Associated Press – CanucksBanter

By Associated Press

October 14, 2023

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Casey DeSmith made a strong first impression in his Vancouver Canucks debut on Saturday night.

DeSmith made 37 saves and Nils Hoglander had a goal and an assist as the Canucks continued their early season dominance over the Edmonton Oilers, emerging with a 4-3 victory.

“Obviously, coming to a new team it feels so good to contribute early and get two points and be a big part of the win and just kind of come together as a team early. And I think we’re doing that,” said DeSmith, who played five seasons in Pittsburgh before being dealt to Montreal this summer and then subsequently flipped to Vancouver before the start of the season.

“Good teams find a way, so it’s a good way to start off the season, finding a way.”

Andrei Kuzmenko, Jack Studnicka and Sam Lafferty also scored for the Canucks, who beat the same Oilers 8-1 in their season opener on Wednesday. Vancouver was winless in its first seven games last season.

“We had some good pushback, we killed a lot of penalties, we had some guys on fumes, we were overusing some guys because of the penalty kill, so I give a lot of credit to the guys,” said Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet, whose team killed five of seven penalties against the potent Oilers power play.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and two assists, and Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid also had a goal and an assist for the Oilers, who outshot the visitors 41-16.

“If you lose two games in the middle of the season it is not the end of the world,” said Oilers forward Zach Hyman. “You lose two games here and you get all these questions about your defensive game. It is not ideal, obviously, to lose the first two games. But there is no panic. We are a pretty confident group.”

Edmonton came out looking for retribution for Wednesday’s loss and found it just 42 seconds into the opening period after a flurry of shots on Canucks goaltender Casey DeSmith paid off with Draisaitl poking it in from under his pads in the crease for his second goal of the young season.

The Canucks tied it midway through the first on the power play as a long shot by Quinn Hughes was tipped past Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner by Kuzmenko.

Vancouver took a 2-1 lead with two minutes to play in the first as Brock Boeser hustled to keep a puck onside and launched a long shot on net that was tipped past Skinner by Hoglander in tight.

Edmonton knotted the game back up two minutes into the second period on the power play as the puck came loose to McDavid during a mad scramble in front and he scored his first of the season.

However, the Canucks regained the lead less than a minute later when a giveaway allowed a two-on-none break with Elias Pettersson sending it to Studnicka, who sniped a shot through Skinner’s legs. Studnicka is currently with the Canucks as an emergency call-up.

“We lost the game, so there are four moments in the game we would like to have back,” said Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm.

“But at the same time you have to look at 60 minutes and the effort and it is a long season. I think if we keep the shot clock that lopsided in most of our games this year we are going to end up on the winning side. So we will learn from it and move on.”

UP NEXT

Canucks: Vancouver plays the second of a five-game road trip against the Flyers on Tuesday.

Oilers: Edmonton plays the Predators on Tuesday.

Source: Associated Press

By STEPHEN WHYNO | Associated Press

August 10, 2023

Kyle Dubas had just completed the biggest trade of the NHL offseason, landing defenseman Erik Karlsson in a three-team deal that furthers the Pittsburgh Penguins’ desire to win now, when he was asked if other moves might be in store.

The team’s new general manager and president of hockey operations said he thinks he’s done this summer. Still, he acknowledged: “You can never make any promises. You always want to try and improve the team.”

Rival GM Brian MacLellan of the Washington Capitals is still busy working the phones, not giving up on the hope of landing a top-six forward before NHL training camps next month.

“We’re still talking to agents,” MacLellan said after signing Tom Wilson to a seven-year extension. “We’re still talking to a few teams about a trade, so we’ll see how it pans out at the end.”

KUZNETSOV TRADE?

For the second time in three years, Evgeny Kuznetsov is in trade talk chatter. The talented but inconsistent Capitals center changed agents after putting up 55 points in 78 games —more than a 30-point drop from the previous season.

Kuznetsov is 31 and has two more years left on his contract at a hefty salary cap hit of $7.8 million. The Capitals, who like the Penguins are trying to get back in the playoffs and remain contenders, aren’t going to give away the player who led them in scoring on their 2018 Stanley Cup run.

But if something makes sense, Washington could move on from Kuznetsov or trade underachieving forward Anthony Mantha.

“I think we had a few discussions at the draft that might carry forward or might not carry forward,” MacLellan said. “We’re comfortable with where we’re at. We’d still like to change. We’ll see where it goes here.”

TRADE TALK

The Carolina Hurricanes and Calgary Flames are also worth watching.

Carolina brought back defenseman Tony DeAngelo following his buyout by Philadelphia and could look to trade Brett Pesce or Brady Skjei to clear a blue-line log jam. Each player has just a year left on his contract.

“My job as the general manager is just to stay on the phone every day and continue to look to see if we can make our team better — hard to do right now,” GM Don Waddell said recently, citing the Hurricanes’ salary cap crunch. “But certainly we’ll continue to talk to different teams and free agents and see what shakes out.”

Elias Lindholm, whom the Hurricanes traded to the Flames in 2018, is entering the final year of his contract. New Calgary GM Craig Conroy has already traded forward Tyler Toffoli to New Jersey as part of the team’s retooling process, and Lindholm could be next.

The Winnipeg Jets have yet to trade two key players a year before they would be unrestricted free agents: 2020 Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and top center Mark Scheifele. They bought out former captain Blake Wheeler in the first step of a roster overhaul, but don’t expect Hellebuyck or Scheifele to stay in Winnipeg too much longer.

FREE AGENTS

Toronto on Wednesday signed one of the veteran goaltenders left on the market, giving Martin Jones a $875,000 contract for next season. Jaroslav Halak, Brian Elliott and Aaron Dell are among goalies in their 30s still available.

Phil Kessel, the NHL’s ironman fresh off winning the Stanley Cup with Vegas and getting his name on the trophy for the third time, is also unsigned. The 35-year-old forward was a healthy scratch for the vast majority of the playoffs, though his regular-season streak is intact at 1,064 consecutive games played.

Eric Staal, who reached the final with Florida and turns 39 in October, is another veteran option, as is center Derick Brassard. For teams looking for a defenseman, 36-year-old Nick Holden is out there, along with Seth Jones’ brother, Caleb, was not tendered a qualifying offer by Chicago and is a young unrestricted free agent at 26.

Among restricted free agents, Anaheim’s Trevor Zegras, Philadelphia’s Morgan Frost and Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard are among those who still need a contract.

KANE WATCH

Kane underwent hip resurfacing surgery June 1, an invasive operation with a recovery time of four to six months. While that rehab continues, rumors have swirled linking Kane to his hometown Buffalo Sabres, who are on the rise and could use a player with three Stanley Cup rings.