NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – June 25, 2024
The Panthers are the 2024 Stanley Cup champions, Oilers captain Connor McDavid named playoff MVP, selections for the 2024 Hall of Fame class are to be made today, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
FLORIDA PANTHERS ARE 2024 STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS
NHL.COM: The Florida Panthers are Stanley Cup champions for the first time in franchise history.
Sam Reinhart snapped a 1-1 tie in the second period as the Panthers held off the Edmonton Oilers for a 2-1 victory in Game 7. Carter Verhaeghe also scored for the Panthers and Sergei Bobrovsky made 23 saves for the win. Mattias Janmark replied for the Oilers, who had overcome a 3-0 series deficit to force the seventh and deciding game.
The Florida Panthers are 2024 Stanley Cup Champions (NHL.com).
Panthers center Aleksander Barkov became the first Finnish captain in NHL history to lead his team to the Stanley Cup.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Congratulations to the Panthers on winning the first Stanley Cup in franchise history. They faced adversity in this series, becoming the first team in 79 years to blow a 3-0 series lead in the final. However, when it mattered most, they regained their focus, shutting down the Oilers with a solid defensive effort.
This is a historic moment for the Panthers. It wasn’t long ago they were considered a laughingstock, overshadowed by their rivals in Tampa Bay and regularly near the bottom of the league in terms of the standings and attendance. They’ve now emerged from the Lightning’s shadow as a league powerhouse in their own right.
Fun fact: since 2020, a Florida-based team has played in the Stanley Cup Final, winning hockey’s holy grail three times.
Panthers head coach Paul Maurice ended 25 years of futility with the first Stanley Cup championship of his long coaching career. Following the game, he gave a shout out to his former club, the Winnipeg Jets. “If I could have one more thing, it would be for the Winnipeg Jets to win the next Stanley Cup.”
Meanwhile, Oilers captain Connor McDavid was named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. McDavid led all postseason scorers with 42 points, becoming only the third player in Stanley Cup playoff history to exceed the 40-point plateau. McDavid also set a single postseason record with 34 assists. He is the sixth player on a losing team to win the Smythe and the first since 2003.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: McDavid received criticism on social media for not accepting the award. He was crushed by his club’s loss in Game 7 after rallying back from a 3-0 deficit. The Oilers captain spoke with the media following the game, acknowledging the honor but still coming to grips with the game’s outcome.
This was a heartbreaking end to the Oilers’ Stanley Cup dream. They will try to follow the example of the Panthers, who were thumped by the Vegas Golden Knights in last year’s Final but returned to win it all this year.
IN OTHER NEWS…
The Boston Bruins traded goaltender Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators before the start of Game 7. You can read the details and my take here.
NHL.COM: Former Detroit Red Wings star Pavel Datsyuk is among the first-time candidates for the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2024. Others include Patrick Marleau, Shea Weber, Pekka Rinne, and Ryan Miller.
The vote will take place on Tuesday morning with the results to be announced in the afternoon.
ARIZONA SPORTS: Alex Meruelo is reportedly walking away from ownership of the Coyotes with no plans to pursue a future arena. This comes after a land auction the Coyotes expected to win as the first step toward building a new arena was canceled last week.
The team was sold to a group led by Utah Jazz owners Ryan and Ashley Smith in April and moved to Utah. A condition of the sale was that Meruelo would have an opportunity to bring an expansion franchise back to Arizona if a new NHL arena could be constructed within the next five years.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: If Meruelo is out the dream of bringing the NHL back to Arizona goes with him unless someone else steps up and succeeds in getting a new arena constructed.
BOSTON HERALD: The Bruins signed goaltender Brandon Bussi to a one-year, two-way contract with a cap hit of $775K.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This signing was made before the Bruins traded Ullmark to Ottawa for Joonas Korpisalo. He’ll be spending next season in the minors unless the Bruins trade Korpisalo.
THE MERCURY NEWS: San Jose Sharks general manager Mike Grier said his club was not tendering a qualifying offer to Calen Addison. The 24-year-old defenseman will be eligible for unrestricted free-agent status on July 1.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Addison was once considered a promising puckmoving defenseman. He could become a reclamation project for another club seeking affordable blueline depth.
DAILY FACEOFF: The Hershey Bears won the AHL’s Calder Cup for the second straight year with a 5-4 overtime victory over Coachella Valley in Game 6. Hendrix Lapierre was named playoff MVP.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Congratulations to the Bears on becoming back-to-back Calder Cup champions.
I think the Bruins either trade or waive Korpisalo. Bussi must clear waivers. If Korpisalo clears they put him in Providence. If Bussi goes belly up or Swaymen gets hurt they have him. I think at this stage they stand a bigger chance of losing Bussi on Waivers than Korpisalo.
Buy out for Boston.
if a gm has bot figured it out yet he should be fired. Spend your money on solid coaching, defense qnd goaltending. 18 skaters can score only one stops the puck with regularity. Also, pro tip… make sure Corey Perry is NOT on your playoff roster.
All kidding aside congrats to Fla and Edm on excellent seasons. Thankfulky Fla learned defense wins and everyone has to play…maybe Knobloch will learn from his mistakes and the Oil will spend money on good contracts.
A team loses a Cup final by one goal in a 7th and deciding game and you want to criticize them to this extent? I am darn happy you are not the GM f my team.
Heh. Yeah, that WAS just a bit over the top! Maybe he’s one of the boo-birds who didn’t like seeing a member of the losing team with the Conn Smythe and is lashing out?
Ya, it’s easy to win a cup and sign good players for less than they can get elsewhere, that’s why everybody does it.
The Oil will be hard pressed to equal some of the quality players they had this year.
The line of Henrique, Janmark and Brown was excellent in these playoffs. Oil won’t be able to afford those 3 unless they accept less than their market value. Maybe you can get Brown for $1M, but somebody likely gives him more given how he finally got his wheels back in the playoffs. He showed how effective he can be.
Janmark was worth every penny of that $1M salary, have to think he gets more too.
Henrique proved he can still play 3C.
Holland will have to convince vets to take less for a shot at the SC. Worked last year, might be able to again.
Korpisalo will be a better goalie in Boston than he was in Ottawa simply because the team defence in Boston is much superior to what Ottawa iced last season. Still a good trade for Ottawa getting out from under the Korpisalo contract.
Bruins…. My take on the Ullmark trade …. Senators wanted and needed Ullmark the Bruins didn’t need What they got in return … should’ve taken the 1st rd pick and forget the rest, more money in their pocket to spend on a true need
Congratulations to the Panthers organization for winning the cup. Kudos to the Oilers and their fan base , as a Canadian I was proud of how the Oilers fans, city of Edmonton and country rallied behind the team.
Congratulations to Paul Maurice and the Florida Panthers.
Happy for Kyle Okposo
Mark Messier and PK Subban both said the Conn Smythe should got to a player on the winning team.
This game just show you, momentum doesn’t carry over from game to game. Well played game and not many penalties.
I agree, i would’ve given it to Bobrovsky. No real issue with McDavid winning it. Unfortunately for McDavid he came up empty in game 6 and 7 Also i don’t take issue with him not coming out to accept the award.
Draisaitl must’ve been injured? have to wait for the report.
Lastly the Edmonton 5 played what? 5 of the last 6 minutes and it was very obvious in the last minute they were totally gassed. I understand the logic but more rest was required.
My take on the Ullmark trade. Ottawa won the trade!
They got the starting goaltender they wanted and got rid of the one they didn’t want.
Boston got their original draft pick back 25th overall.
A 4th liner with size and grit.
The puzzling but not so puzzling part was taking 30yr old Korpisalo contract at 75% $3m cap hit.
Puzzling because Boston doesn’t need him and the $2,225,000 (Bussi $775,000) savings could’ve been better used. Bussi requires waivers to be sent down.
According to some Korpisalo is better than his numbers and throw in the fact Swayman never started more 44 games. Maybe Korpisalo fills that role and Bussi clears waivers.
Presently looks like the Bruins will have over $10m tied up in goalies.
Not so puzzling
Ottawa wanted out of the Korpisalo contract and weren’t going to bring in a starting goaltender making $6m and paying the backup $4m and having a third goaltender making $2,750,000. Someone had to go.
In the end Ullmark didn’t sign an extension so the return is what it is and obviously there was no other offers or no better offers.
Ullmark only being under contract for next season kept the offers low. still surprised Bruins traded to a division rival
As I said in the post about the trade last night… absolute worst is that Ullmark does not sign an extension… that’s it. Staios managed to shed Korpi’s contract and Kastelic so he can make more moves.
I believe if he really shores up the defense, Ullmark will stick around for a bit.
And there is also the factor of Mads Sogaard. One more full season, with a new goaltending coaching regime in place can’t hurt. In the meantime, Staios should be scouring the market for a solid, veteran back-up type to replace Forsberg.
How could Ullmark of signed an extension? He cant sign with anyone including the Bruins until July 1.
@Potlicker I didn’t say he would sign an extension before July 1. That’s why I merely stated the worst that can happen is he does not sign an extension… but they still have him under contract for the upcoming season regardless.
Potlicker, this is clarified in this on-line article by The Hockey Writers:
https://thehockeywriters.com/senators-news-rumors-ullmarks-contract-pinto-more/
where they say “Many people were surprised to see that a contract extension didn’t come with the Ullmark trade, but any extension agreed upon is unable to be announced until July 1.
Some reports have said that an extension is likely agreed upon in a five-year, $7 million per season range, while others, including Friedman, have reported that Ullmark would be willing to bet on himself and play out the year without an extension. With the way things have gone in Ottawa, especially with Alex DeBrincat and Jakob Chychrun’s contract situations, general manager Steve Staios likely doesn’t make this deal if he doesn’t think an extension can be done.”
In his column today, Garrioch adds this:
“Though the Senators were hoping to have a contract extension in place before making the deal, that wasn’t the case and there have been no formal talks with Ullmark’s Sweden-based agent Joakim Persson.
The belief is the attention will turn to those talks in the coming days, and if it happens it will likely be north of $6 million per season. Ullmark had to wave his no-trade clause to come here, but is excited about the challenge of suiting up for the Senators.”
So, everyone should just take a deep breath and adopt a wait-and-see approach.
@George yep… Mads may still be part of the long game, but I have no idea anymore. No one in management is beholden to anything done by previous regime…
Very true, of course, theSaint. Just that, from what I have seen of him on his good nights, I think the 6′ 7″ 200 lb Great Dane has the makings of a starting NHL goalie. He’s just one of those who needs more seasoning in the AHL. He only turns 24 in December.
Bussi is on a 2 way contract not one way. So does that not mean he can be sent down?
MB4, I don’t think the whether the contract is 2 way or 1 way matters.
It is some combo of years of pro service and maybe age.
What I do know for sure is once your ELC is over, you are waiver eligible.
Mrbruin4, it’s covered here
https://thereportonsports.com/boston-bruins-sign-brandon-bussi-to-one-year-two-way-contract-extension/
Mrbruin4 no it doesn’t matter, he must clear waivers to be sent down. Maybe Boston puts the new guy on waivers.
I’m not too concerned he gets claimed if they send him down, there are other tenders that have had very good AHL #’s, and there usually is every year. They don’t get claimed that often.
I can’t say I know if Bussi is ready for full time NHL duty, but if another team claims him, and then sends him down after a couple weeks, and they don’t keep him in the NHL, I think the Bruins get first crack at him? Not sure if I’m right about this.
So in theory, the only way a team claims him is if they plan to keep him in the NHL. Is he ready for that? Bruins seem like they would prefer to keep him the AHL for a bit longer.
The Cup Final,
Very Very Poor Effort put in by the 2 Edmonton Oilers SupperStars last night…‼️.
I think something was wrong with Leon…..❓
Not sure what was going on with Conner he did not play well in game 7 at ALL❓❗️
The 3rd & 4th lines carried us last night in the cup final,
Stu Skinner kept us in it the whole game apart from there 2nd goal late in the 2nd period, he should have had that one.
They still need a top 6 RW who can score, They also need a Tough nose 3rd liner
Last but not Least,
They better TRADE $9.25 M Daniel Nurse
before his NMC kicks in on July 1st… 😤
He is not even in our top 3 d/men…. and you have RFA Evan Bouchard to Sign in a year…..❓
Nurse is not a fan favriote in Edmonton at All,
more that likley Nurse the Lease Favriote…..
williw, agree. thought the 2 big guns didn’t really bring it. Draisaitl did i think, he was skating well but does look like he’s labouring with something? good critique of your team though, they came all the way back but in the last game, the other guys were bringing it a lot more: brown, henriques, janmark and hyman look like they were putting in quite the effort. I though McDavid wasn’t that significant in 6 or 7 but hey the other team is all over him, that is for sure. Anyways, florida gets it done but give credit to the Oilers for making it a series……….
Now, it is break from hockey this year, oh wait the NHL Draft. Man, i wonder what the Avalanche will do, Middlestadt re-signed. what’s next, LOL!!!!!!!
So Today we find out Connor needs Surgery
And
Leon has a broken Rib & Broken Finger
You could see something was not Right……‼️
I’m waiting for official confirmation on this before reporting it. But if they did indeed suffer those injuries it would explain a lot.
1 goal difference game 7 Stanley cup final could have only been outdone by a Game 7, OT Stanley Cup Final
This game could have gone either way.
Posts, great saves
Exciting
Congratulations Panthers
Congratulations Oilers on your turnaround season and Stanley Cup finals; almost making history
Congratulation McDavid on the well deserved Conn Smythe
Congratulations to Maurice and good shout out and wishes for hid former team
Re: Sens move on Ulmark
IF they can re-up him ; this is a good move
If they can’t; not good IMHO
Why?
1 year improvement in goal will not get them the cup in ‘25. It may or may not even get them into the playoffs
With the retention then; Sens are “effectively” dishing out $8.5 M for 1 year of service by Ulmark; AND $6 M as a Cap hit; followed by 3years of $1 M dead Cap; AND they gave up a 1st and Kastelic
Now cash-wise; they replaced $16 M in commitments with $8.5 M . $7.5 M in savings; but then still have to pay a starter (whoever that may be; again this scenario assumes no re-up of Ulmark) for 25/26; 26/27; 27/28
So no re-up/extension; Sens lose this deal
Bruins.
Big win.
Swaymen already defacto starter; so saved $2M in Cap space on their back-up; gained a 1st and Kastelic
Re “Alex Meruelo is reportedly walking away from ownership of the Coyotes with no plans to pursue a future arena.”
Finally NHL is out of Arizona permanently
A couple of decades late; but now done
Everyone (including Muerello who turned a massively financial haemorrhaging franchise into a large profit and no further financial losses) is happy save for Little Napolean (who again got booed last night)
I’m very confident that all Utah players are ecstatic about finally playing home games directly in front of close to 4 times the amount of people they had been; and will see their TV audience grow at a minimum 20 fold; increasing their own exposure and for many of them; Ad and personal appearance revenues
Next stop, Houston
And for the live of God; no 3peat in Atlanta
Just for fun, Boston got their 1st round pick back, i was wondering how that pick did over the years: here is the player drafted 25th overall from 2010 – 2020
2010 Quinton Howden
2011 Stuart Percy
2012 Jordan Schmaltz
2013 Michael McCarron
2014 DAVID PASTRNAK
2015 Jack Roslovic
2016 Riley Tufte
2017 Ryan Poehling
2018 Dominik Bakk
2019 Connor McMichael
2020 Justin Barron
A few Nhl and one stick out more than the others. Can Boston strike lighting twice.
Batten down the hatches…. Lol.
After Swayman gets his next contract I figure somewhere befween 7-9 million the Bruins will have spent to much money for 2 goalies including Korpisalo!! So this means Korpisalo is going somewhere else!
I guess hockey isn’t viable right now in Arizona without massive corporate welfare. Oh well.
If Draisaitl and Mcdavid were hurt, why didn’t they just pull a similar type player from the farm to replace them
😄
I am saying that Mcdavid is the best player in the world,but does that mean he should automatically be the MVP of the playoffs!Hescored most of his points in the final when he had absolutely had nothing to lose!The final 2 games he had no points! Had a chance to tie the score last night and did not get it done!Why is he the MVP!