2022 NHL Draft
Dan’s Daily: Canucks Admit They’re Broken; Debunking Biggest Penguins Rumor

SALT LAKE CITY — All hell broke loose Tuesday. You know those silly NHL trade rumors involving Sidney Crosby? Forget it, but we did kick rocks to find young players who might be available to the Pittsburgh Penguins at the deadline. However, Vancouver Canucks president Jim Rutherford now admits the situation is broken, and his stars cannot coexist. The Carolina Hurricanes are lurking like Jason Voorhees on the trade market–they have five weeks, money to spend, and a desire to do so.
On the news front, Brandon Saad is on waivers (no, don’t even think about it), Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen perhaps suffered a serious injury when tripped by Vegas’s Mark Stone, and Kirill Kaprizov underwent surgery for a lower-body injury and will be out for four weeks.
It’s weird. I fly home tomorrow. No more hotels and having to rewind the last few days to remember where I am. I will actually be home. Of course, I’ll need to spend a couple of hours taking the layer of dust off everything and unloading a 50-pound backpack that I’ve been lugging around for two weeks like I’m in some sportswriter special forces training. My initial impressions of Salt Lake City are fantastic; everything is lit up, and the trees are wrapped with white Christmas lights. It’s like blocks and blocks of Market Square in Pittsburgh, but it’s definitely not a nightlife city. Every single restaurant downtown was closed by 9. p.m. (except the Cheesecake Factory, which was shutting down at 10, but I didn’t want to be that guy to sit down at 9:30). Even the fast food was closed, so getting a bite after I landed last night required buying a wrapped sandwich from the hotel lobby. Oh, and a bag of Cheetos. Treat yourself!
After almost two weeks on the West Coast, it was jarring to see a spotless downtown without a homeless problem or drugs. Whatever SLC is doing to combat the problems, it’s working. Here’s the view from my Best Western this morning at 6 a.m. local time. The arena is on the other side of the building, but my hotel costs a whopping $115 a night. Add this to your road trip list. Definitely.
Pittsburgh Penguins
PHN+: Use code Dave10 and save yourself 10 bucks on joining this hockey party. Dave Molinari writes something that I think the org might disagree with–the roadmap to the Penguins’ future lies in the Penguins’ past.
On the road, we all had the same question for Sidney Crosby, but after the San Jose folks got done asking him to fawn over Macklin Celebrini (you can always tell the hockey media from non-hockey cities with questions like that), there wasn’t time. So, we lined up again until a Penguins source cut to the chase– there will be NO SIDNEY CROSBY TRADE. None. Not now, not next year. Here’s that story, as well as the team trying to draw inspiration from last season. It was an hour-long and interesting Penguins practice.
I liked the video in the story. If you’ve ever wondered just how fast NHL players are, check it out.
If you missed yesterday’s trade talk, we did the work, maybe some window shopping, for young players who could be available to the Penguins at the NHL trade deadline. Or, if you’re a video person, here is the YouTube version from the San Jose Airport because that’s how I roll.
NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now
Sportsnet: Jim Rutherford is never one to hide what’s going on. He may have just made his situation worse by spilling the beans that his star players cannot coexist. The emotions are too deep, and they’re tearing apart the team, but he also won’t take lowball offers for either. Oh boy, this is the trade market equivalent of a daytime soap opera.
TSN Insiders: The boys at TSN are on a different track with the Vancouver stuff, but they also looked at the Carolina Hurricanes. This time, money isn’t an issue, and they want the Cup badly. GM Eric Tuslky is stalking the trade market, and he’s not done yet.
I won’t lie–I was greatly impressed with Tulsky during the Penguins search. Heck of a nice guy, too; I think perhaps too unassuming for corporate types. He’s in the perfect spot. Realize that in getting Jake Guentzel and Mikko Rantanen, he hasn’t traded his first-round picks or top prospects. Smooth.
Also from TSN–teammates and coaches are coming to Mike Matheson’s defense as Canadiens fans are going after him on social media.
Social media is dragging us backward by 300 years. Mob mentality, emotional beliefs rather than factual, and vitriolic public discourse. But I digress.
New Jersey Hockey Now: It’s not all sunshine and roses, even for the Metro teams that will make the playoffs. Coach Sheldon Keefe was dejected and ripped the New Jersey Devils’ effort.
Vegas Hockey Now: Give Hannah Kirkell some press time–The Dallas Stars surged in the third period and won in the shootout. That means the Vegas Golden Knights stumbled…again.