Chayka Drama, Hockey Diversity Alliance, AHL Return to play: Friday LNN

It’s time for a special Friday edition of Links, News, and Notes. What makes it a special Friday edition? Could it be that your intrepid site manager forgot that he assigned the post to himself and had to be reminded by his wonderful colleagues? Was that a rhetorical question? Who’s to say, in these times?!

• One of the major stories of the last two weeks has been the tumultuous end to John Chayka’s tenure in Arizona. I won’t re-hash all of the details, but if you missed this blow-by-blow from Greg Wyshynski then I strongly suggest you give it a read. Chayka does not come out of this looking good, but frankly neither do the Coyotes so take that as you will.
• With the NHL finally resuming real games on Saturday, he’s a quick refresher quiz from the Athletic for you to see just how much of this past season you’ve already forgotten. I got 15/25 so I welcome all challengers!
• While the NHL as a league hasn’t exactly covered itself in glory lately when it comes to their support for anti-racist action, I’d point anyone who is interested to the Hockey Diversity Alliance — including the Sens’ own Anthony Duclair. The NHL has an opportunity to do something meaningful, but as Frank Seravalli reports the two organizations aren’t exactly seeing eye-to-eye right now. Hopefully there is still time for that to change.
• In non-NHL news, the AHL announced that they are planning a return on December 4th. On the one hand I’m very excited for the prospect of Belleville resuming their reign of terror, but on the other hand that’s over four months away and I literally have no idea what the world is going to look like in four months. Might as well set a date to aim for, I guess!
• In other NHL-adjacent news, the NBPA is making some noise about the need to perhaps play the entire 2020-21 season in a bubble. Barring a major change in the situation in the United States, and given the so-far abject failure of MLB’s non-bubble season, this may be something the NHL needs to consider. But as I mentioned above, four months seems like a lifetime from now so who’s to say for sure.
• Lastly, the Mike Babcock rehabilitation tour apparently begins in the NCAA as a volunteer adviser with the University of Vermont’s men’s hockey team. Vermont, as you may recall, are being coached this season by former Winnipeg Jets assistant coach Todd Woodcroft. Woodcroft is also being joined by former NHLer Mark Stuart. /