All posts by Matt Teague

GM Armstrong: ’10 or 11 locks’ for Team Canada at Olympics

The 2022 Olympics are still a year away, but the Canadian men's hockey team's roster is slowly taking shape.

"I think where we are at right now, we have a majority where we probably have 10 or 11 locks on the team," general manager Doug Armstrong said, according to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun. "That leaves up to 14 or 15 players that are in contention and there’s probably 50 guys on that list still. It’s just a whittling-down process.

"You want to add guys to the locks, and remove guys that are no longer in consideration and hope that list gets smaller and smaller."

Canada's player pool is arguably the strongest among all competing countries, though Armstrong said earlier this month he's "not picking an All-Star team."

The NHL didn't send its players to the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, which contributes to a difficult task for Armstrong and his staff. With the eight-year gap between Olympic participation, there's a crop of players who haven't received a chance and will be hungry to secure a spot in 2022.

"... Because we didn’t go in 2018, we are going to be looking at a couple of guys from 2010, a couple from 2014, but there is going to be a whole new wave of guys in there," Armstrong said.

"And I sort of look at it as who played for their national teams between say 2010 and 2016, 2017 at the world juniors," he added. "That’s likely the majority of your group coming out of there."

Four of the NHL's top-10 scorers entering Thursday's action (Connor McDavid, Mitch Marner, Mark Scheifele, and Jonathan Huberdeau) are in that group of budding talent from the years Armstrong mentions.

Canada won gold in each of the last two Olympics (2010, 2014) that featured NHL players.

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Eichel: ‘I’m going to start to take off’ once Sabres resume season

The Buffalo Sabres haven't played since Jan. 31 due to COVID-19 concerns, and captain Jack Eichel is itching to hit the ground running once the team is in action again.

“I’m really excited to get the season going again," he said Wednesday, according to The Times Herald's Bill Hoppe. "I think I’m going to start to take off hopefully.”

The Sabres went nearly 10 months between their last game of the 2019-20 season and their first contest this campaign. Eichel also missed the opening five days of training camp in January. He says building momentum has been tough.

"It took a little bit of time for myself at least to get my legs under me during the season," Eichel said. "There’s no preseason games. Camp was quick."

Eichel potted a career-best 36 goals last season while leading the Sabres with 78 points over 68 games. He's amassed two goals and 11 points over 10 outings so far in 2020-21, but the forward believes he can offer much more.

"A little bit of a slow start for me," Eichel said. "Not really where I want to be. But I feel like I’ve definitely taken advantage of these two weeks in trying to prepare myself to have a successful next 46 games."

The Sabres own a 4-4-2 record and are slated to return to action against the New York Islanders on Feb. 15.

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Stamkos placed on COVID-19 list

Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos was placed on the NHL's COVID-19 protocol list, according to team reporter Bryan Burns.

Stamkos, 31, didn't play against the Florida Panthers on Thursday due to a lower-body injury and missed practice Friday. He's the only Lightning player currently on the list.

The 6-foot-1 pivot leads the Lightning with seven goals and ranks second with 14 points through 11 games.

Tampa Bay is slated for a rematch with the Panthers on Saturday before the teams close out their three-game set Monday.

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Lemieux hassled Hextall during GM interview for knocking his teeth out

Mario Lemieux has a long memory.

The Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner may have hired Ron Hextall as the club's next general manager, but he wasn't going to let the 56-year-old forget an incident that landed Lemieux a date with the dentist decades ago.

"It was hard when Mario was on the second interview with me there, and we were kinda small talking at the start, and he reminded me that I knocked four of his teeth out on a follow-through," Hextall told reporters on Thursday.

"So I was like, 'Oh boy, this hasn't started out very well.'"

The former Philadelphia Flyers netminder played 11 seasons over two separate tenures with the club. The Flyers were division rivals with Lemieux's Penguins throughout the 1980s and 90s and faced off in several heated postseason series.

Hextall quipped the Hall of Fame pivot got his revenge on the scoreboard.

"I think he probably lit me up for seven or eight points one night, so he certainly got me back."

On Tuesday, Hextall replaced former Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford, who stepped down due to personal reasons. Pittsburgh also hired Brian Burke as president of hockey operations.

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Rapid testing among NHL’s enhanced COVID-19 measures

The NHL announced its enhanced COVID-19 measures Thursday, which include rapid testing on game days, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

Other key protocols include:

  • Asking that players remain at home as much as possible (except for practices/games)
  • Recommending household members limit discretionary activities outside the home
  • Use of KN95 masks
  • Mandate that all meetings be held virtually
  • Glass removed from benches and penalty box

There's also a detailed component regarding the reconfiguration of dressing room seating to best protect anyone who hasn't had the virus.

Tuesday's game between the Vegas Golden Knights and Anaheim Ducks continued despite Vegas learning midgame that one of its players tested positive for COVID-19. Forward Tomas Nosek was pulled from the contest after playing over nine minutes and was later placed on the COVID-19 protocol list.

The league has postponed 35 games so far this season, and the majority of clubs have seen at least one player hit the protocol list.

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Marchand miffed by video review: ‘Hockey is a game of mistakes’

Boston Bruins agitator Brad Marchand has become rather agitated himself over the abundance of video reviews in the league today.

Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk appeared to score in the second period, but upon further review, the puck never fully crossed the line. When asked if the league should consider putting some kind of chip in the puck to avoid these situations, Marchand said he'd rather just see reviews go away entirely.

"All the video (replays) and all that stuff it really bothers me," Marchand told reporters after the club's 3-2 win over the New York Rangers.

"I just think that being able to challenge all of these plays, like hockey is a game of mistakes, not only by the players but by the referees ... you get your calls against you, but you get your calls that go your way, too."

Marchand, who scored the overtime winner to push his point streak to nine games, believes the number of reviews can also impact the officials' credibility.

"There's a lot of blame that gets put on the refs, but they're there to make those split decision calls, and now they're calling them back all the time. I don't think that it's necessary ... it's just taking hockey to a place where it's annoying."

The Bruins sit atop the East division standings with a 9-1-2 record.

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Report: Laine’s benching was result of verbally disrespecting a coach

It's been a rocky start for Patrik Laine with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The 22-year-old sat for the entire third period of the club's 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday. The benching was the result of Laine verbally disrespecting a member of the Blue Jackets' coaching staff, a source told The Athletic's Aaron Portzline.

It's unclear which coach Laine reportedly clashed with, as the circumstances surrounding the incident remain unclear.

Laine's last shift on Monday came with 6:19 remaining in the second period, and he logged a season-low 11:14 of ice time.

The 6-foot-5 winger appeared to miss his assignment leading up to the Hurricanes' second goal, but head coach John Tortorella said the benching wasn't due to the miscue, and that a "number of things" came into play.

Columbus acquired Laine from the Winnipeg Jets for the disgruntled Pierre-Luc Dubois in January. The Finnish sniper has recorded three goals in four games with the Blue Jackets.

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Trotz passes Ken Hitchcock for 3rd on all-time coaching wins list

Barry Trotz continues to add to his illustrious career.

The New York Islanders bench boss picked up win No. 850, passing Ken Hitchock and moving into third on the NHL's all-time coaching wins list on Monday with the club's 2-0 win over the New York Rangers.

Trotz now needs 81 wins to pass Joel Quenneville, who's second behind Hall of Famer Scotty Bowman (1,244).

The 58-year-old owns an 88-54-19 record as New York's head coach since the club hired him ahead of the 2018-19 campaign. He's led the Islanders to the playoffs in consecutive seasons and captured his second Jack Adams Award as the league's top coach in 2019.

The Winnipeg native previously coached the Nashville Predators from 1998-2014 and is the franchise's winningest bench boss. He then served as Washington Capitals head coach from 2014-18.

Trotz also ranks 15th all time with 72 playoff victories and won the Stanley Cup with the Capitals in 2018.

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NHL announces further postponements for Wild, Sabres, Devils

The NHL has postponed more games involving the Buffalo Sabres, Minnesota Wild, and New Jersey Devils due to COVID-19 concerns, the league announced Monday.

Three Devils games (Feb. 11, 13 vs. Philadelphia, and Feb. 15 against Boston), two Sabres games (Feb. 11, 13 vs. Washington), and two Wild contests (Feb 11. vs. St. Louis and Feb. 13 vs. Los Angeles) have been pushed to a later date.

The league’s, NHLPA’s, and clubs’ medical groups will decide on the teams’ resumption of practice and play in the coming days.

The Devils, who had their previous two games postponed, had 16 players on the COVID-19 protocol list as of Sunday. New Jersey's last game was against the Sabres on Jan. 31, and the club has now had five games pushed back.

Buffalo had several players put on the COVID-19 list after that contest with the Devils and had four matchups delayed last week. The Sabres now have six games in total to make up.

Minnesota had three games postponed last week and have not played since Feb. 2. The club now has five games to make up.

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Ovechkin takes sole possession of 7th on NHL’s all-time goals list

The "Great Eight" continues to make history.

Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin buried career goal No. 709 against the New York Rangers on Thursday to move ahead of Mike Gartner and take sole possession of seventh on the NHL's all-time goals list.

The goal was Ovechkin's third of the season through seven games.

He's now just eight goals back of Phil Esposito for the sixth spot. Here's where he sits while pursuing Gretzky's all-time record.

Rank Player Goals
1 Wayne Gretzky 894
2 Gordie Howe 801
3 Jaromir Jagr 766
4 Brett Hull 741
5 Marcel Dionne 731
6 Phil Esposito 717
7 Alex Ovechkin 709

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