the goal tending is the best in the league. Even though I’m south of the border in Michigan, I’d love for any of the Canadien teams to win, although I’d prefer Winnipeg, especially as I have $100 on them at 14-1!
THAT would be a nice return Rock!
Which begs the question – what idiot put them at 14-1 underdogs. and based on what? Ancient history?
Since November:
Oilers 41-15-5 .713% Goal Diff: +64
Jets 40-17-4 .689% Goal Diff +50
Canucks 35-16-8 .661% Goal Diff: +24
Leafs 35-20-7 .621% Goal Diff +37
That’s the most recent 3/4 of the season. A significant sample size.
SLC approval, 32 (and millions more) thumbs up
What’s more likely to happen, Caps actually somehow get 2 wins (lose in 6 to Rangers) OR Knights taking Stars in 6???
This year’s hockey pool drafts are going to be crazy
The only series I have complete confidence in is Rangers over Caps (how many games…. TBD)
All other series are not shoo-ins.
Canes “should” dominate Isles, but Sorokin could shut things down
Major injuries turn a series around???
My gut wants to say Rangers v Stars in final; but a psycho upset is always a possibility
Might be safer to call SLC over Sabres (by then coached by Phil Kessel) in the ‘29 Cup.
Lottery:
3.2% chance of picking Lindstrom or 96.8 % chance of handing Sharks 14th or 15th
Mmmmm. Tough decision
Ok, I choose “with the 4th overall pick in the 2024 Draft, the Pittsburgh Penguins are proud to select…Cayden Lindstrom”
There is no other bright light to pin our hopes on
Major movements out (including coaching staff) with youth/size/strength/grit coming in; or else plummetsville and Crosby exit
Okay, I’ve got the answer for expansion… hear me out. The Cyotoes franchise becomes a traveling team. Maybe they are called the Utah Travelers. They spend 3 years in Salt Lake, then they move to, say, Cleveland for 3 years… then to Quebec for 3 years, then Kansas City, then Houston. Anywhere there is a decent arena. The team can have the same owner the whole time, no need to transfer ownership.
Think about it, it will expose hockey to a new market each time and make them the “shiny new penny”, so to speak, for at least 3 years, all while building a fan base for this one team in multiple cities. In 9 years, you might have someone in Utah’s favorite team be the QuebecTravelers.
Plus, this can be used as a test market. If the team moves to Quebec for 3 years and just destroys it with attendance, maybe that city is offered another franchise.
Cons
What division do they play in? Same one every time for continuity.
Would be hard on the players to have to move family every 3 years.
Some players don’t actually live in the cities they play for right? They have their own house back in Ottowa even though they play for the Panthers…or am I wrong about this?
Merch would have to change every 3 years… only city name would change logo and colors would stay the same.
Talk about growing the game.
Thoughts? And yes I’ll be putting my name in the hat for Bettman’s replacement.
Not entirely a bad idea . . .
The excitement from LA Kings last night when they tied the game late in the third, told me they much prefer to play Edmonton than Dallas.
I would think Edmonton was probably just as happy to avoid playing Vegas.
Winner by round
Tb Dal
Bos Edm
Car Wpg
NYR Van
Bos Dal
Car Edm
Bos Dal
Bos
The road to the Boston Bruins Stanley Cup!
Well I hope your picks are better than mine Caper.
Rd 1
– Canes in 5
– Leafs in 6
– Lightning in 7 (Vassy does it again)
– Rangers in 4
– Avs in 7
– ‘Nucks in 7
– Stars in 6
– Oil in 5
WCF – Oil beat Stars in 6
ECF – Canes over Tampa in 5
SCF Canes over Oil in 7 in a classic and the Canes break the Oiler fans hearts, again.
Ray, I can’t go against Boston until their eliminated.
I get it Caper, I ran into a Leafs fan yesterday who I have been ducking as we always bet when we play each other. Beer and wings on the line. Plus I have to listen him if we lose.
Caper I like your optimism but who is going to score for the Bruins if 88 and 63 struggle and they can t get their power play going?As good as their goalies are,can they steal a series?
Sr, if they don’t get scoring from Coyle, Debrusk, Zacha, Frederick and Geekie it will be a short series.
Boston been off since Tuesday, hopefully the figure out a way on the PP.
The league understands the bruins don’t move the puck well when being pressured on the PP. Better zone entries and move the puck quickly tire out the attackers. Until they learn to beat the pressure the PP won’t work.
I think that’s why Monty has moved Shattenkirk to the top pp unit, he is very good at controlling and moving the puck.
Goaltending will need to be strong and can’t be giving Toronto PP to many looks.
100% right on the pressure against the B’s PP Caper.
And that and their zone entries keep getting stymied. It’s like they trap just inside the blue line and take away Pasta’s space. Kinda what LA does at 5 on 5 in the neutral zone, and at times on the PK.
If it was me, planned, timed with speed and well placed dump in if they are gonna play high in their D zone like that. Get them turning and having to chase and make them deploy 2 guys if they want to get possession that way below their own goal line.
Then they have concede possession or give up a whack of space in front of their net, where the goals get scored. Win the 50/50 battle and you create a 3 on 2 with a tone of time and space to work with.
Spot on,As much as I like Mcavoy, Shattenkirk manages the powerplay better! Must get some PP scoring from the bumper position that 37 was so good at last year! Would be nice if we could get some offense from Maroon,Heinen and JVR!
Colorado in 7! GO AVS!!!!!
Sorry Tommy…not with those goalies…
Will see!!
The way the Jets played down the stretch, Colorado should be a little wary…
My picks (listed in diminishing order of my confidence in actually happening; i.e. most likely outcome at top). I’m not necessarily saying those near the top are sweeps or maybe in 5; just the pick for series outcome
Rangers over Caps
Canes over Isles
Oilers over Kings
Bruins over Leafs
Panthers over Lightning
Jets over Avs
Preds over Canucks
Stars over Knights
If that Holds (don’t count on it)
Rangers over Canes
Oilers over Preds
Panthers over Bruins
Stars over Jets
If that holds(really really don’t count in it)
Rangers over Panthers
Stars over Oilers (I actually just flipped a coin; heads, so Stars)
Count the above as nigh “ain’t happenin’:
Then
Shesterkin over Oettinger (if Rangers and Stars do actually meet in cup; I do believe it will come down to which goalie is stronger/sharper)
That’s my thoughts on “gut likely outcomes” , but if you ask me what final I believe would be the most exciting:
Oilers vs Canes; with Oilers over Canes
I don’t hate the big upset of the Preds over Nucks 87Pengy87.
Usually one big one in the first round, as good a choice as any.
VCR has some vets, but a lot of this team will be new to this. Need to learn some lessons, which usually come the hard way in the NHL.
Hey Caper,
I agree with your coments, i dont see Boston getting out of the 2nd round playing anyone…
Goaltending is good,
the Boston d is ok,
Boston forwards can hit a dry spell
and they are very weak at Centre ….
Lucky they play the leafs in the first round they are also hit and miss…..so its 50-50😳
I think Boston will make a few trades at the draft or just after and will look at the UFA market also
Moving Ullmark for a LD/man like 25 yr old Chychrun and trading for a Centre and Or going after a UFA Centre
like 29 yr old Sean Monahan or 29 yr old Elias Lindholm, i dont think he gets more the $6.M PA…..❓