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NHL Announces 2023-24 All-Star Teams

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The NHL announced their annual season-ending All-Star teams as part of last night’s award festivities. The rosters, as voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association, are as follows.

First All-Star Team

LW: Artemi Panarin (Rangers)
C: Nathan MacKinnon (Avalanche)
RW: Nikita Kucherov (Lightning)
D: Quinn Hughes (Canucks)
D: Roman Josi (Predators)
G: Connor Hellebuyck (Jets)

Second All-Star Team

LW: Filip Forsberg (Predators)
C: Connor McDavid (Oilers)
RW: David Pastrňák (Bruins)
D: Adam Fox (Rangers)
D: Cale Makar (Avalanche)
G: Thatcher Demko (Canucks)

The First Team nod caps off quite a successful 24 hours for MacKinnon, who also swept both media-voted and player-voted MVP honors with the Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award. It’s his third All-Star nod, although his two prior ones were both Second Team honors in 2018 and 2020. The 28-year-old pivot led the Avs in scoring with 51 goals and 140 points this season and recorded a league-high 405 shots on goal.

Notably, the voting ledger (available in the league’s announcement) indicates Kucherov was the unanimous First Team selection at right wing. That’s the first time that’s happened since 2002, when the Flames’ Jarome Iginla was the across-the-board pick after also winning the Richard and Art Ross trophies. Like Iginla, Kucherov was crowned this year’s Art Ross winner after recording 144 points in 81 games. He tied with McDavid for a league-leading 100 assists, becoming the first winger in NHL history to hit the mark.

Absent from either team is Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews, whose 69 goals this season were the most of anyone since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96. He also fell short of being a Hart Trophy finalist behind Kucherov, MacKinnon and McDavid. He was third in All-Star voting among centers, though, and did receive nine First Team and 55 Second Team votes out of 187 ballots. The only other center to receive consideration was the Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, who only appeared on four ballots.

Quinn Hughes Wins 2023-24 Norris Trophy

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After a breakout showing in 2022-23, Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes took another step forward this season.  He was recognized for his efforts on Thursday as the league announced that he’s the winner of the James Norris Memorial Trophy, awarded “to the defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position”.

Vancouver’s captain led all NHL defensemen with 75 assists and 92 points, setting franchise records in both categories; he bested his team records from the year before at 69 and 76, respectively.  He had plenty of success on the power play, leading all rearguards in assists in that situation with 33 while finishing second in points at 38.  That helped pace Vancouver to their first playoff appearance since 2019-20 and their first division title since 2012-13.  Hughes also reached the 300-point mark for his career, becoming the eighth-fastest in league history to do so.

That helped give Hughes a significant margin of victory.  He took home 172 first-place votes out of 194 and was a top-three selection on every ballot.  He was also the only player to appear on every ballot.  A total of 15 players received votes, each of which appeared on at least three ballots.  Nashville’s Roman Josi and Colorado’s Cale Makar finished second and third, respectively.

Hughes is the first Canucks defenseman to win the award.  He’s also the fourth U.S.-born player to capture the award, the others being Chris Chelios, Brian Leetch, and Adam Fox.

NHL Announces 2024 Norris Trophy Finalists

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The Canucks’ Quinn Hughes, the Predators’ Roman Josi and the Avalanche’s Cale Makar are this year’s Norris Trophy finalists for the league’s top defenseman, as announced today. Technically awarded “to the defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position,” the Norris, like many others, is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association after the regular season concludes.

Hughes, 24, isn’t just a finalist for the first time – he’s the first Canucks defenseman in franchise history to be named one. He has earned consideration in three of the past four seasons, placing 15th in voting in 2020, 13th in 2022, and ninth in 2023.

The 2018 seventh-overall pick is coming off a franchise-defining season, logging a Vancouver-record 75 assists and 92 points in 82 games that also led defenders league-wide. A first-year captain, Hughes averaged 24:41 per game, tying him for tenth in the league with Penguins blue-liner Kris Letang, and led all NHL defensemen with 54 even-strength points. He also had the most dominant possession season of his career, with Vancouver controlling 57.5% of shot attempts and 54.3% of expected goals with Hughes on the ice at even strength, per Hockey Reference.

Josi, 33, finished third among defensemen in points with 85 in 82 games but led outright in goals with 23. This is his third time being a finalist for the award, winning back in 2020 and finishing second to Makar in 2022. He’s now cracked the point-per-game plateau twice in the past three years and took the most shots of any blue-liner this season with 268, ahead of the Sabres’ Rasmus Dahlin by more than 30. Like Hughes, he’s coming off the best possession season of his career, posting a 54.5 CF%, 5.1 relative CF%, and a 53.8 xGF% at even strength.

Makar, 25, led defenders in points per game this season but missed five games due to injury, placing him second in points behind Hughes with 90 in 77 games. It’s his fourth straight season as a finalist for the award, but compared to his peers mentioned here, may have the worst case for satisfying the “all-around ability” stipulation this season.

He had a quietly average season at even strength by his standards, getting a higher share of his point production on the power play compared to Hughes and Josi. His possession numbers weren’t all that different from Colorado’s averages, either. His 53.0 CF% at even strength was his lowest since his rookie season, and his 0.3 relative CF% was a career-low outright. That led Colorado to reassign some of his 5-on-5 minutes elsewhere – his overall average ice time dropped from 26:23 in 2022-23 to 24:46 this season without any significant changes in his usage on special teams.

The league hasn’t yet announced the date when award winners will be revealed.

2024 King Clancy Trophy Nominees Announced

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Today, the NHL announced the 32 nominees for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, annually presented to “the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.”

Each team submitted their nominee; they are as follows:

Anaheim Ducks: Cam Fowler
Arizona Coyotes: Nick Bjugstad
Boston Bruins: Linus Ullmark
Buffalo Sabres: Alex Tuch
Calgary Flames: Andrew Mangiapane
Carolina Hurricanes: Jaccob Slavin
Chicago Blackhawks: Connor Murphy
Colorado Avalanche: Cale Makar
Columbus Blue Jackets: Zach Werenski
Dallas Stars: Jake Oettinger
Detroit Red Wings: Dylan Larkin
Edmonton Oilers: Darnell Nurse
Florida Panthers: Aleksander Barkov
Los Angeles Kings: Kevin Fiala
Minnesota Wild: Marc-Andre Fleury
Montreal Canadiens: Nick Suzuki
Nashville Predators: Roman Josi
New Jersey Devils: Jack Hughes
New York Islanders: Anders Lee
New York Rangers: Jacob Trouba
Ottawa Senators: Brady Tkachuk
Philadelphia Flyers: Scott Laughton
Pittsburgh Penguins: Bryan Rust
San Jose Sharks: Luke Kunin
Seattle Kraken: Jaden Schwartz
St. Louis Blues: Brayden Schenn
Tampa Bay Lightning: Nick Paul
Toronto Maple Leafs: Auston Matthews
Vancouver Canucks: Quinn Hughes
Vegas Golden Knights: Jack Eichel
Washington Capitals: Tom Wilson
Winnipeg Jets: Josh Morrissey

Unlike most awards which are voted on by the players or media, the winner of this award is selected by a committee consisting of Commissioner Gary Bettman and former winners of the King Clancy Memorial Trophy and the NHL Foundation Player Award, one that was awarded from 1997-98 through 2016-17.

Last year’s winner was Calgary’s Mikael Backlund.  The winner for this season will be revealed in late June.

West Notes: Hronek, Vilardi, Tourigny, Bardakov

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In an appearance on Sekeres and Price (video link), Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli discusses the importance of the Canucks avoiding salary arbitration with pending RFA defenseman Filip Hronek.  The team may view Quinn Hughes’ $7.85MM cap hit as a ceiling they don’t want to surpass when it comes to spending on their defensemen.  However, Hronek has already set career highs in assists (40) and points (45) this season while logging over 23 minutes a night.  Arbitration-eligible for the first time this summer, the two sides going to a hearing could push Hronek’s award past the $7MM mark.  Accordingly, settling before it gets to that point should be high on Vancouver’s priority list this offseason.

More from the Western Conference:

  • Jets center Gabriel Vilardi returned to practice today as he works his way back from an enlarged spleen. Murat Ates of The Athletic notes (Twitter link) that the 24-year-old is expected to skate with the team every day this week as he works on getting back into playing condition.  When healthy, Vilardi has been a key producer for Winnipeg this season, notching 16 goals and 14 assists in just 38 games so far.
  • Coyotes head coach Andre Tourigny is expected to serve as Canada’s head coach at the upcoming World Championship although it’s not yet official, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports. Tourigny served in that role last year, helping lead Canada to the gold medal.
  • Avalanche prospect Zakhar Bardakov intends to sign with Colorado and play in North America after next season, his agent Shumi Babaev told Evan Rawal of Colorado Hockey Now. The 23-year-old was picked up from New Jersey in the Kurtis MacDermid trade and had a dozen points in 51 games with SKA St. Petersburg this season.  Bardakov’s KHL deal is expiring and Babaev noted that Bardakov intends to play next season in that league; it remains to be seen if that will be with SKA or another organization.

Canucks Notes: Pettersson, Hughes, Kuzmenko

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Canucks center Elias Pettersson is the most prominent player among those eligible for restricted free agency this summer.  Although talks were reportedly shelved heading into the season, there have been some discussions since then.  Whether there will be more remains to be seen as Pettersson’s agent Pat Brisson told Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre that he’s unsure if there will be further talks on that front between now and the end of the season.  Pettersson, who can break the all-time NHL record tonight for consecutive games with a game-winning goal (he’s currently at four), has 22 goals and 35 assists in 42 games and stands to land considerably more than his $8.82MM qualifying offer whenever a new agreement is eventually reached.

More from Vancouver:

  • Defenseman Quinn Hughes has shown himself to be quite dynamic offensively throughout his NHL career. However, at least one person in Vancouver’s front office though felt he could be better utilized.  In an appearance on the NHL Network (video link), former head coach Bruce Boudreau indicated that he was approached several times about making the 24-year-old a center, a request he rebuffed each time.  Hughes is having a stellar season on the back end this season with 51 points in 42 games so far, making him a strong contender for the Norris Trophy so it’s safe to say keeping him on the back end was the right call.
  • Things haven’t gone well for winger Andrei Kuzmenko in his sophomore year. After scoring 39 goals last year, he has just eight so far this season and has been healthy scratched five times.  However, his agent told Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription link) that Kuzmenko is happy in Vancouver and isn’t looking to leave.  The 27-year-old has another year left on his contract after this one with a $5.5MM price tag which would make finding a viable trade in which they receive full value a challenging proposition.

NHL Names Western Conference All-Stars

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Sportsnet is reporting that the NHL has named the first 16 selections from the Western Conference who will appear in the NHL All-Star Game that will take place February 3rd in Toronto.

The game will be held in Canada for the first time since 2012, when it was held in Ottawa. Toronto hasn’t hosted the game since 2000 and this year will be the first time that the NHL uses a four-team, three-on-three format in combination with the fantasy draft format that was used from 2011-2015. The league will name four captains, one for each team, who will take part in a draft to select their teams on February 1st.

The initial players named from the Western Conference are as follows:

Central Division

Arizona: LW Clayton Keller (4th appearance)
Chicago: C Connor Bedard (1st appearance)
Colorado: C Nathan MacKinnon (3rd appearance)
Dallas: G Jake Oettinger (1st appearance)
Minnesota: LW Kirill Kaprizov (3rd appearance)
Nashville: C Filip Forsberg (1st appearance)
St. Louis: C Robert Thomas (1st appearance)
Winnipeg: G Connor Hellebuyck (3rd appearance)

Pacific Division

Anaheim: LW Frank Vatrano (1st appearance)
Calgary: C Elias Lindholm (1st appearance)
Edmonton: C Connor McDavid (7th appearance)
Los Angeles: G Cam Talbot (1st appearance)
San Jose: C Tomas Hertl (1st appearance)
Seattle: RW Oliver Bjorkstrand (1st appearance)
Vancouver: D Quinn Hughes (1st appearance)
Vegas: C Jack Eichel (1st appearance)

The initial announcements of 32 players (one player to represent each team) tonight will be followed by the naming of the final 12 all-stars in the coming weeks. Those 12 players will be decided by a fan vote on NHL.com as well as several of the NHL’s social media platforms.

Cale Makar Out Tonight With A Lower Body Injury

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The Colorado Avalanche have announced that star defenseman Cale Makar will not play tonight against the Winnipeg Jets due to a lower-body injury. Not much information was provided about Makar’s ailment, but the 25-year-old just returned to the Avalanche lineup on December 7th after missing two games with a lower-body injury.

Makar played in the Avalanche’s last four games but didn’t quite seem himself as he registered just a goal and an assist during that time. Makar’s status is also up in the air for tomorrow night’s game as the Avalanche take on the San Jose Sharks at home in the second half of their back-to-back.

Makar is second in NHL scoring by a defenseman with eight goals and 29 assists in 27 games thus far this season. He trails the Vancouver Canucks Quinn Hughes by two points, but Hughes has played four more games. If Makar can get back to full health, he would have to be a favorite to win a second Norris Trophy for the league’s best defenseman.

Makar played just 17:21 in the Avalanche’s last game against the Buffalo Sabres which is well off his season average of 24:10. In fact, Makar hasn’t played less than 21 minutes in a game at all this season, except on Tuesday night against Buffalo. It’s not known if Makar suffered the injury in that game or began to feel discomfort, but more information should be available in the coming days.

Cale Makar Will Not Play Tonight

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Peter Baugh of The Athletic is reporting that Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar will miss tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Kings with a lower-body injury. Baugh relayed the news from Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar who said that Makar is out for tonight and that was all he knew for now.

Makar is currently one of the frontrunners for the Norris Trophy as his seven goals and 27 assists in 23 games have him tied for fourth in NHL scoring with Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes. He has finished in the top-3 in Norris Trophy voting in each of the past three seasons and is making a strong case for it to be four years in a row. He won the award back in 2022 and was also the Conn Smythe Trophy winner in the same year.

Makar left the Avalanche game last night against the Anaheim Ducks just before the end of regulation. He was unavailable during the overtime period and the shootout, which the Avalanche eventually lost.

If he is out for any length of time it would be a big blow to a Colorado club that currently sits atop the Central Division with a 15-6-2 record. They were on a hot streak having won seven of eight prior games to dropping their last two to the Ducks and Arizona Coyotes.

With Makar sidelined, it appears that rookie Sam Malinski will dress in his second career NHL game. The 25-year-old signed as an undrafted free agent this past March after playing four years at Cornell University. In 17 AHL games this season with the Colorado Eagles, Malinski has three goals and six assists.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Buffalo Sabres

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As Thanksgiving and the holiday season approaches, PHR will be taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2023-24. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Buffalo Sabres.

Who are the Sabres thankful for?

Rasmus Dahlin.

The Sabres raised a lot of eyebrows when they signed the 23-year-old to an eight-year $88MM contract extension back in October that made him one of the highest-paid defensemen in NHL history. The signing made sense from Dahlin’s perspective as he cashed in on a career year and became one of the highest paid players in the league.

From the Sabres perspective, there were a few question marks. Dahlin has never finished above eighth place in Norris Trophy voting and has only garnered consideration one time. However, the Sabres bet on Dahlin’s continued development going forward and are hoping he will turn into a perennial Norris Trophy contender throughout the life of the deal.

A month after signing the deal, Dahlin has given the Sabres everything they could ask for. He has averaged almost 25 minutes a night of ice time, playing in all situations. He has been terrific for the Sabres at even strength, while remaining a threat on the power play and has even worked on the penalty kill, putting up solid numbers in the process.

Dahlin has really demonstrated his value to Buffalo while center Tage Thompson has been out of action. The Sabres desperately needed someone to step up in Thompson’s absence and so far, Dahlin has been one of the leaders to fill the void. In Sunday night’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks Dahlin had a goal and two assists and was pivotal in the Sabres ending their three-game losing streak

Dahlin posted 73 points in 78 games last season while averaging almost 26 minutes a night in ice time, this season his numbers thus far are almost identical. He is averaging about a minute less of ice time per game, but offensively he is on pace to come close to last season’s totals. Dahlin has four goals and 12 assists in the first 19 games of the season and has been much more physical and has also been more responsible with the puck than in seasons past.

What are the Sabres thankful for?

Their fanbase.

Buffalo sports fans are some of the most enduring fans in the world. You don’t lose four Super Bowls in a row without learning a thing or two about remaining passionate in the face of adversity. But still, credit to the fans of the Buffalo Sabres for still turning up in droves year after year to see a team that hasn’t made the Stanley Cup playoffs for 12 straight years.

Some people will point to the Sabres attendance this year and say that their numbers are down (which they are), but for the most part, the fans are still turning up in person to watch a team that hasn’t given them anything to cheer about for over a decade. The Sabres crowds might be smaller than in years past, but the crowd is still loud and passionate and firmly behind the team.

It will be interesting to see what the attendance numbers look like for the remainder of the season as Buffalo came into this year with playoff aspirations and thus far hasn’t looked like a playoff team. The Sabres have started the year 8-9-2 and if their season starts to go sideways, they could see more nights where there are over 5,000 empty seats in the KeyBank Center like we saw a few weeks ago.

What would the Sabres be even more thankful for?

A solution to their three-goalie situation.

The Sabres have been rolling this season with three goaltenders which hasn’t been an ideal set of circumstances for a team that needs help in the goal-scoring department. The Sabres have been unable to bring up any of their scoring prospects from the AHL because of the roster spot being occupied by the third goaltender. And make no mistake, Jiri Kulich and Isak Rosen are both recent first-round picks that could both help the Sabres with their scoring woes.

The three-goalie situation also hasn’t been great for all the goaltenders involved either. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has been solid thus far for Buffalo going 4-3-1 with a .911 save percentage, but Eric Comrie has been uneven going 1-2 with an .898 save percentage. While all those numbers are pretty run-of-the-mill, poor Devon Levi has struggled to gain any traction with a 3-4-1 record and a .879 save percentage.

The solution to the situation would likely be unpopular in Buffalo, but it would be the most practical. One goaltender needs to be sent to the minors and given their contract situations it would most likely be Levi as he is exempt from waivers and could be sent down without the risk of the Sabres losing him. Luukkonen and Comrie could be sent down to the AHL, but they would likely be claimed by another team should Buffalo elect to do that.

Levi doesn’t exactly deserve a demotion, but given Buffalo’s struggle to score, his contract situation and play, it would be the most pragmatic move that Buffalo could make.

What should be on the Sabres holiday wish list?

An offensive forward.

As I mentioned before, the Sabres need to score more, and an offensive-minded forward would go a long way to adding some punch to their offensive attack. The Sabres do boast a fair amount of young offensively gifted players, but many of them are just learning the pro hockey game and have yet to find the consistency that Buffalo needs to get back to the playoffs.

The Sabres have been tied to hometown boy Patrick Kane, and while Kane certainly has the offensive pedigree, he is a bit of an unknown given the situation with his hip recovery. If he could regain some of the form he showed in Chicago just two years ago, Kane could be a solution to Buffalo’s problems, but it would be asking a lot from a player who is coming off major surgery.

The fact that Buffalo is in on Kane is an indication that they would like to add a high-end offensive forward which should be encouraging to Sabres fans. If Buffalo can find space to bring up one of their young scoring forwards from the AHL and find an offensively talented forward from outside the organization, they might be able to finally optimize their offense.

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