Dan’s Daily: Blackhawks Chasing Marc-Andre Fleury, Stanley Cup Dented

What an interesting day in the NHL. Pierre McGuire started the first Twitter condescension parade. It was followed by gobs of hate for the Edmonton Oilers finally finishing the trade for Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith. Then came the report that Chicago is pursuing Marc-Andre Fleury on the NHL trade market. Oh, Steve Stamkos may be available, and we examine the probabilities of eight Pittsburgh Penguins offseason moves.

The Twitter snarkiness was off the charts.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: From a Marc-Andre Fleury-Penguins trade to Jason Zucker going to Seattle. We examine the probability of eight Penguins offseason moves. 

Are Sam Poulin and Nathan Legare ready? What about Frederick Gaudreau? Some good questions from readers in the PHN Penguins Q&A. 

And, Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Ron Hextall made five hockey ops hires on Monday, including his son and four scouts. Interestingly, he had a past relationship with three of the hires. Full story on the Penguins hires here.

NHL Trade Chatter, News & National Hockey Now

Vegas: I could hear Penguins fans tighten up. As part of trading Duncan Keith trade, the report dropped that the Chicago Blackhawks are now “in play” on the NHL trade front for Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. 

Oh, by the way…

Sportsnet: The NHL trade winds howled–Chicago finally traded Duncan Keith to the Edmonton Oilers for young defenseman Caleb Jones and a third-rounder. And Twitter erupted with derision. Here’s a solid bit of actual trade analysis from Mark Spector. 

TSN Video: Could Steve Stamkos find himself on the NHL trade block? There’s no way the Tampa Bay Lightning can stay together. Daren Dreger had some scoops and projections. 

ESPN: Those Lightning also did a number on the Stanley Cup–check out Nikita Kucherov, his poor liver, and the dent during their boat parade. 

Ottawa Sun: Pierre McGuire is now a player development executive with the Ottawa Senators. And fans on Twitter couldn’t bash him enough. That part was sad. He’s a great guy who truly has encyclopedic knowledge. Perhaps more people should have been open to it instead of feeling threatened, eh? Ottawa is happy to have him…

Boston: Sources told Jimmy Murphy that Boston has a firm free-agent target–The Boston Bruins will “go hard after Barclay Goodrow.”

Detroit: Steve Yzerman has the cash to burn, and it looks like Detroit is waiting in the wings for Toronto Maple Leafs UFA Zach Hyman. 

You see what I did there?

Washington: Why can’t we be friends? Nick Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin are tight, and that bond fueled a lot of Capitals success and changed that franchise. 

NYI: Hello Anthony Beauvillier? The Islanders need a much more consistent Beauvillier to get over that Stanley Cup hump.

San Jose: Some cool history–How close were the San Jose Sharks to drafting crushing defenseman Scott Niedermayer instead of their famous pick of Pat Falloon?