Dan’s Daily Links: Tom Wilson Bloodies Ian Cole, Panarin Flips Agents

The Pittsburgh Penguins might be saved by the craziness in Columbus. It might not seem like big news when a player flips from one agent to another, but this one had big implications and the NHL trade rumors are already flying. Tom Wilson wasn’t done wailing on Penguins or former Penguins. Minnesota Wild GM Paul Fenton has big decisions to make before the trade deadline and no one knows if the Edmonton Oilers are buyers or seller.

Ian Cole stopped short which created a high hit on Evgeny Kuznetsov. Tom Wilson proceeded to pummel Cole with more than a few high hits, 15 to be exact. Ian Cole got more than he bargained and missed practice Friday (Russian Machine Never Breaks)

Artemi Panarin’s agent Dan Milstein said Panarin would not sign anywhere until July 1. Now, Milstein is no longer Panarin’s agent. The bread man flipped to…Sergei Bobrovsky’s agent. There is no truth to the rumor that Panarin’s twin brother will awake from a coma, show up, and release the damning info on John Tortorella, but this soap opera appears to be headed in the direction (Sportsnet)

Mikko Koivu’s serious knee injury has injected even more confusion into the Minnesota trade deadline plans (NHL.com)

I don’t get good vibes from Fenton’s tenure, so far. He seems to be more afraid of a mistake than he is attempting to fix what ails his team. His comments are typically tepid. Of course, he is saddled with two of the legacy monster contracts with Ryan Suter and Zach Parise, so his margin for error is slim.

The Philadelphia Flyers are talking to Wayne Simmonds about a contract. That isn’t going well, reportedly

Source: No progress made in negotiations between the #Flyers and Wayne Simmonds as the Feb. 25 trade deadline gets closer.

— Sam Carchidi (@BroadStBull) February 7, 2019

Pierre Lebrun is reporting there are five teams in the Simmonds Sweepstakes. (The Athletic)

A lot of news from Penguins practice in Tampa, yesterday. Read about the news on Malkin, Murray and Zach Aston-Reese here (Pittsburgh Hockey Now)

Or check out the in-studio segment on our YouTube channel

And yes, I flipped back to the “Links” title. Our web guy may yell at me because he loves order and consistency but “Links” is a shorter word which allows a longer headline. I probably made a mistake on changing the title for a week. We’ll all live, yeah?