Tag: Columbus Blue Jackets

Former Notre Dame players on NHL rosters to begin 2023-24 season

Know where to check out the former Irish who have made it to the highest level.

We understand that most of you come here for football, but Notre Dame has a devoted fan base for its hockey program. A lot of NHL players have come through the program, and many of them even have found great success at hockey’s highest level. And it’s unlikely any of them forget that they once donned the Gold and Blue.

For the 2023-24 NHL season, there are seven former Irish on rosters at the start. That’s three fewer than the start of each of the past two seasons. But be on the lookout for the 24 players with Notre Dame connections currently in the AHL or even the four in the ECHL. For now, here’s who you can watch in NHL uniforms:

Ivan Provorov trade: Who won the Blue Jackets, Kings and Flyers deal?

Ivan Provorov has been dealt to the Blue Jackets as part of a massive three-way trade.

The 2023 Stanley Cup Final may currently be ongoing, but the Philadelphia Flyers certainly made a splash with this massive offseason move.

On Tuesday, the Flyers traded defenseman Ivan Provorov to the Columbus Blue Jackets, with the Los Angeles Kings sliding in as the third partner in the deal. Provorov played the last seven seasons with the Flyers, often being utilized as the team’s No. 1 defenseman after being drafted No. 7 overall in the 2015 draft.

MORE NHL: Flyers’ Ivan Provorov declined to wear pregame Pride Night jerseys, citing religious beliefs.

While there has been a glut of front office hockey news over the last few weeks, this Provorov trade kicks the NHL offseason into high gear as the first major domino to fall. Let’s take a look at how each of the Blue Jackets, Flyers and Kings grade out in this massive Provorov trade.

Former Notre Dame players on NHL rosters to begin 2022-23 season

Which familiar name is your favorite?

The weather has gotten cooler, which means it soon will be cold. That means it’s time for the 2022-23 NHL season to begin. As usual, Notre Dame has plenty of representation in the league. Amazingly, not only do the Irish have the same number of former players from the beginning of last season (10), but the same players themselves.

Maybe it’s boring to some people to not see any new Irish players begin the season in the NHL, but 17 will start in the AHL, so you have that to possibly look forward to. Until then, here are the familiar 10 names:

Notre Dame alumnus Andrew Peeke heading to world championships

Best of luck to the former Irish captain.

Former Notre Dame defenseman Andrew Peeke’s Columbus Blue Jackets didn’t close to qualifying for this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs. However, all is not lost for him as far as acquiring hardware in 2022. That’s because he will head to Finland and play for the U.S. in this year’s world championships. He last represented the U.S. in the 2018 world junior championships, during which he won a bronze medal.

Peeke just completed his first full season and third overall with the Blue Jackets. He played in all 82 games, and 13 of his 15 points came from assists.

Peeke will be the 17th Notre Dame alumnus to take part in the event. Most recently, Cal Petersen and Matt Hellickson won a bronze with the U.S. in Latvia in 2021.

Peeke played for the Irish from 2016 to 2019 and was their captain during his final year in South Bend. Over three seasons and 119 games, he scored 52 points, 12 of them coming on goals.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Montreal Canadiens continue sinking into a historic and endless abyss of despair

A new low for the Canadiens with no end in sight.

It’s a long way down from the top.

There is no more prestigious organization in the NHL than the Canadiens. In many ways — in winning 24 Stanley Cups, with countless legendary players and classic moments along the way — Montreal helped set the standard for what success resembles in the NHL.

But it hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for the league’s (formerly) premier franchise of late. The Habs haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1993. OK, sure. You might be thinking, “Whatever. Winning a Cup is hard.”

But it’s worse than simply never being lucky enough in June, Dearest Reader. So much worse. Rather than picture competence and display grace amidst a long title drought, the Canadiens have been a consummate example of dysfunction. A far cry from a team everyone once wanted to emulate.

A mere eight months after appearing in their first Stanley Cup Final in almost 30 years, the Canadiens are finding new ways to hit rock bottom. Following yet another 2-1 defeat to the Blue Jackets (-1.5) on Saturday, we have our doubts there is a bottom in the first place.

The Habs are, in case you had any doubts, the NHL’s worst team. It isn’t surprising they haven’t won in almost a month. It’s more notable that it’s Montreal, NHL royalty by every standard, floundering all about, asking for pity in a manner they do only once every two decades or so. Patrick Roy, er, Martin St. Louis isn’t — wait, no — is walking through that door as the team’s new head coach, but it still doesn’t matter. It won’t change a thing.

We’re more than halfway into the 2021-2022 season, and this lifeless Canadiens bunch has a mere 23 points. Two. Three. You have to try to be that inept.

Who knows what the future will hold for St. Louis and a group that seems determined to fail at every turn. All we know for sure is that this abyss is endless, and that has to kill the very soul of a hockey city like Montreal.

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Notre Dame hockey Twitter account has fun with Andrew Peeke tweet

Think he’s listening to something familiar?

Former Notre Dame captain Andrew Peeke is enjoying his first full NHL season with the Columbus Blue Jackets. As he walked into Nationwide Arena on Sunday ahead of his team’s game against the Ottawa Senators, a photo was snapped of him. The photo shows him listening to music, so the Blue Jackets’ Twitter account asked everyone to guess what might be blasting in his ears at that moment. While we might never know the answer to that question, Notre Dame’s hockey account took the only guess it could:

Peeke listening to the Notre Dame Victory March ahead of games wouldn’t be unheard of. After all, professional athletes keeping themselves connected to their college days has been documented throughout history. Perhaps most famously, Michael Jordan wore his shorts from North Carolina underneath his uniform throughout his NBA career. Whatever he’s listening to, let’s hope it helps him play well.

Peeke has scored nine points and accumulated a team-high 26 penalty minutes in 38 games this season.

The Hurricanes scored seven straight goals to complete wild comeback over Blue Jackets

Carolina caused chaos in Columbus!

The new year has already brought chaos upon the NHL, and it’s not even a day old.

During Saturday’s afternoon slate of NHL games to start 2022, the Columbus Blue Jackets held a 4-0 lead over the Carolina Hurricanes halfway through the game. Then, with just over 10 minutes left in the second period, Steven Lorentz opened the scoring for the Hurricanes. And then Carolina kept scoring. And scoring.

Ten minutes into the third period, the Hurricanes erased the 4-0 deficit completely with a tally from Nino Niederreiter. Then 16 seconds later, Ethan Bear gave the Hurricanes the 5-4 lead before Carolina tacked on two more for good measure for the 7-4 win.

Talk about a wild and improbable comeback from Carolina. Seriously, even the stats from Saturday’s game are completely bonkers in every way imaginable.

The Hurricanes’ social media team also had a hilarious turn of fortune as the team completed its comeback for one of the most bananas hockey games we’ve seen this season.

Here are all seven unanswered goals the Hurricanes scored en route to their dramatic victory on the first day of 2022.

Former Notre Dame forward Alex Steeves to make NHL debut

Some new Irish blood is coming to hockey’s highest level.

After no former Notre Dame player made an NHL debut last season, there was nowhere to go but up in 2021-22. This season already is an improvement because Alex Steeves has been recalled by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Steeves was placed on the fourth line during the morning skate that was held ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets:

Steeves made his professional debut earlier this season with the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. He scored 12 points in 12 games, which gave the Leafs reason to send for him. All of this has come only months after he wrapped up a three-year career with the Irish. During his 104 career games with the Irish, he accumulated 69 points, including 33 goals. After last season, he signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Leafs.

Steeves earned many honors with the Irish, including team MVP, an All-Big Ten selection and two Academic All-Big Ten selections.

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Former Notre Dame players on NHL rosters to begin 2021-22 season

Pay special attention to these players this season.

The puck has dropped on the 2021-22 NHL season, and the full 82-game schedule has returned. Besides the usual amount of hockey to look forward to once again, there also is a new team that has taken the ice. One player on that team played collegiate hockey at Notre Dame, as did nine other players who are starting the year on NHL rosters. That number could grow later this season with 15 other former Irish players starting play in the AHL, but for now, here are the 10 you can see at hockey’s top level at this moment:

The NHL world mourns the tragic death of Blue Jackets goalie Matiss Kivlenieks

What an awful tragedy.

There was awful news the morning after July 4 from the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks died on Sunday after an apparent head injury at age 24.

“Kivi was an outstanding young man who greeted every day and everyone with a smile,” Blue Jackets president of hockey operations John Davidson said in a statement, “and the impact he had during his four years with our organization will not be forgotten.”

“We are heartbroken,” a Twitter statement from the team read. “Please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers.”

Kivlenieks — who was undrafted and signed with Columbus in 2017 — played eight career games for the Blue Jackets, going 2-2-2 with a 3.09 GAA and .899 save percentage.

There was reaction from around the NHL world, including from some of his Columbus teammates: