It took about seven weeks until we had our first NHL coach firing. The Boston Bruins decided to fire Jim Montgomery another of a long line of great coaches they've had. Claude Julien won coach of the year and a Stanley Cup with the Bruins. He was fired. Althought he had been there ten years so I get it. Bruce Cassidy took the Bruins to a Stanley Cup Final and won coach of the year. He was fired and led the Vegas Golden Knights to their first Stanley Cup a season later. Jim Montgomery won coach of the year and led the Bruins to the best NHL record ever. Granted, he lost in the first round. I often wonder if the Pittsburgh Penguins had gotten the tiebreaker over the Florida Panthers or had one more win would the Bruins have won it all? We'll never know.
There are two lessons from this. Firstly, the Bruins always have great coaches, so who they fire doesn't matter. They'll get another great coach. Secondly, it doesn't matter what you do as an NHL coach. You'll get fired relatively quickly when things show the slightest hint of going south. If you want proof, none of the three finalists for the 2022-23 Jack Adams Award for best coach, which Montgomery won, are still coaching the team they were on when nominated. That was a year and a half ago.
As for the Bruins, they overacheived last season. I was amazed that a team that lost its top two centers could be that good. I guess it took a year for those losses to manifest. They also lost to the Florida Panthers, who made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in both seasons. The Bruins have won two stright since the firing. I still don't know why anyone wants to be an NHL coach.
The saga gets better as the St. Louis Blues fired their head coach to hire Montgomery. The Blue's previous coach, Drew Bannister, had been absent a full season. He was the interim coach last season after they fired Craig Berube, who helped guide them to their only Stanley Cup. Now, he doesn't even get to finish his first season as an actual coach. It doesn't matter if Montgomery wins a Stanley Cup In St. Louis, he'll just be fired in five years like Berube. I don't know why the NHL even has coaches.
Things I like
1.Twenty-seven seconds into a game with the Edmonton Oilers, Marc-Andre Fleury gave up an awful goal. The wildly bouncing puck had a mind of its own, and Fleury chose to play it instead of corralling it. He acknowledged he played it stupidly. I feel for him. I let in an awful goal when I fanned on an incoming puck, only it wasn't bouncing, which made it worse. But I'd never try to swipe a bouncing puck. But he shook it off and led the Minnesota Wild to a win like a veteran. This game was Fleury's 1000th career start.
2.Sidney Crosby became the twenty-first NHL player to score 600 goals. The 600-goal club is an elite club. He's the seventh to reach it with only one team, joining former Penguin Mario Lemeiux. Evgeni Malkin isn't far behind. Crosby and Wayne Gretzky are the only players in NHL history with at least 600 goals, 1,600 points, three Stanley Cups, and two Conn Smythe trophies. That's quite an accomplishment. Speaking of the Penguins…
https://www.nhl.com/video/uta-pit-crosby-scores-ppg-against-karel-vejmelka-6365109911112
Things I don't
1.The Pittsburgh Penguins are here yet again because they have no clear direction. They'll barely miss the playoffs for the third straight season; trust me, it's happening, which is the worst position to be in. Unless you have a young team, the Penguins are the oldest team, with an average age of 31. They should have blown it up last year, but they didn't. Getting rid of Jake Guentzel and acquiring Erik Karlsson were such awful moves. General manager Kyle Dubas has no clue what he's doing and should never have been hired.
2.Alex Ovechkin is out for 4 to 6 weeks with a broken leg. Ovechkin rarely gets injured. He's only missed 59 games in his career and only 27 goals shy of breaking Wayne Gretzky's record. It'll be interesting to see how he'll play when he returns.
Fights of the Week
Special thanks to hockeyfights.com for making this section a little easier to do.
Josh Brown vs Zack MacEwen
Big boys going at it.
Goat of the Week
Victor Hedman - Tampa Bay Lightning
Hedman is going to the Hall of Fame, but I don't understand what he was doing on this play. It's hard to see what happened from the camera angle, but it appears he didn't receive the pass correctly and then chose to backtrack instead of attack. Kent Johnson scored the short-handed goal with an assist from Zach Werenski—more on him below.
https://www.nhl.com/video/tbl-cbj-johnson-scores-shg-against-jonas-johansson-6365025912112
Stat Line of the Week
11/21/24 Columbus 7 vs. Tampa Bay 6
| Skater | TOI | G | A | +/- | SOG | PPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Z. Werenski | 27:24 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 1 |
Zach Werenski led the Blue Jackets to a win in a wild game against the Lightning. The Lightning jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first, and then the teams combined for six goals in the second. Werenski had a hand in three of the four second-period goals, assisted on the short-handed goal above, and scored the overtime winner. The eighth overall pick in 2015 has played his whole career in Columbus. He hit career highs in assist and points last season. He's on pace to break his highs in goals, assists, and points this season.
Numbers, Numbers
1 – Joe Thornton jersey retired by the San Jose Sharks
100 – Career goals for Tim Stutzle
28 – Points for Dylan Strome way above his normal pace
125 – Hits by Kiefer Sherwood, first by a mile and way above his usual pace
67.8 – Face-off winning percentage for Aleksander Barkov
Rankings
The rankings are based on how the teams are currently playing.
Top 5
- Toronto
- Colorado
- New Jersey
- Winnipeg
- Calgary
Bottom 5
- Pittsburgh
- San Jose
- Ottawa
- Montreal
- Nashville