Dan’s Daily: Crosby is Tops; Canucks Drama; Canada Embarrassed
It was an off-day for the Pittsburgh Penguins but not for Pittsburgh Hockey Now. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was tabbed the best of the 21st century while we dove into adjusting expectations and recalibrating how to enjoy the remainder of the Penguins’ season. Elsewhere in the Daily, the friction between the alpha-dogs in the Vancouver Canucks dressing room seems to be killing their playoff chances. Team Canada was summarily dismissed from the World Juniors in the quarterfinals, Rangers Defenseman Zac Jones popped off over being a healthy scratch, and the Colorado Avalanche might get a big addition in 2025.
Crosby, Canucks, and Canada, oh my!
For an unknown reason, we had a website glitch yesterday, and the new Penguins stories we wrote didn’t appear at the top of the home page. You may have arrived and thought we took the day off, too. Nope! It appears the site self-corrected, but you can check out the new stories below.
I did get some vitamin D by walking around Sawgrass and the giant … GIANT mall and outdoor outlets, then heading to the beach for dinner. It felt good to get out, and that’s all I’ve got to say about that.
The new iPhone camera can do some cool things and is quite intuitive. It turned my Chicken Parm into an artsy Wes Anderson-type shot.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Alex Ovechkin and Connor McDavid are pretty good. McDavid has a lot more individual hardware than Crosby. Here’s a fun list–Ryan Dixon at Sportsnet ranked the top 25 players of the 2000s, and he correctly put Sidney Crosby at the top.
I’ll never understand why McDavid seemed to be annually awarded the Hart while it seemed the flavors of the month were always ahead of Crosby, but anyhoo.
There’s a lot of unhappiness in the Penguins fanbase these days. It’s quite odd to me, as the team has flipped the script and entered the playoff fight. You’re neither getting a Stanley Cup contender nor a nuclear rebuild this season, but here’s the honest way to enjoy the 2025 Penguins.
NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now
Colorado Hockey Now: The Colorado Avalanche captain hasn’t played an NHL game since 2022, but he’s still trying to come back from an experimental knee cartilage transplant. Thursday, the Avalanche morning skate was abuzz as Gabriel Landeskog hit the ice.
TSN Video: The Canucks have fallen outside the playoff seeds despite Stanley Cup aspirations this season. The noise has abated somewhat, but has the problem on the inside between J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson been resolved? It doesn’t look like they’ve solved the problem, and the Canucks are paying the price.
Detroit Hockey Now: There was some real heat as the Red Wings and Sabres were frequently scouting each other, but that may have cooled. The hot rumor centered on Buffalo center Dylan Cozens. After getting a new head coach, things are changing. Bob Duff has the latest Red Wings trade chatter.
Sportsnet: NHL power rankings. The Penguins are ranked 19th. Does that seem about right? Given their recent play, I might put them a couple of spots higher, but records are records.
New Jersey Hockey Now: New Year’s Resolutions–Fix one problem, but another springs up. That’s the season in a nutshell for the New Jersey Devils.
NYI Hockey Now: OUCH. Things were supposed to pick up this season, but a silent offseason led to a quiet regular season, and the only direction for the New York Islanders is down.
Montreal Hockey Now: Trade analysis. Just before the holiday break, Nashville and Montreal swung a deal that was a swap of younger right-handed defensemen. Alexandre Carrier was the Canadiens’ haul. As Marc Dumont writes, the deal is working pretty well for the bleu, blanc, et rouge (I felt the Penguins needed to be in on Carrier, but I digress). Here’s the Canadiens trade analysis.
TSN WJC: It was a controversial roster selection process, and Team Canada is out. Last year, Czechia bounced Canada. Guess what? Team Canada, captained by Brayden Yager, suffered another early dismissal by Czechia. On the plus side, Penguins prospect Tanner Howe scored what could have been a huge short-handed goal for Canada. But there’s a lot of hand-wringing over Team Canada.
Team USA enjoyed a blowout win over Switzerland.
Categorized:Links NHL Trade Rumors Penguins
Team Canada never got on track after losing their top Dman early in the tourney, IMO. Really liked Howe’s game. Strong net front presence and PK. Not sure if Juniors keep stats on drawing penalties but he excelled at it. As mentioned in a comment on a different story, his offensive game is a bit like Bunting’s. Pen’s pick Dman Pieniniemi was noticeable for Finland. Last year, he was on the bottom pair with the Pen’s other Dman pick Kangas. Pieniniemi is bigger this year and is now on the top pair; he is comfortable handling the puck and was… Read more »
Hmmmmmm One of us will have to teach you how to focus the camera on what you want. The chair? Really? But you being reflected in the drink is awesome.
The palm trees and sky.The blurred food was the artsy part.