Dan’s Daily: Crushing Marner’s Trade Value; Fight Night in Florida

Pittsburgh Penguins pending free agent goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic earned a nice honor Wednesday as he accepted an invitation to Team USA for the 2024 IIHF World Championships. It’s “Ned’s” first nod to wear the colors. In the Penguins video Q&A, we dove into coach Mike Sullivan’s immediate future as well as the NHL trade market. Elsewhere in the Daily, Toronto media is downgrading, if not lowballing, Mitch Marner’s trade value. The Vancouver Canucks staged a bare-knuckles comeback, and the Florida Panthers went bare-knuckles against the Boston Bruins.

I’m happy to announce that UtahHockeyNow.com is officially under our control after a little legal wrangling. We’ll launch that site within a week or so. It is absolutely incredible to me that we started writing about the Penguins about six years ago and now have a company with a payroll approaching three-quarters of a million bucks.

What?! THANK YOU. You awesome people have pushed us further and further.

I took the motorcycle out last night to clear the melon. If the rain ever stops, I can’t wait for a few trips. The toughest part about traveling is the decision-making—paralysis by analysis. There are so many places I’d like to hole up in for a couple of days. Maybe catch a couple of days of Indy practice? The Finger Lakes and keep going to Montreal, then Halifax? I’ll probably chicken out of all of those, and Rt. 66, but a boy can dream, eh?

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Good on ya, Alex Nedeljkovic. The goalie earned a spot on Team USA and will make his first appearance at the World Championships. It’s not a bumper crop for the Penguins, but it’s good to see some of the players accept the invitation. Here’s the Penguins news.

Opinion: Hurry up, Kyle Dubas. Chase him down, tackle him, and make him sign a contract before the cost goes up. Here’s the full story and why the Penguins need to re-sign Alex Nedeljkovic.

Penguins Video Q&A: I think I surprised our viewers with a thorough examination of coach Mike Sullivan and his future. We also dove into the Penguins trade talk, including Mitch Marner. We’ve never had such a well-attended chat. Check out the Penguins live chat.

NHL Trade Talk, News & National Hockey Now

Toronto Sun: I chose Steve Simmon’s piece of Terry Koshan’s only for pure shock value. Simmons slams Marner’s trade value and what the Maple Leafs could get for him.

Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Nick Kypreos fully examined a Marner trade with four possible destinations.

Color me shocked the Toronto media hasn’t circled the Penguins and hyped the Kyle Dubas connection. That might just be us, my friends. I spent a good chunk of time in the video going through the ins and outs of a trade.

TSN: It was 2-0 and 4-2 in Edmonton’s favor. And then … it was a Vancouver Canucks win. Rick Tocchet and the boys staged a hardcore comeback in the third for a Game 1 win.

Are any Penguins fans not rooting for a Vancouver-Carolina Final?

The Ted Lindsay Award nominees were announced. I expected Sidney Crosby to be nominated for this award, but he was not. Here are the three, with a twist from the Hart Trophy voting.

NYI Hockey Now: Colby Guy looks at the Islanders’ offseason. For several reasons, it’s a pivot point for the Penguins’ rival, and it’s going to be crucial for the New York Islanders.

Philly Hockey Now: Here’s a kid to watch. All of the talent in the world, but being held back by Russia. Matvei Michkov, the kid who sank at the NHL Draft last year because teams were not confident they could get him out of the Motherland. There are building rumors he’s going to get out this year, and his trainer added some weight to them. Here’s the full scoop for the Philadelphia Flyers’ top prospect.

I’d like to see the kid play. He was almost cocky at the draft. I loved it. He pulled a bit of a Jagr move: Telling some teams he couldn’t get out so he could fall in the draft to the Flyers.

And we’ll wrap up with Fight Night in Florida!

Florida Hockey Now: First, Florida mopped up the Bruins in Game 2. Here’s the inimitable George Richards with more from the resounding fight-night win for the Florida Panthers.

It was a brutal game. Brandon Montour was pretty proud of himself for “getting his licks” on Brad Marchand. The boys were feeling pretty, pretty good about the Panthers’ Game 2 win.

Boston Hockey Now: Matthew Tkachuk fought David Pastrnak. The fight went about as you’d think, but Pastrnak had a message for Tkachuk. The Boston Bruins aren’t backing down.

Keith Tkachuk was in the barn for the game. He enjoyed it.