Daily Nuggets: Hertl Eyes Knights History; Emotional Fleury Farewell; Flames Fleece Flyers

The Vegas Golden Knights are set to embark on a four-game road trip to the New York metropolitan area and then to Boston. Points are at a premium, so it’ll be important for the team to put their January struggles behind them. Tomáš Hertl scored last night and is chasing some team history. Elsewhere in the Daily Nuggets, the good people of Montreal bid adieu to Marc-André Fleury after he started his final game at the Bell Centre. The Philadelphia Flyers made a deal with the Calgary Flames– another day, another blockbuster during a Golden Knights game. And speaking of, remember the last one? Taylor Hall speaks on his involvement in the Mikko Rantanen trade.

Golden Knights News

The Golden Knights might have an overtime problem. If they don’t, it certainly looks that way, as they dropped another very winnable game last night to the Columbus Blue Jackets. 

Although the Golden Knights lost, they did so in overtime, which secured them a point in the standings. The Golden Knights are still tied with the Edmonton Oilers for first in the Pacific Division. However, the Oilers have a game in hand.

Tomáš Hertl scored the lone goal last night, extending his point streak to 11 games. He’ll have a shot to chase some Golden Knights history on Sunday against the New York Rangers. If he registers a point, Hertl will tie Jack Eichel’s record of a 12-game point streak set during the 2023-24 season. But that’s not what really matters to him; Hertl is more focused on winning.

The team is off today and will travel to New York.

NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now

Montreal Hockey Now: Future Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Marc-André Fleury made his final visit to the Bell Centre last night. Fleury and the Minnesota Wild shut out the Habs, but fans still paid their respects to the all-time great with an ovation before he left the ice.

Chicago Hockey Now: Last week, Taylor Hall was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes as part of the Mikko Rantanen-Martin Necas blockbuster. Turns out he’s pretty thrilled about it.

Philadelphia Hockey Now: Trades are always entertaining, but it’s even better when a team involved is playing when the news drops. That’s what happened last night, as both the Flyers and the Calgary Flames were in action when the news broke.

Elliotte Friedman: The NHL/NHLPA released salary cap estimates for the next three seasons. Spoiler– it’s going up. Like, really, really, going up.

New:

NHL/NHLPA have released cap estimates for next three seasons:

2025-26: $95.5M
2026-27: $104 M
2027-28: $113.5M

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) January 31, 2025

NHL.com: The Utah Hockey Club is allowing fans to vote on their permanent name. They began this process on Wednesday but have since updated the proposed name options.