"Pucks with Haggs" publishes twice a week. Subscribe here and get Pucks with Haggs straight to your email while supporting our hockey coverage! Please feel free to comment, share, like, etc. And Subscribe! Thanks and see you at the rinks!
Welcome to the Pucks with Haggs morning skate, where we’ll hit you with daily links from around the hockey world and whatever is on my puck-focused mind on a daily basis. Sometimes we’ll also write a bit about something happening in the hockey world, and today it’s about Auston Matthews hitting the 50-goal mark for the first time of his career in Toronto.
It was an empty netter at the end of a win over the Winnipeg Jets, so it wasn’t the biggest highlight reel moment for the Maple Leafs superstar.
But he becomes the first Leafs player to hit 50 goals since Dave Andreychuk all the way back in 1993-94, and it continues Matthews' strong candidacy for the Hart Trophy even as players like Johnny Gaudreau, Igor Shesterkin, Jonathan Huberdeau, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid are clearly worthy Hart candidates as well.
Matthews also has a chance to set the Leafs franchise record for single-season goals scored with just a handful more and a month to go.
Maybe David Pastrnak can even play his way into contention for the Hart too as he continues piling on the points for the Black and Gold, but it truly feels like Matthews is going to be the Hart guy this season based on his play and Toronto’s place near the top of the Atlantic Division pretty much all season long.
The celebration in the Leafs dressing room for Matthews as he came off the ice from his postgame interviews was pretty great too:
So congrats to Matthews, who probably would have hit 50 goals in one of the last couple of seasons if COVID-19 hadn't short-circuited each of the last couple of hockey seasons.
Now on to the links:
*It’s in pretty poor taste to see it, but the opportunists are circling around the Ottawa Senators franchise with rumors of relocating them after the passing of longtime Sens owner Eugene Melnyk. Strongest ones are connected to Quebec City, who may have a number of Senators games played in their city next season. (Toronto Sun)
*Big moment for the Blackhawks as Jonathan Toews hit the 1,000 games played milestone and was congratulated by a video from some long-lost friends. (NBC Sports Chicago)
*Great to see the champs in the house on Thursday night as the back-to-back Isobel Cup champion Boston Pride brought their hardware to TD Garden to celebrate during the Boston Bruins/New Jersey Devils game.
*Speaking of Bruins/Devils, it was a storybook moment for former Boston College standout and Billerica, Mass. native Marc McLaughlin scoring his first NHL goal in his first NHL game. And boy, it was a snipe. (Boston Hockey Now)
*Speaking of the Bruins organization, these Providence Bruins hockey jerseys with the AT-AT on them are straight fire.
*Believe it or not, we had two Sebastian Ahos scoring at the exact same time last night in the NHL, and in two different countries. Who doesn’t love that?
*Could Phil Kessel be headed to the Nashville Predators in the offseason after the Preds showed interest in the Arizona Coyotes scorer ahead of the trade deadline. Friend of Haggs Elliotte Friedman certainly thinks so. (Sportsnet)
*And the April Fool’s jokes were off the hook on twitter this morning (I really wish this one was true)
*For something completely different: If you’re into the WWE and pro wrestling, there’s a new podcast called Turnbuckles that’s part comedy, part behind-the-scenes weekly look at the pro wrestling landscape. It’s well worth the listen. (Turnbuckles)
