THE CAT’S Weekly Update – December 6, 2023

Good morning Hockey fans,

Hope all is well with you. It’s been a wild month of hockey with a lot of highs and lows and we have some news from around the league.  

  1. The Ottawa Senators have hiredJacques Martin as a Senior Advisor to the coaching staff for the team. Martin, the previous head coach from 1996, he will serve as a day-to-day resource to Senators’ head coach D.J. Smith and his staff. This comes after the team has been struggling in their own division, going 10-10-0 thus far this season and finds themselves at the bottom of the Atlantic (as they come off winning a 6-2 against the red hot New York Rangers). 
  1. The Winnipeg Jets continue to be busy as they lock up Nino Niederreiter to a three-year, $12M contract extension (with an AAV of $4 million). This comes after signing both their goaltender Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and top centre Mark Scheifele. Niederreiter, 31, has 6 goals and 8 assists in 23 games with the Jets this season, who are having a great season with a 14-8-2 start. It looks like the Jets are trying to remain competitive and keep a winning team. 
  1. The NHL has announced that the 2024 NHL Draft will be held at the Sphere in Las Vegas on June 28-29, 2024, after it was decided after the most recent Board of Governors meetings. Among the topics of discussion was also the Cap, which sounds like it will be around  $87.7 million, allowing some teams to work with some additional space. Fun fact, the draft, which was instituted in 1963, was held in Montreal for the first 22 years of existence. 
  1. Tyson Barrie, defenceman for the Nashville Predators, has been given permission to talk to other teams, as he is in the final year of his contract and it looks like Barry Trotz and Preds won’t be resigning him. Barrie was also a healthy scratch on Saturday against the New York Rangers. Barrie, came over from Edmonton in the trade for Mattias Ekholm. He has 10 assists in 23 games thus far. 
  1. It sounds like the world’s largest hockey stick, located in Duncan B.C. is for sale. The 66 metre was built for Expo 1986 (check out our photo of it on our Instagram page) has become a symbol of the Cowichan Valley. But it is in need of repairs (costly repairs) and therefore might be up for sale. If you have deep pockets and want the largest hockey stick, then give them a call.
  1. The PWHL Preseason Camp has begun and there have been some stand out players for each of the respective clubs. Some key players to keep an eye on are: Shiann Darkangelo, Kaleigh Fratkin, Taylor Heise, Laura Stacey, Brooke Hobson, Kristin Della Rovere & Kali Flanagan. This should be a great go of it, once the regular season gets going.  

Thoughts? Lots is ramping up as we near the beginning of the season. Therefore remember to tune in each week to get all the latest news in the world of hockey. 

For more hockey news, different takes or if you want to chat about anything hockey give me a follow @hockey_two on TWITTER and give us a follow on YouTube, or at https://twoguysandhockeytalk.com/.

  • Pawel ‘The Cat’

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