In what was such a busy day regarding
Vancouver Canucks news, there was just as much going on around the entire National Hockey League. We had a Canucks division rival claim a forward off of waivers, a Canuck rival moving on from their head coach, and an update on two superstars and their injuries.
Let’s get into our NHL notebook.
Edmonton Oilers claim Kasperi Kapanen
The Edmonton Oilers got some revenge against the St. Louis Blues after their successful offer sheets on Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway, as they claimed forward Kasperi Kapanen from the Blues.
Kapanen, 28, played in 10 games this season for the Blues, scoring just one goal with zero assists and finishing with a minus-six rating in 11:19 minutes of ice time. The Finnish forward has bounced around the league throughout his career.
He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins 22nd overall in the 2014 draft, but before playing a single game for them, he was traded as the main piece in a deal along with Scott Harrington, Nick Spaling, a 2016 first and third-round pick in exchange for Phil Kessel, Tim Erixon, Tyler Biggs and a 2016 second-round pick.
He spent the first five seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, playing 202 games, scoring 41 goals and 49 assists for 90 points with a plus-six rating. He was then traded back to the Penguins, along with Pontus Aberg and Jesper Lindgren, in exchange for Evan Rodrigues, Filip Hallander, David Warsofsky and a 2020 first-round pick. He would spend the following three seasons in Pittsburgh, scoring 29 goals and 53 assists for 82 points with a plus-nine rating in 162 games.
Despite decent point totals in 2022-2023, his minus-eight rating earned him a demotion to the AHL. However, he didn’t make it there, as the Blues claimed him off waivers. There, he scored eight goals and six assists for 14 points in just 23 games and looked to have maybe found a home. He became a regular in the Blues’ lineup in 2023-24, suiting up in 73 games, scoring six goals and 16 assists for 22 points.
However, Kapanen hasn’t found his stride this season and was placed on waivers. He will now head to Edmonton, where he hopes to crack the lineup as a bottom-six offensive role player.
Boston Bruins fire head coach Jim Montgomery
After a disappointing 8-9-3 start to the season, the Boston Bruins decided to part ways with their head coach, Jim Montgomery. The team announced associate coach Joe Sacco will assume the interim head coaching duties for the time being while the Bruins search for his replacement.
This move came as a surprise, considering how successful the Bruins had been under Montgomery.
After a 120-41-23 record through your first three seasons, it doesn’t normally warrant a change. Montgomery’s success in Boston is highlighted by the 2022-23 season, where the Bruins finished with a 65-12-5 record for 135 points. This set an NHL record, besting the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens, who had a 60-8-12 record for 132 points.
This isn’t Sacco’s first coaching gig. He started by being named the head coach of the Lake Erie Monsters – the Colorado Avalanche affiliate – in their first year of existence in the AHL. He then was promoted to head coach of the Avalanche for the 2009-10 season. He spent the following four seasons in that role before being relieved of his duties after an abysmal 2012-13 season, finishing dead last in the Western Conference with a 16-25-7 record in a shortened 48-game half-lockout season.
Sacco will look to turn the Bruins’ season around. As of this writing, the Bruins sit in the second Wild Card spot, with a one-point edge over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Alex Ovechkin out week to week
Now, this was devastating news for the entire hockey world. After scoring two goals on Monday night against the Utah Hockey Club, Washinton Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin got hurt and did not return.
If you haven’t seen the injury, it doesn’t look too bad at first glance. Jack McBain goes through the Capitals zone with speed and clips the back of Ovechkin’s left knee. Ovechkin does a little jump and falls to the ice, clearing grimacing in pain.
Ovechkin was able to leave the ice under his own power and later did a lap during a stoppage of play to test out the knee but was unable to return.
We say this was devastating because of how amazing Ovechkin has been lately. At 39 years old, the Russian sniper was scoring like he was in his prime 20’s. As it currently sits, Ovechkin leads the entire NHL in goals with 15, two ahead of Leon Draisaitl and Sam Reinhart. Not just that, but he’s also chasing Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goal record of 892 and was well on his way to doing so this season.
Let’s all hope Ovechkin has a speedy recovery. There’s no telling if Ovechkin will come back and score at such a high rate as he has been lately. Once he returns, he will need just 25 more goals to break the record that was once believed to never be touched.
Auston Matthews visits Germany
Auston Matthews has been absent from the Maple Leafs lineup since November 5th. In what was originally reported as an upper-body injury, there was speculation this injury would not hold Matthews out long-term. However, it’s now been two weeks and six games without their new captain.
Maple Leafs General Manager Brad Treliving had an update on his superstar on Tuesday morning.
While you can say it’s not alarming, you don’t often see a player travel continents to get a second opinion on an injury that isn’t concerning. There was a recent star player in the National Football League, Christian McCaffrey, who travelled to Germany to get a second opinion on his injury – one that held him out for 10 weeks.
Friedman wrote:
“It was also stressed that: surgery for Matthews’ undisclosed injury is not being considered and was never part of this process; the European trip was an opportunity to get some “overall body work” done in addition to treatment of whatever is ailing him; and shouldn’t be taken as any indictment of the Maple Leafs’ doctors care as “players get second opinions all the time.” In fact, one of Toronto’s team doctors travelled with Matthews.”
It sounds like Matthews is going to be just fine. The team is expecting him to make a return to the lineup next Wednesday when the Maple Leafs travel to Florida for a date with the Panthers.
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