Latest news with #Compher
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Spooner and Compher Return To Toronto On Two-Year Deals
The Toronto Sceptres agreed to terms with forwards Natalie Spooner and Jesse Compher, signing both to two-year contract extensions. Spooner missed much of last season after knee surgery, but was the PWHL MVP in the league's inaugural season. Advertisement 'Natalie has been an important piece to our puzzle in Toronto,' said Sceptres General Manager Gina Kingsbury. 'She is a key member of our organization both on and off the ice. She is a world-class athlete that has shown just how impactful she can be in this league. With her determination and work ethic, we know Natalie will come back in Season 3 ready to help our team be successful!' Compher had a breakout season finishing tied for 17th in PWHL scoring with 18 points in 30 games. "We have loved working with Jesse over the past two seasons and have seen a lot of growth in her game. With Jesse being so young, there is a lot of excitement for where she can take her game. Our coaches, staff and market are thrilled to have her back, and we look forward to what next season brings for Jesse,' added Kingsbury. Both Compher and Spooner were named to their respective national teams this season and both were thrilled to remain in Toronto. Advertisement 'I'm incredibly proud and excited to sign an extension with Toronto! As someone born and raised in Toronto, it means so much to represent my hometown. This city, this team, and our amazing fans have a special place in my heart,' Spooner said. 'I'm grateful for the opportunity to continue building something special here and can't wait to bring a Walter Cup to Toronto.' 'I'm so excited to be back in Toronto! Playing in front of a sold-out crowd in the best city, with the most passionate fans, is an absolute honour,' Compher said. 'Over the past two years, my teammates and coaches have made this place feel like home, and I can't wait to get to work with this group and help bring a Walter Cup to Toronto!' Toronto also announced the signing of goaltender Elaine Chuli and forward Claire Dalton on the second day of free agency.
Associated Press
09-04-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Montembeault, Anderson lift Canadiens over Red Wings 4-1 for sixth straight win
MONTREAL (AP) — Josh Anderson scored the winner with 9:12 remaining in the third period and Sam Montembeault made 35 saves as the Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Tuesday night for their sixth straight win. Cole Caufield – with his team-leading 37th – also scored while Brendan Gallagher and Nick Suzuki added empty-netters for Montreal, which strengthened its position in the playoff picture. Montreal built an eight-point cushion over Detroit, the New York Rangers and the Columbus Blue Jackets for the Eastern Conference's second wild-card spot with one more game played. The New York Islanders played the Nashville Predators later Tuesday. By beating Detroit, Montreal also helped the Ottawa Senators clinch a playoff spot for the first time since 2017. Dylan Larkin scored for Detroit and Cam Talbot stopped 17 shots. The Red Wings failed to earn a point for the first time in five games. Takeaways Canadiens: Another slow start for Montreal, which was playing its fifth game in eight nights. The Canadiens' habit of struggling to start games reached a new level when the Red Wings poured on 23 shots in the first period, the most Montreal has allowed in a period this season. Red Wings: Detroit's first-period shot total wasn't far off the 27.2 it averaged entering Tuesday's game. The Red Wings' playoff hopes died in this building last season despite pulling off a dramatic 5-4 shootout win in their regular-season finale. After Caufield's equalizer, Detroit's J.T. Compher missed a gaping net after a weird bounce around the boards left Montembeault out of his net. Compher's attempt floated high. Key stat ___
Associated Press
02-04-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Fowler scores in OT to help St. Louis beat Detroit 2-1 for its 10th straight win
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Cam Fowler scored with 1:34 remaining in overtime and the St. Louis Blues won their 10th straight game, 2-1 over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night. Jordan Kyrou also scored and Jordan Binnington made 20 saves for St. Louis, which moved into a tie with idle Minnesota for the first Western Conference wild-card spot with 88 points. Minnesota holds the tiebreaker with one more regulation and overtime win. J.T. Compher scored and Cam Talbot made 35 saves for Detroit, which is four points behind Montreal and two points behind Columbus and the New York Rangers in the race for the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot. Fowler scored his ninth goal of the season on a feed from Robert Thomas, who has 11 assists in his last five games. Kyrou scored his team-leading 32nd goal of the season with 28 seconds remaining in regulation and Binnington pulled for an extra attacker to tie the game at 1-all. Compher scored his ninth goal of the season 5:13 into the third period on a feed from Jonatan Berggren off a rebound from Vladimir Tarasenko. Takeaways Red Wings: Talbot almost single-handedly kept Detroit in the game as he stopped the first 35 shots he faced. Blues: Jimmy Snuggerud, the 23rd overall pick of the 2022 draft, made his NHL debut after signing with St. Louis on Friday. Snuggerud signed a day after Minneosta was eliminated from the NCAA men's hockey tournament. Alex DeBrincat missed the net on a shot attempt that gave St. Louis possession and set up Fowler's winning goal just 10 seconds later. Key stat St. Louis has matched a franchise record with nine consecutive home wins. Up next St. Louis hosts Pittsburgh on Thursday night, and Detroit hosts Carolina on Friday night. ___
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Takeaways: Missed Opportunities Haunt Toronto Sceptres
The Toronto Sceptres winning streak was snapped as the PWHL leading Montreal Victoire come away with a 3-1 win in Laval. With the loss, the Sceptres have yet to beat the Victoire this season. Here are three takeaways from the Sceptres loss. Jesse Compher has been a reliable source of offence this season, especially against the Victoire. Compher scored Toronto's only goal of the game snapping a shot off the post and into the net. With the goal, the winger has scored a goal in all four of the Sceptres games against the Victoire. Compher hasn't just produced against Montreal this season, as in 21 games she has scored 15 points for the Sceptres. This spike in production has been a pleasant surprise after Compher scored only five total points in 24 games during the inaugural season. Compher is one of five players on the Sceptres to average over half a point a game, proving to be a pivotal contributor. With two of the Sceptres top players out of the lineup, they could not find a way to capitalize on their chances, and they had plenty of them. In the second period Hayley Scamurra found her way to the middle of the ice firing a shot at point blank, but the glove of Ann-Renée Desbiens flashed up to make the save. No missed opportunity was more disappointing than in the third period, when bown by one goal, Daryl Watts found Emma Maltias with a pass that she could not direct into a wide open net, staring skywards in disbelief. With the Victoire not giving the Sceptres many opportunities on the power play, the offence of the Sceptres sputtered. They had a hard time finding ways to the center of the slot as the Victoire forced most of Toronto's passes to the outside. This limited the damage they could do despite having long periods of time controlling the puck in the offensive zone. Overall the Sceptres had 8 of their 25 total shots from the slot but could not solve Desbiens Tuesday night. On their winning streak the Sceptres' power play has been their most powerful weapon, but as Montreal showed tonight, they may be too reliant on it to produce offence. In Laval on Tuesday the Victoire limited Toronto's chances on the power play only taking two penalties. When they did take one, Montreal did not allow the Sceptres to get set up only allowing one shot during their first attempt with the extra skater. Over the course of their winning streak, 52.6% of the Sceptres goals came from the power play. No team should rely that much on their special teams to provide for their offense. If the Sceptres want to be a contender they need to be able to produce more during even strength so that when the power play goes through a drought, their offensive production won't disappear. The Sceptres will look for revenge as they host the Montreal Victoire on March 6 after a long break.
New York Times
26-02-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
What Andrew Copp's injury could mean for Red Wings as trade deadline approaches
As the Red Wings returned from the 4 Nations break last week, the NHL's looming March 7 trade deadline was beginning to look like a secondary consideration. Detroit looked a little thin on the blue line, especially after Jeff Petry's injury, but sitting in an Eastern Conference wild-card spot, the Red Wings' most likely approach at the deadline was a mild one — much like last season. Advertisement And it may still be. But one major wrinkle came to light Tuesday when the Red Wings announced second-line center Andrew Copp would be out for the rest of the season after undergoing successful surgery on his left pectoral tendon. Copp has been one of the players to benefit most from the midseason coaching change, moving up the lineup and seeing his underlying numbers improve markedly since Todd McLellan took over. He looked like a great fit alongside Alex DeBrincat and either Patrick Kane or Vladimir Tarasenko, whether it was doing the dirty work in both zones or using his vision to help set up those key scorers. The Red Wings are left to move forward without him, trying to snap an eight-year playoff drought. The question now is: Will that harsh reality alter Detroit's approach before next Friday? Let's start with the Red Wings' options before a trade. Their easiest — and perhaps best — option is the one they chose Tuesday, bumping J.T. Compher up into the second-line center spot between Kane and DeBrincat. Compher's production has dipped a bit this season, but his profile is quite similar to Copp's as a hard-nosed, responsible center who can play in the hard areas of the ice and provide complementary offense. In fact, Compher was Detroit's second-line center over Copp for much of last season, playing just over 300 minutes with Kane and nearly 400 with DeBrincat. Like Copp, Compher won't usually put up gaudy point totals or flashy offense, but what he does well certainly fits between two more offensively-tilted wingers. There's a reason Detroit went with him as its first option Tuesday, and if we're handicapping the possible outcomes for replacing Copp, this is the likeliest possibility by a wide margin. Once Michael Rasmussen returns from an upper-body injury (McLellan said he was day to day), that would slot Rasmussen in as the No. 3 center and Joe Veleno as the No. 4 — with both Tyler Motte and Christian Fischer able to play that position on a checking line as well. Advertisement One other option could be playing Marco Kasper as either the second- or third-line center — which Detroit did earlier this season — but I wouldn't call it likely at this time. Kasper has worked well playing on the wing on Detroit's top line, with his speed and forechecking fitting in nicely alongside Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond. In the long term, Kasper still projects as a center for the Red Wings. But the rookie has 16 points in 18 games since January 10, and it doesn't sound like McLellan is too eager to shake up something that's working. 'We'd like to keep him there (with Larkin and Raymond),' McLellan said. Once Rasmussen is back, a center lineup of Larkin, Compher, Rasmussen and Veleno should mean the Red Wings don't need to get desperate to make a move. But it also doesn't leave much margin for any further injuries. And if the Red Wings are concerned by that — or simply want to upgrade as they try to get back into the playoffs — then there are other options out there. One of the biggest problems with trying to replace Copp via trade is that the center market is mainly divided into two kinds of players: potential upgrades that would cost considerable assets to acquire, and players who may not improve the Red Wings much. Brock Nelson is the top name on the market, but as a rental likely to cost at least a first-round pick, he's not a fit for the Red Wings at this time. Ryan O'Reilly has term — but that might not be an asset in this case, possibly upping the cost to acquire him. His pedigree is unquestioned, but he's 34 with two more years remaining after this season, while the Red Wings still have both Copp and Compher under contract. Meanwhile, Dylan Cozens is young and has shown 30-goal ability already in his young career, but his last two seasons have seen his production dip — a bit of a concern early in a long-term contract, and for a player Buffalo certainly isn't going to give away for cheap. Advertisement There are other names in the rental center category, such as Yanni Gourde — who general manager Steve Yzerman has plenty of familiarity with — but there it becomes a question of cost and impact. Gourde could be a slight upgrade on the third line, allowing Rasmussen to flex back to the wing, but is that worth what the price will be for a player with his Stanley Cup pedigree? Jake Evans, likewise, would be a nice third-line center with some secondary offense, but again it's a question of how much Detroit (still on the playoff bubble) would be willing to give up to add him. The Red Wings could also explore upgrading elsewhere at forward. Boston's Trent Frederic isn't a true center, but he is a big body who could add toughness and some scoring to the Red Wings' bottom six. Frederic should be a coveted player, though, and seems more likely to end up with an all-in contender as a result. Detroit could also leave the forward group alone and look for help on the blue line — which is likewise manageable in its current form, but has little margin for injury and could certainly stand to be upgraded. A sturdy defender may ultimately be the most logical move, whether it's someone like Vancouver's Carson Soucy, Seattle's Jamie Oleksiak or Chicago's Connor Murphy. The Red Wings still aren't really in a position to trade their first-round pick unless it's for a younger player who will be around a long time, but they have an extra third-round pick from the Olli Määttä deal and a good collection of prospects from which they can deal. Last year in a similar situation, Yzerman mostly stood pat, trading away depth forward Klim Kostin only to see Detroit come within a tiebreaker of the playoffs. But with how his team has responded under McLellan, reviving their season since the new coach came in after Christmas, does Yzerman decide to take a different course this time around? We'll find out over the next 10 days.
