Dan’s Daily: Teams Seeking Offensive Talent; Penguins Trade Talk Reset

The NHL trade chatter will not die down over the next couple of weeks despite the focus on the Four Nations Face-Off tourney, for which the winner will get an Applebee’s gift card and a team-monogrammed ShamWow. Teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators are hunting for offense, but the talent is getting scarce. The Pittsburgh Penguins made a waiver claim on the same day they terminated Jesse Puljujarvi’s contract. We also reset the Penguins’ trade talk and their greater situation. And, Mr. Sidney Crosby is in Montreal skating, trying desperately to be ready to lead Team Canada.

Several notable names dropped out of the Four Nations tournament, including USA defenseman Quinn Hughes, Finnish defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, and Drew Doughty will replace Alex Pietrangelo.

Multiple outlets reported Sidney Crosby is in Montreal skating, hoping to be ready for the tournament.

Sidenote: The Applebee’s gift cards are only good with the purchase of a regular-priced meal. Alcohol is not included.

And it’s been a long time since we’ve seen a Super Bowl beatdown like that. It used to be commonplace in the 1980s and 1990s when one team would completely choke or an underdog would finally be exposed. What happened to risque or funny commercials? Those were pretty lame/tame/bland.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Here’s the news that a couple of our readers predicted. The Penguins claimed now-former Utah HC defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok.

All right, as the Penguins hit the Four Nation’s break with a string of top-shelf defensive efforts but not enough wins to make a big dent in their playoff-spot deficit, it’s time to reset the situation. We laid out the players taking their games to the next level, who the team should re-sign, and what Rickard Rakell is worth on the NHL trade market.

It’s Spring Training week, and for those of you in the care of doctors for terminal hopefulness, Bradenton is teaming with black and gold. Follow Spring Training coverage at PittsburghBaseballNow.com.

Can the Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen rebound?

PBN+: It costs money to sign players, and we know that’s not happening with the Buccos, but as Danny Demilio notes, there are a handful of non-roster invitees with a real chance at the Pirates roster.

NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now

Sportsnet: Battling for a playoff spot and to take that next step forward after eight years of living in the hockey hinterlands, the Ottawa Senators badly need an infusion of more talent, and so they are hunting for offense before the NHL trade deadline.

32 Thoughts Podcast: There’s plenty to choose from, but at the 38-minute mark, Elliotte Friedman gets into Tampa Bay’s strong desire to make another splash on the trade market by adding more offense.

Tampa Bay should be all over Rakell, and as we wrote yesterday, Dubas should charge a premium.

San Jose Hockey Now: Cody Ceci is a trade veteran now. He’s been on six teams, but arriving in Dallas with Mikael Granlund might have been one of the stranger happenings. The players had to navigate around protests—fans were protesting the Dallas Mavericks trading Luka Doncic. ” It took the heat off us,” Ceci joked to our buddy Sheng Peng. However, Ceci is also open to a return to the San Jose Sharks this summer.

Detroit Hockey Now: The Four Nations Face-Off should be six, at least. Former Detroit Red Wings star Henrik Zetterberg is a former stalwart member of Team Sweden, but even he feels bad for what would have been Team Russia. The Former Red Wings great sounded off.

At the risk of aiding the Russian bots that show up every time I voice my opposition to the murderous Putin dictatorship, the tournament is NHL operated with NHL players by NHL people. Unless Alex Ovechkin drove a tank into Kyiv, I don’t hold him responsible, and Russia should have been included. And Czechia, too.