Dan’s Daily: Big Trade Talk, Bigger Shakeup, Biggest Upset

The hockey gods unleashed fire Thursday. Team Canada was dumped on its head in the quarterfinals, we dug into a potential Pittsburgh Penguins trade target, and others did the same around the league. The Toronto Maple Leafs put an end to the 11-year-running Shana-plan, while the Chicago Blackhawks found their coach, but the Penguins will have competition for one of their top candidates.

Oh, and the Carolina Hurricanes felt the wrath of the Florida Panthers in what Jordan Stall called, “an ass whoppin’.” Carolina has lost 14 straight games when they’ve made it to the Eastern Conference Final.

An inability to be competitive at the higher levels–is that cause for some heat on Rod Brind’Amour? It’s a bit too soon to put Eric Tulsky on any hot seat, but there have to be changes in Carolina if they get swept out … again.

The rain will stop today! Except it will be 55 degrees. My motorcycle sent me an “I miss you” card. It’s the end of May, and I haven’t had time to go farther than Butler.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Upset. It was one of the biggest upsets in World Championships history. Canada gave up a couple of late goals to little Denmark and lost. The tournament is over for Sidney Crosby and the team Kyle Dubas built. Also, Marc-Andre Fleury took his final bows. The end of Team Canada.

OK, all of the rumors and hope for Dubas to step into the ring and acquire Bo Byram from the Buffalo Sabres. Let’s put the spotlight on the potential and see how it can happen, or even if it makes sense to try. Here’s the potential Penguins trade analysis.

Mitch Love. Not only are the Boston Bruins interested, but he’s also interviewed with Seattle. Here’s the latest we’re hearing about the Penguins’ coaching search.

Steelers Now: Could the Ross and Rachael saga finally end soon? ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports the Aaron Rodgers story will end within a week, and it looks like he will indeed be the Steelers quarterback.

Pittsburgh Baseball Now: The Pirates scored five runs! The Pirates scored five runs! But they lost to Milwaukee anyway. So, let’s get to the real story–GM Ben Cherrington took dead aim at the Paul Skenes trade talk.

NHL Rumors, News, & National Hockey Now

Florida Hockey Now: A beatdown. A fast start. An overwhelming effort. And Carolina lost their 14th consecutive Eastern Conference game. The Florida Panthers are rolling.

Sportsnet: When the biggest team in the league fires its top exec, that’s news. After more than a decade of failing to reach an ECF despite a remarkably talented roster, Brendan Shanahan is out of a job. Here’s why.

NYI Hockey Now: Ownership had already granted Shanahan permission to interview elsewhere, and he’s a good bet to become the next president of hockey operations for the New York Islanders.

Chicago Hockey Now: Jeff Blashill is the new bench boss in Chicago. Our Greg Boysen essentially broke the news last week, but now it’s official. Greg had time to make some calls–this is an interesting story, here’s what Detroit thinks of Jeff Blashill.

The Athletic ($): Let’s get the hometown opinion on potential trades. Marco Rossi is a restricted free agent this summer, and he’s on the trade block, so what do the local reporters think he’s worth?

TSN: Dubas is shopping for centers and defensemen to bolster the organization’s depth. Craig Button looked at the centers in the Draft.

We’ll wrap the Daily with another update from the trial of the five members of the 2018 Team Canada accused of sexual assault. The prosecutor lost the motion to cross-examine Brett Howden on some inconsistencies, but continued his testimony on Thursday, introducing some of his text messages as evidence.