2021-22 NHL Season Thread

[JGibson]

This thread focuses on the happenings of the 2021-22 NHL season. The Tampa Bay Lightning repeated as defending Stanley Cup champions.  Owen Porter went #1st overall in the 2021 NHL Draft, selected by the Buffalo Sabres. Jérémy Lauzon was selected 1st overall in the Expansion Draft from Boston by the Seattle Kraken.

After a COVID-shortened season of 56 games that were confined to division-only play that necessitated realignment of the divisions due to the US/Canada Border closed to non-essential travel for most of the season, the full 82-game schedule and normal divisional alignments are back. Also, arenas are expected to open to full capacity. Certain arenas could be under mask mandates. Certain arenas will likely have a COVID vaccine and/or negative test mandate to gain entry. 


The NHL will have a Winter Olympic pause from February 7th to 22nd in 2022.


The NHL All-Star Game, which was cancelled last year due to the COVID pandemic, is back on in Vegas as the last event prior to the Olympic break, to be held on the weekend of February 4th and 5th. 


The Winter Classic is back after a one-season hiatus due to the COVID pandemic, with the same opponents that would've played the 2021 game: the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild at Target Field. 


The Seattle Kraken make its debut in the NHL, making it a 32-team league. As a result of the Kraken's arrival, the Arizona Coyotes head to the Central Division, meaning each division has 8 teams. 

What teams do you support? Who do you see winning Lord Stanley's Cup?



2020-21 Thread:  https://talkelections.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=419611.0

[JGibson]

The NHL on Turner Sports team has been assembled: Kenny Albert and Eddie Olczyk will form the main announcing team, with Darren Pang and Brendan Burke as the 2nd team.

Awful Announcing:

Ahead of the Oct. 12 start of the 2021-22 NHL regular season, Turner Sports has revealed its full lineup of commentators for its NHL coverage. They had previously announced the hires of Kenny Albert and Eddie Olczyk as their lead announcing team, and Wayne Gretzky as a studio analyst, and there had been reports of them adding other figures like Anson Carter. Now, we have the full details of who else they’ve brought in, including an announcing team of Brendan Burke and Darren Pang, Keith Jones providing ice-level analysis, Jennifer Botterill, Jackie Redmond and Tarik El-Bashir also contributing to telecasts, and a full studio team of host Liam McHugh and analysts Gretzky, Carter, Rick Tocchet, and Paul Bissonette.

[JGibson]

The 2022 Winter Classic game between the Blues and Wild will move to an evening timeslot from its traditional noon slot on New Year's Day, at 7PM EST/6PM CST on TNT in the USA and Sportsnet in Canada.

NHL.com:

MINNEAPOLIS - The NHL® announced today that tickets to the 2022 Discover NHL Winter Classic® between the St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota Wild at Target Field, home of Major League Baseball's Minnesota Twins, will go on sale to the public on Wednesday. The 2022 Discover NHL Winter Classic® will be the first NHL Winter Classic® scheduled to be played in primetime and will start at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT on Jan. 1. The game will be televised on TNT, Sportsnet, and TVA Sports.

[JGibson]

TNT and ESPN broadcasts:
TNT felt like the better of the two, despite not being previously involved in NHL coverage.

[JGibson]

NHL issued a 21-game suspension for Sharks player Evander Kane for blatantly circumventing the league's COVID protocols by submitting a fake vaccine card.

Sportsnet:

The NHL has suspended San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane for 21 games for submitting a fake COVID-19 vaccination card.

[...]

Kane had previously been cleared by the NHL in an investigation into allegations made by Deanna Kane that he bet on hockey games, including some against the Sharks.

But the league did determine that Kane violated the COVID-19 protocols. A person familiar with the investigation said earlier this month that the league was looking into allegations that Kane submitted a fake vaccination card. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because details weren't made public.

Using a fake vaccination card is illegal in both the United States and Canada, as well as against NHL rules.

[JGibson]

Joel Quenneville resigns as Panthers head coach in the fallout of the Chicago Blackhawks sexual assault scandal.

WBEZ:

Joel Quenneville, the once-revered Chicago Blackhawks coach who led the team to three Stanley Cup titles, became the latest casualty Thursday from a burgeoning sexual-misconduct scandal from nearly a decade ago involving a former assistant on his Chicago coaching staff.

He resigned his position as head coach of the Florida Panthers after revelations in a Blackhawks-commissioned investigation by the Chicago-based Jenner & Block law firm that outlined his role in suppressing the 2010 sex-abuse allegations by ex-Blackhawk Kyle Beach.

Beach’s claims were directed at Quenneville’s ex-assistant, Brad Aldrich, during the team’s historic march to the Stanley Cup. “After the release of the Jenner & Block investigative report on Tuesday afternoon, we have continued to diligently review the information within that report, in addition to new information that has recently become available,” Panthers President and CEO Matt Caldwell said in a statement late Thursday night.

[JGibson]

Due to COVID, the 2020 Hockey Hall Of Fame class will finally be inducted​​​​​​​.

[JGibson]

Scott Perunovich will be called up by the St. Louis Blues.

[JGibson]

Blues are regressing badly recently.

[JGibson]

Evander Kane, the Sharks forward who is currently suspended for using a fake vaccine card, got placed on waivers.

https://www.nhl.com/news/san-jose-sharks-place-evander-kane-on-waivers/c-328428688

[JGibson]

What a comeback win by the Blues, as they were down 3-0 in the 1st period and tied it 3-3 to send the game to OT and a shootout. The Blues won in the shootout 4-3 [1-0] over the defending champions Tampa Bay.

[JGibson]

It's time to relocate the Coyotes to Houston or Kansas City.

ESPN.com

The Arizona Coyotes appear to be running the risk of losing access to their arena even sooner than expected, sources confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday.

The news was first reported by The Athletic, which says that the City of Glendale will lock the Coyotes out of Gila River Arena if the club does not pay its delinquent tax bills and unpaid arena charges by Dec. 20.

Sources told ESPN that earlier this month, the Arizona Department of Revenue filed a tax lien notice against IceArizona Hockey LLC, which owns the Coyotes, for unpaid state and city taxes in excess of $1.3 million.

[JGibson]

The COVID wave has been hitting the NHL, as more and more teams have had their games postponed, and in a couple of cases, either reduced capacity(WPG, VAN) or banned spectators (MTL).

[JGibson]

Starting today until the Christmas holiday break, all games involving cross-border travel between US-based and Canada-based teams have been postponed.

Participation of NHL players in the Beijing Winter Games may be in jeopardy.

[JGibson]

Effective with the conclusion of Tuesday's games, the NHL will take a COVID-extended Christmas holiday break.

[JGibson]

The NHL will not be participating in the Beijing Winter Olympics, owing to COVID quarantine concerns. Expect the time that would've gone to an Olympic break to used for games postponed due to COVID. 2026 could be the next time that NHL players take part in the Olympics.

[JGibson]

The NHL has brought back the taxi squad from the COVID-shortened previous season on a temporary basis until the All-Star Break.


NHL.com:
 

The NHL and the NHLPA have agreed to the formation of a "Taxi Squad" in order to provide Clubs with readily-available Players who can be recalled to the NHL in order to minimize the chances that Clubs have to play shorthanded or games have to be postponed due to pandemic-related issues. Specifically:

• Clubs will be permitted to form Taxi Squads on a temporary basis beginning on Dec. 26, 2021 (subject to Holiday Roster Freeze restrictions), and lasting through the date of their final game prior to the scheduled dates for the 2022 All-Star Break. After each Club's final game before the All-Star Break, its Taxi Squad will dissolve. Clubs may then recall or Reassign the Players that were assigned to the Taxi Squad.

• Clubs will be permitted to assign a maximum of six (6) Players to their Taxi Squad. All such assignments will be subject to Waiver requirements as applicable. No individual Player may spend more than twenty (20) cumulative days on the Taxi Squad during the temporary formation period.

• Players on Loan to the Taxi Squad will be permitted to travel and practice with the NHL Club, however, such Players can only play in an NHL Game if recalled and placed on the NHL Club's Active Roster before such NHL Game (and no later than the appropriate 5:00 p.m. deadline).

[JGibson]

The St. Louis Blues won the Winter Classic 6-4 over the Minnesota Wild in Minneapolis last night in very cold air. This was supposed to have been played last year, but it got delayed this year due to COVID causing the shortening of the previous season.

[JGibson]

The Blues, with less than a minute left in regulation down 1-0 to the Stars, scored two power play goals to win the game 2-1 to swipe home two points.

https://twitter.com/StLouisBlues/status/1480293694217486337

[JGibson]

The 2022 NHL All-Star Game rosters and Last Men In voting list has ben revealed.


All-Star Game rosters

Metropolitan Division (All-Star appearances)
F Sebastian Aho, CAR (2nd)
F Claude Giroux, PHI (7th)
F Jack Hughes, NJD (1st)
F Chris Kreider, NYR (2nd)
F Alex Ovechkin, WSH (8th)*
D Adam Fox, NYR (1st)
D Adam Pelech, NYI (1st)
D Zach Werenski, CBJ (2nd)
G Frederik Andersen, CAR (2nd)
G Tristan Jarry, PIT (2nd)



Atlantic Division (All-Star appearances)
F Drake Batherson, OTT (1st)
F Patrice Bergeron, BOS (3rd)
F Jonathan Huberdeau, FLA (2nd)
F Dylan Larkin, DET (2nd)
F Auston Matthews, TOR (4th)*
F Nick Suzuki, MTL (1st)
D Rasmus Dahlin, BUF (1st)
D Victor Hedman, TBL (3rd)
G Jack Campbell, TOR (1st)
G Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL (4th)



Central Division (All-Star appearances)
F Kyle Connor, WPG (1st)
F Alex DeBrincat, CHI (1st)
F Kirill Kaprizov, MIN (1st)
F Clayton Keller, ARI (2nd)
F Jordan Kyrou, STL (1st)
F Nathan MacKinnon, COL (4th)*
F Joe Pavelski, DAL (4th)
D Cale Makar, COL (1st)
G Juuse Saros, NSH (1st)
G Cam Talbot, MIN (1st)


Pacific Division (All-Star appearances)
F Leon Draisaitl, EDM (3rd)
F Jordan Eberle, SEA (2nd)
F Johnny Gaudreau, CGY (6th)
F Adrian Kempe, LAK (1st)
F Connor McDavid, EDM (5th)*
F Timo Meier, SJS (1st)
F Mark Stone, VGK (1st)
D Alex Pietrangelo, VGK (3rd)
G John Gibson, ANA (3rd)
G Thatcher Demko, VAN (1st)

* Fan-elected captain








Last Men In ballot
Atlantic Division
Boston Bruins: Charlie McAvoy (D)
Buffalo Sabres: Tage Thompson (F)
Detroit Red Wings: Lucas Raymond (F)
Florida Panthers: Aleksander Barkov (F)
Montreal Canadiens: Tyler Toffoli (F)
Ottawa Senators: Brady Tkachuk (F)
Tampa Bay Lightning: Steven Stamkos (F)
Toronto Maple Leafs: John Tavares (F)


Metropolitan Division
Carolina Hurricanes: Andrei Svechnikov (F)
Columbus Blue Jackets: Jakub Voráček (F)
New Jersey Devils: Jesper Bratt (F)
New York Islanders: Mathew Barzal (F)
New York Rangers: Mika Zibanejad (F)
Philadelphia Flyers: Cam Atkinson (F)
Pittsburgh Penguins: Jake Guentzel (F)
Washington Capitals: Evgeny Kuznetsov (F)


Central Division
Arizona Coyotes: Phil Kessel (F)
Chicago Blackhawks: Seth Jones (D)
Colorado Avalanche: Nazem Kadri (F)
Dallas Stars: Jason Robertson (F)
Minnesota Wild: Ryan Hartman (F)
Nashville Predators: Roman Josi (D)
St. Louis Blues: Robert Thomas (F)
Winnipeg Jets: Mark Scheifele (F)


Pacific Division
Anaheim Ducks: Troy Terry (F)
Calgary Flames: Matthew Tkachuk (F)
Edmonton Oilers: Darnell Nurse (D)
Los Angeles Kings: Drew Doughty (D)
San Jose Sharks: Logan Couture (F)
Seattle Kraken: Mark Giordano (D)
Vancouver Canucks: J.T. Miller (F)
Vegas Golden Knights: Jonathan Marchessault (F)



Vote: https://www.nhl.com/all-star-ballot

[JGibson]

What the hell is it with the Blues lately? 2 weeks ago, the club had a firm grip on a Top 3 spot in the Central. Now, the Blues could be left out in the cold if they don't kick it into high gear.

[JGibson]

The Blues are in a battle with the Wild for 2nd place in the Central, thus meaning home-ice advantage for the projected series against them.

[JGibson]

The Blues 16-game point streak ended in a 4-3 loss to the Avs last night.

[JGibson]

The only game left in the regular season is tomorrow between the Seattle Kraken and Winnipeg Jets. The game has no impact on playoff positioning for either team.

[JGibson]

My Blues, which took a 1-0 series lead, are now down 2-1 in the series to the Wild. Injuries to our D-line are costing us big time.