Welcome back hockey fans! Welcome to Week 9 of our news from around the world of hockey and around the league. It’s been a very busy week, and we have lots to get to, so let’s jump right in. The news from around the league this week:
- The Edmonton Oilers will be without the best player in the game Connor McDavid, as he sustained an undisclosed injury in the game against Columbus Blue Jackets where the Oilers fell 6 to 1. He will be out for a few more weeks as the Oilers face off against the Nashville Predators tomorrow night. This means their other forwards have to step up including Zach Hyman who has yet to score a goal and has only 1 assist in the last 10 games. This will be a big test for the team as they are only 4-5-1 thus far and 7th in the Pacific.
- Although it is early in the season, we do have a trade to announce where the Detroit Red Wings have sent Olli Maatta to the Utah HC for a 2025 3rd Round pick (that was previously acquired from New York Rangers). This comes after Utah lost two of their top 4 defenseman (as I reported last week) and need to add something to bolster in their back end. Maatta, 30, is in his second year of his $6 million extension, and has no points in 7 games this season.
- The St. Louis Blue have signed forward Alexey Toropchenko to a 1-year, $1.7 million for next season. Toropchenko is in his final season of his two-year contract and the 25-year-old has 1 assists in 8 games. Last year in 82 games, Toropchenko had 14 goals and 7 assists for a total of 21 points which shows he has some potential as a top 9 winger.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs have done some work on their own by signing Jake McCabe to a 5-year, $23.5 million dollar extension (with an AAV of $4.51 million). McCabe, 31, is a top 4 defenceman for the team, who was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks and has played 10 games this season, putting up 4 assists. This solidifies their top 4 and one can argue whether this is a top 4 group that can help them go far this season and in the postseason. Toronto right now is 5-4-1 and recently ended the Winnipeg Jets 8-0-0 run.
- Speaking of big moves, the Pittsburgh Penguins have sent goaltender Tristan Jarry to AHL on conditioning loan to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins given his recent struggles. Pittsburgh is 3-7-1 and has struggles to keep the puck out of the net as he is 5.47 GAA and has a .836 SV%. This will allow him to rebuild his confidence and similar to how Jack Campbell went down for Edmonton last year or Ilya Samsonov for Toronto, this hopefully helps him find his game and boost his confidence. We want to see Pittsburgh succeed. Also in the Penguin land, they have placed right winger Bryan Rust on injured reserve due to his lower-body injury, which is another blow to the team. This comes after the team faced off against the Minnesota Wild and the fans gave a beautiful goodbye to Marc-Andre Fleury for his final game in Pittsburgh since he will be retiring at the end of this season.
- The Vegas Golden Knights have extended defenseman Shea Theodore to a 7-year, $51.795 million dollar contract (with an AAV of $7.4 million). Theodore, 29, is in his 8th season with the Knights and has 1 goal and 6 assists in six games this season. He has been instrumental in their Stanley Cup and has been a key part of Vegas’ success.
- The Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) is planning for its upcoming second season and they have announced they could be adding at least 2 expansion teams for the 2025-2026 season. The cities that are included are Calgary, Quebec City, Detroit and Chicago are just some of the places that are showing great interest as the league continues to weigh all of its options and do its due diligence. The PWHL averaged nearly 5,500 fans over 72 regular-season games and set a women’s pro hockey record for attendance for a lot of their games. We hope to see more teams in the fold and see the league grow and will be reporting on things as they get reported.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs have traded away their right handed defenceman Timothy Liljegren to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a 2025 3rd-round pick, 2026 6th-round pick and defenceman Matt Benning who had a cap hit of $1,250,000 per season, which gives the Maple Leafs some additional cap wiggle room given that some injured players might be returning. Timothy, 25, has only played 1 game this season, while last year in 55 games he had 3 goals and 20 assists.
- Finally, there is some tension in New York, where Patrick Roy, the head coach publicly questioned Lou Lamoriello, President and General Manager of the New York Islanders, following their 6-3 loss to the Florida Panthers, as Roy questioned Lou’s decision to recall player Pierre Engvall for the game, after being put on waivers. This came after the post-game interview and it seemed like Roy didn’t like the call/direction. Will this change as the team is 3-4-2 thus far and are looking to make a push for the postseason.
- As always, there is a lot more news so make sure to tune in for our aired Season 6, Episode 9 of Two Guys & Hockey Talk. We dive into some great topics and much more.
Thoughts? Questions? Suggestions? Then 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’
