Dan’s Daily: ‘Stressful’ Deadline; Trouble in NJ; Penguins Firewagon
Much of the NHL news and chatter focused on the Pittsburgh Penguins Sunday. As the marquee game on Sunday afternoon, the Penguins and Toronto Maple Leafs gave their respective coaches a few gray hairs and played some sloppy track meet hockey, which Toronto won 6-5 in overtime. Erik Karlsson addressed his situation ahead of the NHL trade deadline. Also in the Daily, the swirling winds of the Brayden Schenn trade rumors might lead back to St. Louis, and there might be big trouble in little New Jersey.
It was fun to watch Sunday’s Penguins game, but my goodness, the Penguins’ mistakes are jaw-dropping.
I’ll call attention to our updated Kris Letang story. I think we’ll get more clarification this week (or maybe not). We were told that Letang felt he was referring to the team, not himself when he and I spoke after the game. The original story that he “didn’t close the door” on a trade was updated to reflect the changing understanding of his words.
Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to clarify with Kris in person this week.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Hockey Now: The Penguins trailed 2-0 before your nacho cheese was cold but rallied to lead 3-2. Then, two horrendous mistakes made it 4-3 within 50 seconds, including a goal with 0.1 seconds remaining in the second period. Oh, it was a wild one. Here is Dave Molinari’s Penguins recap.
The postgame analysis mingled with the locker room feature to create a bigger story. Erik Karlsson was again troublesome, and coach Mike Sullivan addressed the situation with rookie goalie Joel Blomqvist, who had a rough day. Go inside the Penguins locker room.
NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now
TSN: Winning can change a GM’s attitude pretty quickly. The flash of trade rumors surrounding Brayden Schenn is dying down quickly as the St. Louis Blues are back in the playoff chase. Also, the insiders say teams are calling Carolina about Mikko Rantanen. So, here ya go.
New Jersey Hockey Now: A WILD scene in New Jersey. Jack Hughes was injured, perhaps significantly. Coach Sheldon Keefe ejected. And the Vegas Golden Knights shut out the NJD. It’s suddenly a tense situation for the New Jersey Devils.
Our James Nichols dives right in. With Hughes’s injury, GM Tom Fitzgerald can’t sit quietly at the deadline. No, the Devils need to take a big swing on the NHL trade market.
More NHL trade speculation from Vegas. I love Hannah Kirkell’s passion for hockey. There was some speculation/chatter/projection that Brad Marchand could be a good trade fit for the VGK. So, Hannah put it on the operating table. Would Marchand fit, and what are the odds of a trade(?!) to the Vegas Golden Knights?
Sportsnet: I bet you didn’t know Wayne Gretzky called Max Domi to wish him a happy birthday and gave him a bit of advice that helped him against the Penguins.
Sadly, a big chunk of the Sportsnet story focuses on Trump. Why?! Yeah, Gretzky and Trump are friends. I have friends who thought Kamala Harris was too moderate and friends who think the government is using chemtrails to control us. Judge me on me, not the red hat friends, not the pride flag-waving friends. Although, as I think about it … I actually have friends!!
NYI Hockey Now: Our young writers are hitting their stride! Russ Macias puts the Islanders’ situation under the microscope. Too many blueliners and not enough salary cap space. So, three trade partners for the New York Islanders.
Florida Hockey Now: The Panthers traded Spencer Knight in the Seth Jones deal. OK, so what can Florida do in goal? It’s an important issue for the Florida Panthers.
Detroit Hockey Now: If you missed it at the outdoor game Saturday between Columbus and Detroit, even Detroit wore Johnny Gaudreau jerseys on their walk to the Stadium. It was a wonderful touch by the Detroit Red Wings.
Categorized:Links NHL Trade Rumors Penguins
There is a difference between being a friend and supporting trump, to be named an honorary captain for team Canada during such a politically charged tournament while you support a president who wants to annex Canada is not a good look
The correction on the Letang story is a nice touch, but the rest is a lot of morning garbage to digest. From Darren Dreiger saying there’s a miniscule chance Crosby gets traded bc he didn’t hear no from his mouth (we’ve heard it 100x) to… a moderate…
For good or bad, mostly good. I appreciate all your content as well btw
Dreger is an idiot.
Stadium game at “The Shoe” was fantastic! From the pregame through the end. The NHL, Jackets, Wings OSU, and Columbus made it a remarkable event. Johnny Hockey had to be looking down smilig. Kudos to ESPN to get his wife in to remind us what kind of man that he was. Showing us, once again, that there is more to these guys than being a hockey player!
That game seemed to go on for hours and hours. ESPN sucks all around. Will they ever figure out their on-ice sound versus the play-by-play. I think we have heard about Johnny Hockey and what a great dude he was plenty of times already.
Your site is the best hockey commentary, I don’t care what anyone says.
Dan, you’re a professional journalist and you know better than to bury a lead.
Change the title of this article immediately.
“Kingerski Has Friends!”
It wasn’t hockey at its purest form but the Leaf Pens game was very entertaining!