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Coaches, GMs To Meet With NHL Today About Goaltender Interference

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With goaltender interference becoming one of the most talked about topics in the NHL in recent weeks if not months, TSN’s Darren Dreger tweeted that the four NHL All-Star coaches, NHL general managers and team executives are meeting today in Tampa Bay with league brass to discuss it. Dreger adds that NHL director of officiating Stephen Walkom will also attend the meeting.

The debate has been glorified recently as goals scored by Toronto’s Auston Matthews and Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid both had their goals taken away due to the rule. Matthews’ goal was called back Monday against Colorado after it was found he got caught up in goaltender Jonathan Bernier’s blocker. Both he and coach Mike Babcock said after the game that they didn’t understand what constitutes goaltender interference.

“There’s definitely a bit of grey area there,” Matthews said Saturday, according to Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. “Night in, night out, some stuff is goalie interference and some stuff isn’t. You kinda compare and it doesn’t make sense sometimes.”

McDavid had his goal called back Thursday against Calgary when his skates hit the stick of goaltender David Rittich.

“I think everyone just wants black and white,” McDavid said post-game. “I think everyone just wants it to be goaltender interference or not.”

That debate continues as Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby today said he has no problem with the goaltender interference rule, pointing out that the referees made the right call in both situations involving Matthews and McDavid.

“There’s been some situations where it’s probably been magnified. It happened in Toronto, and it happened in Edmonton, so you tend to look at it a little more,” Crosby said during the all-star game’s media day. “As a player, you have a pretty good idea. If you affect the goalie’s ability to make a save, it’s not going to be a goal. I think it’s been pretty consistent. It’s tough in the moment to understand that. I watch a lot of hockey, and I like to think, as a player, I’m pretty aware when it’s going to be called back.”

All-Star Skills Competition Assignments Released

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With the All-Star game one day away, many NHL fans often get more excited for the 2018 GEICO NHL All-Star Skills Competition, which will be tonight. The NHL released the list of who will be participating in each of the six competitions with the winner of each receiving $25K.

Enterprise NHL Fastest Skater – Each skater is timed for one full lap around the rink.
Brayden Point (Tampa Bay Lightning)
Zach Werenski (Columbus Blue Jackets)
Rickard Rakell (Anaheim Ducks)
Noah Hanifin (Carolina Hurricanes)
Josh Bailey (New York Islanders)
Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche)
Jack Eichel (Buffalo Sabres)
Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers)

Dunkin Donuts NHL Passing Challenge – Requires three skills over one round, including Target Passing (making four passes to a target that light up randomly), Give-and-Go (must complete four successful passes through a course in the neutral zone) and Mini Nets (must complete four passes over barricades and into mini-nets).
Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning)
Claude Giroux (Philadelphia Flyers)
Brayden Schenn (St. Louis Blues)
Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Arizona Coyotes)
Eric Staal (Minnesota Wild)
Alex Pietrangelo (St. Louis Blues)
Kris Letang (Pittsburgh Penguins)
Drew Doughty (Los Angeles Kings)

GEICO NHL Save Streak – Goalies attempt to win by making the most consecutive saves against an opposing division on a minimum of nine shots.
Henrik Lundqvist (New York Rangers) vs. Central Division
Connor Hellebuyck (Vancouver Canucks) vs. Pacific Division
Pekka Rinne (Nashville Predators) vs. Metropolitan Division
Marc-Andre Fleury (Vegas Golden Knights) vs. Atlantic Division
Andrei Vasilevskiy (Tampa Bay Lightning) vs. Central Division

Gatorade NHL Puck Control Relay – A timed event that involves three skills, including Stickhandling (where a skater must control a puck through a series of eight pucks in a straight line), Cone Control (where a skater controls a puck through a series of eight cones in a zig-zag formation) and Gates (where a skater must shoot or choose to guide the puck through a lighted rung of a gate).
Johnny Gaudreau (Calgary Flames)
Aleksander Barkov (Florida Panthers)
Erik Karlsson (Ottawa Senators)
John Tavares (New York Islanders)
Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers)
Auston Matthews (Toronto Maple Leafs)
Tyler Seguin (Dallas Stars)
Patrick Kane (Chicago Blackhawks)

PPG NHL Hardest Shot – Over two rounds, each player will attempt two shots measured in miles per hour with the highest speed recorded.
John Klingberg (Dallas Stars)
Alex Ovechkin (Washington Capitals)
P.K. Subban (Nashville Predators)
Brent Burns (San Jose Sharks)
Steven Stamkos (Tampa Bay Lightning)

Honda NHL Shooting Accuracy – A timed event in which a skater is positioned 25 feet behind the goal line and must shoot at five LED targets in the goal. A target will light up and the players has three seconds to hit it.
Brian Boyle (New Jersey Devils)
Blake Wheeler (Winnipeg Jets)
James Neal (Vegas Golden Knights)
Brock Boeser (Vancouver Canucks)
Brad Marchand (Boston Bruins)
Anze Kopitar (Los Angeles Kings)
Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins)
Steven Stamkos (Tampa Bay Lightning)

Mark Letestu’s Trade Value Dropping

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Veteran center Mark Letestu has been a hot name on the rumor mill this season. The 32-year-old is an impending free agent coming off a career-high 35 points last season. While not a statistical machine, Letestu has been the definition of reliable in his nine-year NHL career. He can play on the power play and penalty kill, excels at the face-off dot, and is hardly ever found taking a bad penalty. With the Edmonton Oilers struggling this season, it seemed that one silver lining could be the return they could get for the dependable Letestu.

That dream may have slipped away already though, as 2017-18 continues to be just as disappointing for Letestu as it has for the Oilers. Through 48 games, Letestu’s 16 points puts him well off his pace from last season and much of those offensive struggles have come lately. Letestu has not recorded a point in 14 games and his last assist came back on December 12th, as his production has dried up completely. Tack on Letestu’s -15 rating, the worst on the team, and the once-reliable forward has been both an offensive non-factor and defensive liability this season. As a result, his ice time has suffered. Letestu has skated in under 10 minutes in six games this season, including back-to-back eight-minute games last week; he had one such game last season.

Now, coach Todd McLellan has taken the next step. Even with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins sidelined with injury, the Oilers’ bench boss has decided he has had enough of Letestu’s lackluster play, making him a healthy scratch for tonight’s big game against their Alberta rivals, the Calgary Flames. Even taking into account the poor play of the entire Oilers team this year, it still does not excuse the drop-off in all around play by Letestu this season. Now, not only has he been objectively bad, but even his team has lost confidence in his ability. Perhaps this benching will jump start Letestu’s season and he can rebuild his trade value over the next month, ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline. Otherwise, GM Peter Chiarelli may essentially give away the expiring center, as he won’t come close to the once-promising return he may have gotten earlier in the year.

Detroit Red Wings Ready To Sell

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The Detroit Red Wings were hoping for a better season in 2017-18 than the year before. In 2016-17, the storied franchise missed the playoffs for the first time in a quarter century, going 33-36-13 and finishing seventh in the Atlantic Division. They missed Nicklas Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk and other legendary Red Wings players, and relied too heavily on an aging Henrik Zetterberg for their offensive spark. They sold some assets at the traded deadline, knowing they weren’t headed for the playoffs. This year is much the same.

Through 47 games, the Red Wings are 19-20-8 and in almost exactly the same place they were a year prior—when they had a 20-19-8 record. Now that same selling decision has been made, according to a source for The Athletic’s Craig Custance (subscription required) and the Red Wings are one of the first teams to contact others around the league making it clear they’re ready to deal. Whether that means a full tear down or just expiring contracts isn’t clear, though Custance believes there is more “willingness to move players with term on their contracts,” at least for the right price. He details those that may be available, including pending free agent Mike Green who recently ranked tenth in our Midseason UFA Power Rankings.

The idea of a tear down in Detroit though poses another question. What happens to GM Ken Holland?

If the last two years have been viewed as a disappointment in Detroit, the salary structure going forward is a disaster. The team has few really exciting pieces, and yet find themselves at the very top of the league in terms of projected cap hit according to CapFriendly. They have quite a bit of dead money in the way of Johan Franzen’s long-term injury and Stephen Weiss’ buyout payments, and still have long-term deals on the books for players like Justin Abdelkader, Frans Nielsen and Danny DeKeyser.

The decision to tear down, or at least sell off a good portion of assets is probably the right move for the struggling club. Despite sitting in fourth place in the Atlantic, they are 13 points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs and would easily rank dead last in the Metropolitan. But if a real fire-sale is going to happen, allowing Holland to captain it seems like a vote of confidence in his role going forward. If the team has any plans of moving on from their long-time executive, why allow him to be the deciding voice on which assets to keep or jettison, or moreover which ones to bring in?

There have been several rumors over the past few months that Holland could be a new face in Vancouver, added to their front office group after Jim Benning’s contract expires at the end of the season. Whether there is any truth to that is still to be seen, but for now Holland remains in control of the Red Wings. A tear down is important and can be empowering for a franchise and its fans if done correctly. Before the decision is made on whether to trade Tomas Tatar or Gustav Nyquist, a similar one will have to be made a little higher up the food chain.

Oilers Might Be Wise To Still Pursue Another Goalie

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  • Even though they’ve already made a move to add a goaltender in Al Montoya, James O’Brien of NBC’s Pro Hockey Talk makes the case that the Oilers should look into adding another netminder. Cam Talbot has struggled considerably as of late and is only signed for one more year after this one, similar to Montoya.  If GM Peter Chiarelli has reservations about whether or not Talbot is the right fit for them for the long-term, they would be wise to look into someone who could take on more of the workload, especially since they will have expectations of trying to contend next season.

Edmonton Officially Hires Paul Coffey As Skills Development Coach

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Sunday: Sportsnet’s John Shannon tweets that the Edmonton Oilers have officially hired Coffey as their Skills Development Coach. TSN’s Ryan Rishaug adds that the hiring of Coffey is not meant to be a quick fix to save the Oilers season or fix their special teams play. Rather the hiring is more about the long-term development of young talent, particularly on defense.

Saturday: It looks like the Edmonton Oilers are looking into digging into the 1980’s well as TSN’s Bob McKenzie reports that the Oilers are talking to Hall of Fame defenseman Paul Coffey to return to the organization. While the details of the role that Coffey might play within the Oilers franchise is sketchy, McKenzie suggests the team could be looking to add him to head coach Todd McLellan’s staff.

McKenzie adds that once an agreement is in place, issues like what role he will play and the degree of Coffey’s involvement will be “a work in progress.” The 56-year-old Coffey finished his career having played in 1,409 games with 396 goals and 1,531 points. A three-time Norris Trophy winner, Coffey played seven years in Edmonton before moving on to play with several other teams, including the Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings, Detroit Red Wings, Hartford Whalers, Philadelphia Flyers, Chicago Blackhawks, Carolina Hurricanes and the Boston Bruins before retiring after the 2000-01 season.

He has little coaching experience as he only coached one year in the Ontario Junior Hockey League for the Pickering Panthers, a team he co-owns. However, many have suggested he might be valuable working with defensemen and could be a good fit in Edmonton with their defensive struggles.

Nugent-Hopkins Injury Won't Affect Edmonton's Deadline Plans

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  • The injury to Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins likely won’t play much of an impact in Edmonton’s trade deadline preparations, Sportsnet’s Mark Spector suggests. While there’s a strong assumption that Nugent-Hopkins will eventually have to be traded with Connor McDavid’s new $12.5MM AAV contract kicking in next season, it’s unlikely that they would have been looking to move him until the summer anyway and the news he’ll miss five-to-six weeks all but cements that.

Edmonton Oilers Place Nugent-Hopkins On IR, Recall Pakarinen

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The Edmonton Oilers have placed Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on injured reserve, recalling Iiro Pakarinen to fill his roster spot. Nugent-Hopkins was injured in Saturday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights, but was expected to return following the Oilers bye week. Edmonton won’t be back in action until Saturday evening, but have at least brought Pakarinen up to practice with the team in case Nugent-Hopkins is unable to play.

Pakarinen, 26, has played 18 games for the Oilers this season but has been held to just a single point. The Finnish forward was re-signed to a one-year $750K contract last spring, and was expected to take a regular role in Edmonton’s bottom six. That hasn’t exactly materialized, as he’s spent just as much time in the minor leagues as the NHL, scoring 13 points in 18 games for the Bakersfield Condors.

The Oilers will start the unofficial second half of their season against the Vancouver Canucks this weekend, and find themselves still 10 points out of a wildcard spot with several teams ahead of them. Sitting 13th in the Western Conference, their season hasn’t gone anything like what was expected of them after Connor McDavid and Cam Talbot led them to a seventh game of the second round a year ago.

With their third-leading scorer in Nugent-Hopkins now banged up, and just 16 games left before the February 26th trade deadline, the Oilers will have to make a quick decision on whether to sell off several of their assets or try and climb their way out of the gutter with a strong second half. It’s not out of the question that they could make up some ground in the Pacific Division, but pending unrestricted free agents like Patrick Maroon, Mark Letestu and Mike Cammalleri might all be more useful to the franchise going forward as trade bait.

Oilers Likely To Trade Patrick Maroon

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With the Oilers on the outside looking in at a playoff spot and the fact that he is a pending unrestricted free agent, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on Sportsnet 960 (audio link) that it’s highly likely that winger Patrick Maroon is dealt in advance of the February 26th trade deadline.

“I think he’s going to get traded.  I don’t think there’s a doubt that he’s going to get traded.  I would be surprised that they’re keeping him. I don’t see any way that he finishes – I shouldn’t say that because there’s always a way.  I would say it is extremely, extremely unlikely that he finishes this year in Edmonton.”

Nov 24, 2017; Buffalo, NY, USA; Edmonton Oilers left wing Patrick Maroon (19) against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center. Buffalo beats Edmonton 3 to 1. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY SportsThe rugged winger is on pace for another 20-goal season after posting a career-best 27 last year and has shown some chemistry on Edmonton’s top line with Connor McDavid.  That type of versatility to play up and down in the lineup will likely be attractive to teams.  The fact that he doesn’t shy away from playing physically will also help, knowing that the postseason is a tougher grind than the regular season.

What will perhaps be most appealing to teams is Maroon’s contract.  While he carries a cap hit of $2MM, $500K of that is being retained by Anaheim as part of the trade that saw him join Edmonton back at the 2016 deadline.  Most contending teams should be able to work in a prorated $1.5MM cap charge without too much difficulty and the asking price will undoubtedly be lower than what Buffalo is seeking for Evander Kane, the top rental player up front.

While the Oilers have certainly been pleased with what Maroon has been able to provide since being acquired, they’re unlikely to have the money to keep him around on a long-term deal with McDavid’s new $12.5MM contract kicking in next season and have nearly $61MM committed to just 13 players, per CapFriendly.  As a result, even if they do inch closer to a postseason spot in the weeks to come, the prudent move for the Oilers may still be to trade Maroon now rather than lose a key contributor for nothing in the summer.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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