Dan’s Daily: Florida Gets Dirty; Crosby & Fleury Reunite; Penguins Drop

The NHL Draft Lottery was something. As ping pong balls popped and accountants scribbled, shockingly, the Pittsburgh Penguins and six other teams lost two draft slots as the New York Islanders celebrated. Later this morning, we’ll have a breakdown of the players expected to be available at the Penguins’ new draft slot. The fun news was that Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury are reuniting on Team Canada as the Flower decided to postpone retirement for a few more weeks. Elsewhere in the Daily, Toronto beat Florida in Game 1, but Florida pushed the rules, and Toronto goalie Anthony Stolarz left in an ambulance. And the Calder Trophy finalists are the best crop in years.

I’d like to thank everyone who participated in the subscriber-only events on Sunday and Monday. I think we’re going to make the PHN+ Q&A a weekly thing. The video portion, we’ll save for special events–I think we learned that our subscribers are not YouTube people, and YouTube people are not our subscribers.

But the Q&A did very well on Sunday, and we welcomed a half dozen new members. At a time when Penguins fans are checking out, we’re adding, and our traffic has been pretty great with nearly 20,000 readers yesterday alone. We had about 15,000 on Sunday. Thanks!

Has anyone else not left their house in days because it won’t stop raining? I’ve plowed through my junk food stash like a raccoon finding an open garbage can. On we go…

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Together again. We’re two of a kind. Retirement can wait as The Flower and The Kid are teaming up to bring gold to Team Canada. It’s Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury one more time.

Welp, David Carle will NOT be the next coach of the Boston Bruins, Seattle Kraken, Philadelphia Flyers, Vancouver Canucks, or the Penguins. Carle decided to stay with Denver, so cross that name off the Penguins coaching search.

The lottery began with a long shot, but hope. It ended in jubilation for the Islanders and a What?! moment for a lot of other teams as two deep longshots won the NHL Draft Lottery.

PHN+: We played GM, talked coaching shortlists, and got blunt about what was going on. If you’d like, you can watch the PHN+ subscriber-only Penguins Live Chat here.

Your support keeps the train moving. Again, you rock.

NHL Rumors, News, & National Hockey Now

Spectors Hockey: Let’s start today with the rumor mill. There are no reports that any trade talks have occurred. Still, Larry Brooks in the NY Post is being proactive after Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford indicated that defenseman Quinn Hughes wants to play with his brothers. So, here’s how a Canucks-Devils trade would work, at least in Brooks’s mind.

TSN: OK, only read this if you want part of your morning ruined. The accuser in the trial of the five 2018 Team Canada players was on the stand Monday. It was devastating. She painted a graphic picture, including her tears and the guys discussing what to do about it. “E.M.” confirmed the existence of the cell phone video evidence that one of the young men asked if it was OK, and why she said yes as she tried to downplay the event.

It takes a lot to shock me, but every detail was credible and sobering. The way her story came together, I think those guys will do serious jail time. In my opinion, she demolished any possible defense.

To the ice …

Florida Hockey Now: Sam Bennett got the elbow into Toronto goalie Anthony Stolarz’s head in the first period. The goalie left the game later, vomited on the bench, and eventually left the arena in an ambulance. Toronto won a wild game 1, 5-4, but the Bennett hit will come under NHL scrutiny, and so will the Florida Panthers’ play.

Here’s the Game 1 Recap as Toronto beat the Panthers.

Montreal Hockey Now: The Calder Trophy finalists are all really good. It wasn’t an easy vote for me, as Dustin Wolf and Macklin Celebrini are two of the nominees, and Montreal is really getting behind the phenom Lane Hutson.

Philly Hockey Now: Snubbed! With those three nominated, the fourth player in the rookie class who really brought fans out of their seats and made headlines will not win the award. Flyers fans are angry — Matvei Michkov was snubbed.

NYI Hockey Now: And let’s end this with some good fortune for the forlorn franchise that has survived despite all odds for decades. The Fish Sticks, the most inconvenient and dangerous drive in the league, with no hotels and restaurants near the arena, and a governor patting herself on the back for building a small public transit stop that doesn’t actually function very often, while the bureaucrats did everything they could to prevent a new arena in anywhere easily accessible by fans.

Yep, the Islanders won the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery. Our Russ Macias has the initial news story, but then he went one further and offered thoughts on who should be the first overall pick. It’s not an easy pick, and here are the New York Islanders’ choices.