Dan’s Daily: Who will Trotz Choose? COVID Cap Still Hurts Penguins

The Calgary Flames aren’t going to patiently wait to pursue their free agents. They’re getting after Johnny Gaudreau and Mathew Tkachuk, who has one year remaining on his contract, immediately and aggressively. The New York Rangers stayed alive again and forced Game 7 again by beating the Carolina Hurricanes at MSG. And COVID is still hurting the NHL UFAs and Pittsburgh Penguins’ salary cap.

Sunday is also a holy day. Monaco Grand Prix, blah. It’s the grand procession. Nascar runs an extra 100 miles because… 500-mile races don’t quite take up your entire life. But Indy. The greatest spectacle in racing with 33 cars, three wide, drivers hurling themselves into a flat corner. The speeds this year are getting back to the wild mid-1990s. Scott Dixon (who drives for Pittsburgh’s Chip Ganassi) qualified over 234 mph. More on Indy in a bit…

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To hockey…

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: As Dave Molinari writes, even though we’re past the COVID shutdowns, it’s still wrecking salary caps, including the Pittsburgh Penguins.

NHL News & National Hockey Now:

32 Thoughts, HNIC: The Calgary Flames are going after their UFA Johnny Gaudreau aggressively. Add Mathew Tkachuk to their immediate to-do list, too. And where will coach Barry Trotz wind up? Vegas? Philly? He has plenty of choices…

Calgary Hockey Now: Gaudreau sure sounds like a guy who wants to stick around. Calgary Flames breakup day.

And, Sportsnet put together the best of the Battle of Alberta, a two-minute thrill ride, much like the playoff series.

NHL.com: The Rangers are tough to beat at Madison Square Garden. The crowd goes nuts, the team feeds on it like Hulk Hogan just before the finger wag, and off they go. New York won Game 6, so we get Game 7!

Montreal: Marco D’Amico, our burgeoning rock star on the Montreal media scene, writes that the Canadiens can’t be passive at the 2022 NHL Draft. They’ll get Shane Wright, but that’s not enough. They should also aggressively try to improve their other first-round picks. Montreal Canadiens trade talk.

Detroit: The Red Wings were supposed to be a little better this season. Instead, they collapsed in a heap. What about captain Dylan Larkin and his Detroit Red Wings future?

My .02, when you get the stink of losing on you, you can’t wash it off in the same city. And Detroit has stunk.

Colorado: It’s Nathan MacKinnon vs. Connor McDavid and so much more in the Western Conference Final. Colorado Avalanche preview.

IIHF: Team Canada vs. Team Finland for the gold at the World Championships.

And…the Indianapolis 500. Besides the Stanley Cup presentation, Indy is what geeks me.

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Never before had two cars been within seconds of each other at the finish, until 1982. Before cars were engineered to create close finishes, and races were artificially stopped to create last lap dashes for TV, the Indy 500 was a coronation. Until 1982. The ABC Wild World of Sports. Veteran broadcasters losing their minds, future four-time winner Rick Mears closing on Gordon Johncock like a madman, and the results…

“Over the roar of the engines, you can hear the 400,000 people. No one has ever seen this before…!”