The NHL announced its Three Stars for last week with Colorado Avalanche goaltender Pavel Francouz getting the top honors. Francouz, filling in for the injured Philipp Grubauer went 3-0-1 for the week, posting a 1.46 GAA and a .941 save percentage along with a 1-0 shutout over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday. Francouz is in his first full season with the Avalanche and had done an exceptional job as their emergency starter where he ranks fifth in the league with a 2.27 GAA and tied for fourth in the league with a .927 save percentage.
Mika Zibanejad of the New York Rangers received the second star, scoring three goals and five assists over three games for the Rangers. He helped lead New York to three victories as the rebuilding franchise suddenly is within four points of a playoff spot. Calgary Flames forward Andrew Mangiapane takes the third star honors with five goals and six points in three games, which includes his first-career hat trick against Anaheim on Feb. 17.
- The Vegas Golden Knights have been quiet so far on Monday, but the team still managed to pick up a fifth-round pick in 2021 from the Carolina Hurricanes, a condition of the Erik Haula deal this offseason, according to Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston. Haula was traded earlier today to Florida as part of a package for Vincent Trocheck, which enacted a condition in the Golden Knights trade which stated that the Hurricanes would send a fifth-round pick to Vegas if Haula was traded to another team for a player.
- The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz adds that even though the San Jose Sharks have traded away veteran forward Patrick Marleau to Pittsburgh earlier today, the veteran is expected to be welcome back next year to San Jose if he is interested. The 40-year-old is just 53 games away from breaking Gordie Howe’s all-time games played mark. A reunion would allow him to do it in a Sharks sweater next season.
- The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman reports that the Edmonton Oilers are currently working on getting extensions worked out for forwards Riley Sheahan and Josh Archibald, both who will be unrestricted free agents at the end of the season. Both players are key players on the team’s penalty kill with Sheahan logging the second-most minutes on the PK, while Archibald is fourth. Both players have fared well after singing one-year pacts this summer. Sheahan has seven goals and 14 points in 57 games, while Archibald has with 10 goals and 17 points in 53 games.
Gordie Howe played for the Sharks? Wow! He was around a long time!
@Sheep8 – Unless Holger did a rare correction after you posted, there isn’t an implication that Mr. Hockey played in SJ. However, “welcome back” should be corrected to “welcomed back”, so that’s the slight blunder in this article.
Yes, there was a correction made regarding Gordie Howe. It read as if Howe had the Sharks all-time games record, not NHL!