Dan’s Daily: Crosby Record; More on Torts Firing; Ovechkin-Fleury Goodbye

The whirlwind NHL news cycle only intensified late Thursday night when Sidney Crosby broke Wayne Gretzky’s production longevity mark, followed by Alex Ovechkin organizing a spontaneous goodbye moment at center ice for Marc-Andre Fleury. There were games, and there were hockey moments, but the news remained off the ice as the Philadelphia Flyers canned coach John Tortorella following his exasperated comments postgame Tuesday. Elsewhere, the Edmonton Oilers’ injury woes just got worse as Stuart Skinner hit the deck, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are holding up contract talks with other players while they pine for Mitch Marner.

I suppose I’m human, too. While I haven’t written as much over the last couple of days, I’ve been hopping planes, driving, and struggling to teach myself accounting by finishing NHN’s profit-and-loss statement for 2024. Woof, I’m a terrible business owner.

But in also being human, it was heartbreaking for me to watch Crosby try to answer questions about breaking the record while taking the loss so hard. He wants nothing more than to win, and the Penguins roster is anything but capable of that. For him to survive with the Penguins, he’ll need to do two things … and before I finish that sentence, I just realized that’s a column for tomorrow.

And yes, I’m human. Over the years, a couple of former writers on the network have accused me of being a machine (those were the nice words. Bosses get all kinds of accusations, eh?). For the record, it’s not true. Well, mostly not true. Kind of. I love what I do, so why wouldn’t I do it often?

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Let’s start with the good before I get to the snark and gut punches. It’s been 20 years of greatness. Marvel and enjoy. Another record falls for Sidney Crosby.

Now, it was a bad scene Thursday in Buffalo. The humbling and brutal loss in Tampa was squared on Thursday when the team played the same (lack of) game and were throttled, humiliated, and embarrassed by the otherwise hapless Buffalo Sabres. Here are the gory details and the scathing Penguins postgame.

There was no need for analysis or a chalkboard breakdown of the game. Instead, we did the Penguins locker room feature. I thought you might find more value in the raw locker room video of Crosby struggling with the loss while absorbing the status of the record. Also, Bryan Rust had some pretty good quotes about Sid. Check out the Penguins’ locker room.

I will tell you that as I left the arena late last night, after the teams and all other media had gone (I’m often the last in the arena, especially on the road), the Penguins barely touched their postgame meal. Full tins of delivered food were just sitting there. I’m sure the overnight arena crew had a feast—at least, I hope so.

More good stuff. Penguins fans should well remember Marc-Andre Fleury stuffing Alex Ovechkin’s breakaway in Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup run, then laughing loudly en route to a Penguins blowout win. Fleury had so many big saves on Ovechkin through the years.

Following the game between the Washington Capitals and Minnesota Wild in Minnesota Thursday, Ovechkin stopped his team from leaving the ice. He waved them back from the tunnel, then waved over the opposing goalie. Ovechkin and Fleury said goodbye at center ice. Watch just another tribute to Marc-Andre Fleury.

NHL Rumors, News, & NHN

Philly Hockey Now: John Tortorella is out in Philly. That part you probably knew. Our Will James was preccient Thursday morning by already naming a top replacement candidate, but first, Flyers general manager Daniel (Danny) Briere explained the move and what comes next for the Philadelphia Flyers.

James was on top of it, and I think he’s spot-on about circling one prime target to replace Tortorella: Tristan Broz’s former coach at Denver, David Carle.

Brad Shaw is the interim coach in Philly, and he had a moment Thursday. He dressed Cam York but didn’t play him for a single shift. That’s tough, and the temporary bench boss explained why he did that to the Flyers defenseman.

NHL Rumors: Nick Kypreos reported on his show and in the Hamilton newspaper that the Toronto Maple Leafs are holding up the line with John Tavares and others while they await a decision, or more information, or a contract offer, or some jelly beans from Mitch Marner. It’s clogging situation.

Forever Blueshirts: No. No. Noooooo. Jim Cerny at FB writes that Tortorella should not replace Peter Laviolette as coach of the New York Rangers.

I disagree. By the way, the Rangers have fallen to the 12th-worst record in the NHL, which means they could/would keep their 2025 first-round pick, and the Penguins would have it unprotected in 2026.

TSN: It didn’t take long for us media types to start the NHL rumor mill surrounding Rick Tocchet heading “home.” Could Tocchet and Vancouver part company, and could Tocchet become the next coach of the Flyers?

Vegas Hockey Now: Wow, Hannah Kirkell went all out on this one. The NHL guide to the NCAA tourney. She went through the entire NCAA hockey tournament and what each NHL team can watch for, including one Penguins prospect and a Golden Knights prospect, too.