NEWSLETTER
It’s a mid-week edition of NHL Notes and we have plenty to cover around the league. The Penguins find themselves with a tricky decision as their season draws to a close. John Tortorella dished out an apology to one of his players. Martin St. Louis is back on the Habs bench after a leave of absence. All that and more in this week’s NHL Notes.
NHL Notes
Penguins Paradox
It’s rare that we’re talking about the Penguins and the Draft Lottery in the same sentence, but that’s how the season has gone in Pittsburgh. After making the playoffs every season from 2006-07 through 2021-22, the Penguins will miss the playoffs for a second straight year. Last year, their playoff push at least came down to the season’s final week. This year, Pittsburgh isn’t officially eliminated yet but they’re a whole lot closer to a top-10 pick than the second Wild Card.
It turns out, falling down into that top-10 pick is actually pretty important. In the offseason, Pittsburgh traded for star defenseman Erik Karlsson from the rebuilding Sharks in a deal that included their first-round pick. That pick, however, is top-10 protected meaning if the Penguins finish in the bottom 10 of the league, they get to hold onto that pick.
The Penguins could really use that pick. They’re trying to maximize the remaining years of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malki, Kris Letang, and Erik Karlsson. Tankathon currently projects the Penguins to end up with the 11th pick which would mean that selection flips to San Jose.
So down the stretch, how does Pittsburgh approach this situation? That lottery pick could be a valuable asset to the new President of Hockey Operations Kyle Dubas. He could use it or he could trade it for a more win-now piece that could immediately help this core. The problem is, that there’s a negative chance that any NHL player, let alone Sidney Crosby, will not be playing to win down the stretch.
So do you shut Sid and some of the veterans down? Would that sit right with the Penguins captain or would it rub him the wrong way? Sliding down the stretch and ending up in the bottom 10 would obviously be what’s best for the Penguins as a franchise. The problem is there’s really no telling that to their veteran core.
John Tortorella Apologizes
Flyers head coach John Tortorella is no stranger to controversial or divisive comments to the media or his players. In his latest instance, it wasn’t actually anything he said. When asked about backup goalie Felix Standstrom’s performance in a 4-1 loss to the Panthers on Sunday, Torts just shrugged, looked disgusted, and walked off.
On Tuesday morning meeting with the media after the Flyers’ morning skate at Madison Square Garden, Tortorella apologized for his treatment of his backup goalie.
‘I made a terrible mistake with you guys the other night,” Tortorella said ahead of the Flyers’ game against the Rangers (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP). “My body language was wrong. What I should have said to you — I tried to communicate with you guys after — he’s trying, Sandy’s trying. Things happened this year that put our goaltending situation into a little bit of a state of flux. Sandy did not deserve that from me. You had a perfect right to ask the question. He did not deserve that from me. It was wrong.”
John Tortorella
The Flyers have been a bit of a revolving door in net at times after the indefinite leave of Carter Hart following sexual assault charges in Ontario.
It’s nice to see Torts rectify a mistake, even if it wasn’t as big or as glaring of a bus toss as he’s been a part of in the past. Sandstrom also mentioned that it was essentially water under the bridge.
“He came and apologized to me, too,” Sandstrom said Tuesday. “I know the team is racing to the playoffs, so I totally understand the frustration, too. My last performance wasn’t what this team needed right now, so I totally understand that, too. I just try to focus every day on finding ways to get better, so the next time I get the chance, I can perform way better and where my potential is.”
Felix Sandstrom
The Flyers responded with a better performance against the Rangers last night, though they ultimately fell 6-5 in overtime. Philly currently holds the third spot in the Metropolitan Divison by one point over Washington, though the Caps have two games in hand. The Flyers are currently three points ahead of Detroit who holds the final Wild Card spot and has a game in hand on Philly.
Doan Dazzles In Debut
The Coyotes are going to miss the playoffs again. They have the worst home ice in the NHL by a long shot. But they might also have the coolest, if not one of the coolest, stories in the NHL this season.
Last night in Tempe, Josh Doan (son of Coyotes legend Shane Doan) made his NHL debut for the Arizona Coyotes. Josh, who played his college hockey with Arizona State in Tempe and grew up in Scottsdale, was a 2nd round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft by the Yotes.
In last night’s game, with his parents in a box watching, Doan scored not once, but twice in his first career NHL game!
It truly was a storybook type of night for the Doan family and the Coyotes. Josh’s first goal late in the second period gave the Coyotes a 2-1 lead, then his second goal turned out to be the game-winning tally when he deflected the puck in midway through the third period. He’s got a long way to go to catch his dad, but Josh Doan’s career in Arizona is off to a hell of a start!
Shane Doan played 21 seasons in the NHL all with the Coyotes franchise (20 years in AZ and his rookie year was with Winnipeg before the team moved to Arizona). He’s without a doubt the greatest Coyote of all time leading the franchise in games played (1,540), goals (402), assists (570), and points (972).
