2021 was certainly another eventful year, both on and off the rink. Over the coming days, PHR will take a look back at the top stories from around the game on a month-by-month basis. Next up is a look at May.
Plenty Of Drama In New York: There was plenty of news around the Rangers in May. First, following the Department of Player Safety declining to suspend Tom Wilson for an incident involving Pavel Buchnevich, they took the unprecedented step of calling for George Parros’ dismissal, one that resulted in nothing but a $250K fine. The next day, GM Jeff Gorton and president John Davidson were both suddenly fired with Chris Drury taking over as their new GM, Davidson quickly resurfaced in Columbus. One week after those dismissals, Drury decided to make a change behind the bench as head coach David Quinn was relieved of his duties. All of that came in less than a week and a half.
Disgruntled Stars: Then-Sabres center Jack Eichel voiced his frustration with the organization over their unwillingness to let him have his desired artificial disk replacement surgery on his neck. He had been out since early March and this situation certainly took a while before it eventually was resolved. Meanwhile, defenseman Seth Jones informed the Blue Jackets he wasn’t interested in discussing a contract extension and was intent on testing unrestricted free agency. That was a tough blow for Columbus who has had to deal with an exodus of star players in recent years and eventually resulted in him joining that group.
More Coaching Changes: The end of the regular season usually brings about a few coaching changes and this pandemic-shortened campaign was no exception. Joining Quinn as those leaving head coaching roles were John Tortorella who parted ways with Columbus. He is the winningest coach in franchise history with the team posting a 227-166-54 record during his six seasons with the Blue Jackets and sits 12th all-time in games coached in the NHL. Meanwhile, Arizona also opted for a change, deciding to not renew Rick Tocchet’s contract. The Coyotes didn’t have a lot of success under Tocchet, posting a 125-131-34 record over four seasons with their only playoff appearance coming in the expanded 2020 postseason.
Eight For Kadri: Nazem Kadri has had a fairly lengthy suspension history in both the regular season and playoffs with the latter playing a role in his eventual trade to Colorado. He added to his postseason suspension totals after he received an eight-game ban for a hit on Blues defenseman Justin Faulk. Colorado got out of that first-round series with a sweep before falling to Vegas in six games, meaning that Kadri didn’t get back into the lineup at all. His history is going to loom large as he approaches unrestricted free agency in July although the fact that he’s off to a career-best start could help offset that somewhat.
Coaches Staying: May didn’t only feature coaches leaving but a pair stuck around as well. First, the Red Wings decided to keep Jeff Blashill in the fold, inking him to a contract extension (the term of the deal was not disclosed). Blashill has been at the helm in Detroit since 2015, making him the second-longest-tenured coach in the NHL behind only Tampa Bay’s Jon Cooper. Meanwhile, three days later, the Canucks were able to agree to terms on a two-year extension with Travis Green to remain behind their bench. The deal represented a short-term vote of confidence while not being long enough to dissuade them from making a change if it was deemed necessary (and as it turns out, it was).
More must-reads: