Dan’s Daily: Penguins Got Help from NHL, VIVA Las Vegas!

LAS VEGAS — The Pittsburgh Penguins got a little help in their front-office search from a source some consider unlikely. We have more on the Penguins’ front-office process and what comes next. The Vegas Golden Knights flexed their muscles Monday and walloped the Dallas Stars to earn their golden ticket to the Stanley Cup Final final. The Flyers haven’t put Carter Hart on the NHL trade block, but they will listen.

It looks like I’ll be in Las Vegas for a few more weeks before spending a week in Nashville. Life is tough, I tell you. It might be really interesting if I ever got away from my keyboard. I like to lead by example, and pulling double-duty this month, I’ll write about 200 stories.

Yeah, I like what I do. After a lifetime of trying to get to it and many people standing in my way, I’m getting after it.

Thanks to all of our new subscribers this week. We’ve been putting some good stuff behind the paywall. It’s a little bit of self-preservation. We’re a “freemium” network that keeps a lot of stuff free, but we will make a concerted effort to take care of our subscribers this summer. Use code 10off and get $10 off a PHN+ subscription, which comes with another coupon code for free subscriptions to Pittsburgh Baseball Now and Steelers Now. Click here.

Pittsburgh Penguins / Steelers, Pirates (Sports Now Group PGH)

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: We had the hockey world talking yesterday. We’ve got some interesting background on the process of filling the front-office roles. Even the NHL offered some help to Fenway Sports Group. And it’s believed FSG will fill the Penguins’ GM spot first.

Watch: Here’s some pretty good hockey talk on WPXI’s Final Word, which airs every Sunday night at 11:30. It was a good show. They turned us loose and sunk our teeth into the Penguins GM spot, goalies, and what the first move the new Penguins GM should make is? Penguins analysis.

Steelers Now:

Dan Moore took a bit of criticism last season. Fairly so. His new training regimen has transformed his body.

Kevin Dotson knows there’s nothing he can do. He’s going to lose his starting job. The Steelers’ offensive line is getting better.

OK, I’d pay to watch this: Antonio Brown is recruiting Cam Newton to play for his Arena Football League team.

Pittsburgh Baseball Now:

Yuck, the month of May cannot end soon enough. The SF Giants pounded the Pittsburgh Pirates, 14-4.

Cody Patanko made the trek to Altoona to get his eyes on the top Pirates` prospects. The top of the heap is putting in overtime to become a better catcher. That’s former first-overall pick Henry Davis.

PBN+: John Perrotto likes some of what he sees. Roansy Conteras could be on the Mitch Keller plan.

Subscribe to PBN with John Perrotto and two talented young writers (Danny Demillio and Cody Potanko), and you get a coupon code for a free PHN+ subscription. The Sports Now PGH group is making a run at TWO MILLION readers this month. That’s going to be a record for us. We’ve got millions of readers, we’re on TV, and more of you are joining the cause. I think we’re doing this right. (And when we aren’t doing well by you, I know you’ll tell me).

NHL Trade Talk, Stanley Cup Playoffs, and National Hockey Now:

Vegas Hockey Now: Viva, viva … VIVA LAS VEGAS! It was a beatdown Monday night in Dallas. The Vegas Golden Knights are Stanley Cup Final-bound.

Would they touch the Campbell Bowl? Did they? No! It’s been an annual wonder since Sidney Crosby and the 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins broke the tradition. Here’s the list of Stanley Cup winners and whether they touched the trophy. More Vegas Golden Knights news.

Florida Hockey Now: Here’s our George Richards’ look at the coming Stanley Cup Final. The Golden Knights vs. the Florida Panthers.

Philly Hockey Now: Here’s a juicy tidbit of NHL trade talk: New Flyers GM Danny Briere said he had no plans to trade Carter Hart, but he’s listening. That’s a big admission by the Philadelphia Flyers GM.

TSN: Darren Dreger expects the Maple Leafs to move forward on a new GM this week.

Montreal Hockey Now: He showed he could be a starting goalie this season. Then he won gold with Team Canada. Sam Montembeault is now in line for an extension with the Montreal Canadiens.

My favorite story of the day is in Latvia. Team Latvia won the bronze medal at the IIHF World Championships when it upset the U.S. in overtime after a third-period rally.

Monday, at least 50,000 showed up to celebrate. That’s more than 3% of the country’s population.

Riga is sheer madness after the bronze medal. The heroes are received by some 50.000 or more fans at the Freedom Monument. The airline flew the team for free from Tampere, the plane was painted in 🇱🇻, music bands play for free, the government announced official day off @lhf_lv pic.twitter.com/Dqws7KBFxU

— EuropeanHockeyClubs (@EHCAlliance) May 29, 2023