Snapshots: Maurice, Morrissey, Davies

Finland wound up in second place in its group at the Olympics and have a chance at a bye before the quarterfinals.  However, at one point, it looked like the team could have been led by a different bench boss.  Helsingen Sanomat’s Sami Hoffren and Teemu Suvinen report that following a tough showing at the 4 Nations Face-Off and World Championship, a group of NHL veterans made an effort to try to get Panthers head coach Paul Maurice appointed to Finland’s coaching staff for these Olympics.  GM Jere Lehtinen acknowledged discussing the idea with the players who wanted the change but nothing further came of it with head coach Antti Pennanen remaining in charge, a role he will hold through the spring of 2027 at a minimum.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

• Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey missed Friday’s Olympic game against Switzerland and has already been ruled out for Sunday’s contest against France, relays Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press (Twitter link). However, Canada’s head coach Jon Cooper indicated that “by no means is he out for the tournament.”  That suggests that the undisclosed injury is at least relatively minor if he’s going to potentially be back within the next week.  That would be a big boost for Canada’s back end as well as Winnipeg’s with a busy stretch of games coming up after the break.
• After having his contract with Florida terminated a little more than a week ago, Josh Davies has found a new team. The AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals announced that they’ve signed the forward to a deal for the remainder of the season.  Drafted in the sixth round in 2022, Davies has played primarily in the ECHL over his professional career and it appears he was willing to walk away from the rest of his NHL deal to get an opportunity to play at the AHL level for the first time this season.