Evan’s NHL Daily: Roy Gets To The Dance, McDavid Makes History

Everyone knows Patrick Roy loves to win, but now his team has a shot to go all the way after qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He might have to thank the NHL and their points system, though.

Out in Edmonton, the Oilers steamrolled the San Jose Sharks, who booked all their flights to Cancun months ago. In the blowout, Connor McDavid did something only three other NHL players had done until this season. Not bad.

All that and more in this Tuesday edition of Evan’s Daily.

Colorado Hockey Now

Looking back at the nightmarish third period against the Golden Knights from the Avalanche…if anyone even wants to.

CHN will be headed to Winnipeg for the first two games on the road. I’m not sure why it’s more complicated to get there than it is to get to Tokyo, but it is. If you’d like to continue supporting CHN, please consider subscribing, I may look into a tip jar for travel in the playoffs, but I don’t know how I feel about that yet.

Islanders Get Into The Playoffs

The New York Islanders are not a team that excites me at all. In fact, the only things exciting about them might be Matt Barzal and the fact their head coach is NHL legend, Patrick Roy.

On Monday, they qualified for the NHL playoffs with a win over the New Jersey Devils. In that win, they mustered up just 19 shots on goal. Any team that makes the playoffs deserves credit, so I don’t really want to discredit them, but a big reason why they made it is their NHL-leading 16 overtime losses. That OT point is what separates them from some of those other squads. They have just 28 regulation wins. If the Red Wings get in, they might get in with even less. Not exactly a race to the top out East.

Either way, good for Patrick Roy, and what I’ll be most interested to see is who he starts in the playoffs. He hasn’t been afraid to ride his old horse, Semyon Varlamov, since taking the job in New York, despite having Ilya Sorokin. Would he dare start Varly in the playoffs?

McDavid Makes History

Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky, and Mario Lemieux. Those are the names of guys who have hit 100 assists in a season in the NHL.

Now you can add Connor McDavid to that list.

Connor McDavid (@cmcdavid97) joins @WayneGretzky (x11), Mario Lemieux, and Bobby Orr as the only players to register 100 assists in a single season! 💯 pic.twitter.com/Ta3ejTLDWc

— NHL (@NHL) April 16, 2024

Somehow he didn’t pick up an assist on the previous eight goals from Edmonton, but I digress. 100 assists in a season is an incredible accomplishment, and he might not be the only guy that does it this year, as Nikita Kucherov is just one assist away.

Since McDavid is dealing with a lower-body injury, I now wonder if he’ll sit out on Thursday against the Avalanche. No real reason to play him.

National Hockey Now

A look at the Pittsburgh Penguins playoff chances, which look bleak now.

Will things get any better for the San Jose Sharks next season? Winning the NHL Draft Lottery might help.

The pickup of Vladimir Tarasenko has worked out for the Panthers.

Good thing the Red Wings have Lucas Raymond. Otherwise, they might be toast.

Lane Hutson is the next exciting defenseman to come out of the NCAA into the NHL.

Hits are a very subjective stat, depending on what NHL arena you’re in, but Jeremy Lauzon has now set the single season record for hits.

Bowen Byram will have a new coach next season, as Don Granato has been fired in Buffalo