Covid-19 and that flood in Edmonton allow it, the NHL playoffs are two weeks away. But the puck drops to refresh the hockey notes right here, right now!
• Penguin fans brag that Jake Guentzel returned from injury due to the break, but the penguins are not alone in the benefit. Columbus regained dominant defender Seth Jones and top scorer Oliver Bjorkstrand. Carolina recovered defender Dougie Hamilton. Philadelphia recovered winger James van Riemsdyk. The New York Rangers recovered winger Chris Kreider. Colorado recovered winger Mikko Rantanen. Saint Louis won the jackpot with the striking end Vladimir Tarasenko. The breakdown of covid-19 didn’t just help penguins.
• Matt Murray will have a hard time losing the starting goalkeeper job before Game 1 against Montreal on August 1, and with good reason. But the criteria applied should have little to do with what happened four months ago, and much less with what happened in 2016 and ’17, and mainly with the appearance of each goalkeeper in practice. Tristan Jarry basically seems even with Murray.
• Marc-Andre Fleury practiced for Las Vegas on Friday for the first time since closing. Coach Peter DeBoer, who took the helm of the Golden Knights on January 15, can use Robin Lehner as his playoff goalkeeper. Lehner, a Vezina finalist last season with the New York Islanders, was acquired on the trade deadline. Would penguins trade Murray and stay with Fleury if they recover from 2017? Probably. Fleury might want that right now too.
• Hockey can be a very systematic game depending on the team and the coach. Penguins rely more on speed and skill. The preliminary round enemy Montreal likes to catch. But systematic hockey thrives on repetition and rhythm, and the NHL is coming out of training camp into the playoffs. This appears to be another advantage for penguins against Montreal. If Canadians are careless, the penguins’ weapons can be converted.
• Jared McCann’s presence in the Higher Power Game in Penguins practice could be that he is filling a gap until Patric Hornqvist starts practicing. Or it could be because McCann shoots a lot, 150 shots in 66 games, the fifth-highest on the team, and you can’t get too much of that.
• In the Eastern Conference, now healthy penguins have the best team on paper. Boston had the best regular season. Whatever Tampa Bay never had, it still hasn’t. The Lightning are loaded, but they have disappointed too many times. Washington is not good at goal or defense. It is painful to admit that Philadelphia has a legitimate dream. Goalkeeper Carter Hart is a rookie, true, but so was Murray at 16 and Jordan Binnington from St. Louis last year.
• The criteria set for the NHL Lady Byng Award is that it goes to the player “judged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and chivalrous conduct combined with a high level of playing ability.” Practically, it goes for someone with many points and very few penalty minutes. Or maybe it just goes to the biggest fag.
• Mike Sullivan should be among the NHL Jack Adams Trophy Finalists (Coach of the Year) for driving the Penguins to a good record despite 298 games of men lost to injuries, the third in the league. He is not. The search for Sullivan is hampered by the perceived ease provided by having Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. (That’s the only obstacle that those two provide.) It is not a big thing. Chuck Noll won four Super Bowls, but he was never the NFL Coach of the Year.
• TV analyst and former penguin Bob Errey entered my show and made a surprising choice for the Eastern Conference representative in the Stanley Cup Final: Columbus. But after thinking, it is less surprising. Jones is back after ankle surgery; He could be the best NHL defender. John Tortorella is an Adams finalist, and for good reason. If the Blue Jackets upset the Maple Leafs in the preliminary round, Toronto could get burned. (Or flood)
• Network analysts Keith Jones and Kevin Weekes said on my show that the top four finishers in each conference will not take the round robin for seed seriously. I do not agree. That number 1 seed is as good as gold. With reseeding after each round, seed number 1 benefits from each disorder. The best seed could play, say, the New York Rangers and New York Islanders in the first two rounds proper. Fifth seed penguins could play, for example, Washington and Boston.
• Full credit to NHL and NHL Players Association for creating a painless CBA extension. Hockey is the only American sport in a big way that understands that there is a pandemic. But the uproar over NHL players returning to the 2022 Winter Olympics is overblown. The NHL does not receive help from its players at the Olympics. The NHL is disrupted to showcase a product that outshines NHL. Players get hurt. Anyway, Crosby doesn’t earn enough?
• Penguin players handwritten thank-you notes to season ticket holders they renewed. Crosby’s handwriting was similar to calligraphy: neat, precise, and orderly. Crosby could make wedding invitations. I bet every glass used in your house has a roller coaster underneath.
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Columns by Mark Madden | Penguins / NHL | sports
