NHL Topics:

Here’s our weekly snapshot.

News:
Fans are returning to the NHL rinks. Rates are going down, but all of NY state is allowing 10% in all arenas. Rangers had fans on Thursday. Isles and Sabres on Sunday. Canada will probably not have fans this season (3% vaccinated in Canada, want 70%).
Claude Julien was fired as head coach of the Canadiens on Wednesday despite his team being in a playoff spot at 9-5-4. Won only 2 of their last 8 and were 8 pts behind the Leafs for 1st. Dominique Ducharme was named interim coach and the team also added Alex Burrows to the staff. The Habs also fired Kirk Muller who served as HC while Julien had surgery for a heart procedure while in the playoffs. GM Marc Bergevin is in the hot seat as well after an extremely busy off season (added Allen, Edmundson, Toffoli, Anderson, etc.) as he only has this current year on his contract. Ducharme is considered an up and coming coach, but how will the organization view him in the offseason? Who’s next? DJ Smith in Ott, Blashill in DET, Krueger in Buff, Torts in CBJ, Hynes in Nashville?
Sabres star C Jack Eichel was removed from the lineup during warmups on Thursday against the Devils. Coach Ralph Krueger said it was an injury. Eichel came out and contradicted his HC’s statement and said it was an injury from the Devils game on Tuesday and the team knew he would be out. Eichel returned in Sunday’s loss to the Flyers after missing 2 games. Eichel was also the #2 ranked player on the big board. Many execs think he will be traded by the deadline and a few said the Rangers definitely. Darren Dreger reported that Eichel had officially asked for a trade. Per Dreger “There’s some who wonder if Eichel’s hurt, but his body language and the way he’s playing doesn’t look good at all”. Could he pull a James Harden?
Another Buffalo player that continues to have issues with the team is Jeff Skinner. He was sat for 3 consecutive games (returned Sunday and skated 12 mins) and his agent, Don Meehan (one of the top guys out there) had a talk with GM Kevyn Adams on their options. Skinner has a NMC and is owed 54 million over the next 6 seasons. If they were to buy him out, they would owe 37 million over 12 years. Skinner might have to waive his NMC or allow more teams into the list if he wants out.

Panarin still a week away at least as he deals with the fallout from the Russian story about his domestic violence incident. Many players, the KHL and law enforcement officials have come out and said it is not true.

Many NHL execs, including Steve Yzerman, want the draft to be pushed back so the 2021 prospects have a chance to play. The teams also want scouts in the building.
Lundqvist posted a video of his skating and making saves. Says it will be months before he can say if he will play again. Just good to see him out there and in pads.
Pretty funny occurrence last week. There was a 3:36 sec delayed penalty against the Kings vs the Blues. Possibly a new record (not recorded). Torry Krug with 2:53 sec shift. Elliot Friedman relayed a story about Gary Galley and Rob Blake. Galley was playing for the Kings and had a shift that was closing in on 3 minutes. Both him and his D partner were gassed and couldn’t get the puck out of their zone. Blake jumped on the ice and took a too many men penalty. Galley asked him why he did that and Blake said “I just felt really bad for you”.

Brett Connolly put on waivers by Cats. Oilers add Stalock off waivers.

Binnington went off on SJ players. Went over to the bench after Sharks players made comments. Then attached players on the way out, including goalie Devan Dubnyk. STL is fiery and doing quite well in the absence of Parayko. Jordan Kyrou at 5 on 5 pts per 60 is one of the best in the league.

3 stars of the week:

Vasilevskiy - 79 saves on 81 shots, 3-0, .67GAA, .975svpct, 2SO against Canes (x2) and Stars. 2nd behind Fleury on the season in both GAA and SVPCT.

P Kane - league leading 3-5-8pts in 3 wins last week, including 400th goal. 2nd in NHL in pts with 11-23-34 in 23 games (McDavid with 40pts). 9th US born player and 100th overall player with 400G.

Zuccarello - 2-6-8pts in 4 games to help Wild to 2nd place in West. In 7 games this season, Zucc has 3-8-11pts.

NHL announced its fan skills at home contest on TikTok/Instagram. March 1 to April 28, fans can submit videos of themselves performing hockey skills of all levels in any of 5 categories: shootout, accuracy, celly, trick shot and stickhandling. I suggest a video of Steve backhanding a puck to my groin, JJ dangling Kevin or Valvano uppercutting someone (accuracy). Or Dean trucking Schmim.

Top Shot phenomenon

Injuries:
Samsonov and Ristolainen back from Covid protocol.
Rumors:
Gaudreau is a hot name. 1 yr left for under 7 million. Rumors that Matthew Tkachuk teammates are frustrated by his antics (puck flip and how there is always something with him every game). Thoughts he could be on the block.

Habs got calls about Price (Oilers and Avs were the names per sources)...would the Habs deal another HOF goalie to the Avs?

Vancouver/Ducks in serious discussions about Vitanen for Danton Heinen. Also Getzlaf will only be dealt if he wants.

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