Dan’s Daily: Teams Chase E. Pettersson; Penguins Crater; MTL Media Wants Crosby
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The NHL trade winds are blowing, and the Vancouver Canucks might not be thrilled with the direction. Reports indicate the New York Rangers are the only team in the J.T. Miller sweepstakes, but surprisingly, the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes are greatly interested in Elias Pettersson. The Colorado Avalanche locker room is still shocked after the Mikko Rantanen trade. Perhaps we should not be shocked that the Montreal media, including the paper of record, had pieces this weekend campaigning for Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes to aggressively pursue a trade for Sidney Crosby while the Penguins are committing atrocities against their playoff fate.
I am still finalizing the column that will appear later this morning. It will be direct, not kind or pretty. The Penguins are off today, but I’m not. In fact, I might do some video and a second column. I have two primary thoughts on the current state and future possibilities.
On the plus side, the hockey gods and travel gods were quite kind to me yesterday. After the first week of this trip, I wondered if I was cursed, but yesterday’s gamble paid off. My flight was at 5:50 p.m. following a 1 p.m. game, and the Seattle airport is a 30-minute ride. Yeah, things could have been dramatic, but they were shockingly smooth. I apologize for my Penguins report card being hours late. The smaller aircraft did not have acceptable WiFi. So, I’ll make up for it all today.
Also, a little side note. The Hockey Now group is looking for some expertise on the venture capital side (pitch decks, meetings, et al.). We’ve been approached a few times over the last two years, and we danced with the wrong people last spring before nixing their (condescending) offer without hesitation. We’ll be interviewing candidates to join the fold for 2025, as I can see things are turning in our favor after the assault from the national magazine failed and the tech giants tried to scrub independent media from the internet. We hung in there, and now we get to punch back. If you’re such a candidate or do VC materials, reach out to me.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Evgeni Malkin was injured Saturday, but the team remained sleepy in Seattle. In case you missed the game and wondered what happened, here are the gory details in the Penguins recap.
The report card. It is more of a signpost than a game analysis. Equal parts scathing, realistic, and looking forward, with some player grades included. It’s almost over. Here’s the bareknuckled Penguins analysis.
PHN+: Saturday morning, the Penguins caused a stir by sending Owen Pickering back to the AHL as they called up Boko Imama. The Penguins needed a forward, and Pickering was the only one who didn’t need to clear waivers, but it was more than that. Coach Mike Sullivan pulled back the curtain Friday, and we updated the story with more details on Saturday. Why did they do it? Here’s the deal on the Pickering move.
I’d love it if you could join this party. While most other outlets are pulling back and not traveling, we’re full steam ahead, but we need you on board. Give me 40 bucks, and I’ll give you the best effort I’ve got and the best team for Penguins coverage I can (Dave and Shelly, eh?), ad-free and with exclusive content. Join PHN+ here.
NHL Trade Chatter, News, & National Hockey Now
Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC): Some tidbits on the rest of the league, but color me surprised on the main idea in the Headlines segment. The Buffalo Sabres have joined the fray and are making a push to acquire Elias Pettersson. It sounds like Carolina was close on him. Maybe they still are? Elliotte Friedman brought the goods.
Vancouver Province: If Vancouver trades J.T. Miller, it seems there is one interested team: New York. As Patrick Johnson writes, that’s why New York lowballed Vancouver with their offer. It’s a fluid situation but it’s not working for anyone.
Colorado Hockey Now: The locker room was crushed following the Rantanen trade. Even the typically stoic, if not surly Nathan MacKinnon was raw. The comments were genuine. Aarif Deen takes us inside the Colorado Avalanche locker room.
Montreal Gazette: OK, here we go. It’s out there. The Canadian media really wants it. Global News broke the ice, and then the Montreal Gazette went there, too. The Canadian and Canadiens media want GM Kent Hughes to make the ultimate splash–a Sidney Crosby trade. Hey, we know it’s not happening, but they can dream.
Detroit Hockey Now: One month into the sea change in Detroit, and the Winged Wheels are playing Journey tunes–Don’t stop believing. New coach Todd McClellan has the boys believing, and it’s a big turnaround for the Detroit Red Wings.
Vegas Hockey Now: Even the good teams seemed to struggle with this cockamamie schedule in January. Things got cold, really, really cold for the Vegas Golden Knights.
Categorized:Links NHL Trade Rumors Penguins
Sadly Dan, the best entertainment on this Pens trip has been your “Planes, Trains, and Atomobiles” adventures!
I’m starting to think more often about when EJ sent Mike Bullard to the minors at the end of the season in 84 to make sure they got to draft Mario. Who could they get if they improved on their current position (7th overall) by sending Sid down. LOL. The only standings I’m going to be looking at the rest of the way is the draft rankings.
I recall EJ sending Roberto Romano, their best goalie that year, to the minors to win fewer games not Bullard.
You’re right that that didn’t send Bullard, but they tried (https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/02/02/The-Pittsburgh-Penguins-have-fined-veteran-center-Mike-Bullard/7867444546000/).
My memory for things that happened 41 years ago isn’t as good as yours. LOL.
…maybe they would take Letang instead?
Idk how CAR would fit Elias Pettersson’s cap on their current roster w/o a 3rd team RS. BUF certainly has the space. I still have a sliver of hope that a big trade is swung to bring Elias to PIT. I do wonder if KD has approached Letang about teams he would waive his NMC to go to, he has current+3 years left on his deal. I know Crosby and Malkin will finish their careers in PIT, I doubt Letang plays out all of his here – just doesn’t fit the long-term Dubas strategy.
In happier news, Murashov played very well in WBS last night. Held them in the first as they got outshot like 13-1 to start the game. McGroarty scored.
And won 2-1!!!
Looking forward to the day that The Iron Curtain and Bloomer are the Pens goalie tandem.
WBS goes again today. Likely Jarry in net. Can’t confirm that, but it’s a three game weekend and he started Friday night’s loss.
It’s Jarry and up 3-1 after 2nd right now
Ponomarev and mcgroarty scored, and Murashov won, making his ahl record 3-0. Hopefully get to see some of those folks in pgh before too long
Look forward to the straight forward columns to read.
As I said in 2018, 19, 20, and every year since…everyone except Sid should be on the block. Leave no stone unturned if there’s any hope of giving Sid one last run at a Cup. A hope that fades more with each passing day.
Can the Sid being traded nonsense please stop. Especially garbage that’s comes out of Canadian media.
Why is it nonsense. He has a chance to bring back the cup to Canada with his childhood team or fade into oblivion.
Only because Crosby has said REPEATEDLY that he wants to retire a penguin and has no interest in playing elsewhere.
Dan, you seem to have an interesting dynamic with Sully? Can you share your thoughts on that?
Hey Dan, why do the pens continue to bring in so many young players to there system that can’t score goals? It seems like they spend a lot of time developing players that aren’t going to pan out?
The simple answer, if you think about it a bit, is that teams keep players like that! Why would any team give up a player that can score goals? I also laugh when people declare that Dubas go out and trade for a metaphorical 6’8″ player that skates like the wind, throws big hits, and scores goals. The answer to that is also, that is what every team wants and if they have that player, they’re going to keep said player. The best chance Dubas has is to keep doing what he is doing and hope that one of these… Read more »