Connect with us

Links

Dan’s Daily: Young Players Available; Russia Ban; Bad Penguins Rumors

Published

on

Pittsburgh Penguins, Evgeni Malkin

The Pittsburgh Penguins snagged a point from the New Jersey Devils but lost in a shootout. We’ve got the full analysis and coverage from the barn. There are plenty of NHL trade rumors floating out there, from available young players to the Vancouver Canucks shopping to replace J.T. Miller, but there are also some bum Penguins rumors, too. There’s a pretty good Sportsnet piece on Marcus Pettersson, as Canada is getting a good look at the hidden gem we all knew. The Buffalo Sabres canceled practice to have a team meeting to rip themselves after no one responded to the Devils’ Stefan Noesen clocking Tage Thompson. And Russia is still banned.



With the impending winter weather descending upon Pennsylvania, I regrettably decided to go to New York a day early. It’s always an adventure going to New York (Ha, after my recent travel nightmares, I’ll take a good excuse to chill in my favorite city), but I’m taking the train—yeah, the recent aircraft disasters have me a little spooked.

Travel Tip: The funny thing about Amtrak is that they don’t understand their core competency (It’s government-run; I suppose they don’t have to learn it). The train is comfortable. It’s stress-free travel. But they have one little cafe counter with one overburdened person working to serve a few hundred people. If you want a Coke or a little bag of chips, it can take 30 minutes in line, and the person is mandated to take breaks, too. If you take the train East, pack a lunch.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: The Postgame video. YouTube loves to find the ugliest thumbnails!

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: The maestro had a story ready to go, and then the Penguins played a great third period to force overtime. It was a roller coaster ride, and here’s Dave Molinari’s Penguins recap.

New Jersey Hockey Now: Want to see how the other side saw it? A key injury, some good performances, and another win for the New Jersey Devils.

Report card time. Have your parents sign this and bring it back tomorrow (do schools still do that?). Sidney Crosby pushed back a little bit on my take, and coach Mike Sullivan went a very different direction, so I included both opinions and my analysis–what the Penguins did well and what they decidedly did not. The Penguins analysis.

Ah, the trade rumors and some genuine analysis/observations on two of the Penguins’ core players. It’s not all good in the Penguins blog.

And just for some good news, Rickard Rakell was named to Team Sweden for the Four Nations Face-Off.

Tell me again, what do they win? Oh, never mind. Maybe in four years, when they have the World Cup redux, it will be the coveted Hockey Now Friendship Bracelet?

NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now

TSN Insiders: The IIHF banned Russia and Belarus for two more years. Calgary is still shopping. Vancouver needs a center. And the scarecrow needs some courage, otherwise known as the Buffalo Sabres, who turtled in the face of the fearsome Stefan Noesen. Some Four Nations injury updates, too.

OK, tell me straight, do you want any coverage of the Four Nations tourney other than some quick stories of Sidney Crosby goals or Mike Sullivan analogies? Hockey Now does have someone at the tournament, but I don’t know if any of you care.

Sportsnet: Alex Ovechkin’s assault on Wayne Gretzky’s record is hitting warp speed. Next is plaid, then ludicrous speed. Ovechkin scored No. 878 with 0.1 seconds left last night.

I also think those of you who appreciated Marcus Pettersson will enjoy this glowing write-up on Sportsnet. Kevin Bieksa heaped praise on Petey, and Vancouver is quickly warming to their new defenseman.

One thing I quietly said for years is that the right players can elevate their status by getting traded or landing in a new city. Marc-Andre Fleury was a prime example. Pittsburgh can be fickle, and if a player in any sport stays too long, they never escape their past mistakes, or that one time they weren’t great. If Kris Letang or Evgeni Malkin had been traded to the right environment/city, they would be revered. Does anyone care to argue that either is revered in Pittsburgh without a sizable number of fans ever ready to criticize?

Ottawa Hockey Now: Some good/bad news for the Penguins. The bad news is that Tampa Bay won. The good news is that the Ottawa Senators lost.

And Buffalo beat Columbus, which helps the Penguins, too. It’s still a long shot, but as long as they believe, I’ll cover their side of the story.