Dan’s Daily: Devils to Make Changes; Great Games; Sullivan Speaks

The news cycle was on overload Thursday as within minutes of each other was a new Pope from Chicago, former Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan had his introductory news conference, the Anaheim Ducks introduced Joel Quenneville as their new coach, and the New Jersey Devils jolted the NHL trade rumors when general manager Tom Fitzgerald panned his team while promising changes. Also, it appears Ken Holland declined the New York Islanders GM gig, and there were a pair of great playoff games.

And AC/DC at Acrisure Stadium was ridiculous.

I got a late call from friends who had an extra ticket, so I went. Until Wednesday, I had no idea AC/DC was coming (I suppose I do live under a rock–if it is not hockey, I don’t know it). I went with a couple of professional musicians and a couple of frequent concert goers, and even they were absolutely blown away by the cathartic explosion.

Sure, those white socks above Angus’s black high tops might be compression socks, and sure, they might be older than 75, but they could still absolutely rock. The band was Angus and Brian Johnson with some studio musicians, and they crushed a two-and-a-half-hour set without modern cheat codes, including a 30-minute Angus guitar solo that blew the imaginary roof off the building. The band stands in contrast to the pathetic state of music featuring soulless saccharin sludge pumped out by terrible human beings, underwear models, and corporate-backed third-rate guitar pickers more famous for getting dumped than for music people will want to hear 40 years from now, let alone in 40 minutes.

Sadly, all of the great rockers are in their 70s or older. Let’s go, Gen Z. Enough with the oversampled, overmixed titillating diss tracks, let’s get to some soul-stirring, bone-jarring music from a few guys who know how to throw a punch in a seedy dive bar and some bad ass women with sharp guitar hooks.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Sullivan had his introductory New York Rangers press conference. He flatly refused to discuss his Penguins termination and did not mention anyone by name, only that he was grateful to the players. There was one moment when he was asked about having more power with personnel decisions, and he stumbled for words, shuffled, and eventually spoke of the importance of the relationship between the coach and GM. It was another dodge from a mostly vintage Mike Sullivan.

Nor did he thank Pittsburgh fans. If you don’t think he heard the cacophony of criticism, you’d be mistaken.

It’s our weekly Report Card, and we took off the gloves again this week for Round Two. Erik Karlsson. It was a bad year with long meetings. So, what comes next? The answer may surprise you, so we dug into the situation and delivered a grade for the Penguins defenseman.

Steelers Now: George Pickens trade! As Steelers fans awoke Thursday, the news greeted them. Our Derrick Bell writes that there is one obvious answer to fix the depleted WR room after unloading Pickens. Here’s the Steelers fix.

Pittsburgh Baseball Now: As part of the news whirlwind, the Pirates got in on the act when they fired manager Derek Shelton. Our boys have all of the coverage of the press conference and the firing, and John Perrotto has more on the new manager- and Pittsburgh son- Don Kelly.

NHL Rumors, News, & National Hockey Now

New Jersey Hockey Now: Changes are coming. GM Tom Fitzgerald is angry and called out his team Thursday. Buckle up, it looks like another offseason of sweeping changes and trade chatter for the New Jersey Devils.

Donnie & Dhali: The princes of Vancouver hockey media. They (also) think that while everyone assumes Rick Tocchet is headed toward the Philadelphia Flyers gig, he fits much better with the Boston Bruins. Here’s the full discussion of Tocchet’s coaching future.

As a side note, I’ve been told the Penguins have chatted with Tocchet. I don’t get the sense it was a newsworthy formal interview or anything more than a conversation.

Vegas Hockey Now: It was a slobberknocker. Intense. Pressure-packed. Vegas rallied from a late two-goal deficit to force overtime, but a missed call and a two-on-one sealed the deal in OT for Edmonton. Hannah Kirkell has the coverage and seven observations from the Vegas Golden Knights’ heartbreak.

Sportsnet: Tom Wilson was a star in Game 2. He led the Washington Capitals to an impressive 3-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, and the series is knotted 1-1.

NYI Hockey Now: Rejected. It seems that Ken Holland rejected the Islanders’ open GM job. So here’s what happens now for the vacant position and what happens with the New York Islanders.

TSN: The sexual assault trial of the 2018 Team Canada players continued with more cross-examination of E.M. Thursday. Carter Hart’s female attorney seemed to make a little more headway, exposing an inconsistency in E.M.’s story, but then Alex Formenton’s attorney got to begin his cross-examination (E.M.’s third cross) and went back to the you were drunk and made bad decisions line of questioning.

I point out that Hart’s attorney is female because it seems she was able to go to places the two male attorneys did not and was effective. Also, five cross-examinations? I suppose there is no other way for a fair trial, but Formenton’s attorney went into a line of questioning, as reported by Rick Westhead, that seemed to be more from a Law & Order SVU episode. If they do five cross-exams, I suspect the jury is going to feel quite protective of E.M. by the end of this. I could be wrong.