Category Archives: Hockey News

Capitals fan donates 50/50 prize to Pittsburgh synagogue shooting victims

Thanks to the generosity of one Washington Capitals fan, the entirety of Thursday night's 50/50 jackpot at Capital One Arena will be donated to the victims of the recent Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.

The Capitals announced ahead of their game against the Penguins that they would donate half the jackpot to the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh to benefit the victims and families of the Tree of Life Synagogue, where an Oct. 27 shooting left 11 people dead and six injured.

A Capitals season-ticket holder won the raffle but chose to donate their portion of the winnings to the victims too. The jackpot donation from the Capitals and the winning fan totaled $38,570.

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Plekanec retires from NHL, hopes to play in Czech Republic

Tomas Plekanec announced his retirement from the NHL on Friday after the Montreal Canadiens placed him on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract.

However, while Plekanec's playing days in the NHL are now in the rearview mirror, he admits he's not quite ready to hang up the skates for good.

Plekanec remarked on his time with the Habs and his now-former teammates during his announcement.

"I'm happy with what I've done here with the Canadiens," Plekanec said, per the team. "I can leave happy.

"I'm going to miss the guys. It's another family, coming here every morning. Now, it's gone. It's something I'm going to miss, for sure. I'm going to watch them and cheer for them."

The 36-year-old concludes his NHL career with 233 goals and 608 points in 1,001 games, with all but 17 of those contests coming as a member of the Canadiens.

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Report: Quenneville wants to coach again, will wait for right opportunity

It's a matter of time before Joel Quenneville finds his way behind an NHL bench again, but he'll do so on his own terms.

Quenneville was fired by the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday after 10-plus seasons with Chicago and three Stanley Cups. The 60-year-old definitely wants to coach again and will wait for the opportunity he believes is best, a source told Scott Powers of The Athletic.

There are no current openings, but several teams across the league would jump at the opportunity to add a coach of Quenneville's caliber. The future Hall of Famer ranks second in NHL history with 890 wins and is coming off the most successful coaching tenure of the salary-cap era.

He's free to join a new team at any point, though there's one season left on his contract with the Blackhawks at $6 million.

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Canadiens set to part ways with Plekanec

The Montreal Canadiens will place forward Tomas Plekanec on unconditional waivers at noon Friday in order to terminate his contract, the team announced.

The veteran forward has struggled to remain in the lineup for any significant period of time this year, having played in just three of the Canadiens' 16 games this season.

The 36-year-old rejoined the Habs this offseason following a deal ahead of the trade deadline last year that sent him from Montreal to the Toronto Maple Leafs for their stretch run.

Plekanec played in his 1,000th career game earlier this season, scoring his lone goal of the campaign. He ranks seventh on the franchise's all-time games played list (984) and is tied for second in Canadiens history with 20 shorthanded goals.

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Capitals’ Carlson day to day; Orpik placed on LTIR

The Washington Capitals will be without defenseman John Carlson for Friday's game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Carlson is day to day with a lower-body injury, the team announced. The 28-year-old has played in every game so far this season.

Head coach Todd Reirden is hopeful Carlson will be back in the fold for Sunday's game against the Arizona Coyotes, according to Isabelle Khurshudyan of The Washington Post.

The Capitals also placed veteran blue-liner Brooks Orpik on long-term injured reserve retroactive to last Sunday due to a lower-body injury. The designation means Orpik will miss at least the next six games (10 total), according to NHL.com's Tom Gulitti. A date with the Chicago Blackhawks on Nov. 21 is the earliest he could return to the lineup.

In corresponding moves, the Capitals recalled defensemen Aaron Ness and Jonas Siegenthaler from the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League. Siegenthaler will make his NHL debut Friday.

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ECHL team unveils 1st-ever 3-D hockey jersey

The Reading Royals, the Philadelphia Flyers' ECHL affiliate, will don special 3-D jerseys for their Veteran's Day Game on Nov. 17.

Jeff Tasca, who designed the jerseys, told Sean Leahy of Pro Hockey Talk that the Royals and Athletic Knit spent the past six months working on the project.

"When initially making the design you want to have it with different 'layers' in it that appear 3-D, so you first keep that in mind," Tasca said. "Then you have to go through applying the 3-D effect to each layer in the artwork."

Fans in attendance for the game will receive 3-D glasses. The Royals also plan to auction off the jerseys afterward through their app.

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Carey Price on struggles: ‘It’s all upstairs’

The Montreal Canadiens expect a lot from Carey Price, who makes $10.5 million annually. The struggling goaltender is demanding more from himself, too.

"Lets just cut to the chase, I just didn't play very good tonight," Price told reporters after allowing six goals on only 31 shots during his team's 6-5 loss Thursday to the Buffalo Sabres.

Despite plenty of scoring, the Canadiens weren't able to walk away with two points on Thursday, losing a crucial game in the surprisingly competitive Atlantic Division.

"I'm just not playing as well as I did earlier," Price added. "It's all upstairs, I gotta figure it out."

A breakdown of Price's performance this season shows that Thursday's poor outing wasn't a one-off result for the veteran:

Save percentage Games
Below .845 2
.846 - .890 5
.891 - .919 2
Above .920 3

Price's last two appearances have been his worst of the season, as he's turned aside just 52 of 63 shots.

He won't have much time to dwell on Thursday's loss. The Canadiens return to the ice on Saturday to take on the Vegas Golden Knights.

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Stars’ Klingberg out at least 3 weeks with upper-body injury

The Dallas Stars will be without defenseman John Klingberg for at least the next three weeks after he suffered an upper-body injury, according to NHL.com's Mark Stepneski.

Klingberg was on the ice for nearly 21 minutes against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, but he seemingly played through the ailment.

It's a major loss for the Stars because of Klingberg's ability to generate offense from the back end. In 16 appearances this season, Klingberg has registered five goals and eight assists. He finished second among defensemen in scoring last season with 67 points, one shy of Washington's John Carlson.

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