Dan’s Daily: Free Agent Rumors; Islanders Hire; Penguins Bad Grades

It has been a long time since late May was this dramatic. The Edmonton Oilers struck back in Game 2. We’ve got the latest unrestricted and restricted free agent rumors, including Mitch Marner. It was a short but impactful day in the 2018 Team Canada sexual assault trial. There’s some NHL trade chatter and needs, and we delivered some blunt grades on the Penguins’ goaltending as part of our offseason report cards.

It’s been a wild few weeks for National Hockey Now, too. I haven’t bothered to tally all of the readers, but we’re in the midst of watching some of our young writers have their breakout moments. We will have well over two million, if not three million, readers this month, including a continued emergence of Russ Macias, who is a Duquesne grad and our Islanders beat writer. He is exploding in New York, and none of our previous Islanders folks have generated the readership that he has.

It’s a lot of fun guiding these folks and hearing their excitement when fans begin to gravitate toward their stories. There’s a human side to “the media,” as well.

There is a warp speed movement in this industry, and we spend a lot of time learning and understanding what you want and how best to deliver it. AI is a problem, but we’re dealing with it by providing content that AI and those who use it cannot deliver. When did I become a sportswriter’s sherpa? Me?!

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Let’s get back to the offseason report cards. We’ve done a few parts of the team and players, but yesterday was one of the difficult ones. Goalies. There were three to deliver grades, so here’s how we broke it down and delivered on Joel Blomqvist, Alex Nedeljkovic, and Tristan Jarry.

Steelers Now: The local football team was handing out rookie contracts yesterday. Here’s everyone who signed and the updated Steelers’ salary cap situation.

We saw Shadeur Sanders get prank-called during the draft, but it seems Steelers QB Will Howard also got nabbed.

Pittsburgh Baseball Now: Get this, Paul Skenes tossed 6 innings with 8 K and 1 ER. Yet the Pirates’ bullpen squandered the lead, and they needed extra innings before Oneil Cruz hit his second homer of the game. There’s a bit of a story behind Cruz’s big game, including a coach trying to get under his skin. It was a bad and good night at the park for the Pirates and Cruz.

NHL Rumors, News, & National Hockey Now

Sportsnet: The latest rumors on the top 12 unrestricted free agents. The who and the future where for the biggest names on the UFA market, including Mitch Marner. A small spoiler, Sportsnet has the Penguins on the list for Marner.

As the first person to write that Dubas would reunite with one of his core four this summer (I think I wrote it within a couple of weeks after his hire), I must admit that I was wrong. It was a good idea two years ago when the Penguins were still going for it. Now, it’s not. It would shock me if the Penguins even made a small play for Marner.

NHL.com: It was the Edmonton Oilers’ night. Their chances went in while the Dallas Stars’ chances were gobbled up. It’s a dog fight now, and here’s the instant analysis of Game 2.

Philly Hockey Now: Centers wanted. The orange and black have a few wingers capable of playing a scoring role, but they don’t have anyone in the middle. William James projected some hard decisions for GM Daniel Briere and came up with three players for the Philadelphia Flyers’ trade bait list.

New Jersey Hockey Now: Our boys didn’t plan it, but as soon as James Nichols saw one name on the Flyers list, he saw a potential trade that makes sense for the New Jersey Devils.

NYI Hockey Now: Talk about your big changes of heart. The Islanders went from publicly saying they wanted experience and interviewing Marc Bergevin (who was in the area looking for property), then being the first to speak to Brendan Shanahan, to completely reversing course and quickly naming an inexperienced Executive Vice President/GM. The Islanders hired Tampa Bay Lightning AGM Mathieu Darche.

Detroit Hockey Now: What if? What if, instead of waiting for Steve Yzerman, the folks who brought us garlic-dripping Crazy Bread promoted the AGM to replace Ken Holland? Guess who the AGM was–none other than Dallas Stars’ GM Jim Nill. Bob Duff explores a big What If for the Detroit Red Wings.

TSN: It was a short day in the trial of the five 2018 Team Canada players accused of sexual assault, but it could have a lasting impact. The judge ruled that text messages by Brett Howden were not admissible as evidence because he was being casual and loose with the facts.