from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News, The Wings have had six games this season. How many of those games has Mantha felt, coming off the ice, he’s had a good game? Detroit Red Wings right wing Anthony Mantha has one goals and two assists while being a minus-5 in six games. “One,” said Mantha, during Monday’s Zoom chat with the media. “The afternoon game against Columbus (Jan. 18), the one we won in overtime.” He has a power-play goal in the 3-2 OT win at Little Caesars Arena. That, in itself, goes a long way to show how much of a frustrating start to this season it’s been for Mantha. “Oh yeah,” Mantha said. “It’s not something that I like, to not be involved and help the team. I’m someone that’s hard on myself and I want to get better and that’s the mentality I’m going in with. “Today was a good day at practice and it’s fun when we play every other night, so I can redeem myself as quick as (Tuesday) night.” In a sluggish start to this season, Sunday’s loss in Chicago was a personal low point for Mantha. read on

The Wings did pratice today but there was no media coverage. Tweets from Max Bultman from Zoom media conference. Jeff Blashill says Namestnikov practiced at center today. Doesn't mean he'll play there tomorrow, but at least sets up the possibility for it in the near future Anthony Mantha says he's watched film and talked with Blashill in recent days, and that he'll do everything in his power to not have to sit again, as he did for much of the third period yesterday Anthony Mantha says the only game he came off the ice feeling like he played well so far this season was the OT win over Columbus. It's pretty clear the slow start has bothered him as much as anybody I will post videos if they become available.

Five minutes of your time.  

NEW YORK (Jan. 25, 2021) – Montreal Canadiens center Tyler Toffoli and University of Montreal Health Centre (CHUM) respiratory therapist Virginie Hébert have been named the NHL’s “First Stars” for the week ending Jan. 24. Throughout the 2020-21 season the NHL is celebrating the remarkable efforts of the off-ice stars who make it possible for us to play our games amid a pandemic by honoring frontline healthcare heroes from the regions represented by the League’s weekly and monthly “Stars.” Hébert has been a respiratory therapist (RT) since 2017, working to maintain, restore or assist airway function for people who have difficulty breathing. During the pandemic, she has distinguished herself by giving additional trainings to colleagues to share the latest protocols and procedures to follow during this critical period, in order to keep patients and staff safe as well as reduce the risk of virus transmission. For the past 10 months, Hébert and her colleagues have been working selflessly, alongside doctors and other healthcare professionals, to help treat and hopefully save coronavirus patients experiencing respiratory distress. Their duties include tracking patients’ oxygen levels, managing their breathing, assisting with intubations and monitoring patients connected to mechanical ventilators, exposing them to the sickest patients and to dangerous aerosolizing procedures. Hébert’s commitment to her practice as well as to her patients have made her an invaluable frontline healthcare hero within CHUM’s respiratory therapy team. Rounding out the “Three Stars” of the week are Dallas Stars center Joe Pavelski and Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson. More on each NHL player’s performance can be found below:

from Jack Todd at the Montreal Gazette, The first move was made before the playoffs began, when Bergevin signed brilliant second-round pick Alexander Romanov to a three-year deal that was announced on July 13, 2020. On Sept. 2, Bergevin sent the first signal that he was playing for real by dealing third- and seventh-round picks in 2020 to the Blues for goaltender Jake Allen and a seventh-rounder in 2022. For the first time since Jaroslav Halak was shipped to the Blues, Carey Price had a bona-fide, blue-chip backup. On Sept. 12, Bergevin sent a fifth-rounder to Carolina for defenceman Joel Edmundson, a solid, experienced 6-foot-4, 227-pound defender. On Oct. 6, Bergevin took his biggest off-season gamble, dealing the somewhat enigmatic Max Domi to Columbus for Josh Anderson, a one-time fourth-rounder coming off shoulder surgery and a one-goal season — then signing Anderson for seven years and $38.5 million. On Oct. 12, Bergevin proved that he wasn’t done. He signed forward Tyler Toffoli, once a key part of the Los Angeles Kings in their championship days, to a four-year, $17-million deal. All that, and Bergevin managed to keep two of his own key pieces in place, signing Jeff Petry to a four-year extension and Brendan Gallagher to a six-year extension. Then in December, Bergevin topped it off by signing veterans Corey Perry and Michael Frolik for the taxi squad at $750,000 each for the season. On digital paper, it looked good. Great, even. But you know what they say about playing the games. Now the Canadiens have played six games, all part of a season-opening schedule that loomed like the Bermuda Triangle, with six straight on the road and no exhibition games to prepare. They still haven’t lost in regulation. read on

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post, Igor Shesterkin and Alex Georgiev combined to start 18 of the Rangers’ final 19 regular-season games last season, so the tandem certainly should have felt comfortable getting behind the wheel this season following the buyout of Henrik Lundqvist. But if it was one thing for the young Russians to take over around the midway point of 2019-20 while the King was still there as kind of safety net/security blanket if things had gone wrong for Shesterkin upon his Jan. 6 promotion, it is another now that they have inherited the keys to the Kingdom.... No one is calling the team’s mundane netminding a five-alarm fire through this 1-3-1 getaway. But for nearly a decade-and-a-half, Lundqvist not only gave the Rangers their best chance to win every game, he was the fundamental reason they won, when they won. So far, except for Georgiev’s shutout of the outclassed Islanders in the second game, neither goaltender has given the Rangers their best chance to win. Indeed, there have been too many marginal goals and too many allowed in critical spots. The Rangers entered this season believing they were going to get superior netminding, and perhaps there is every reason, as the coach said, to believe that will be the case. more

from Emily Kaplan of ESPN, In August, Larkin said a handful of players returned to Detroit for optional practices, and by September, there were even more. Then came free agency in October, and Yzerman signed five veteran players -- goalie Thomas Greiss, forwards Vladislav Namestnikov and Bobby Ryan, defensemen Jon Merrill and Troy Stecher -- then traded for longtime New York Rangers defenseman Marc Staal. Larkin was on a text chain with his two linemates, Anthony Mantha and Tyler Bertuzzi. "It was just like, another great player, another great player," Larkin says. "And then Ty texted: Are the Red Wings a wagon now?" Detroit is probably a bit away from wagon status, but there's a noticeable difference in the Red Wings this season. They split their first four games, but saw momentum halted with five players on the COVID-19 protocol list, and held out of action this weekend in Chicago (where they lost both games). Even still, there's a new swagger to the Red Wings. Detroit's goaltending is far improved (Jonathan Bernier and Greiss have combined for a .904 save percentage, a huge improvement on last season's .886 as a team) and there's more resolve (after being shut out in their opener, Detroit stormed back for a 4-2 win over a talented Hurricanes team in Game 2). "The blue line -- those guys are always screaming for the puck, they want the puck," Larkin says. "They come to the bench, and they're letting me know, and they're letting guys know that we gotta talk. It makes everyone's life easier and I think that's something we were really missing last year. Those veteran guys who came from other teams have just been emphasizing talking and wanting the puck, and it's made a huge difference." more

Sorry for the delay this morning, I slept in. THREE HARD LAPS * Chicago’s Pius Suter scored a hat trick to equal a feat achieved by only one other player in franchise history (nearly 90 years ago), while fellow rookies Kirill Kaprizov (MIN) and Ty Smith (NJD) continued their hot starts. * Joe Pavelski (1-2—3), Anze Kopitar (1-2—3) and Connor McDavid (0-3—3) also were among a group of six players who had three points Sunday, while Marc-Andre Fleury climbed the all-time shutouts list as Vegas improved to 5-1-0. * The Canucks and Senators clash tonight to open a busy week in the NHL, which is set to include three days with at least 12 games.

We have Larkin, Bertuzzi and Blashill in the first video, below find the game highlights.  

The Vegas Golden Knights scored 42 seconds left in regulation to beat the Arizona Coyotes 1-0. Coach Tocchet said it should have been icing. You can check the video below.   "Proud of the team. Played hard. It was a good game." Hear Coach Tocchet, Jakob Chychrun, and Darcy Kuemper's thoughts postgame: pic.twitter.com/LAYTwj7IPL — Arizona Coyotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) January 25, 2021

Pius Suter hat trick for the Blackhawks plus they added three more while Detroit's Tyler Bertuzzi had two goals. Final- Chicago 6 Detroit 2. Lack of talent was exposed today and if the Wings continue to play like this, mark it down as another long season. The older veterans are not adding anything to the game, they just seem to be there. Detroit goals are below.

from Sean Leahy of NBC Sports, Bobby Ryan entered the 2020-21 NHL season with one goal in mind. The 2005 No. 2 overall pick had an up-and-down final few years in Ottawa, culminating in last season where he took a leave of absence from the Senators to deal with an alcohol problem. He returned and recorded a hat trick in his first game back home. His comeback saw him be named the winner of the 2019-20 Bill Masterton Trophy, which is awarded “to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.” While the comeback was memorable, it also signaled the end of his time with the Senators. With the team transitioning towards youth, they bought out the final two years of his contract. In October, he signed a one-year deal with the Red Wings. Ryan is long-past the early days of his NHL career where he was a four-time 30-goal scorer. But now healthy, in body and mind, he went to Detroit for the chance to turn things around. “For me, this was a ‘prove it’ year,” he said, “an opportunity for me to take the step that I should have taken years ago but hadn’t been able to because of outside stuff.” continued

It's a matinee game, so, I'm guessing that means day drinking for the 19. Sit back, relax, and hopefully you will be entertained. It's a Live Blog!

The Wings have recalled Taro Hirose and Givani Smith from the taxi squad prior to today's game.

from the Toronto Maple Leafs, The Toronto Maple Leafs mourn the passing today of George Armstrong at age 90. As one of the first players of Indigenous descent to play professional hockey, George first signed with the organization in 1946 and was a member of the Maple Leafs family for 75 years. He distinguished himself as a player, captain, coach, assistant general manager, scout, community ambassador and alumnus. Skating his entire 21-year NHL career with the Maple Leafs - and 12 as their captain - George helped Toronto capture four Stanley Cups. He was named one of the One Hundred Greatest Maple Leafs of all-time, is an Honoured Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and has had his number retired by the club in addition to being a hallowed member of Legends Row. "George is part of the very fabric of the Toronto Maple Leaf organization and will be deeply missed," said Toronto Maple Leafs President & Alternate Governor Brendan Shanahan. "A proud yet humble man, he loved being a Maple Leaf but never sought the spotlight even though no player played more games for Toronto or captained the team longer. Always one to celebrate his teammates rather than himself, George couldn't even bring himself to deliver his speech the day he was immortalized on Legends Row." continue for a bit more...

THREE HARD LAPS * Montreal collected another two points and became the second team in NHL history to record a point in each of their first six games of a season, with each outing taking place on the road. * The Blue Jackets and Jets each skated to victories after swapping Pierre-Luc Dubois for Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic earlier in the day. * Dallas looks to build off of its 7-0 season-opening win on Friday with another head-to-head matchup against Nashville.

from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet, Suddenly and unexpectedly back in the game Saturday and with a chance to save a series and restore some confidence, the Vancouver Canucks used all the hard lessons learned from a difficult start to the season and, naturally, applied none of them. They made the same big mistakes – mistakes you can’t overcome -- to get another discouraging result, losing 5-2 to the Montreal Canadiens at Rogers Arena to fall three games below .500 for the first time since March 26, 2019. Seven games into the National Hockey League season, it’s hard to say if the Canucks are good enough to compete in the Canadian division because all they’ve done so far is beat themselves. They are 2-5-0, allowed the Canadiens to light them up with 17 goals in three games, and continue to get net-negative play from some of their top skaters. continued Game highlights are below.

via Sportsnet, Chris Johnston and Elliotte Friedman break down the latest news from around the NHL, touching on the blockbuster trade between the Blue Jackets and Canadiens, the Maple Leafs looking for help, and the NHL Draft date.  

from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun, - Mike Babcock’s next job should be university professor: He could teach revisionist history. Babcock peddled a bunch of truths and half-truths to TSN’s Pierre Lebrun in an exclusive interview the other day. If this was written as a book, it would have to be termed fiction instead of non-fiction. And, really, Babcock has to give up on the ‘I’m a mental health advocate’ platform when there would be a long list of former players who would gladly disagree with that claim. The Marner family was so upset about Babcock’s treatment of Mitch — and aren’t happy with Babcock peddling the all-is-well mantra — that, if you go back, Marner’s father refused to go on the dad’s trip one season with the Leafs. The reason: He didn’t want a thing to do with the coach. And that kind of behaviour is pretty rare. - I don’t mind hockey statistics, as overrated as many of them are, but I do mind people who can’t talk about the game without referencing some inane or irrelevant stat. - Detroit sports: the Lions stink; the Red Wings stink; the Pistons stink; the Tigers stink. more

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post, Hands, please, if you’re surprised that Alex Ovechkin was among the perps who violated the NHL’s — the NHL’s and NHLPA’s, by the way — COVID-19 protocols. Didn’t think so. We know it is not ideal. We know that restrictions imposed in our daily lives don’t always make sense. But we also know that if Ovechkin and his Capitals teammates Evgeny Kuznetsov, Ilya Samsonov and Dmitry Orlov wanted to watch television while bivouacked at the team’s hotel in Pittsburgh, they could have done so in a large ballroom set aside for team recreational activities. But no.... continue for more on Ovechkin plus other topics like this... The league has what appears to be a two-week buffer following the tentatively scheduled May 8 end of the regular season to accommodate postponements. According to deputy commissioner Bill Daly via an email exchange, the NHL has not yet begun to discuss — or even consider — contingencies if all teams are unable to complete the 56-game schedule. That, I don’t understand. Seems simple enough to declare immediately that team standings will be determined by winning percentage rather than points if everyone isn’t able complete the schedule. Why wait? In fact, the NHL could even enlist a corporation to sponsor the percentage column of the standings. The league can thank me in the morning.

Almost 18 minutes of Blashill after practice today.  No more names added to the COVID list today and Helm is questionable tomorrow. Bobby Ryan is below.  

Some perspective. PLD is an excellent addition to the Jets. Roslovic made it clear he was never playing for Winnipeg again. Laine didn’t see a future with the Jets beyond this season. This is asset management. 20+ teams expressed interest in Dubois. https://t.co/peOay7yCnj — Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) January 23, 2021

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press, For the third time this season, the Detroit Red Wings are faced with salvaging a series. They lost their first game at Chicago, falling 4-1 Friday at United Center. The teams play again Sunday afternoon. The Wings had to make do without several key players because of the pandemic, leaving them wondering if they will face a temporary shutdown. “Well’ we’re five guys down,” coach Jeff Blashill said Friday night. “The other team with five guys down is Carolina, and they postponed their games. So, that is where we are at. Certainly, it does not help chemistry, but again  … we are just trying to control what we can control.” continued

With the Detroit beat writers doing exactly what we are doing, sitting at home, it could be a slow news period when the Wings are on the road. Basically we will depending on the team to keep us updated or perhaps a local beat writer may chime in now and then.   Practice day in Chicago. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/dYQBnLbf5Y — Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 23, 2021

Kind of a yak game tonight. As Larry Murphy discussed during the 2nd intermission, Detroit 's routine has been messed up sine yesterday's practice where they skated in small groups to avoid the spreading of the COVID virus. Then flying out this morning, no morning skate an the result was a 4-1 loss tonight. Detroit's lone goal is below, see you Sunday afternoon.

Oops, puck shoved into their own net. Rangers lost 4-3 in a shootout.  

THREE HARD LAPS * The Stars erupted for seven goals, including five in the second period, to end a scoring drought against the Predators and earn a season-opening win. * A four-goal outing at Xcel Energy Center helped the Wild boost the NHL’s best points percentage in home openers to .800. * Montreal, which leads the League with 24 goals through five games this season, is set to close a six-game, season-opening road trip with its third straight game against Vancouver tonight on Hockey Night in Canada.

Up first is Dylan Larkin below fid Mickey Redmond, Jeff Blashill and the game highlights.  

The Wings will have their work cut out for them this weekend. Tonight’s game against the Hawks is not going to be an easy one. They’re hungry and angry. We're only four games in, but, this Wings team is starting to look better, and, are playing with more confidence. They will have a couple more players out because of Covid protocol. That's just the way this season will go on. We’ll just have to hang in there, trust in the Yzerplan, keep our fingers crossed, and, hope the guys are for real.  It’s a Live Blog!

Any plans to bet online now that it is legal in Michigan? from Ryan Zuke of Mlive, Consumers will have ample options to place their wagers once online casino gaming and sports betting launches in Michigan at noon Friday, Jan. 22. The Michigan Gaming Control Board on Tuesday and Wednesday approved authorization for 10 total casinos and their platform providers to begin accepting wagers on Friday. All 10 operators are licensed in at least one other state and are reputable, according to Steve Ruddock, analyst and content director at BettingUSA.com “I think the reliability will be there across the board,” Ruddock told MLive in a phone interview. “Certain companies might have a little bit of a difference in their customer service, things like that. Other companies have a little bit of an advantage in the user experience of the mobile app. It’ll really depend on what the customer’s preferences are and what they find important.” continued

Detroit – Adam Erne; Robby Fabbri; Sam Gagner; Jon Merrill; Filip Zadina The rest of the teams are below.

from Kurt Badenhausen of Forbes, The NHL’s top-earning player for the 2020-2021 season is Auston Matthews. The Toronto Maple Leafs center was scheduled to make $15.9 million in playing salary and bonus, but will instead earn $13 million net of escrow and including deferrals (a bulk of the escrow payment will be deducted from his July 2021 bonus). Matthews’ off-ice income in 2021 from endorsements, memorabilia and licensing is an estimated $3 million, pushing his total income to $16 million. The athlete endorsement market has gone into a deep freeze during the coronavirus pandemic, but Matthews added new deals last year with Verizon and equipment giant CCM Hockey. They join ongoing partners Nike, Scotiabank and sleep aid Dream Water. Matthews offers a compelling package for marketers. He was on pace to break the Maple Leafs’ single-season goals record before the season was paused in March. He is a young, fashion-forward, Mexican American playing in the hockey capital of the world. Matthews spent part of his offseason training with fellow star center Connor McDavid, who ranks as the NHL’s second-highest-paid player with $15.2 million (both are clients of sports agency Wasserman). The 2017 NHL MVP has one of the sport’s top endorsement portfolios, generating an estimated $4.5 million from partners CCM, Adidas, CIBC, BioSteel and more. McDavid’s No. 97 Edmonton Oilers jersey was the NHL’s second best-seller behind Sidney Crosby’s sweater in 2020. Rounding out the top five are Mitch Marner ($15 million), Alexander Ovechkin ($13.2 million) and Crosby ($11.9 million). more

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News, Forwards Bobby Ryan and Vladislav Namestnikov, defensemen Troy Stecher and Jon Merrill, and goaltender Thomas Greiss weren’t high profile — Ryan was the biggest name, but some felt he was way past his elite days — and some analysts weren’t sure how much they’d help. So far, through one week and four games of the regular season, the new Red Wings have been impactful — both on and off the ice. “Everyone is buying into the system and doing it the right way,” forward Tyler Bertuzzi said. “They’re all great guys and they’re fitting in perfectly." read on

from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet, For the first time since Travis Green was hired as coach, the Vancouver Canucks look dead in the water, truly stalled and in danger of foundering. Hope that Wednesday’s wonderfully chaotic win against the Montreal Canadiens was a sign the Canucks were starting to move forward again was obliterated Thursday when Vancouver gave away a pile of goals, including two in nine seconds, and was embarrassed 7-3 by the Habs at Rogers Arena. The seas are getting rougher and the Canucks already look capable of sinking. They no longer seem like a team trapped by circumstance in a slow start, but a team in serious trouble. “We weren’t just giving up scoring chances, we were giving up goals,” Green, who is in the fourth and final year of his Canucks contract, said after the game. “We gift-wrapped probably four or five goals. It wasn’t a game where we were hemmed in our zone... it was just giving up breakaways. In this league, if you give up chances that are gifts, you’re going to lose bad. We did that tonight.” continued Watch the game highlights below.

from John Ourand of Sports Business Journal, NBC has told distributors and some sports leagues that it plans to shut down its NBCSN sports channel by the end of the year. NBC’s most recent affiliate deals with Charter and Dish Network do not include carriage for NBCSN beyond this year, sources said. Plus, sports leagues that have deals with NBC were being told of the changes this week. The move is in line with the current media trend of consolidating cable channels. For NBC, it also is part of a bigger strategy to grow its Peacock streaming service, while, at the same time, bolstering the programming schedule for other NBC channels like USA Network. Bigger properties, like the NHL, NASCAR and EPL, will move to USA Network while keeping some windows on the broadcast channel. Smaller properties, like car shows, dog shows and some motorsports, will have to find new linear TV outlets. The big question is how a league like the NHL reacts to the shutting down of a network that has carried its games for the past 15 years. The NHL’s deal with NBC ends after this season. The NHL has made it clear that it wants to split its rights between at least two TV outlets. NBC has told the NHL that it would carve out regular windows on its broadcast channel and USA Network, which is in 86.2 million homes, plus Peacock. continued (link very slow to open at the time of this post)