Couture Injured, All Star Drama and More Coaching Changes

The Senators seem to have caved into the ultimate tank battle with the Detroit Red Wings. After losing four in a row, the Sens will face the team that is truly worse than them in every aspect on Friday night in a battle of the prospective team of Alexis Lafrenière. But until that exciting meeting, let’s see what’s going on around the league in this week’s edition of the Thursday links.

• After falling awkwardly on the boards against the St Louis Blues, San Jose Sharks Captain will be out at least six weeks with a fractured ankle. This is not only a terrible blow for a team who is already struggling to find any consistency in their performance but to Couture himself who was already not having the elusive first year as Captain that he had hoped for. Fractured ankles can be tough to heal from but considering how the season is going for the Sharks, I expect they will allow him to take as much time as needed to fully recover.
• The NHL announced the new All Star jerseys  and needless to say, we have a found a worse jersey than that of the Ottawa Senators. I will let you judge for yourselves but I am having a hard time believing that nobody working for the NHL design/marketing team could find a better design. I understand that simplicity is sometimes the best option, but these jerseys are just too bland to even be called simple.
• Speaking of the All Star games, everyone has a different opinion about them but the NHL management team seems to have the strongest one of all. After Alex Ovechkin announced that he will not be participating in the festivities this year (second year in a row), Bill Daly had this gem to say:/

“I do believe there has to be a little more urgency among the players to make [the all-star game] a priority, because I think it should be a priority.”

• They should make this a priority over their own health? The league implemented suspensions for players who pull out of the games but for players like Ovechkin sitting one game makes sense. These players don’t care about some meaningless skill tests when they’re chasing the Cup year after year. Imagine Ovechkin or McDavid getting seriously injured during this weekend? Let’s not risk the Olympics but definitely make the all stars a priority. I do believe the All Star games are fun for the hosting city and fans but the league needs to step back on its obsession with making sure everyone picked is there, even if it’s by force.
• After being fired recently from the New Jersey Devils organization, John Hynes quickly found himself a new job with the Nashville Predators. After having a terrible start to the season, the Predators fired coach Peter Laviolette. I understand that mid season firings lead to knee jerk reactions and quick replacements but Hynes has not shown anything to impress with his tenure in New Jersey. It would be nice to see teams go outside the box for their new coach hiring instead of continuously recycling the same talent pool with the same systems and coaching ideologies. /