Dan’s Daily: New Names on Trade Board; Penguins Picks Shine

Today is the day we have been waiting for. The Pittsburgh Penguins prospects will go at it in a full-ice scrimmage. The winner does not matter as much as which of the prospects performs well. We also got to speak with assistant coach Mike Stothers, who just exuded enthusiasm for the role, and we hit the NHL trade boards for potential landing spots for Rickard Rakell. Elsewhere, could Artemi Panarin be on the move from New York? The Buffalo Sabres are taking Bo Byram to arbitration, which keeps more options open. And two new names have popped up in the trade rumors.

We’ll have more Penguins prospects coverage coming after the camp. It’s just not as well read as the bigger picture items like Rakell, so I haven’t stopped the presses to write about it exclusively. We have chatted with Will Horcoff and Ben Kindel, too. I had another chat with Kindel yesterday–he’s clearly had some media training, but we had got him laughing a little bit.

Side note: I’ve noticed the more I keep interviews light, the more information you and I get. There’s a Mexican border-sized wall between hockey athletes and media that did not used to exist. I can only assume, and opine, that it’s because there’s so much bad hockey media. So many newspapers simply dump any available writer or one who has other aspirations onto hockey. On the whole, legacy media gives the game very little attention, and that lack of service promulgates amongst fans a hockey media that is still largely amateur-blog driven. The results of that are too many to discuss here. And, the most recent trend is the clickbait social media accounts that run wild with anything players (or media) say outside the norm. So, there’s no benefit for them to communicate with us authentically.

I don’t think there’s a solution other than sometimes letting a few things slide, knowing that what a player meant and what a player said might be different, and telling them what you’ll print. I do believe a few of the existing Penguins’ prospects trust me to relay information properly and to know what is context to inform my writing and what is an on-the-record answer to quote. We build one step at a time.

Also, I’m now about the same age as many of the prospects’ parents. Ugh.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: First, let’s talk Penguins trade and Rickard Rakell. We are now in the sweet spot where a trade could go down any day because the best free agents are off the board, so if a team needs some scoring, they have to visit the Penguins’ store. We see three teams that should make a play for Rakell, and a fourth that could be a wild card. The 3.5 landing spots for Rickard Rakell.

One team I did not include but feel should make a play for him is Toronto. Rakell could feed Auston Matthews like an all-you-can-eat buffet. However, with zero rumors or links between the two, I moved on. You’ll have to read to see the other teams.

Let’s get to Development Camp. One of the Penguins’ first-round picks had himself a pretty good day. And we talked with one of the new assistant coaches, who delivered the new penalty kill philosophy. It was a good day at the Penguins camp.

NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now

New Jersey Hockey Now: The last 32 Thoughts of the season was a humdinger. Of course, Elliotte Friedman spoke about the Penguins being open for business on the trade market, but nothing we haven’t already discussed a bunch of times. However, one new tidbit that Friedman floated was the New Jersey Devils taking calls on right-handed offensive defenseman Dougie Hamilton.

The market just won’t give Erik Karlsson and the Penguins a break. Seth Jones at the deadline. Now Hamilton becomes available.

Sportsnet: Bo Byram and the Buffalo Sabres are taking the next step. The Sabres chose to take Byram to arbitration rather than let him dangle on the market looking for an offer sheet. The move was smart because it keeps the Sabres’ trade option open.

Edmonton Journal: The Edmonton Oilers are hot after Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Isaac Howard, but Tampa Bay thinks it can do better than Edmonton’s first-round pick. That’s interesting. The details are leaking, and there seems to be some emotion broiling in this one, too.

Philly Hockey Now: The Broad St. Bullies are also rebuilding, though they started in a different spot than the Penguins. This year’s free agency strategy was also different. Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly for the Philadelphia Flyers’ signings.

Montreal Hockey Now: I think a lot of you will enjoy this story from Marc Dumont. L.J. Mooney is the undersized Pittsburgh kid with oversized skills. Montreal snagged him in the fourth round, and now his youth hockey highlights are all the rage in Montreal. Check out the latest sensation amongst the Canadiens’ prospects.

And if that’s not enough: Mooney Stands Out At Montreal Canadiens Development Camp.

See you at the scrimmage.