Wild Canucks try to regroup after terrible start

While the Blues entered the regular season with two wins, Central Division rivals Minnesota Wild went in the opposite direction. Wild lost his first three games, going 20-12.

In the Pacific Division, the Vancouver Canucks got off to an ugly 0-3-1 start.

Both the Wild and the Canucks are expected to be in the middle of the playoff races this season. As such, both teams will feel a sense of urgency to get back on track when it takes place in St. Paul on Thursday night.

Wild goalkeepers Marc-André Fleury and Philippe Gustafsson teamed up to concede 6.06 more goals than expected in three games.

“Goals are a concern,” said Minnesota manager Dean Evason. “It’s not in the goalkeeper. It’s in the goalkeeper. It’s in defense. It’s in the forward. It’s in the coach. It’s in all of us. We’re giving up too many goals. Sure, there are some bad hops, bounces, situations, etc. Conceded a bad goal?Of course.Have you ever made a flickin’ mistake in defence?Absolutely.We attack on the ice. Are we not doing things wisely?Of course.We’ve all done it.Have we ever made the wrong coaching decision?Obviously we have.Otherwise , will not be 0-3. We are all responsible. We are all responsible and together we will get out of this.”

Evason is already scrambling. He spotted Tyson Jost and Freddie Gaudreau for the number one center role, replacing the struggling Ryan Hartman. He also scratched top forward prospect Marco Rossi after his two ineffective games on the 4-line.

Canucks manager Bruce Boudreau is also looking for a solution. On Monday night, his team held a players-only meeting after losing to his Capitals in Washington.

The Canucks then lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets the following night.

“I didn’t say anything to the team. I think they were mad enough about the way they threw their sticks and everything,” Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau said after the loss. “Sometimes things get out of hand after a match like this, so you better talk to them tomorrow.”

In all four games, the Canucks took the lead with multiple goals.

Defenseman Tyler Myers said, “We’ve been doing a lot of good things for a good chunk of the game, and we’ve had mental mistakes here and there that cost us.” Look, we have to improve quickly here.”

The Anaheim Ducks (1-3-0) and San Jose Sharks (0-5-0) also got off to a difficult start. The Ducks play in Boston while the Sharks travel to Madison Square Garden to take on a packed New York Rangers.

Neither the Ducks nor the Sharks were seen as serious playoff threats heading into the season, but both wanted to stick to the playoff chase while continuing to develop their young players. – Abandoned his contract with Burns, but retained Timo Meyer, Logan Couture, Thomas Hertl and Eric Carlsson.

Couture wants to stay on the restructuring project, but it will be interesting to see what happens to the other veterans if the Sharks keep losing and new GM Mike Greer hits the rebuild button.

Horizon Salary Cap Relaxation

Free-agency-bound players like Blues’ Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko were delighted to hear that the NHL was well on its way to a significant salary cap hike next season.

Commissioner Gary Bettman said the league could raise the salary cap by $4 million for 2023-24, as the league’s recovery from the pandemic’s lost revenue is ahead of schedule. That giant leap came a year earlier than expected, ending the era of flat caps.

“I believe there is a good chance that escrow will be paid out this season,” Bettmann said. “Maybe not, but I think it’s close, which means flat caps will be replaced by much larger increases. Revenues are doing pretty well. We’re probably making $5.4 billion. [hockey-related revenues] This past season has actually made about $500 million more than we predicted when we kicked things off a year ago. I’m fine. ”

If this trend continues, Bruce will likely retain O’Reilly.

Colorado Avalanche power forward Gabriel Landescog could miss at least the next three months after undergoing knee surgery. This is especially concerning because second-line scorers Nazem Kadri and Andre Brakovski are long gone, and “Ranch” doesn’t have the attacking depth it did a year ago.

The Red Wings are off to a promising start but are missing wingers Tyler Bertuzzi (hand injury) and Jakub Vrana (off-ice problems) for extended periods. These losses and the continued absence of Robbie Fabry (still recovering from knee surgery) underscore the importance of former Bluesman David Perron and Oscar his Sandqvist to the team.

Arizona Coyote defenseman Jeff Chiclun really wants to get out of the desert. He wants to escape from tanking his team playing in a small temporary house. GM’s Bill Armstrong may have lowered the asking price, according to some reports, but a smart strategy would be to wait for Chiklung to make a full-blown recovery after the surgical repair.

The Blues could use another proven defense after losing Marco Scandela and Scott Perunovich to long-term injuries. The list of teams looking for defensive reinforcements is long.

The Panthers lost base defenseman Aaron Ekblad to a long-term groin muscle injury after moving Mackenzie Weeger to Calgary as part of a Matthew Tkachuk trade.

The Maple Leafs have placed Jake Mazin on the injured reserve list with an upper body injury. He joined the IR alongside his fellow defensemen Jordy Benn, Karl Dahlstrom and Timothy Liljegren.

The Maple Leafs gambled and lost by acquiring goaltender Matt Murray. Plagued by injuries and a slump, Murray is already on the injured list for at least next month, leaving fellow rookie Ilya Samsonov with the goalkeeping burden.

Tensions are high in Toronto. Sheldon, who was in a pinch, said his coach, his star players after his team made some sharp remarks after he lost 4-2 to the Arizona Coyotes on Monday. and had to smooth things over. It’s never good for a coach to feel obligated to return comments to the media.