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NHL Notebook: The Avalanche trade for Juuso Pärssinen
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Photo credit: Sergei Belski/USA Today Sports
Ryley Delaney
Dec 29, 2024, 08:00 ESTUpdated: Dec 29, 2024, 02:21 EST
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The Colorado Avalanche continues to make trades.
On Saturday afternoon, the Colorado Avalanche traded Ondřej Pavel and a 2027 third-round pick to the Nashville Predators for Juuso Pärssinen and a 2026 seventh-round pick.
Both players have limited experience in the National Hockey League. Starting with Pavel, he’s played just two games in the NHL, picking up a minor penalty and a -1 while being held pointless. In his first full season of professional hockey in 2023-24, he scored six goals and 10 points in 61 American Hockey League games. So far with the Colorado Eagles, the 24-year-old centre has two assists in 14 games.
Pärssinen, on the other hand, has had a fair bit more experience so far in his career. The Finnish centre was drafted in the seventh round of the 2019 draft by the Predators and scored six goals and 25 points in 45 games in his first NHL season in 2022-23. Last season, he scored a career-high eight goals, along with 12 points in 44 games. So far this season, Pärssinen has played 15 games with two goals and five points.

Alex Ovechkin returned and scored a goal

From two relatively young players to one of the oldest players in the league, Alexander Ovechkin returned to the Washington Capitals lineup after a 40-day layoff due to a broken fibula. In Saturday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, he scored his 16th goal of the season.
Ovechkin has scored far more impressive goals than this measly empty net goal, but the 39-year-old now has 16 goals and 26 points in 19 games. Again, he’s 39. More importantly, Ovechkin has 869 goals now, only 26 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record of 894 goals.
His play has helped turn around the Capitals, who just barely snuck into the 2024 postseason thanks to a tiebreaker. So far this season, the team is 24-9-2 with 50 points, just one back of the divisional-leading New Jersey Devils with three fewer games played.
Hopefully, Ovechkin can keep up the scoring and break the record this year.

Rod Brind’Amour is the fastest coach to win 300 games

Speaking of the New Jersey Devils, they fell 4-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday evening. Hurricanes head coach, Rod Brind’Amour, became the fastest coach to reach 300 wins.
Brind’Amour had a lengthy National Hockey League career, playing from the 1998-89 season until the 2009-10 season with the St. Louis Blues, Philadelphia Flyers, and Carolina Hurricanes. Overall, he finished with 452 goals and 1,184 points in 1,484 games, winning the Stanley Cup in 2006 with the Hurricanes as they defeated the Edmonton Oilers.
Brind’Amour was hired as an assistant coach in the 2011-12 season and worked his way up to being the team’s head coach in 2018-19. In the seven seasons he’s coached the Hurricanes, he has a 299-143-45 record in 488 games, beating Bruce Boudreau’s record by eight games coached.
The Hurricanes are third in the Metropolitan Division thanks to a 22-13-1 record with 45 points, five behind the Washington Capitals and six behind the New Jersey Devils.
Thanks for reading! You can follow me on Bluesky @ryleydelaney.bsky.social.

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