Ordinarily I work in some news and notes from around the NHL in my bullets in the morning, but there was so much going on in the league last night that we needed to kick off our Friday morning with a quick lap around the NHL. I’ll have more of a Blackhawks-centric bullets as well.
A fascinating trade went down between Philadelphia and Calgary that included four players — three of whom played last night. The Flyers’ game also saw Philly’s head coach and star rookie get after it on the bench after a blown assignment. We also learned the leadership groups for the 4 Nations Face-Off. But we’re going to start with a pretty cool moment in Montreal with a former Blackhawk saying farewell.
Fleury’s Montreal Finale
Marc-André Fleury is one of the best goaltenders the NHL has ever seen. He’s also one of the truly good guys the game has seen. Which is why each time he makes his last appearance in a city, the fans and teams pay their respects.
Last night was special. It was Fleury’s final trip to his hometown of Montreal. Not only did he get a great ovation before the game, but he received an incredible reception — standing ovation and receiving line from the Habs — after shutting them out on their own ice.
You can't write a more storybook moment than this, Marc-André Fleury records a shutout in his final game in Montreal 🌸 pic.twitter.com/Q5NEsJqwGc— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 31, 2025
Trade Night
The Flyers and Flames made a deal last night that’s fascinating. Calgary sent forwards Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier with a second-round pick and a seventh-round pick to Philly for forwards Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee. There were a couple interesting issues in play: Frost and Farabee played last night (and Frost got dinged up in the game). Pelletier played 5:22 before being removed from Calgary’s game against Anaheim last night. And Kuzmenko had to waive his no-trade clause to go to Philadelphia and was held out of the Flames’ game.
With the trade, Philadelphia now owns seven picks (three 1s, four 2s) in the first two rounds of the 2025 NHL Draft. It also means more second-round picks in the 2025 NHL Draft have now been traded (17) than still reside with the original owner.
Unrest in Philly
While the trade got the news after the Flyers’ game last night, this heated “discussion” between head coach John Tortorella and rookie Matvei Michkov got plenty of attention during the contest.
Here's the heated exchange between John Tortorella and Matvei Michkov after the first Islanders goal. #Flyers pic.twitter.com/lDOFXC4WSc
— Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) January 31, 2025
4 Nations Face-Off Leaders
The NHL announced the leadership groups for the respective teams in the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off. I would have liked to see Teuvo Teräväinen get an A from Finland.
Your captains: Auston Matthews (USA), Sidney Crosby (Canada), Victor Hedman (Sweden) and Sacha Barkov (Finland).
NHL Odds and Ends
- One star player who won’t be at the 4 Nations Face-Off: Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen. He suffered a nasty injury against Vegas and tests indicated he’ll be out week-to-week for Dallas. Heiskanen has been ruled out of the tournament in February.
- The Utah Hockey Club made a change to the final three potential permanent team names. Wasatch: OUT. Outlaws: IN. It’s down to Utah Hockey Club, Utah Mammoth and Utah Outlaws.
- Blackhawks legend Adam Boqvist was placed on waivers by the Florida Panthers on Thursday.
- Brandon Saad cleared his release waivers on Thursday. Frank Seravalli reported the Leafs, Golden Knights, Devils and Lightning could be interested.
- On last night’s “Insider Trading” segment, Pierre LeBrun said Columbus had reached out to Vancouver to ask about Elias Pettersson.
- Finally, the NHL is going to the cartoons apparently.