The NHL Evening Skate for Dec. 27
Heading into this evening’s action, here are the day’s top NHL storylines:
Matthews, MacKinnon, McDavid, Ovechkin voted 2019 NHL All-Star Game captains
Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche, Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers and Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals have been voted captains of the 2019 NHL All-Star Game. Matthews (Atlantic), Ovechkin (Metropolitan), MacKinnon (Central), and McDavid (Pacific) will represent their divisions during the annual three-game, 3-on-3 tournament to be held at SAP Center in San Jose, Jan. 25-26. [More]
Penguins sign Jake Guentzel to hefty 5-year extension
The holiday season has been kind to Jake Guentzel. The Pittsburgh Penguins announced Thursday they’ve signed the diminutive forward to a five-year extension worth $30 million. The contract will kick in for the 2019-20 season and make him the club’s fifth-highest earner on an annual basis, which is no small thing on the Penguins. [More]
KHL team, CSKA Moscow appears to be preparing for a potential NHL lockout
CSKA Moscow, a team that currently sits atop the KHL’s West Conference, has reportedly made a few interesting moves recently. By the looks of it, they see the opportunity to improve their lineup with some top-notch skill if the NHL’s current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) falls apart in 2020. [More]
Lamp-lighters
The best goals of 2018
Hockey is a game of skill. Some have it, some don’t. In 2018, there were a number instances where hockey players all over the world showed off incredible moves before putting the puck in the back of the net. [Watch]
Bank ‘Em: Bold 2019 NHL predictions that will surely be correct
Whether you’re more of a hot-take connoisseur, a calculated mastermind of stat-based prognostications or one who simply likes to take a stab at these types of things just for the hell of it, making bold claims and standing firmly by those, even when they inevitably turn out to be terribly, terribly incorrect, is a sport-spectating rite of passage. Here are some sure-to-be correct forecasts for you to take to the bank.
Mailbag: How should the NHL change its schedule?
Erik asks: “If you had the power to enact it, what would be the one change to NHL scheduling beginning next season? Why?”
There are a lot of beefs I have here (10 games starting within an hour of each other every Saturday, random nights where there are no games at all, etc.), but the thing I absolutely hate the most is the deference to other sports on or around major holidays. Three days off around Christmas is just dumb. Like, why on earth is the NHL not doing what the NBA does on Christmas for Black Friday? [Full mailbag]
Game of the night
Calgary Flames at Winnipeg Jets
If you had predicted at the beginning of the NHL season that the Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames could meet in the Western Conference final in the spring, people would have looked at you like you were crazy. Not the Jets part. They finished second in the league last year with 114 points. But the Flames limped into the final part of the season with two wins in their last 10 games and missed the last wild-card spot by 11 points. So, it’s safe to say expectations for this year were somewhat shy of the Stanley Cup. But after bursting out of the gate this season, the Flames have (mostly) maintained their momentum and currently sit in first place in the Pacific Division with 22 wins and 47 points. [Full preview] [Follow on Yahoo Sports]
More from Yahoo Sports:
• School district boycotting ref who made wrestler cut dreadlocks
• Bengals’ Burfict suffers 7th career concussion, 2nd this month
• Martin: Do the Giants have an Eli exit plan?
• Browns QB defends Hue Jackson staredown
