Good afternoon Hockey fans,
Hope all is well with you. We are back with more news from around the league as we enjoy a nice Family Day Weekend here in Canada. Enjoy your weekend everyone.
- The Columbus Blue Jackets have fired General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen after going 16-26-10 thus far this season and having some internal issues. Kekalainen, 57, who has been the GM for almost 11 years of the club, has gone through some highs and lows with the organization, drafted some elite players, signed some free agents, but haven’t had much playoff success in a few years. President of hockey operations John Davidson will take over, especially just before the trade deadline coming up. We wish Jarmo all the best in the future and we will be keeping an eye on some names for the GM job (looking at Mark Hunter).
- The PWHL continues to make history after having a record setting crowd (of 19,235 fans) when Toronto faced Montreal and beat them 3-0 at Scotiabank Arena. Kristen Campbell earned a 30-save shutout while Jesse Compher, Hannah Miller and Victoria Bach all scored big goals. Next up, Toronto will face New York at Mattamy Athletic Centre on Friday, while Montreal returns home to host Minnesota on Sunday.
- The NHL has announced that the Florida Panthers will take part in the NHL Global Series, in Tampere, Finland to face off against the Dallas Stars. The city is Tampere, which is the hometown of Panthers captain Sasha Barkov. This should be a fun event.
- Jaromir Jagr was spotted today at practice with the Pittsburgh Penguins to celebrate his 52 birthday, the city where it all began for him in the NHL after the Penguins selected him with the No. 5 pick in the 1990 NHL Draft. He joined the team, because Jagr’s Number 68 will be the third jersey retired by the Pittsburgh organization, joining Mario Lemieux’s No. 66 and Michel Briere’s No. 21 as the other two. This is a big honour and we love watching Jagr highlights for some of the best hockey plays.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins also announced that Jake Guentzel is now on LTIR due to an upper body injury, following a hit from Florida defenseman Niko Mikkola. They also lost that game 5-2 to the Florida Panthers and his trade value may not be as high now given that he was being scouted by a few teams.
- It sounds like Blake Wheeler of the New York Rangers will be out for the remainder of the regular season because of a lower-body injury sustained against the Montreal Canadiens defenseman Jayden Struble along the boards. This is a big loss for the NYR but they are a resilient team and they may change their trade deadline goals to see if they can shore up their forward depth.
- The Minnesota Wild have signed forward Mason Shaw to a two-way contract with an AAV of $775,000)for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. Shaw, 25, who was selected at 97th in the 4th round of the 2017 NHL Draft has been playing for the Iowa Wild for the past 2 seasons. We wish him all the best.
- The Philadelphia Flyers have named veteran centerman Sean Couturier to the team, as the 20th captain in franchise history. Couturier, 31, has 11 goals and 22 assists in 51 games this season and has been relatively healthy after going through surgery last season. The Flyers are currently 29-19-7 this season and have been very competitive. We wish Couturier all the best!
- Morgan Reilly of the Toronto Maple Leafs has been suspended 5 games for his cross check on Ridly Greig of the Ottawa Senators after his slapshot into an empty net. The Maple Leafs will appeal over the suspension from NHL and we will see what Commissioner Gary Bettman decides.
- Finally, there is talk that Phil Kessel will sign with the Vancouver Canucks, as he practices and skates with the Abbotsford Canucks. The forward has 413 goals and 579 assists in his career and won the Stanley Cup with the Vegas Golden Knight last season.
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’
