On Tuesday night, Elliotte Friedman published the latest edition of his 32 Thoughts blog and suggested that the Colorado Avalanche are a “stealth” trade candidate to acquire Jakob Chychrun from the Arizona Coyotes. Such a move is admittedly a longshot, especially considering the quality and number of assets that the Coyotes could procure from other
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As the NHL is rapidly approaching the halfway mark of the 2021-22 season, there is no better time to reflect on what’s transpired during the first half of the campaign. While many of the usual suspects have unsurprisingly landed atop their respective divisional standings, a few teams have exceeded expectations on the back of superb
After an embarrassing 4-1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday night, the New Jersey Devils rebounded by putting up seven goals on the Carolina Hurricanes en route to a 7-4 win. Nathan Bastian had one of his best games of the season since the Devils claimed him on waivers from the Seattle Kraken, while Andreas
Amidst the crowded 2021-22 Norris Trophy field, one dark-horse candidate has emerged to unexpectedly submit his portfolio to be crowned the NHL’s best defenseman. The dramatic entrance belongs to none other than Devon Toews, the Colorado Avalanche‘s other dazzling blueline star. Despite missing 11 games this season, he has gradually crept up the scoring leaderboard,
After a tough 5-3 loss to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday evening, the New Jersey Devils bounced back yesterday with a 3-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Jack Hughes led the way again, with a goal and two assists, but there were plenty of other standout performances. Here are five takeaways from their victory ahead
The Montreal Canadiens are hurting right now, literally and figuratively. Losses are piling up, frustration is mounting, and the playoffs are a pipe dream. General manager Marc Bergevin has a few months to determine what direction he wants to take his hockey club. Although the 56-year-old GM has indicated he does not intend to make
After applying consecutive offensive destructions, the Colorado Avalanche officially marked the end of October, and now head into the second month of the 2021-22 season. The early returns indicate that the Avalanche won’t cruise through the regular season again, and face an uphill battle to reclaim their place atop the NHL’s Western Conference. Now, let’s
One of the biggest storylines coming into this season and out of last season was the captain of the Detroit Red Wings, Dylan Larkin, and his performance as the top-line center. Doubts were going around, including writers like myself that wrote about management needing to find someone to take over that role. It felt as
The New Jersey Devils were on the cusp of a win yesterday until they weren’t. They gave up a late game-tying goal in the third period and ultimately fell to the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 in a shootout. Despite the loss, the Devils secured a point and finished October with a 4-2-1 record. There were plenty of
After Tuesday night’s 6-3 loss at the hand of the Washington Capitals, the Colorado Avalanche fall to 1-2-0 and extend their frustrating start to the season. Although Nathan MacKinnon made his season debut after being kept out of the first two games by COVID-19 protocol, the team failed to capitalize on the return of their
Although most would consider Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche one of the NHL’s best defensemen – by whichever definition they abide – he may not rank first within every list. Physically speaking, Makar is anything but imposing, but the third-year blueliner compensates for his lack of brawn with an uncanny ability to effortlessly dictate
The New Jersey Devils have gotten off to a fast start to their preseason. They defeated the Washington Capitals 5-4 on Wednesday evening and followed it up with a 7-1 beatdown of the New York Rangers last night. Sure it’s only the preseason, but the Devils are getting notable performances from players like Dougie Hamilton and top
The New Jersey Devils had one of their busiest offseasons in quite some time and mostly received high marks for it. They signed Dougie Hamilton to a whopping seven-year, $63 million deal and acquired Ryan Graves in a trade to improve their defense. They upgraded their goaltending when they signed veteran Jonathan Bernier to a two-year deal.
The New Jersey Devils had maybe the most active offseason of any NHL team. They signed Dougie Hamilton to a seven-year, $63 million deal and acquired Ryan Graves to improve their defense. They shored up their goaltending by signing Jonathan Bernier and added a top-six winger in Tomas Tatar. But even with all their additions, there’s still room
The Minnesota Wild entered the offseason with three RFA’s needing an extension, including Kirill Kaprizov, Kevin Fiala, and Joel Eriksson Ek. It was always going to be a very difficult summer for a team that needed to re-sign three of their top forwards. After signing Eriksson Ek to an eight-year extension, they were able to
In a final bit of offseason housekeeping, the New Jersey Devils re-signed restricted free agent Janne Kuokkanen to a two-year deal worth an average annual value of $1.825 million. Kuokkanen, who the team acquired at the 2020 trade deadline, finished this season with 25 points in 50 games — a 41-point pace over 82 games. After re-signing Yegor
The NHL is in an unprecedented situation financially, with the salary cap barely rising after next season. Cap space is at a premium as teams try to shed salary by moving out expensive contracts via trade or the expansion draft. The Arizona Coyotes weaponized their available cap space to accumulate draft capital. They took on
Upgrading the New Jersey Devils’ defense is a must for general manager Tom Fitzgerald this offseason. They’ve had their name connected to a few blueliners already, including prized free agent Dougie Hamilton (From ‘SNAPSHOTS: Rod Brind’Amour opts to stay behind the Carolina Hurricanes bench … GM Don Waddell listening on Dougie Hamilton’, The Ottawa Sun –