Good morning Hockey fans,
Hope all is well with you. We are back with more news from around the league.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs continue to do big work as they re-sign their big top 4 guy William Nylander to an 8-year, $92 million dollar contract over the weekend, making it official that the RFA will remain in Toronto for a long time to come. This comes after much speculation in the off-season and during the season, as to what William Nylander’s camp & Brad Treliving, GM, would do. Nylander, 27, who has had a phenomenal season, has 21 goals and 33 assists in 37 games, and continues to produce at a very high level. This is a big deal and it shows that the Leafs believe in Nylander and his capabilities and what he can provide for the team moving forward and with the cap going up next year. Nylander was picked 8th overall in the 2014 NHL Draft and had a career-high 87 points (40 goals, 47 assists) last season. Congratulations to Nylander and we hope to see what happens with the rest of the team moving forward this season and next.
- The PWHL continues to make history when they had a crowd of 13,316 fans pack the Xcel Energy Center for Minnesota’s home opener against Montreal. During that game Minnesota won the game 3-0, in large part to Grace Zumwinkle scoring the first ever hat-trick in the league, and putting Minnesota up to 2-0-0. This goes to show the demand for women’s hockey and how the league continues to take positive strides in bettering and expanding the game. We hope to see more highlights in the weeks to come.
- We also have to give some love to the Winnipeg Jets, who are at the top of the standings of the league with their superb goaltending, playing a full 60 minutes each night and being deep on every line. They are at 26-9-4 with 56 points, and are coming off a very decisive win against the Arizona Coyotes 6-2. The team is firing on all cylinders and things are good in that market, as they do their dad’s trip currently. This team could be a real threat once the playoffs start, but it goes to show the value of winning and how it can change the feelings around a market (one that at the beginning of the season had low attendance and uncertainty about some of their personnel). Credit to Kevin Cheveldayoff for all the work he did this off-season. He might be a candidate for the Jim Gregory award.
- We also hearing that NHL rookie Connor Bedard will be out indefinitely with broken jaw after he was hit by New Jersey defenceman Brendan Smith midway through the first period of the game. Chicago ended up losing the game 4-2, but this continues to add more players to the injury reserve for the Chicago Blackhawks, along with Nick Foligno (with a broken finger), Taylor Raddysh (for his groin), Tyler Johnson (for his foot) and Anthony Beauvillier (wrist) to injury, as well as Taylor Hall out for the season. The Blackhawks do need some more bodies, but were able to win on Sunday, after beating Calgary 4-3. It looks like the team will still be at the bottom of the standing, but it is understandable as the team is in a rebuild. That being said, GM Kyle Davidson has a lot of work to do and might be taking on some contracts in the coming weeks from teams, all while acquiring some more draft picks and prospects, like Zach Sanford off the waiver wire, from the Arizona Coyotes. We might also not see Bedard at the All-Star game.
- It also sounds like The L.A. Kings will be without backup goaltender Pheonix Copley for the remainder of the season due to undergoing successful ACL surgery. Copley had a hard time struggling in the past two seasons and this didn’t help him get back to form, but we hope to see him back next season. In the interim, David Rittich will serve as Talbot’s backup, while Aaron Dell joins their farm team in Ontario. Talbot has been excellent for the King’s this season, but he can’t be overplayed so that he is healthy and ready for the postseason.
- Finally, Team U.S.A has won the Gold Medal at the World Junior Championship in Sweden, after beating Team Sweden 6-2. This is their sixth Gold Medal in the U.S. history. They finished the tournament with a 6-1-0 record and had a lot of great talent on the team such as Isaac Howard (a Tampa Bay Lightning prospect), Rutger McGroarty (Winnipeg Jets prospects), Will Smith (San Jose Sharks prospect) and Gabe Perreault (New York Rangers prospects). Congrats to the team and to all the winners and for another successful tournament. Team Czechia took bronze after stunning Finland and beating them 8-5. We look forward to next year’s tournament.
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’
