Deen’s Daily: NHL Season Begins Friday; Robin Lehner Settlement

We made it.

The NHL season officially begins Friday with the NHL Global Series in Prague. The New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres will drop the puck at 11 am. MT in the first of two games. They’ll play the second leg of a back-to-back at 8 am. MT on Saturday before returning to North America.

The offseason was full of intriguing stories but it’s great to have hockey back. And right from the get-go, we get to watch former Devils coach Lindy Ruff take on his old team less than a year after getting fired. And of course, he’ll do it while coaching the Sabres, where he was at the helm from 1997 to 2013 — the second-longest tenure any coach has had with a single team.

Ruff also enters the 2024-25 season with the fourth most games behind the bench. Of the three ahead of him — Scotty Bowman, Paul Maurice, and Barry Trotz — only one is still coaching. Maurice, who won the Stanley Cup with Florida in June is 74 games ahead of Ruff. And Trotz, now the Nashville Predators general manager, has coached only 38 games more than Ruff. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Buffalo’s bench boss will pass him in games coached before the season is halfway through.

Colorado Hockey Now

In a somewhat surprising move, the Avalanche released Pierre-Edouard Bellemare from his PTO on Thursday. Bellemare, 39, was battling for the fourth-line center role and likely would not have signed for anything more than league minimum. But, whether it was a pure hockey move or a business decision pertaining to the salary cap, general manager Chris MacFarland and head coach Jared Bednar felt they could move forward in a different direction.

Colorado has been impressed with Parker Kelly so far and feels he could fill a center role. The team is also hanging on to 22-year-old Ivan Ivan, who isn’t a center but could fill a winger role if Kelly is shifted to the middle full-time. There’s also Chris Wagner, a veteran centerman with organizational familiarity. And let’s not forget the team could still choose to dip into the waiver wire ahead of Monday’s roster deadline.

Around The NHL

Robin Lehner: The Vegas Golden Knights, the league, and the NHL Players’ Association came to an agreement that goalie Robin Lehner will be paid for the 2024-25 season without counting against the Golden Knights’ salary cap. The decision was made a couple of weeks after the 33-year-old failed to report for his training camp physical. Lehner has not played since the 2021-22 season.

While it may seem like the league did Vegas a favor, it is worth mentioning that because Lehner did not report for camp, the team likely had a case for contract termination. Rather than the Golden Knights benefitting from Lehner’s cap hit being wiped off their salary cap, it’s better to look at this as a scenario where Lehner benefits more by still getting paid to not play.

Detroit Hockey Now: The Red Wings might carry three goalies for another season. After letting James Reimer walk in free agency and signing Cam Talbot, Detroit finds itself in another three-goalie race. Alex Lyon, who carried the load last season, has had a good preseason thus far. And the third goalie, Ville Husso, has been great, according to coach Derek Lalonde.

Husso spent most of the 2023-24 season injured and has been a disappointment since Detroit brought him in from the St. Louis Blues in 2022. The young goalie was a buyout candidate but the team chose to hold onto him instead. Husso has one more year remaining on his contract.

Lineups in Prague: Projected lineups are all but set now for the season opener in Prague. The Buffalo Sabres will likely have former Avs defenseman Bowen Byram on the second pair alongside Owen Power, while Nicolas Aube-Kubel is set to make his Sabres debut on the new-look fourth line. For Sheldon Keefe’s debut as Devils coach, former Avs forward Tomas Tatar is set to make his return to New Jersey and join the top six where he had success from 2021-2023. You can see New Jersey’s projected lines here.