Monday LNN: Blackwood Extended, WJC Update, Stars Fined, and more!
Links, news, and notes about Mackenzie Blackwood staying in Colorado, updates for the World Juniors, Dallas being fined, and more!
- Despite playing just five games in Colorado, the Avalanche have re-signed Mackenzie Blackwood to a five-year deal with an AAV of $5.25M. The 28-year-old has a stellar .916 SV% this season, but he was also unwanted (and for good reason) for the three previous seasons, so I can't imagine this deal will age very well.
- According to Darren Dreger, the Dallas Stars will be fined (unclear how much) for having an optional practice on Boxing Day, which is prohibited under the CBA. Interesting that it's a fine and not the loss of a draft pick...
- NHL.com has a recap of the Sunday games at the World Junior Championships, including Canada's 3-0 victory over Germany.
- Corey Pronman of The Athletic looks at what went wrong in Canada's massive upset loss to Latvia on Friday.
- The NHL took a stab at what different national teams would have looked like in 2015, 10 years before the Four Nations Faceoff. Here you can find the rosters for Team Canada, Team USA, Team Finland, and Team Sweden. The only Senators listed are Claude Giroux, Ben Bishop, and Erik Karlsson. It's funny to look back at who was elite back then because some of them are still good enough to make the 2025 team and some have simply met Father Time.
- The writers at The Athletic give a New Year's resolution for each team in the NHL. It's always good to get a sense of what other fanbases are feeling.
- Ryan Dixon at Sportsnet has some bold predictions for 2025, including a very interesting one for the Senators.
- Elias Pettersson will be out for at least a week, and Quinn Hughes is listed as "week-to-week." It's quite a blow for a Canucks team that has been going through some tumultuous times, especially considering their thin blue line.
- Rod Brind'Amour won his 300th NHL game as a head coach on Saturday, which is the fastest anyone has ever done that (488 games). If I had any choice of coach, it'd be him.
- Montreal Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobeš got a shutout in his first career NHL game on Saturday against the Florida Panthers. Not too shabby. We still don’t like good things for the Habs, though.
