Am I going to open this with the same sentence every week? I guess we’ll find out. It was an exciting week in the National Hockey League…on and off the ice. Last week, we talked about Dallas, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Chicago. This week, it’s all about Vince Dunn, what’s going on in New York, and Travis Konecny’s healthy scratch.
Dunner to Pittsburgh????
On Tuesday, January 26th, depth defensemen Vince Dunn was a healthy scratch for the St. Louis Blues. What’s a healthy scratch you ask? When a player is scratched from the roster despite being 100% physically. He’s a defenseman that regularly gets destroyed in the zone. His job is literally…to not do that. Often times, this gets passed off as “growth” and “development.” Rumor has it, a deal was in the works with Pittsburgh but has since fallen through when the Penguins GM resigned.
Wtf Barry…??
Islanders fans, I know I enjoyed the playoff run last season, I hope the rest of you did too cause if they keep pulling…this shit…it’s not gonna happen again. So far, my season preview of this team IS SO WRONG. But it’s fine. I’m not bitter. I don’t think Ilya Sorokin should be starting games yet. Not in a division where there’s so little difference between the top teams and the bottom teams. If you watched them in the bubble last season, you know they can put in so much more effort on all ends. They need to find some consistency in their fourth line and fewer penalty minutes in their first line. An inexperienced goalie like Sorokin can’t do much when everyone’s off the ice and in the box.
Is Philly okay?
Alain Vigneault decided he was going to healthy scratch a top-line forward for their Saturday night match-up against the New York Islanders. Travis Konecny is tied to lead the team with five goals. AV scratched TK and put in Sam Morin. Morin has only played 10 NHL games in the last 5 years. Konecny is the 200ft forward the Flyers need in order to hold their own in that division. In my opinion, that was a bad move for Vigneault. They won, yes but it was an unnecessarily hard battle for Philly.
The Injury Bug
My poor Colorado Avalanche. They’re not only dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic like the rest of us but they have been plagued with the injury bug. Nathan Mackinnon, Pierre-Eduard Bellemare, Erik Johnson, Devon Toews, Matt Calvert, and Pavel Francouz are all on the injury list. Francouz has yet to play a game this season but has been upgraded to day-to-day status along with everyone else except Matt Calvert who is out indefinitely. I would really appreciate more information than “upper-body injury” and “lower-body injury.” I’m nosey. Thank you.
Rapid Fire
Someone punched Tony DeAngelo so hard, he landed on waivers and cleared them Monday morning and I’m excited to never have to write about him again. Marco Jossi of the Minnesota Wild went back home to Austria due to COVID-19 complications. Auston Matthews and Conor McDavid went head-to-head and all the way to OT…and Auston didn’t win. Alexi Lafreniere, Dylan Cozens, and K’Andre Miller have scored their first NHL goals. Mat Barzal leads the Islanders in goals, assists, points, and most importantly…penalty minutes. Laine is projected to make the Columbus lineup by Tuesday night against Dallas.
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