NHL Quick Hits: Burke (Golden Knights), McDavid (Oilers), Bettman (NHL)

In this edition of NHL Quick Hits, I’ll take a look around the NHL to report news items from a variety of teams. First, I’ll look at the Vegas Golden Knights who just hired a new director of goaltending in NHL veteran Sean Burke.

Second, I’ll look at an amazing statistic. Although the NHL Stanley Cup is still going on and is heading into a Game 6 tonight, a person on a team that was eliminated during the last round is still leading postseason scoring. No surprise that the player is the great Connor McDavid.

Third, I’ll report some good news from the NHL as a whole. An article in The Athletic reported that the NHL has registered a huge financial season. It looks as if the league is rebounding from COVID-19 quite nicely.

Next: Will Anyone Be Left in Winnipeg? The Jets Are Flying Away

Quick Hit One: Burke Named Director of Goaltending for the Golden Knights

Yesterday, it was reported that veteran NHL goalie Sean Burke would be named as the director of goaltending for the Vegas Golden Knights. As noted, his contract with the Montreal Canadiens was expiring.

Further to @FriedgeHNIC’s report on Sean Burke heading to Vegas, I’m told the former Canadiens director of goaltending has the same title with the Golden Knights. He is also expected to work full time with their coaching staff. His contract with the Canadiens was expiring. https://t.co/Nzi2xtLjDC

— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) June 25, 2022

Burke is a long-time NHL veteran goalie. He’s played 820 games in the NHL as a goaltender. In those games, he compiled a record of 324-341-110 record, with a goals-against-average of 2.96, and a save percentage of .902.

Quick Hit Two: How Good Was Connor McDavid’s Postseason?

Connor McDavid had an amazing regular season, and he didn’t stop there. Although his Edmonton Oilers lost in the Western Final, he still put up solid numbers. In fact, after the Western Final, he was leading all NHL players in postseason scoring.

Those numbers were solid enough that – now heading into Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final – he’s still leading the NHL in scoring during the postseason. There’s a chance he could end up as the playoff-scoring leader. Incredible.

McDavid leads the NHL with 33 points in only 16 playoff games. Currently, on the two teams contesting for the NHL crown, two players still playing are closing in. First, the Colorado Avanalche’s Cale Makar has 29 points in 19 games. Second, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov has registered 27 points in 22 games.

That McDavid remains ahead in scoring is interesting. That he might actually end up as the postseason scoring leader without playing in the Stanley Cup Final is amazing. He had one of the best postseason scoring displays ever.

Quick Hit Three: The NHL Is Mounting a Financial Comeback

The COVID years were tough on everyone, but especially tough on the NHL’s revenue. That the league struggled by as well as it did is a testament to its ingenuity and hard work. Now, however, the NHL seems to be emerging from the pandemic quite nicely.

Yesterday, it was announced that the league had set a record for revenue during the 2021-22 season. In total, the NHL has projected that its combined revenues will be about $5.3 billion.

According to the report, one primary reason for the increase in total revenue was the increase in sponsorship revenue, which was estimated to be $1.4 billion. That’s more than double the $623 million the NHL earned in its previous fiscal year. Television money also increased. quite substantially. (from “NHL revenues reach record high thanks to jump in sponsorship, licensing deals,” Sean Shapiro, The Athletic, 25/06/2022).

Related: Oilers and Sharks Could Make Trade Prior to Kane’s Grievance Case Ruling