As is often the case, the final week of the regular season around the NHL was a busy one. Here are the top stories from the past seven days.
Sedins Retire: The Canucks were hoping to get an answer about the playing futures of Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin heading into the summer and they now have that as the twins announced that 2017-18 would be their final season. The twins wound up playing all 17 of their NHL seasons together with Vancouver and between the two of them, hold franchise records in games played, goals, assists, points, plus/minus, and shots on goal (among others). They sit first and second in points and considering Alexander Edler is the only other active Canuck in the top-ten and the fact he’s more than 500 points behind each of them, it’s safe to say those two will be at the top for many years to come.
Suter Out For The Year: While Minnesota is off to the playoffs, they will be competing without their top defender as Ryan Suter is out for the remainder of the season after undergoing ankle surgery. That’s a huge blow for their back end as not only has Suter been quite productive (he tied his career high in points with 55), he also led their team in ice time per game by a considerable margin, logging just shy of 27 minutes per game. The injury is quite a severe one as well; Suter noted that the severity of it was significant enough that it could have been a career-ender had he played in a different sport instead. (However, since ankles are tightly secured inside a hockey skate, he should be able to return to action next season.)
Extensions: The Coyotes have locked up their starting goaltender for the next three years as they inked Antti Raanta to a three-year, $12.75MM extension. While he has struggled to stay healthy this season, Raanta was quite sharp when he was in the lineup, posting a 2.24 GAA and a .930 SV% in 48 games. That placed him second in the league in both categories behind Carter Hutton of the Blues. Meanwhile, a long-time Red Wing is also staying put as Detroit signed GM Ken Holland to a two-year extension. The 62-year-old has been with the organization since 1986 and has held the title of General Manager since 1997.
More Retirements: The Sedins weren’t the only players to announce that they were calling it a career. Blackhawks winger Patrick Sharp revealed earlier in the week that this was going to be it for him while Panthers winger Radim Vrbata did the same on Saturday. Sharp finishes up with 287-333-620 totals in 939 games between Philadelphia, Dallas, and Chicago while Vrbata posted 284-339-623 across 1,057 games with seven different organizations (including three separate stints in the desert with the Coyotes).
Coaching News: It took until the final day of the regular season for the first coach to be fired and it was by the Rangers, who relieved Alain Vigneault of his duties. He spent five years with the Blueshirts and his team made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final back in 2014 before losing to the Kings. Vigneault has been a head coach every year since 2006-07 and is sure to draw some attention if and when other vacancies open up. Meanwhile, despite their rough year, there won’t be a change behind the bench in Chicago as the Blackhawks announced that Joel Quenneville will return for his 11th season with the team. While there has been talk of friction between him and GM Stan Bowman, the latter will also retain his title heading into next year.
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