Dan’s Daily Links: The First Big Trade, Scouts Descend on Pens-Devils

And here were go. The first big trades of the trade deadline season dropped yesterday and both were defensemen. The Pittsburgh Penguins and GM Jim Rutherford began the show by dealing Jamie Oleksiak back to Dallas. Later Monday night, Toronto pulled off a much-needed deal for Jake Muzzin. It was more than much-needed, it may be season-changing. Artemi Panarin is dangling the Blue Jackets, too.

First, the Oleksiak news and analysis (Pittsburgh Hockey Now)

The Penguins undersold Oleksiak. Why?

Toronto Snags Muzzin (NHL.com)

And a good read why Toronto needed Muzzin (Editor in Leaf)

Did you ever meet a person who strung you along? Columbus, meet Artemi. Artemi, Columbus. If Columbus blindly hangs onto the Bread Man hoping he will re-sign, they’re wearing rose-colored glasses (Columbus Dispatch)

I’ve debated and discussed sharing a link to an Olli Maatta trade report in the French-Canadian media. We won’t. We can’t verify it’s authenticity. We can’t tell if its bloggers having fun or the source is legit. But, it’s out there. The moment we get someone to vouch for the writer, we’ll put it up.

There were 13 teams and 14 scouts in attendance at the Penguins game last night, including Montreal (Pittsburgh Hockey Now)

Our apologies. We originally missed a large contingent of the scouts as there were so many the Penguins made two sections.

Elliotte Friedman drops a BIG hint about the Flyers plans beyond Wayne Simmonds. Sean Couturier? (Nichols on Hockey)

Frank Seravalli seemed to pour cold water on the Winnipeg Jets and Derick Brassard talk. This fits more with the tone of yesterday that the Jets don’t like the price (TSN)