TIOPS Inside Buzz: On NHL Playoffs, What Rival teams say of Pens/Malkin situation & Latest Steelers Draft Buzz
TIOPS INSIDE BUZZ — Rumblings, Musings, Opinions– 1. The Washington Capitals were ousted in Round 1 Wednesday night on a Brock McGinn double overtime goal as an unpredictable 2019 postseason continued. The NHL has always wanted parity with this playoff alignment and they got it this season with all no division winners advancing past Round 1. Washington’s rein comes to an end and as good as a story the Hurricanes are, the NHL loses a great Round 2 storyline of Trotz vs the Capitals. This was just a strange series for the Capitals. To go up 2-0 in the series followed by laying an egg in Games 3 and 4, to then deliver what looked like a knockout punch in
Latest NHL Buzz: A series Stolen from VGK, Mike Babcock Needs to Change, PK Subban to hit the market
Latest NHL BUZZ TIOPS HEADLINES SERIES STOLEN FROM VGK BUYER BEWARE FOR ERIK KARLSSON CRITISCISM WARRANTED TOWARDS MIKE BABCOCK A CAPITALS REPEAT? PREDATORS TO EYE TOP-FLIGHT CENTER FOR SUBBAN 1. A series stolen from the Vegas Golden Knights in the craziest finish you’ll see. Vegas is up 3-0 with 10:47 remaining in the third period and cruising to a Game 7 win until the San Jose Sharks scored four power play goals on a five-minute major that should have never been assessed. The NHL embarrassed itself after Joe Pavelski had to unfortunately be helped off the SAP Center ice after hitting his head on the ice. Similar to how the league suspends players, the refs reacted to an injury not
Opening Night Takeaways: Caps Celebration continues, Matthews will get $12.5-$13 million per season
NHL OPENING NIGHT TAKEAWAYS WSH 7 – BOS 0 (F) TOR 3 – MTL 2 (OT) VAN 5 – CGY 2 (F) ANA 5 – SJ 2 (F) The celebration continues in Washington At least for one night, no Stanley Cup hangover in Washington. Alex Ovechkin and the defending Champs raised their Stanley Cup banner and roared to a 7-0 thrashing of the Boston Bruins. [hide] [/hide] Washington scored 24 seconds into the game on a T.J. Oshie goal and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored a 1:23 later as the Capitals led 2-0 just a 1:47 into the game. They never took the gas off the pedal. Kuznetsov had 2 goals in the win and Nicklas Backstrom added 3 assists to lead
Latest NHL Buzz: Fallout of the Max Pacioretty Trade
Latest NHL Buzz: Fallout of the Max Pacioretty trade The Max Pacioretty saga was only heading towards one direction, a trade, and the Montreal Canadiens sent their captain packing Monday morning in trading Pacioretty to the Vegas Golden Knights. In return for Pacioretty, Montreal acquired forward Tomas Tatar, prospect Nick Suzuki, and a 2nd round pick in 2019 from the Vegas Golden Knights (Columbus’ pick previously acquired by Vegas). Tatar who carries a $5.3 million cap hit through the 2020-2021 season, was a total disaster in Vegas, struggling mightily in the Knights fast-paced system. In Claude Julien’s slower paced system, Tatar may bring some value to a Canadiens team depleted at center. The key to the deal for Montreal is
Ovechkin, Capitals are Stanley Cup Final Bound; What’s Next for the Lightning & Lookahead to WSH-VGK
The NHL couldn’t be getting a better Stanley Cup Final when it comes to storylines. This is everything. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/9mDKjv9fBE — Washington Capitals (@Capitals) May 24, 2018 The expansion Vegas Golden Knights and the Alex Ovechkin-led Washington Capitals. Ratings will never be that high for the NHL but this matchup is going to draw a little extra attention from the casual sports fan and places like ESPN may allot 4-5 minutes of coverage instead of 1-2 minutes. There’s certainly a lot of buzz surrounding this matchup and should be. Capitals showing 2016 Penguins Resemblance — The Washington Capitals finally did it with a 4-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The series
Vegas Stanley Cup Bound, Fleury’s Hall-of-Fame Case & More Buzz
Vegas Marches to the Stanley Cup Final The remarkable story of the Vegas Golden Knights continues with a run to the Stanley Cup. The Western Conference Champions ousted the favored Winnipeg Jets in five games, winning four straight to close out the series. In the Golden Knights series clinching 2-1 win, it had quite the Pittsburgh connection. There’s Marc Andre Fleury putting together a 31 save performance to close out the series, Ryan Reaves a major outcast in the Penguins system, scoring the game winning goal, and Deryk Engelland playing 23 minutes in Game 5 and on the ice for the final minute of play to preserve a one-goal lead and a trip to the Stanley Cup Final. Vegas reaching
Rumors: Hurricanes motivated to trade Jordan Staal
TIOPS Inside Buzz *Rumblings, Musings, Opinions* — A familiar name to Penguins fans is strongly on the trade block: Carolina Hurricanes center Jordan Staal. As former Hurricanes GM Ron Francis saw the 29 year old Staal as a building block in his long-term plan, declined to entertain any trade inquiries into Staal the past two years, namely from the Pittsburgh Penguins, that is no longer the case under new owner Tom Dundon and GM Don Waddell, a former pro scout with the Penguins. Waddell and ownership are highly motivated to move Staal who has 5 years, $30 million in actual cash left on his contract, league sources tell Inside Pittsburgh Sports. The Hurricanes willingness to move Staal this summer is
Latest NHL Buzz: Penguins underwhelm in Murray’s return; Impact of rental winger additions in CLB/SJ
Islanders 4 – Penguins 1 PIT GAME LEADERS Matt Murray | 33 Saves, .923 SV% Conor Sheary | Goal (15), 2 SOG Phil Kessel | Assist, 3 SOG Derick Brassard | Assist, 2 SOG The Penguins performance in Matt Murray’s return to the lineup was underwhelming to say the least. Pittsburgh fell behind 2-0 in the first 10:33 of the game and although it was a one goal game going into the third period, it just never felt like it was going to be the Penguins night. [hide] “We didn’t play with the urgency that we needed to,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said of his clubs performance. “We didn’t defend hard and If you don’t defend in this league, you
Latest NHL Buzz: Rangers willing to trade Rick Nash inside the division
Latest NHL Buzz The New York Rangers are expected to ask Rick Nash for his 12-team list this week and the Rangers are certain the list will include a couple teams in the Metropolitan Division, based on their preliminary discussions with the Nash camp so far. Early indications are the Rangers are willing to trade Nash inside the division. Nash and his representatives already have a tentative list in place and the Penguins are expected to be one of the 12 teams on Nash’s list , league sources told TIOPS last week. That will make the Penguins a team to watch as Nash has long been a favorite of Penguins [hide] GM Jim Rutherford. Other news to emerge on Nash
Ray Shero has built the Devils back up from a dire situation with a future that looks bright
Ray Shero has started to make the Devils Interesting Again Another pretty big hockey trade in the month of November. The New Jersey Devils today traded forwards Adam Henrique, Joseph Blandisi and a 2018 third-round pick to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Sami Vatanen and a conditional third-round pick. 🚨 TRADE ALERT 🚨 The #NJDevils have acquired defenseman Sami Vatanen and a conditional third-round pick from Anaheim. New Jersey sends forwards Adam Henrique, Joseph Blandisi and a 2018 third-round pick to the Ducks. https://t.co/ik2k08usnx pic.twitter.com/lO5iR6x9n9 — New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) November 30, 2017 The Devils are starting to get pretty interesting in the Metropolitan Division due to the high-end talent that’s been brought in over the last year. Devils GM