Dan’s Daily: Florida Enters Giroux Talks, Penguins Trade Chatter

It was a welcome little surprise for Pittsburgh Penguins fans on Sunday morning as a pair of injured Penguins skated for the first time since their injury. The Florida Panthers appear to have entered the Claude Giroux sweepstakes. NHL trade rumors are swirling around Montreal Canadiens and Dallas Stars hooking up, and the Penguins have been scouting a couple of teams, too.

It’s exactly two weeks to the NHL trade deadline.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Those Pittsburgh Penguins have been scouting the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks. Who is available and could be the object of the Penguins trade desires?

Evgeni Malkin was absent on Sunday morning, but Jason Zucker and Mike Matheson hit the ice. Penguins injury updates.

NHL Trade Chatter, News & National Hockey Now:

Sportsnet video: Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek are all over the NHL trade deadline (because they’re the best in the business). The San Jose Sharks intensified efforts to sign Tomas Hertl, and count me surprised–the Florida Panthers are taking a run at Claude Giroux.

*Montreal Hockey Now: It appears the Dallas Stars are considering the very thing I advocated the Pittsburgh Penguins do–Dallas is looking for insurance against losing their top right-side defenseman. Our Marco D’Amico cites a well-placed NHL source, Dallas is talking trade with the Montreal Canadiens.

*Boston Hockey Now: As we’ve been reporting, J.T. Miller is most likely staying in Vancouver. However, the Bruins are doing their due diligence on Brock Boeser and other Canucks. Boston Bruins Trade Chatter.

TSN: Countdown to the NHL trade deadline… The Avs are looking to add, and Josh Archibald puts the Oilers in a tough spot.

The two NHL players known to have serious side effects from COVID are Marco Rossi and Archibald. One happened before the vaccine was available. The other refused it. About 15,000 Americans died last week from that bug. This thing is all but over, and I’d like you to be alive to see it. –30–

Vegas: Jack Eichel made a few new fans. His goal beat the buzzer and delivered a Vegas Golden Knights win.

Defending Big D: Can someone, anyone stop Jason Robertson and the Dallas Stars? Robertson popped back-to-back hat tricks.

Calgary: I don’t give enough love to Calgary. They are really, really good. Tyler Toffoli is paying big dividends for the Calgary Flames.

Colorado: Here’s a GREAT read–GREAT. Ryan Boulding for Colorado Hockey Now. What do Russian hockey players have to do with the Russian invasion? Except for Alex Ovechkin, who created Team Putin, the rest, including Evgeni Malkin, are…hockey players.

Metro Division:

Philly: I briefly mentioned it, but our Sam Carchidi did a solid write-up of Jaromir Jagr moving his team’s game to the big arena to raise money for Ukrainian humanitarian efforts. Sam also tells of some pretty good Jaromir Jagr one-liners.

He wears No. 68 because of the Russian invasion of his country. He understands.

Washington: Uh oh. The goals are drying up as is ice time. What is Daniel Sprong’s future with the Washington Capitals?

NYI: The Islanders may have to wait to trade Zdeno Chara–Big Z is on IR. New York Islanders roster shuffle.

CanesCountry: The Carolina Hurricanes keep winning. Their home points streak is now 11, they beat the Seattle Kraken. A cool blog from CanesCountry–here’s all of the postgame comments.

NY Post: Chris Kreider scored two. The Rangers keep winning, too.