Dan’s Daily Links: Flyers Go Crazy, Salary Cap Decline?

Chuck Fletcher took over his heritage position as GM of the Philadelphia Flyers in mid-season but did not begin the organization upheaval until this month. He’s making up for lost time and the moves are not necessarily guaranteed to be great. The NHL salary cap could be going down in 2020-21 which has more than a few teams worried, and it should certainly worry the Pittsburgh Penguins. And the NHL Draft is two days away, when will we see the blockbuster?

Pittsburgh Hockey Now is not covering the NHL Awards in person. As much as we should, the media availability of players is too organized, there are too many terrible questions from out-of-town reporters, and I’m leaving for Vancouver tomorrow morning to cover the draft. Priorities!

The Philadelphia Flyers having a week. They acquired defenseman Justin Braun from San Jose then they inked Kevin Hayes to a whopper contract (Broad Street Hockey)

Well placed sources close to Hayes told our colleague Jimmy Murphy last week that Hayes was unlikely to sign in Philadelphia. That was before Fletcher put an ungodly amount in front of a player who is an average second line center.

The salary cap could go down next year?! (Sportsnet)

Beware the four teams with extra first-round picks (Sportsnet)

The San Jose Sharks aren’t having a bad week, either. They inked Erik Karlsson to a wicked deal (ask them about that in five years), they got a good return on Braun and…Jumbo Joe Thornton will be back next season (San Jose Mercury News)

The New York Rangers are one of the teams to beware at the draft. They also snagged Jacob Trouba on Monday. Trouba was a player the Penguins were interested and that was a missed opportunity for GM Jim Rutherford (Pittsburgh Hockey Now)

The Penguins did release their pre-season schedule (PHN)

The Boston Bruins haven’t ruled out Marcus Johansson (Boston Hockey Now)

Later this morning, PHN Extra has full Penguins potential draft analysis from a longtime scout and junior team consultant, Simon Boisvert. I promise it is the MOST enlightening read on the draft in Pittsburgh.