The Calgary Flames are without two key players tonight as they take on the Montreal Canadiens. Before puck drop, the team announced center Elias Lindholm and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar are out with an upper-body injury and a non-COVID illness, respectively.
Mikael Backlund slides up to the top line in Lindholm’s absence, while Connor Mackey makes his sixth appearance of the season in place of Weegar. Lindholm isn’t quite producing at last year’s clip, but he still leads the team in scoring with 23 points in 28 games. Weegar’s yet to score his first goal as a member of the Flames, but has six assists in 28 games and is averaging over 20 minutes per game. Still, Calgary would like some more offense out of Weegar, who had a career-high 44 points last season as a member of the Florida Panthers.
- Today wasn’t the most eventful opening day of the NHL’s Board of Governors’ meeting in Florida, but NHL.com’s Dan Rosen expects that to change tomorrow. Rosen notes that tomorrow’s docket includes salary cap projections for the 2023-24 season, updates regarding the ongoing sale process for the Ottawa Senators, and a potential fan code of conduct. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will likely issue an update after tomorrow’s meetings conclude.
- Speaking to reporters, including ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski, Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said the team won’t enter a rebuild while Alex Ovechkin is still chasing the NHL’s all-time goals record. Ovechkin has noted a desire to remain competitive while chasing the record, vying for team and individual success. Leonsis also noted that Wayne Gretzky himself will be in attendance for all Capitals games as Ovechkin inches toward his record of 894 career goals.
Caps are 13-1-1 when scoring 3 or more goals I believe. Maybe 14-1-1 after last night. The games they lose they aren’t scoring. The defense has been better. No Wilson, no backstrom, oshie, orlov, Carlson have all missed time. And brown has been out too. Strome and Milano have been early steals for this team. I’m not giving up on this year yet. Glad to hear they will not be selling
It’s Ted’s team to do as he wishes. But I’d be pissed if I lived in D.C. had seasons tickets and are making bad long term moves just so Ovie has a BETTER , not guaranteed, shot at breaking the record. For instance constantly trading the first round draft picks and most of the best prospects for established NHL’ers . Many with there best years behind them. You could do an on the fly rebuild and not really lessen Ovie’s shot at the record .