The Pittsburgh Penguins got some bad news Monday, but it wasn’t the worst-case scenario. Defenseman Marcus Pettersson will be out for a while, but the team has not yet made a corresponding call-up from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The other news is about teams racing to the bottom. The New York Rangers are pondering their implosion, the free-agency constructed Nashville Predators are losing and suffering the deluge of big-name NHL trade rumors, and the poor, hapless, downtrodden, woebegone, palm tree-less Buffalo Sabres got a visit from the owner amidst their season-sabotaging 10-game skid.
I had a locker room chat with Cody Glass on Monday. I stopped recording about three minutes into the conversation because we somehow veered so far off-topic that we were discussing sleep schedules, ECHL bus rides, and him having never seen The Godfather.
Glass is truly the friendliest person to enter the Penguins locker room in years. He’s not necessarily a “big” personality, but he’s disarmingly welcoming, a genuine mid-western prairie sort (he’s from Winnipeg). He’s gathering teammates as friends, and I suspect his presence is helping a few players adjust, too. I’ll write a bit more about the social circle aspect (I know that’s not my usual type of content, and, to be honest, I’m struggling with the piece).
I also haven’t yet done this week’s No Pucks Given podcast. If the audio quality is acceptable, I suspect what I did record with Glass will be in the latest episode. The funny thing about Glass is that his presence could have a major impact on the Penguins’ future. And as I wrote that sentence, I finally figured out the hook for my story…
Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Here’s the official update from coach Mike Sullivan on his most stable defenseman and the new defense pairs from practice. It’s week to week for Marcus Pettersson.
If you missed the story, I’ve already sized up the potential recalls from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. I suppose one could come later today—the Penguins’ internal options.
Sportsnet: Some of you may have been following the Ottawa Senators EBUG drama Saturday. Apparently, the poor kid got stuck in traffic and had to run to the arena.
That’s a story his older self will tell over a few Molsons.
Steelers Now: It’s Steelers-Ravens week, but former Steelers WR Diontae Johnson, who was traded to Baltimore earlier this season, won’t be playing. It’s getting weird as Baltimore “excused” Johnson this week for the matchup. Here’s the Steelers news.
NHL Trade Talk, News & National Hockey Now
Daily Faceoff: It’s hard to ignore the trade rumors percolating in Nashville. After a summer of big-game free-agent signings, the trade rumors have grown even louder than the infinite “Whooo!” of bachelorette parties spilling onto Broadway while scores of incredibly talented musicians are forced to play dive bars and country songs written with Mad-Libs tablets that appeal to the most basic among us as a belting lead singer passes the bucket to get paid. Anyway, here are the latest Predators trade rumors and what a teardown of the newly built team could look like.
Nashville and I have never gotten along. I make no apologies.
32 Thoughts Podcast: OK, Elliotte Friedman dropped a humdinger of a possible trade. He was purely speculating and playing armchair GM, but how about Dylan Cozens and Bo Byram for Elias Pettersson? It was a good podcast.
The Athletic ($): Peter Baugh put the Rangers under the microscope. With all of the potential changes and trades, from dealing Chris Kreider to firing coach Peter Laviolette, New York is in panic mode.
TSN: We’ve hired our new Buffalo beat writers, including a former Penguins intern. They’re getting started today, but in the meantime, things are so bad that the owner visited the locker room.
Florida Hockey Now: In 2017, I had my first conversation with Scotty Bowman. We chatted about the Penguins and winning back-to-back Stanley Cups. I’ll never forget his analysis–“As long as the team can get up for big games, they’re fine.”
It is no surprise that Florida has dominated the Eastern Conference this season, but they’ve slipped a bit lately. Fortunately, the Edmonton Oilers came to town. The Stanley Cup Final rematch lit their fire, and Sam Reinhart scored the game-winner for the Florida Panthers victory.
Edmonton Journal: One last seed for the trade rumors. Could Taylor Hall head back to Edmonton? Hall’s name is popping up this week, and the Oilers make sense.
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