As we head into the All-Star break the NHL announced its Three Stars for January. The first star of the month was Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon who posted 12 goals and 14 assists in just 12 games to lead the Avalanche to a 9-3 record in the month of January.
Following him was Edmonton Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner who had a perfect month going 9-0 with a 1.33 goals-against average and .953 save percentage as he helped guide the Oilers on their current 16-game win streak. It’s been a remarkable turnaround for Skinner after he started the season with losses in seven of his first eight games.
Finally, Vancouver Canucks center Elias Pettersson rounds out the top-3 as he finished January with 14 goals and seven assists in 13 games and he will be headed to Toronto for his fourth NHL All-Star Game this weekend.
In other afternoon notes:
- Minnesota Wild defenseman Brock Faber was named the NHL’s Rookie of the Month for January. The 21-year-old moved into the Calder Trophy conversation by posting two goals and 11 assists in 14 games during the first month of 2024 and averaged over 25 minutes of ice time per game. Faber became the first player in Wild history to take home the honor and led all NHL rookies in multiple statistical categories including points, time on ice, shots (with 31), blocked shots (with 38) and assists. Faber now has four goals and 25 assists in 49 games this season with the Wild.
- The Detroit Red Wings have assigned defenseman Brogan Rafferty to the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League. The move was made this morning and is most likely a paper move to allow the Wings to bank cap space during the All-Star break after their 3-2 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators last night. The 28-year-old has been a healthy scratch during his recalls this season and hasn’t played an NHL yet this year. Rafferty has two goals and 14 assists in 38 AHL games this season.
Faber surely should be in the Calder lead at this point, The voters always favor forwards but he’s been great and healthy.
Hey, yes we can agree on this one.
Block Faber should be at the top of that list along with Marco Rossi since rossi has come so far since last year.
Sadly I still think the over hyped bedard will get it because well it’s Minnesota and everyone is against the team except for kaprizov, it was hard not to notice him.
Bedard could miss the rest of the season and still win the Calder. The Bettman league is marketing Bedard as the next Wayne Gretzky so there is no way the Calder will go to a more deserving player.
Brogan Rafferty had to take a few days off to get a set of new tires as the old ones wore out after 3 weeks of Grand Rapids to Detroit commuting. But, this week, like Willie Nelson sings….”on the road again”. Drive carefully Brogan!
Jan 26: Detroit Red Wings: Assigned defenseman Brogan Rafferty to Grand Rapids (AHL).
Jan 25: Detroit Red Wings: Recalled defenseman Brogan Rafferty from Grand Rapids (AHL).
Jan 24: Detroit Red Wings: Assigned defenseman Brogan Rafferty to Grand Rapids (AHL)
Jan 23: Detroit Red Wings recalled defenseman Brogan Rafferty from their AHL affiliate
Jan 22: Red Wings assigned defenseman Brogan Rafferty to AHL Grand Rapids this morning.
Jan 21: Red Wings announced that they’ve recalled defenseman Brogan Rafferty from AHL Grand Rapids
Jan 18: Red Wings assigned defenseman Brogan Rafferty to AHL Grand Rapids today.
Jan 13: Detroit Red Wings: Recalled defenseman Brogan Rafferty from Grand Rapids (AHL).