NHL Daily: Mike Iltch, Leafs Rumors, Jimmy Howard

NHL Daily: Detroit Red Wings/Detroit Tigers owner Mike Ilitch has passed away at the age of 87, Toronto Maple Leafs scouting Avs/Penguins, Red Wings recall netminder Jimmy Howard, and more! (Morning Coffee Headlines)

Grab your morning cup of coffee and join us here at Puck Prose for a compilation of NHL daily links that will help keep you updated with everything going on in the hockey world.

Only two games were scheduled on Friday. The Chicago Blackhawks got some revenge on the Winnipeg Jets, who have had their number all year long with a big 5-2 road win. In the other game, Minnesota edged the Lightning 2-1 in a shootout after Mikko Koivu was the lone goal scorer.

Here is your highlight of the night:

NHL Daily: Morning Coffee Headlines

Mike Ilitch Passes Away at 87

In sad news Friday, we learned that Detroit Red Wings/Detroit Tigers owner Mike Ilitch has passed away at the age of 87. A legend in the Detroit area, Ilitch was around for four Stanley Cup Championships and will be sadly missed. It’s a sad loss the sports community as a whole. [NHL.com]

Leafs on a Scouting Mission

It’s not unusual to get leaks about scouts from other teams attending games. It happens quite frequently. Around this time of year though, it can raise a few eyebrows as teams look to make moves ahead of the deadline. In recent scouting missions, the Maple Leafs were spotted at Thursday night’s game between Pittsburgh/Colorado. [Editor in Leaf]

Howard Recalled by Detroit

Netminder Jimmy Howard suffered a sprained knee back on December 20th. He was recently sent to AHL Grand Rapids for a conditioning stint and has now been recalled. In doing so, the Red Wings placed D Jonathan Ericsson on the long-term IR. Jimmy is 5-7-1 with a 1.96GAA and .934 save percentage in 2016-17. [NHL.com]

Things Canes Fans Should Worry About

Matthew Barlowe over at Cardiac Cane wrote an interesting piece about the Carolina Hurricanes and a handful of things that fans should worry about moving forward. Among that list, a lack of top-end talent, a confusing situation in goal, and much more! [Cardiac Cane]

Cehlarik Could Make Debut Saturday

The Bruins made headlines earlier in the week after firing the longest tenured NHL coach, Claude Julien. Meanwhile, they also promoted a top prospect from the AHL in Peter Cehlarik after Austin Czarnik suffered an injury. With 33 points in 40 games down in Providence, the B’s could turn to Cehlarik on Saturday to see if he can help add a spark to this offensive group. [NESN]

Oilers Recall Oesterle, Lander

The Edmonton Oilers recalled defenseman Jordan Oesterle and forward Anton Lander from AHL Bakersfield. Oesterle has 18 points in 26 games with the Condors and has only appeared in one game with the Oilers in 2016-17. Lander, however, has split time and has four points in 21 games with Edmonton, and 28 points in 18 games with Bakersfield. [Oil on Whyte]

Next: Vegas Golden Knights Mock Expansion Draft Roundtable

NHL Daily Morning Rant

I’m sure many Leafs fans are curious why Toronto is potentially poking around Pittsburgh and Colorado. Like attempting to solve a multiple-choice question, you can start by eliminating certain answers. Players such as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Matt Duchene, Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Patric Hornqvist, all of the bigger names are off the table. You can exclude netminders, blueliners like Tyson Barrie, Erik Johnson, and Kris Letang.

So who does that leave? Well, it’s still tough to figure out without knowing exactly what Toronto is looking for. Logic would tell us a quality right-handed defender could make sense. The Leafs did have interest in Justin Schultz as a college free agent and he’s currently on a RFA on a team that was already going to have an issue protecting all of their defenders in the expansion draft.

Otherwise, Toronto could be looking for a little help down the stretch in terms of cheap rentals. They can give either trade prospects who management believe no longer fit the future plans or late draft picks that can be easily replaced. The only rentals I could conceivably see Toronto going after is D Trevor Daley (PIT), D Chad Ruhwedel (PIT), F John Mitchell (COL) – former Leaf, D Fedor Tyutin (COL), or D Cody Goloubef (COL). Sorry, Jarome Iginla wouldn’t make a lot of sense for the asking price.

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