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  • Gameday Preview: Montreal Canadiens vs Buffalo Sabres

    Montreal Canadiens (8-5-2) vs Buffalo Sabres (7-6-2)

    Game Time: 7:30pm at Bell Centre

    Referees: #20 Tim Peel, #21 TJ Luxmore

    Linesmen: #78 Brian Mach, #82 Ryan Galloway

    The Montreal Canadiens are coming off a 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers on Tuesday night. The Habs looked solid for about 2 periods then fell apart in the third period of a very physical game on the second night of a back to back for the Habs. Tonight the Habs will play a Sabres team that beat them in the final minute two weeks ago. With the Habs currently down 2 wingers tonight’s line-up will look a little different. Carey Price will get the start between the pipes for the Habs.

    Keys To The Game

    • Fast Start, Fast Finish. The Habs are doing a great job getting on the board early but can’t seem to close out a game. This needs to change tonight
    • Stay out of the box. The Habs were great on the PK on Tuesday Night killing six penalties. Yes they have a good PK unit but let’s not make taking penalties a habit. It’s gonna come back to bite them
    • Carey Price looked good on Tuesday but the defense was lack-luster giving up way too many odd man chances.

     

    Forwards:

    Tomas Tatar- Phillip Danault- Brendan Gallagher

    Jonathan Drouin- Max Domi- Andrew Shaw

    Artturi Lehkonen- Jesperi Kotkaniemi- Kenny Agostino

    Nicholas Deslauriers- Matthew Peca- Charles Hudon

    Defensemen

    Jordie Benn- Jeff Petry

    Karl Alzner- Mike Reilly

    Xavier Ouellet- Victor Mete

    Tonight’s Scratches: Noah Juulsen (Healthy Scratch), Joel Armia (LBI)

  • November 8th, 2018 — News and Notes

    Today is Thursday, November 8th, 2018, and these are your news and notes.

     

    There were three contests in League action yesterday…

    WASHINGTON 2, Pittsburgh 1

     

    The Washington Capitals went on to defeat their arch-rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins last night.

    Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby would open up the scoring, and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin would score his 235th career power-play goal.  Ovechkin now has sole possession of seventh place in that category.

    Washington F T.J. Oshie would net the game-winner with 1:14 left in regulation.
    This would mark the ninth time in 47 contests in the regular-season in which Crosby and Ovechkin would find the net in the same contest.

    TXHT’s coverage of the contest:
    Game Recap – 11/7/2018 – Pittsburgh Penguins v. Washington Capitals
    Nashville 4, COLORADO 1

     

    Nashville’s Colton Sissons recorded his second career regular-season hat-trick and helped lift the Predators back into first place in the NHL standings at 12-3-0 and 7-0-0 on the road.

    Sissons last hat-trick in the regular-season was during the 2016-17 season.

    ANAHEIM 3, Calgary 2

    Calgary would tie the game at 2 a piece with F Mark Jankowski’s goal in the third period but Anaheim captain Ryan Getzlaf would score the eventual game-winner 27 seconds later to give Anaheim the win.
    Calgary has been behind in three out of their last four games, and would win those contests.
    So far on the season, Getzlaf is averaging one point per game.

    Anaheim G Ryan Miller would win his 372nd game, two away from tying John Vanbiesbrouck for most all-time among U.S. born goalies.


    Today’s Schedule of Games:
    nov_8th_schedy-08013129
    In NHL news…
    -The Boston Bruins unveiled their 2019 Winter Classic jerseys this morning.  They will take on the Chicago Blackhawks, who will unveil their Winter Classic jersey today at 5:30 p.m. CT, at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana on January 1st, 2019.

     

    -With Sissons hat-trick in last night, it marked the fourth consecutive day of game action in which a hat-trick was achieved.

    -In a bit of tragic news, the Minnesota Wild and the NHL announced that former Wild chairman Robert O. Naegele passed away due to complications from cancer.


    -Tonight when the Vancouver Canucks take on the Boston Bruins in Boston, Canucks rookie Elias Pettersson looks to be the fourth player since the 1920-21 season to register at least 11 goals through 11 career games.

    You can watch TXHT Live next Tuesday at 8p EST on both Twitch and Facebook Live.

  • Game Recap – 11/7/2018 – Pittsburgh Penguins v. Washington Capitals

    Game Recap – 11/7/2018 – Pittsburgh Penguins v. Washington Capitals

     

    Pittsburgh Penguins (6-4-3 15pts) v. Washington Capitals (6-4-3 15pts)

     

    Lineups:

    Pittsburgh Penguins:

    Dominik Simon — Sidney Crosby — Bryan Rust

    Carl Hagelin — Evgeni Malkin — Patric Hornqvist

    Jake Guentzel — Riley Sheahan — Phil Kessel

    Zach Aston-Reese — Matt Cullen — Garrett Wilson

    Brian Dumoulin — Kris Letang

    Olli Maatta — Chad Ruhwedel

    Jack Johnson — Jamie Oleksiak

    Casey DeSmith

    Matt Murray

    Scratched: Juuso Riikola, Daniel Sprong

    Injured: Justin Schultz (left leg fracture), Derick Brassard (lower body)

     

    Washington Capitals:

    Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Dmitrij Jaskin

    Chandler Stephenson — Nicklas Backstrom — T.J. Oshie

    Andre Burakovsky — Lars Eller — Brett Connolly

    Jakub Vrana — Travis Boyd — Devante Smith-Pelly

    Dmitry Orlov — Matt Niskanen

    Michal Kempny — John Carlson

    Christian Djoos — Madison Bowey

    Braden Holtby

    Pheonix Copley

    Scratched: Nic Dowd

    Injured: Brooks Orpik (lower body)

    Suspended: Tom Wilson

     

    First Period:

    Penguins Penalty – 2:17 – Jamie Oleksiak 2 minutes for Slashing

    Capitals Penalty – 11:33 – Jakub Vrana 2 minutes for Tripping

    Penguins PPG – 12:16 – Sidney Crosby (7) from Jack Johnson (2)

    Penguins Penalty – 15:09 – Carl Hagelin 2 minutes for Goalie Interference

     

    End of 1st – PIT – 1       WAS – 0

    Shots            09                07

    Faceoffs       11                07

    Hits               14                04

    PP                 1/1               0/2

     

    Analysis:

    This was an ok period for the Capitals. They were able to generate some chances, but the Penguins were very aggressive with their coverage forcing the issue, especially on special teams.

     

    Need to Do:

    The Capitals need to pick up their physicality. The Penguins are dominating them physically, and that is why the Penguins are generating some of the better quality scoring chances. Also the Capitals need to do a better job of establishing zone time in the Penguins zone.

     

    Second Period:

    Penguins Penalty – 6:33 – Sidney Crosby 2 minutes for Hooking

    Capitals PPG – 7:09 – Alex Ovechkin (12) from John Carlson (12) and Nicklas Backstrom (14)

    Capitals Penalty – 9:35 – Michal Kempny 2 minutes for Tripping

    Penguins Penalty – 11:27 – Jake Guentzel 2 minutes for Tripping

    Penguins Penalty – 15:05 – Evgeni Malkin 2 minutes for Roughing

     

    End of 2nd – PIT – 1        WAS – 1

    Shots               26                 17

    Faceoffs          19                 18

    Hits                 22                  12

    PP                   1/2                  1/5

     

    Analysis:

    This was another ok period for the Capitals. They started well and drew a good amount of penalties against the Penguins, however, the Capitals only capitalized on one of those powerplays. It was very evident that both teams did not play a full 20 minutes.

     

    Need to Do:

    The Capitals need to bring out their physical game. They are still getting out worked by Pittsburgh, and the Penguins are playing a lot choppier, and it is helping them generate scoring chances. Also the Capitals need to do a much better job on their powerplay opportunities. They’ve had 5 thus far and only one was successful.

     

    Third Period:

    Capitals Penalty – 2:36 – Christian Djoos 2 minutes for Holding

    Penguins Penalty – 3:27 – Evgeni Malkin 5 minute major for Illegal Hit to the Head & Game Misconduct

    Capitals Goal – 18:46 – TJ Oshie (8) from John Carlson (13) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (13)

     

    End of 3rd – PIT – 1         WAS – 2

    Shots              42                   22

    Faceoffs        31                    28

    Hits               28                     22

    PP                 1/3                    1/6

     

    Analysis:

    Despite the Capitals having a horrible night in the shot department and with the powerplay, they were able to persevere and win this one 2-1. TJ Oshie took a stick near his eye, and then much later was elbowed in the head by Evgeni Malkin, but neither events would keep him in the locker room as he would return both times, and the second time he came back would score the game winning goal to give the Capitals the victory. Also Braden Holtby played out of his mind and made a lot of amazing saves tonight.

     

    Next Up:

    Washington (7-4-3 17pts) v. Columbus (8-6-1 17pts)

    Pittsburgh (6-5-3 15pts) v. Arizona (7-6-0 14pts)

     

    You can watch TXHT Live next Wednesday at 8p EST on both Twitch and Facebook Live.

  • November 7th, 2018 — News and Notes

    Today is Wednesday, November 7th, and these are your news and notes…

    There were nine league contests last night.

     

    The Maple Leafs won their 10th game of the season out of 15 games for the 11th time in franchise history and the first since the 2013-14 season when they won 10 games out of the first 14.

     

     

    Rangers G Henrik Lundqvist won his 436th career game and is now one win shy of tying Jacques Plante for seventh place all time.

     

     

    Max Domi would score all three of Montreal’s goals in the contest to give him a goal-scoring streak of four contests and has 16 points on the season, including nine goals thus far.

     

     

    TXHT and Last Word on Sports Armand Kilsvitch has his recap of the contest here.

     

     

    The Columbus Blue Jackets have defeated the Dallas Stars for the sixth consecutive time.

     

     

    Ottawa’s Mark Stone had a five-point game to lift Ottawa to the win over New Jersey. Stone is the fifth player in Senators’ history to have multiple five point games in the regular season.

     

     

    Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson would score yet again and continues to lead all rookies in goals and points but would still fall to the Detroit Red Wings in a shootout.

     

    Pettersson has scored 10 goals in 10 games played. He is the fifth player outside of the League’s first season to score 10+ goals through their first 10 NHL games.

     

     

    In Tampa Bay’s Hockey Fights Cancer Awareness night, Tampa Bay would get the win in the contest over the Edmonton Oilers and move to a record of 11-3-1 and into first place in the NHL standings.

     

     

    St. Louis F Ryan O’Reilly registered a hat-trick and would extend his point streak to eight games in the contest against the Hurricanes. O’Reilly also had an eight-game point streak during the 2015-16 season.

     

     

    In this match-up, Ilya Kovalchuk had one goal and two assists in the first game for new Kings head coach, Willie Desjardins.

     

     

     

    San Jose’s Joe Thornton played in his 1499th NHL contest last night and tied Mike Modano for 19th all time.

     

     

    With his next game, Thornton will become the first overall pick in the history of the NHL Draft to reach the 1500 game milestone.

     

    As a note from the contests yesterday, this would only be the fifth time in League history where the home teams swept a schedule of 9+ games.

     

     

    Today’s slate of games…

     

    nov_7th_schedy-07021021

     

    For other news, notes, and stats…

     

     

    Today in NHL News…

     

    -Edmonton Oilers Milan Lucic will have a hearing today for roughing Tampa Bay’s Mathieu Joseph in last night’s contest.

     

     

    The NHL’s Department of Player Safety in accordance to the hearing announced that Lucic has been fined $10,000, the maximum allowed under the CBA, for roughing Mathieu Joseph.

     

     

    -Sportsnet and Hockey Night in Canada’s Elliotte Friedman released his “31 Thoughts” article yesterday. The topic revolves around the Ottawa Senators Uber video and the fallout.

     

     

    -The Los Angeles Kings announced that Adam Oates has joined the team in a consulting role.

     

     

     

    You can watch TXHT Live next Tuesday at 8p EST on both Twitch and Facebook Live.

  • The Blues need to hire Joel Quenneville

    The Blues need to hire Joel Quenneville

    Let me restate that for the Twitter generation: the #stlblues need to bring #QTOTHELOU.

     

    Let me start be saying that I recognize having a knee-jerk reaction to the Blues’ lackluster start and calling for a new coach without digging deeper is not the way to run a successful organization, so let’s evaluate how current coach Mike Yeo has performed this season, then get to the merits of hiring Quenneville. The Blues stumbled out of the gate, winning just one of their first five games, but since then have performed semi-respectably, beating teams like Toronto and Vegas rather easily. Unfortunately, when they played the heavy-hitters of the Central, they came back down to earth, blowing a 3-1 third period lead to Winnipeg, and having one of their most embarrassing performances of recent memory in a 5-1 loss to Minnesota, being outshot 45-16. Is this all Mike Yeo’s fault? No. Has Mike Yeo done even one thing to make this team better? It does not seem like this. 

     

    Egregious infraction 1: the constant, and quite frankly baffling, use of Jay Bouwmeester. The Blues are in a precarious position with Robert Bortuzzo being injured and, up until recently, Carl Gunnarsson recovering from an ACL tear, so the Blues were forced into playing Bouwmeester. They were not, however, fired into playing him more than 19 minutes in 8 of the 11 games he has played in, or keeping him on the ice in critical late game situations. Would this be any different under Coach Q? We don’t really know, but looking at Brent Seabrook’s average time on ice, it has fallen about 2 minutes since 2015-2016. While he still gets about 20 minutes of ice time (according to hockey reference), the Blackhawks’ defense is much worse than the that of the Blues, and Seabrook is still capable of generating much more offense than Bouwmeester. If we say an n of 1 is significant (somewhere a statistician’s head just exploded), it stands to reason that Quenneville does not simply look at pedigree and contract value when determining whether to keeping playing an aging veteran exactly as he did in his prime. 

     

    Egregious infraction 2: inability to use young players properly. The Blues have a wealth of young players, including Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou – neither of which has been used well. Thomas, a highly-touted prospect, played the first five games, but was then benched for almost two weeks. Yeo’s rationale was that he was trying to find his confidence: 

     

     

    Nothing does more for a young player’s confidence than a benching 5 games into a 9-game trial. Within those first 5 games, that the Blues were losing all but 1, Thomas saw more than 10 minutes of ice time just twice. This does not help develop young players, and it does not help the current team win. Kyrou faired better under Yeo, slightly, but after not putting up many points in the first few games, he has been relegated to fewer than 10 minutes of ice time in each of his last three games (and has not played in the last 3). This type of player mismanagement makes me nostalgic for Mike Matheny, who once stated that coaches are not in the business of player development. 

     

    Now, would this change under Quenneville? That’s questionable. According to BlackhawkUp, one of Quenneville’s biggest critiques was that he would not trust younger players. However, the Blackhawks, at the time, were a dynasty in the making, with players like Toews and Kane (themselves fairly young), so it is understandable to trust these guys more. His development of Patrick Kane alone is enough to show how strong he is in the player development department. 

     

    This list can go on, but in the end, the Blues need to realize that Quenneville is an all-time great coach, while Yeo has not done anything in his career to prove he can ever reach that level. They are not playing well this year, an Q can help turn that around. It’s far from a given that a reunion is imminent, but the Blues would be foolish not to explore the possibility.

     

    You can watch TXHT Live next Wednesday at 8p EST on both Twitch and Facebook Live.

  • TXHT – 11/6/2018

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPgR7_4DX8s&w=560&h=315]

    Join Michael as he breaks down the past week for the Washington Capitals, plus NHL News and Notes.
    You can watch TXHT Live next Wednesday at 8p EST on both Twitch and Facebook Live.
  • Montreal Canadiens Lose Lead, Then Game to New York Rangers

    Montreal Canadiens Lose Lead, Then Game to New York Rangers

    The Montreal Canadiens blow a 3-1 Lead to lose 5-3 to the New York Rangers. A sloppy third period leads to too many odd-man chances by the Rangers which killed the Habs. Habs will look to redeem themselves at Home when they face the Sabres on Thursday Night at 7:30 PM. Tomas Tatar picked up two goals and was a bright spot for the Habs tonight. Price made a bunch of key saves to try and save the Habs but the defense decided not to show up.

    First Period Analysis
    A fast start again for the Habs as Tomas Tatar gets the Habs on the board in the first minute of the game. Habs gave up way too many turnovers which led to a number of odd-man chances for the Rangers.

    Second Period
    Very Physical play. The Habs have to be careful and not be stupid and let the Rangers tie this game up. Habs are taking way too many penalties in the game, This will come back to bite them in the third period.

    Third Period:
    Too Many Penalties+Too Many Men= 2 points wasted. No defense, too many penalties and just from a Habs perspective painful to watch.

    You can watch TXHT Live next Wednesday at 8p EST on both Twitch and Facebook Live.
  • Game Recap – Vegas Golden Knights v. Toronto Maple Leafs

    Game Recap – Vegas Golden Knights v. Toronto Maple Leafs

    Time: Tuesday, Novemeber 6th, 2018

    Toronto: 9-5-0 for 18 points

    Vegas: 6-2-1 for 13 points

    The Toronto Maple Leafs head back home where they have struggled big time only scoring 5 goals in their last 7 games. But Vegas has been just as bad on the road, having a hard time scraping wins away from their home arena.

    Top Scorers/Goalie Matchup

    Morgan Rielly – 18 points (6 goals 12 assists)

    Mitch Marner – 18 points (4 goals 14 assists)

    Auston Matthews – 16 points (10 goals 6 assists) 53% on Face-off

    John Tavares – 14 points (8 goals 8 assists) 48% on face-offs

     

    Jonathan Marchessault –13 points (6 goals 7 assists)

    William Karlsson– 10 points (3 goal 10 assists)

    Erik Haula– 7 points (2 goal 5 assists)

    Rielly Smith– 6 points (3 goal 3 assists)

     

    Frederik Andersen

    7-5-0 2.28GAA .924SV%

     

    Marc-Andre Fleury

    6-5-1 2.51GAA .901SV%

     

    Probable Lineups:

    Toronto:

    Mitch Marner – John Tavares – Zach Hyman

    Kasperi Kapanen – Nazem Kadri– Patrick Marleau

    Tyler Ennis – Pars Lindholm – Connor Brown

    Andreas Johnsson – Frederik Gauthier – Josh Leivo

    Morgan Rielly – Ron Hainsey

    Jake Gardiner – Nikita Zaitsev

    Travis Dermott – Igor Ozhiganov

    Frederik Andersen

    Garrett Sparks
    Scratched: Justin Holl & Martin Marincin

    Injuries: Nathan Horton (Back), Auston Matthews (Shoulder)

    Suspension: None

     

    Vegas:

    Jonathan Marchessault – William Karlsson – Reilly Smith

    Max Pacioretty – Erik Haula– Alex Tuch

    Tomas Nosek– Cody Eakin – Tomas Hyka

    William Carrier – Pierre-Eduoard Bellmore – Ryan Reaves

    Brayden McNabb –Collin Miller

    Shea Theodore – Nick Holden

    Jon Merril – Brad Hunt

    Marc-Andre Fleury

    Macolm Subban
    Scratched: None

    Injuries: Paul Stastny (Lower Body)

    Suspension: None

     

    Keys to Winning against Vegas:

    1. Attack the defence
      1. Vegas defence is young and although they played well last year they have been so good this year. Attack hard.
    2. Depth
      1. Needs to score take some pressure off the stars
    3. Score 1st
      1. Leafs have struggled at home and need to get off to a good start. 1st goal of the game would easily help that

    Game Day Lineups:

    First Period:

    Toronto Goal – 05:30 – Connor Brown (2) Unassisted

    Vegas Penalty – 06:43 – Bryaden McNabb 2 minutes from Holding

    Toronto Penalty – 13:58 – Jake Gardiner 2 minutes from Hooking

    End of 1st – VGK – 0     TOR – 1

    Shots              13                08

    Faceoffs         7/17          10/17

    Hits               6                  12

    PP                 0/1               0/1

    Analysis:

    Leafs are aggressive on the defence and attacking the net not worrying about finesse but just getting the puck in the net anyway possible.

    Need to Do:

    Get more bodies in front of Fleury really having a hard time tracking the puck.

    Second Period:

    Toronto Goal – 00:09 – Mitch Marner (5) from John Tavares (9) and Zach Hyman (7)

    Toronto Penalty – 04:01 – Mitch Marner 2 minutes for Hooking

    Vegas Goal – 11:22 – Cody Eakin (4) from Shea Theodore (5) and Jon Merill (2)

    End of 2nd –VGK – 1      TOR – 2

    Shots               29                 16

    Faceoffs          16/40            24/40

    Hits                 14                  17

    PP                   0/2                  0/1

    Analysis:

    Leaf came out flying and then took their foot off the gas pedal. Allowing Vegas to dominate the 2nd half of the 2nd period and score once.

    Need to Do:

    Get back to being aggressive on the forecheck.

     

     

    Third Period:

    Toronto Penalty – 03:32 – Jake Gardiner 2 minutes for Slashing

    Toronto EN Goal – 19:25 – Nazem Kadri(4) from Connor Brown (4) and Patrick Marleau (5)

    End of 3rd –VGK – 1           TOR – 3

    Shots              37                      21

    Faceoffs        23/59             36/59

    Hits               23                      25

    PP                 0/3                    0/1

    Analysis:

    Mitch Marner was by far the best player on the ice tonight. Backchecked hard and forechecked hard and even fought hard in front of the net. But his only comparable was Freddie Andersen who came to play tonight stopping 36 of 37 shots for an amazing performance.

     

    Next Up:

    New Jersey (6-5-1 13pts) @ Toronto (10-5-0 20pts)

    Vegas (6-8-1 13pts) @ Ottawa (5-6-3 13pts)

     

    You can watch TXHT Live this Wednesday at 8p EST on both Twitch and Facebook Live.

     

  • November 6th, 2018 — News and Notes

    Today is Tuesday, November 6th, 2018, and these are your news and notes..

    There were five contests yesterday…

     

    Boston Bruins Brad Marchand recorded his 13th overtime goal to give the Bruins a record of 8-4-2 thus far on the season. Marchand sits at a five-way tie for 10th place in NHL for overtime winners.

     

     

    Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello became the third general manager in League history to reach the 2400 game plateau. He trails only David Poile and Glen Sather in the 2400+ game mark. Lamoriello won three Stanley Cup championships as the GM of the New Jersey Devils.

     

     

    For the Montreal Canadiens, Joel Armia was the only player to score in the shootout and with the win, Montreal is now 8-4-2 on the season.

     

     

    Brian Boyle netted a hat trick in the contest, the first in his career. Boyle, who recently announced that his cancer is in remission, netted this hat-trick on Hockey Fights Cancer night in Pittsburgh.

     

     

    Washington Capitals F Alex Ovechkin netted his 234th career power-play goal to give the Capitals the victory. This would be Ovechkin’s fifth power-play goal in the season. Since Ovechkin’s debut in the 2005-06 season, Ovechkin has 99 more power-play goals than the next closest player.

     

     

    Connor McDavid in the contest would extend his point streak to eight games, six shy of his personal best at 14 games.

     

    TXHT’s Full Recap

     

     

    Philadelphia Flyers captain Claude Giroux registered at least three points in a contest for the 49th times in his career. The franchise record is held by Bobby Clarke who had 110 games of at least three points.

     

     

    There are nine contests tonight…

    skeddy-06123417

    In NHL news…

    -Earlier today, the Chicago Blackhawks announced that Joel Quenneville has been relieved of his coaching duties and announced Jeremy Colliton as the 38th head coach in the franchise’s history.

     

    -The Tampa Bay Lightning will host their annual Hockey Fights Cancer Awareness night tonight when Tampa Bay takes on the Ottawa Senators.

     

    -The Ottawa Senators released a statement about the group of Senators players who mocked coaches and laughed about their play.

     

     

    TXHT has a great article on what a team is and you can read that article here.

     

    You can watch TXHT Live next Tuesday at 8p EST on both Twitch and Facebook Live.

  • The Meaning of Being a Team

    As we all learned late yesterday, members of the Ottawa Senators were filmed by an Uber driver while in Arizona during their road trip. In the video you can see the players talking and joking about the coaching staff and the meetings that take place for the team.

     

    Now this doesn’t come as a major surprise that this is happening in Ottawa given the recent track record of drama that has engulfed the team since the 2017-18 season, but the level of dissention that we can see brewing is truly unheard of. It is common to hear of coaches or specific players losing the locker room and their support, which in effect causes change, but this one is much different as it is also evident that the owner of the Senators, Eugene Melnyk, has lost the entire organization.

     

    Now many have asked why the NHL has not stepped in to fix the issue, and the answer is rather simple. The NHL does not own the team, and unless the Ottawa Senators become a financial mess, and on the verge of folding, then the League can become involved like they have with the Arizona Coyotes, and a couple others to keep them be stable until they could get new ownership. From a financial standpoint the Senators are not being poorly managed, but that still doesn’t change the fact that Melnyk needs to sell the Senators so they can all get a fresh start.

     

    What can the NHL do? Honestly nothing, but have conversations with Eugene Melnyk and the other owners about the situation.  However, there will come a point where something needs to happen.

     

    How about the players on the video? What should happen with them? For a situation like this it’s rather difficult. There will obviously be team imposed punishments for the players behavior, but for something like this the League may not be able to do anything, unless the CBA states other wise.

     

    But this also begs a bigger question from someone like me and that is this. If you aren’t happy with the team you’re on, why don’t you say something to those in charge of the team? It’s not the League’s job to fix the problem for you. You need to speak to those in charge of your team, be it the Captain, the Coach, or even the General Manager, or the Owner. Despite what people think, they will talk to you and listen to your grievances and do what they can to help fix the issue for you, but doing it behind those people’s backs is not the way to do it.

     

    Hopefully soon we’ll see real change in Ottawa, but until then this will be a bumpy ride.

     

    You can watch TXHT Live tonight at 8p EST on both Twitch and Facebook Live.