Dan’s Daily: Referee Whoops; Bettman Speaks; Penguins Hit Zero

The Pittsburgh Penguins had a day off Wednesday to lick their wounds and ponder what comes next. Their statistical odds for the first-overall pick climbed while their playoff odds hit rock bottom. Our Penguins live chat was quite lively. Elsewhere in the Daily, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman dished on everything from changing the playoff format to dumping the All-Star Game immediately. Referee Kelly Sutherland had a whoopsie that led to a game-winning goal. And the Edmonton Oilers will be goalie-shopping this summer.

I’ve been a little lazy for a couple of days. PHN still put out 10 stories, including the Live Chat, but I’ve had more in me. I must confess to you that my energy level has dropped, and I’ve been a lump for a couple of days. That ends today. You’ll notice the Daily was posted by 7 a.m., which I haven’t done for a while. At 10 a.m., my One-Timers regarding Mike Sullivan’s future will drop.

Then I’ll be at practice. I have to get in high gear again.

Also–we had a fun idea during the Live Chat. We could do a PHN road trip to Cleveland for the pair of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins games on April 4 and 5. The nicer hotels near the arena are $250 for the weekend. Or about $125 per night. If anyone else is game, we could tilt a few at Great Lakes Brewery and get a good look at the prospects. What do you think?

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Zero-point-zero. Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son. After the Penguins crumbling loss to the New York Islanders, the Penguins’ odds for one thing increased and hit zero for another. Here’s the Penguins’ situation.

YouTube: Something we recently learned is that if I post the Live Chat here, I don’t get paid for it! So, head over to our YouTube page to kill some time. We got after it on Wednesday, and we had our best “time spent watching” stat of nearly 25 minutes, which is huge. Some readers took me to task for not criticizing Kris Letang. I also did a full exposition of coach Mike Sullivan’s future and the scenarios for this summer, as well as Letang and Erik Karlsson’s future. I put the times of the different topics in the video description so you can hop around the Penguins’ video analysis.

Steelers Now: NFL free agency is underway, and the Steelers have proposed a major rule change. Here’s the latest Steelers news.

NHL Rumors, News, & National Hockey Now

Sportsnet: Bettman spoke at the GM meetings, where there’s been a lot of talk of reverting to the old 1 vs. 8 playoff format. Bettman revealed the new CBA talks will begin in April, discussed the weak Canadian dollar, and the possibility of dropping the All-Star game. Bettman held court, and here’s everything he said.

Consider me quite happy that GMs realize their idea for a decentralized draft will be short-lived. The Draft was the one event each year that we could all gather without the hustle of morning skates, late-night games, and deadlines.

The referee was at center ice when he saw the puck flying at him. He tried to get out of the way but instead set up the Toronto Maple Leafs game-winning goal. It was a wild moment.

Detroit Hockey Now: Things were looking good. For the second consecutive season, the Detroit Red Wings were close to locking down a playoff seed but have given it away in the final 15 games. From best to worst, it’s getting bad for the Red Wings.

Philly Hockey Now (+): I haven’t started my draft previews, but Will James has begun the process in Philly. For our subscribers, you can log in and read his breakdown of potential Penguins pick, James Hagens.

New Jersey Hockey Now: We’ll end with this story. My sneaker buddy Cody Glass has made a real and immediate impact—James Nichols calls it surprising—with the New Jersey Devils.