The Golden Knights will face the Mammoth in the first round, Blue Jackets players respond to their coach’s criticism, the Blackhawks re-sign GM Kyle Davidson, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPS OF WEDNESDAY’S GAMES
NHL.COM: The Vegas Golden Knights clinched the Pacific Division title by defeating the Seattle Kraken 4-1. Reilly Smith scored twice for the 39-26-17 Golden Knights, who hold first place in the division with 95 points. Shane Wright scored for the Kraken.
Vegas Golden Knights winger Mitch Marner (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Golden Knights will face the Utah Mammoth in the opening round of the upcoming Stanley Cup Playoffs. Golden Knights winger Mitch Marner scored to reach the 80-point plateau for the fifth consecutive season.
The Ottawa Senators finished the regular season with a 3-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Claude Giroux collected two assists for the playoff-bound Senators, who will face the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round. William Nylander scored his 30th goal of the season for the Maple Leafs.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: With this season-ending loss, the Maple Leafs finish 28th in the overall standings, putting them in the top five for the NHL Draft Lottery on May 5. They had traded their 2026 first-round pick to the Boston Bruins last season, but it was top-five protected, meaning they should retain it.
However, the Leafs aren’t out of the woods yet. If a non-playoff team higher than them in the standings wins the lottery, they move up a maximum of 10 spots, which would knock the Leafs out of the top five, sending that pick to the Bruins. The exception is the Washington Capitals, who would move up into the sixth spot.
A shootout goal by Wyatt Johnston lifted the Dallas Stars over the Buffalo Sabres 4-3. Esa Lindell had a goal and an assist for the Stars, who will face the Minnesota Wild in the upcoming playoffs. Zach Benson had a goal and an assist for the Sabres, who meet the Boston Bruins in the first round.
New York Rangers forward Tye Kartye tallied twice to double up the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2. Oliver Bjorkstrand and Corey Perry scored for the Lightning, who meet the Montreal Canadiens in their first-round playoff series.
Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Louis Crevier scored two goals as his club overcame a 2-0 deficit for a 5-2 win over the San Jose Sharks. Kiefer Sherwood picked up two assists for the Sharks.
The Florida Panthers crushed the Detroit Red Wings 8-1. Luke Kunin and Mike Benning each scored twice for the Panthers. Justin Faulk replied for the Red Wings.
HEADLINES
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH: Blue Jackets players pushed back against interim head coach Rick Bowness’ rant about them not caring enough following their season-ending loss to the Washington Capitals.
Zach Werenski, Sean Monahan, and Adam Fantilli appreciated Bowness’ frustration and emotion in the heat of the moment, but they disagreed with his assessment that they didn’t care and were comfortable with losing.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Whether Bowness returns as head coach or not, he wasn’t wrong about the lack of effort by the Blue Jackets over their final 13 games of this season.
The Jackets rose from last place in the Eastern Conference at the time of Bowness’ hiring in mid-January to second in the Metropolitan Division by March 25, only to go 3-9-1 to finish outside the postseason picture.
It’s now up to general manager Don Waddell to assess his roster and make some changes to address what Bowness believes is a culture of losing.
CHICAGO HOCKEY NOW: The Blackhawks signed general manager Kyle Davidson to a multi-year contract extension.
Hired in 2022, Davidson has been attempting to rebuild the roster around young talent such as Connor Bedar, Frank Nazar, and Anton Frondell, but there’s some frustration among Blackhawks fans over the pace of the rebuilding process.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Under Davidson, the Blackhawks have a well-stocked prospect pool, recently ranked by The Athletic as the best in the league. However, those efforts have not resulted in any significant improvement for this rebuilding club, which is starting to test the fans’ patience.
TSN: New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer said he’s open to playing for Canada in the 2026 IIHF World Championships next month in Switzerland. Schaefer’s Islanders were eliminated from the NHL postseason race. The 18-year-old blueliner is considered the favorite to win the Calder Memorial Trophy as NHL Rookie of the Year.
SPORTSNET: Edmonton Oilers winger Zach Hyman will return to the lineup for their final regular-season game against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday. He missed the last five games with an undisclosed injury. The Oilers clinched a playoff berth earlier this week.
TORONTO SUN: Lance Hornby weighed in on an article by The Athletic on the collapse of the Maple Leafs, in which it revealed how much involvement Keith Pelley, the CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, had in the club’s pre-trade deadline meetings.
During those meetings, Pelley was reportedly “armed with in-house AI figures on possible deals and offering strong opinions.” Hornby believes that will raise questions about how much autonomy the next Leafs general manager will have under Pelley.
The story also raises questions about how much AI will influence the Maple Leafs’ roster decisions, and how much other NHL front offices are using AI to build and maintain their teams.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Pelley indicated that the next Maple Leafs GM must be “data-driven”, which had fans and pundits automatically assuming he was referring to analytics. There’s no doubt analytics will be a big part of it, but AI will likely also play a significant role.
Whether it will reverse the Leafs’ fortunes this summer, and in the long term, remains to be seen. Like analytics, AI could be a useful tool, but it shouldn’t be the primary one for building and maintaining a competitive team.
NESN: Boston Bruins forward Fraser Minten won the NESN 7th Player Award. It is an annual award to the club’s unsung hero, as voted by Bruins fans.