Hey everyone, hope you are all doing well. It’s been a steady week in the world of hockey and here is some of the news from around the world of hockey as we enter the final week of round 2 of the NHL playoffs. This is what is happening right now:
- The Los Angeles Kings have announced that Ken Holland will take over the role as their new GM. Holland, 69, who helped consult for the league last season, was last the GM of the Edmonton Oilers, for 5 seasons. He is best known for his 22-year tenure with the Detroit Red Wings organizaiton, where he won four Stanley Cup championships. He is also out of the running of the Islanders job, which is being scouted and seen as a longer term position.
- The Philadelphia Flyers have also Rick Tocchet their new coach. Tocchet, 61, just finished up coaching the Vancouver Canucks where he spent 2 and a ½ seasons and decided to not extend, preferring to be closer to his family on the East coast. He comes in as the Flyers 25th head coach (after John Tortorella was fired) and it is a club he played for when he played in the NHL. We wish him all the best in the upcoming season.
- Speaking of the Vancouver Canucks, they have also found their head coach by hiring Adam Foote as the 22nd head coach in franchise history. He enters an organisation that struggled to make the postseason this year, and had a 38-30-14 record, after going to game 7 in the second round last year. Foote, 53, was a player himself who laced up for 1,154 regular-season NHL games for the Nordiques, Colorado Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets, putting up 66 goals and 242 assists, and winning a Stanley Cup wins in 1996 and 2001. Vancouver was also able to sign Tom Willander, on of their top prospects to his entry level contract.Willander, 20, recently finished up his second season with the Boston University Terriers, putting up 2 goals and 22 assists in 39 games. He was selected 11th overall in the 2023 NHL Draft.
- It was also announced after our 33 episode, that the Anaheim Ducks have signed Joel Quenville as their new head coach for Anaheim. This comes after him being reprimanded by the league for the Kyle Beach incident. Quenville, 66, noted in his presser that he has taken steps to address and confront the allegations that took place in Chicago. We will see how he takes on the role of coaching a young Anaheim team that is looking in taking the next step to make the postseason next season. This also leaves only a few more positions left in the NHL and a few coaches are still left with a few positions opened (Seattle, Boston, Pittsburgh).
- The other issue that has arised in the league during the postseason is that the NHL has suspended Florida Panthers minority owner Doug Cifu from any involvement with the team or the league after a series of offensive social media posts he posted last Sunday. The tweet was aimed at the Toronto Maple Leafs, as the team faces off in the second 2 with the series being 2-2 and there is discussion about removing his name from the cup that they won last year. We will see if anything emerges from this.
- Speaking of the 2nd round of the playoffs, most series are all 3-1 and could close out by the end of the week as Edmonton, Dallas and Carolina, all are up on their competition and we wonder if we will see the 3rd round start as early as next week. But who makes it and is there anyone who can still overcome the deficit (Vegas, Winnipeg and Washington?)
- The NHL has also announced their 2025 Offer sheets terms for restricted free agents (RFAs) and the new compensations for different players. Some notable names to keep an eye out for are: Evan Bouchard, Noah Dobson, Matthew Knies, and Luke Hughes. Should be a fun off-season.
- In PWHL news, we have learnt that Renata Fast, Sophie Jaques & Claire Thompson have all been named finalists for PWHL Defender of the Year. All are well deserving and the winner of this and the other PWHL Awards will be announced on June 25 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Ottawa. Last season, Montréal’s Erin Ambrose was the winner of the Defender of the Year award.
- In IIHF news, Tage Thompson helped Team USA beat Norway by scoring a hat trick with a power-play goal in overtime to give the United States a 6-5 win in Herning, Denmark. The game was fun, high scoring and dominant as Thompson continued to showcase his skills. This comes after Sidney Crosby led Team Canada to beat France 5 to 0 on Tuesday. This has been some exciting hockey.
- As always, there is a lot more news so make sure to tune in for our aired Season 6, Episode 34 of Two Guys & Hockey Talk on Wednesday nights as 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’
