Hey everyone, hope you are all doing well. It’s been a steady week in the world of hockey after a whirlwind of a wild trade deadline, but there is some of the news from around the world of hockey. This is what is happening right now:
- Aaron Ekblad of the Florida Panthers has been suspended 20 games for violating the NHL & NHLPA performance-enhancing drug policy. Ekblad, 29, is in the final year of his contract and has 3 goals and 30 assists in 56 games this season. Ekblad has also released a statement and we will see how this will impact the Panthers, even after bringing in Seth Jones. It will be interesting to see how things proceed once he returns. The last example of this type of suspension for Nate Schmidt during the 2018-19 season.
- In other news from around the rink, the former Arizona Coyotes owners IceArizona (including Alex Meruelo) are suing the Arizona Board of Regents to try and recover their $3.5 million security deposit on the use of Mullett Arena. The Coyotes broke their lease agreement, suspending operations after just two of the three agreed upon seasons at the arena after the team was sold to the NHL and then relocated to Salt Lake, Utah. This is a story that we will be monitoring.
- The New York Rangers have re-signed goaltender Jonathan Quick to a 1-year, $1.55-million AAV. Quick, 39, has played 21 games and has a .896 SV% and a 3.14 GAA along with 3 shutouts. This is a good piece for a team that struggled early on but did make some moves and the Rangers find themselves at 31-28-6 and 5th in the Metro division.
- The LA Kings have signed Andre Lee to a 2-year contract extension with an AAV of 775K (One-way). Lee, 24, was a 7th-round pick in the 2019 draft (going 188th overall) and has played 19 games and putting up 1 goal and 2 assists. He has also played for the Ontario Reign.
- The Mikko Rantanen saga is now over, after a wild season of him being traded from Colorado to the Canes, and then being traded again to the Dallas Stars, who signed the big star to a 8-year, $96 million contract (with an AAV of $12 million) after this season is done. He has made his debut against Edmonton, and the 28 year old has played 64 games this season with all 3 clubs and has put up 29 goals and 44 assists. It is now coming out that in internal conversations with Head Coach Rod Brind’Amour, that Rantanen noted to him and the club that the would only play for 4 clubs and the Canes weren’t that, but now there is also pushback about this from Rantanen’s agent Andy Scott. This will make the story much more interesting. It also paves way for the negotiations with Toronto Maple Leafs and Mitch Marner.
- Speaking of Rantanen’s former teammates, Nathan MacKinnon has hit 1000 NHL points, after logging 2 assists against the 3 to 0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. This is adding to an impressive resume for the 29-year-old centre, who already has a Stanley Cup and numerous other records on his resume. He is also 100th player in league history to do so as MacKinnon pushes his team to go for another deep run.
- The other big trade in the league that came in last minute was Brad Marchard (captain of the Boston Bruins) being traded to the Florida Panthers for a conditional 2027 second-round pick. The 2027 2nd will become a 2027 or 2028 1st if Florida wins 2 rounds in 2025 playoffs and Marchand appears in at least 50% of the team’s playoff games. This will be fun to see, especially on a line with Matthew Tkachuk & Sam Bennett.
- As always, there is a lot more news so make sure to tune in for our aired Season 6, Episode 25 of Two Guys & Hockey Talk next Wednesday. We dive into some of these great topics, and so 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’
