Links
Dan’s Daily: Rangers Offer for Miller; Bettman Shocker; Penguins Fail

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Perhaps the sunshine eventually got the better of the Pittsburgh Penguins. They followed their thorough beatdown of the LA Kings with a disjointed and sloppy loss to the lowly Anaheim Ducks. Neither Sigmuend Freud nor Dr. Phil could figure out these guys. We’ve got the backstory and the reactions. PHN also has more from Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas on the Tristan Jarry story and prospect Ville Koivunen. Elsewhere, Elliotte Friedman spilled the beans on the Rangers offer for J.T. Miller, as well as the Carolina Hurricanes lurking in the shadows of the NHL trade market.
And the Gary Bettman bombshell
There’s a bigger story I want to get to before practice later today (then I head straight to the airport) because we’ve got some intel on a few of the players that Dubas is looking at—or at least reported to be looking at. However, I’m writing this at 1:45 a.m. PST. So, we’ll see if the body holds up without much sleep.
Anaheim is really a nice, not-so-little place. The consignment car dealership up the road from my motel has three (three?!) Ford GTs and a white Lamborghini. However, just as fun to window shop was a vintage parts store. If you need parts for a Ford car before 1960, the old parts store here still operates like a window into the past, complete with old guys in flannel shirts and suspenders just hanging out.
I’m not sure if I’d take a GT at the consignment shop or the restored 1936 Ford Roadster convertible at the parts store. It’s definitely a decision that I can ponder while knowing I’ll never have to make it.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Dubas expounded on the Tristan Jarry situation, timelines, and decision-making process, as well as the progress of prospect Ville Koivunen.
I racked my brain for a Duck pun in the headline. It was probably too subtle, but I think it’s a real feather in my cap. Down and out, it was another wasted opportunity. Here’s the Penguins recap.
This time, instead of trying to analyze that dud, it was better to see the team’s reaction. Here’s the raw locker room video from Erik Karlsson (exclusive) to Alex Nedeljkovic, with a curt reaction by Mike Sullivan and an honest assessment by Sidney Crosby. Go inside the Penguins locker room.
PHN Video: The analysis portion is brutal on a few players. The Penguins lacked structure for most of the game, but a few players were well below their standard, and a couple of defensemen were in the crosshairs all night. The ending is a little abrupt, as I had to cut the video (because I hit the mutton button just before the end), but here’s the postgame wrap from my luxurious $80-a-night motel. It’s the Penguins postgame video.
NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now
Sportsnet: The first tour-de-force 32 Thoughts of the season was only 18 thoughts, but Elliotte Friedman was able to unearth the Rangers offer for J.T. Miller and the two teams to whom the Canucks have granted permission to speak with Miller. There were some other little nuggets of note regarding the NHL trade chatter, including tying the Penguins and Sabres together.
The Athletic ($): Kudos to Mike Russo for getting this scoop. Gary Bettman told the NHL exec committee to start planning for his retirement. It’s a bombshell, for sure.
Bettman’s legacy is not yet written in stone. There is so much good, especially for Pittsburgh, but also a lot to criticize. The CTE denial saved the league hundreds of millions of dollars while also denying reality. That’s complicated, but I’ll forever note that he kept that old guard around far too long—long after the game had changed. The league was regulated by a couple of guys who played favorites and whose disdain for different styles of play held the league back for a generation.
NYI Hockey Now: Each week, I ask our beat writers to communicate with management (me and my business partner) about their successes and failures of the week. Young Russ Macias is getting his first taste of the beat writer life as the New York Islanders sputter and fight from the bottom of the pack. Check this one out–his success this week was an important one-on-one with defenseman Adam Pelech.
Colorado Hockey Now: A few defensemen, including Marcus Pettersson, make the big trade board for the Colorado Avalanche.