#martin-jones

#martin-jones

John Tavares wants to see his Toronto Maple Leafs focus more on the details.Vince Dunn scored the eventual winner and added two assists to lead the Seattle Kraken past the Maple Leafs 5-1 after Toronto's second flat performance in three days.Tavares said the Maple Leafs didn't respond well to adversity Thursday.

The Toronto Maple Leafs might get a lot less attention tonight than they are used to.While the Toronto Maple Leafs will be taking on the Seattle Kraken at home in Toronto, team Canada will be taking on Czechia, the team that beat them on Boxing Day.It does seem fitting that the only team to beat Canada should play them for the Gold, but I have a hard time believing Canada will have much trouble with them a second time.

Funny how the puck bounces, eh?A day after the Kings traded two-time Stanley Cup winner Jonathan Quick to Columbus to upgrade their goaltending for what they hope will be a long playoff run they learned Quick had been traded again - and is now in position to block their postseason path.The Blue Jackets, rebuilding as they sit at the bottom of the NHL East, acquired Quick from the Kings on Wednesday for draft picks, goalie Joonas Korpisalo and defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov.

Happy New Year! 2023 begins with a Sunday, the NFL's day, so the NHL has gotten out of the way a bit with three evening games.Let's start the year off right.Here are some players to target, and to avoid, for your DFS lineups.GOALIE
Ilya Sorokin, NYI at SEA ($37): Four of six teams are on the second leg of a back-to-back, with only the Islanders and Kraken not having played Saturday.

SAN JOSE - NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman indicated Tuesday that the league's salary cap might only increase by another $1 million next season, a modest forecast that had been expected by at least one Sharks player.Bettman said at the NHL's Board of Governors meeting in Florida that as of now, the league is only projecting the cap to increase to $83.5 million next season.

SAN JOSE - NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman indicated Tuesday that the league's salary cap might only increase by another $1 million next season, a modest forecast that had been expected by at least one Sharks player.Bettman said at the NHL's Board of Governors meeting in Florida that as of now, the league is only projecting the cap to increase to $83.5 million next season.

SAN JOSE - NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman indicated Tuesday that the league's salary cap might only increase by another $1 million next season, a modest forecast that had been expected by at least one Sharks player.Bettman said at the NHL's Board of Governors meeting in Florida that as of now, the league is only projecting the cap to increase to $83.5 million next season.

SAN JOSE  NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman indicated Tuesday that the league's salary cap might only increase by another $1 million next season, a modest forecast that had been expected by at least one Sharks player.Bettman said at the NHL's Board of Governors meeting in Florida that as of now, the league is only projecting the cap to increase to $83.5 million next season.

Game Wrap-ups
Vladimir Tarasenko scored on his first shot as a New York Ranger just 2:49 into the game, setting the tone for the NY Rangers in their win over the Seattle Kraken.The Blueshirts clearly had a little extra giddy-up in their step last night, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first period on goals by Tarasenko, Kaapo Kakko, and Vincent Trocheck.

Here are today's news and links:


     Mollie Walker details how the team's decision to keep 23 healthy players on the roster when doing so isn't a necessity could come back to bite them as the trade deadline approaches (NY Post)
     Colin Stephenson takes a look at the run of bad luck Vitali Kravtsov has been on as he looks to establish himself as a legitimate NHLer this season (Newsday)




     Sidney Crosby of Pittsburgh, Pavel Buchnevich of St. Louis, and Martin Jones of Seattle have been named as the league's three stars of the week (TSN)
     Jason Bukala examines how the top ten picks from the 2022 Entry Drafted have been performing in their first post-draft seasons (Sportsnet)

A couple of favorable bounces on shots by Joel Kiviranta and Ryan Suter against the Vegas Golden Knights turned what was expected to be a showdown between the leaders of the Western Conference into a comfortable win by the Dallas Stars.The unexpected offense, however, wasn't the story.The story was the shutdown defense.

The Sharks had a plan when they let Joe Pavelski walk in the summer of 2019.Erik Karlsson, who re-signed to an eight-year, $92 million dollar contract, would provide Norris-caliber play side by side with stalwarts Brent Burns and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.Logan Couture and Evander Kane, also locked into long-term contracts, would lead the Sharks both on and off the ice.

The Bruins appeared to have the Kraken right where they wanted them heading into the third period of Thursday's game.Boston trailed Seattle 2-0, a familiar situation for the Bruins this season.But the outcome was different than what they were used to and ended up losing 3-0 at TD Garden.We've seen the Bruins go into the final 20 minutes trailing their opponent several times this season, so there probably was some optimism Thursday night when they were down two goals to Seattle.

The Leafs playing one of their worst games of the year was certainly softened by Team Canada picking up gold in the World Juniors tournament.If you hadn't switched over to primarily watching the gold medal game by the time the third period rolled around in the Leafs game, I don't know what to tell you.

The New York Islanders could not sustain into 2023 the nice form with which they concluded 2022.A 4-1 loss in Seattle on New Year's Day ended a brief three-game win streak, which had included convincing performances against the Panthers and Penguins on either side of the Christmas break.The Islanders got a strong performance from Ilya Sorokin, and a goal from Mathew Barzal in his return to his old junior-days haunts, but overall their game just wasn't there.

In December 2018, the NHL awarded Seattle an NHL franchise to begin to play in October 2021.The organization settled on the name Seattle Kraken and the rest is history.At the same time, fans had fun and acknowledged the team by making fun of the nickname.Today, the Seattle Kraken sit in a playoff spot.