Pens Points: Canadian Game 7 looms
Edmonton, Vancouver get ready for titanic battl
Musings on a Monday morning:
In case you missed it over the weekend, Jesse Puljujarvi (2 goals) and Valtteri Puustinen (1 goal) provided all the offense for Finland in a 5-3 losing effort to Team Canada at the World Championships. [IIHF]
Also if you took a weekend off, check in on the Michael Bunting season review for the rare unadulterated positive type of story of the season for the Pens. [Pensburgh]
It wasn’t all roses for Puljujarvi, though. Canadian defenseman Bowen Bryam got suspended for one game for doing a no-no by slashing Puljujarvi in the no-no zone in front of the net. Luckily for all parties it looks like Puljujarvi was OK afterwards. [Sportsnet]
Florida’s Aleksander Barkov ran away with the Selke Trophy, as expected. Despite not playing on the penalty kill or being in a meaningful, consistent defensive role, Sidney Crosby finished ninth in Selke voting this year, ‘cuz hey, why not? [NHL]
Amanda Kessel, 32, who carries the Dwight Schrute-ian title of “special assistant to the president of hockey operations” with the Penguins, took time off from her playing career to gain experience in the Pens’ front office, often seen observing games and practices close by Kyle Dubas. Kessel might be shifting gears back to her highly decorated past, reports say she is declaring for the PWHL draft in 2024 to get back on the ice as a player. If true, all the best and hopefully may all roads lead back to Pittsburgh! [The Hockey News]
Rod Brind’Amour and the Carolina Hurricanes agreed to a five year contract extension. Brind’Amour was able to get his staff the contract extensions he was reportedly pushing for. [Canes Country]
Sticking with coaching news, the Maple Leafs only had a one horse race for their head coaching position. And, surprise -that horse won. Craig Berube is the new coach in Toronto. [Pension Plan Puppets]
Staying in Carolina, Jake Guentzel made comments about a willingness to stick around in Raleigh. That’s less newsworthy than an impending free agent admitting “I can’t wait to move onto the next stop” but we’ll see what happens there, the match for player and team and the cap situation all does look to be a good fit. [NHL.com]
Guess I missed Zach Parise saying this year would be his last as a NHL player. After Coloado getting bounced from the playoffs, Parise’s career will go down as one of the better players to never win a Stanley Cup. [NHL]
Unconfirmed reports are coming out the 2023 first round pick Matvey Michkov will untangle himself from Russian contracts to come over for the Flyers next season. [Twitter/X: HockeyNewsHub]
The Bruins have big questions in net this off-season. Jeremy Swayman is again a restricted free agent and likely going to be receiving a long-term contract after his tremendous year. Linus Ullmark is signed for next year (and looks ready to block trades to all 15 teams that he is contractually allowed) to make for what could be an interesting and awkward summer of rumors. [NHL.com]
But make no mistake about it, trading Ullmark is the Bruins’ priority according to this report. It could help the Bruins regain trade capital (no first, second or third round picks currently in 2024) and it’s not lost on Boston that between Colorado, LA, Edmonton, New Jersey, Detroit, Ottawa, San Jose and Philadelphia that there are no shortage of teams that might be interested or natural fits for Ullmark with one year remaining on his contract. [The Athletic $]
Finally, the main event: a Game 7. No better words in hockey. Throw in that it’s rivals for Edmonton/Vancouver and a trip to the Western Conference Final on the line and it doesn’t get much better than this.
Rick Tocchet talks about his messaging ahead of Game 7 for a Canucks team looking to bounce back [TSN]
Connor McDavid knows the Oilers still need to be desperate. [NHL]
Vancouver’s leading goal scorer this playoff, Brock Boeser, will miss Game 7 with a blood clot issue. [The Score]