Lafleur Ceremony, Ovechkin Injury, Golden Knights on the Brink, and More!

Welcome back for a Monday morning edition of Links, News, and Notes. Let’s take a spin around the hockey world shall we?

• The Montreal Canadiens put an special tribute to the recently deceased Guy Lafleur on Sunday night. For all of the (justified) criticisms of the Habs and their self-seriousness, it must be said that they need how to honour one of their own. It was a special moment.
• Lafleur will have a state funeral on May 3rd.
• One of the most remarkable aspects of Alex Ovechkin’s remarkable career has been his durability. Despite playing a bruising style of hockey, and his reported sometimes less-than-stellar commitment to fitness, he’s played in 1,274 of the 1,318 games he was eligible for since joining the league. Unfortunately, it seems possible that the Washington Capitals could be missing their captain as they start the post-season after he appeared to injure his shoulder Sunday night.
• Speaking of the play-offs, the Vegas Golden Knights are in danger of missing the post-season tournament altogether. Vegas has never quite got its feet under it since the Mark Stone injury and now all of their various shenanigans could be for naught. Can’t say they’re getting too much sympathy for their plight around the league.
• After the Sens won the 1,000th regular season game in the franchise’s history last week, Ian Mendes compiled a list of the ten most memorable over at the Athletic ($$). This list is a great pick me up on a Monday morning.
• Wayne Scanlan has a nice little profile of Anton Forsberg, who is the Sens’ Masterton nominee this year.
• Lastly, this one is a bit older but still worth a read: Travis Yost dives into the old adage about defense winning championships. Is it true? /