NHL Notes: MacKinnon Streaking, Draft Lottery Odds, Expansion, Sharks Threads, Oilers Heater, More

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26 January 2024

NHL Notes: MacKinnon Streaking, Draft Lottery Odds, Expansion, Sharks Threads, Oilers Heater, More

It was a busy week in the NHL and things will only continue to heat up as we are pushing right up against the All-Star Break. Nathan MacKinnon is really good, the Blackhawks really aren’t, and one ownership group is serious about expansion. Let’s dive into it all in this week’s NHL Notes.

Nathan MacKinnon Extends Home Point Streak

I know the Avalanche are in the Hawks division and are technically supposed to be “rivals” but it’s impossible for me to not love watching this team play. They’re so incredibly talented, and MacKinnon is a prime example of that talent. Outside of Connor McDavid, if I was picking the best player in the NHL today today I’m not sure anyone tops MacKinnon. He’s got 82 points in 48 games and is putting together an insanely impressive streak.

Wednesday night in a four-goal effort, MacKinnon extended his season-opening home point streak to a whopping 24 games. That broke Avs legend Joe Sakic’s franchise record for the longest home-point streak at any point in the season. He also maintains his pace to pass Wayne Gretzky’s record home point streak to start a season of 40 games. The Great One set that in his first season in LA and recorded a point in all 40 home games. That was back when the NHL played an 80-game schedule.

Long story short: MacKinnon is awesome. I feel like because he plays in Colorado, he maybe gets a little overlooked. If he were playing in Boston, New York, Philly, or somewhere out east I feel like he’d be getting a whole lot more publicity and attention. All that said, if you haven’t been already, do yourself a favor and tune into as many Avs games as you can. This guy is must-see TV every time he takes the ice and is putting together an unbelievable season. At least for this point in the season, the conversation for the Hart Trophy can’t start anywhere but with MacKinnon.

Blackhawks Draw Closer to Repeat

The one thing that the Chicago Blackhawks weren’t able to do in their three-Cup dynasty run was repeat. They came close in 2014, but Nick Leddy’s jersey was just a little too loose and that’s the way the puck bounced. Well Hawks fans, if you’re still looking for a repeat, the 2023-24 team might have you covered! Thanks to a slew of injuries and just a brutal road losing streak, the Blackhawks now have the best odds to win the NHL’s Draft Lottery and earn the right to draft Macklin Celebrini! Cue the Dagger!

No, but seriously, we expected a rough season from Chicago this year, but I’m not sure we thought it would be this bad. However, no one could have foreseen the insane amount of bad injury luck the Hawks would endure. There has been ample time this season in which the Hawks had more salary cap space on IR than they did their own roster. Kyle Davidson has had to scramble to even field an “NHL” roster. While it would have been nice for the Hawks to learn how to win a bit this year, Celebrini would be quite the consolation prize.

There’s still a lot of time left in the season, and the Hawks will (hopefully) only be getting healthier. We also know from last year’s lottery that the top odds don’t guarantee the top pick. But still, if you’re going to be in the lottery, you might as well have the best odds to win it, right?

Is NHL Expansion Coming?

According to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith is stone-cold serious about bringing an NHL team to Salt Lake City. Smith is so serious that he officially began the process of formally requesting the NHL to initiate the process of expansion. The NHL then put out the following statement on the Smith Entertainment Group (Smith’s ownership group):

So from that statement, while nothing is imminent, it does seem like the NHL has an interest in Utah as a market. My question would be though, would a relocation or an expansion make more sense? The NHL continuously tries and fails to make the Coyotes work in Arizona. Like Kurt Russell said as Herb Brooks in the movie “Miracle” – that’s just not gonna happen. The Coyotes are in their second season in a college stadium and still can’t sell that out regularly. Could a sale to the Smith Group and possible relocation be on the horizon?

There hasn’t been any indication of that, but the longer Arizona fails as a home to the Coyotes, the more the sale and relocation should become a possibility. Were still probably a few years away from a new team in Utah. Who knows if it will be expansion or relocation. But at this point, it seems like if the league stops being stubborn, the idea of having the Coyotes – a fun up-and-coming team – in a new market like Salt Lake City should absolutely be explored.

Earlier this week after blowing a 3-1 lead at home to the Sabres, veteran defenseman Drew Doughty went off on some of his Kings’ teammates in his postgame media session. Doughty called out his team for taking their foot off the gas and playing more to pad their stats than to win the game. The Kings, a dark horse to win the Western Conference this season, are just 2-5-3 in their last 10 games and sit tied with Nashville for the top Wild Card spot at 53 points. So while the Kings are still in decent shape, Doughty knows what it takes to win a Cup and if he doesn’t like what he sees that should mean something.

The Sharks dropped some new alternate “Cali Fin” uniforms this week and they’re pretty awesome. I was always a fan of their all-black uniforms during the Marleau/Thornton era, and these look incredibly similar but with an even cooler logo. If the team is going to stink, they might as well look good doing it!

Patrick Roy’s hiring by the Islanders was timed pretty perfectly. His third game behind the Isles bench was a trip back home to Montreal. Roy won two Stanley Cups with the Canadiens, made it to multiple All-Star games, and played the first half of his Hall of Fame career there. Roy is beloved in Montreal, and Canadiens fans showed that Thursday night with a deafening ovation in the Bell Centre prior to puck drop.

In a pretty cool story, Flames defenseman Oliver Kylington made his first NHL appearance in over 20 months due to his battle with mental health issues. Kylington got a starting lineup intro before the game and received a great ovation from the Calgary crowd in the Saddledome. After the game, Kylington spoke on how much the night meant to him, and how much he valued the support he got during his time away from hockey.

The Oilers inched closer to history last night with their 3-0 win at home over Chicago. Last night’s victory marked the 15th consecutive win for Edmonton, and they now are just two wins away from tying the 1992-93 Penguins for the longest single-season winning streak in league history.