Links, News, and Notes: Almost Time for Back to Work

It's our last Monday edition of Links, News, and Notes before the Labour Day Long Weekend, which marks the unofficial end of summer. I'm ready to get the Ottawa Senators back in my life, but I'm also not at all ready for summer to be over. Help?

Anyways, here is the latest from around the hockey world:

-The Ottawa Senators have really leaned into promoting Jake Sanderson this off-season, and why not? The affable blue liner took a big step forward last season and at this juncture looks poised to be one of the "faces of the franchise". On Friday, the team released another edition of Bell Breakaway that gave viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the day in the life. I have to admit that I did laugh a bit when Sanderson says that he loves to cook, immediately followed by his preparing the most bland looking meal of ground beef, sweet potatoes, and avocado puree that he says he he eats every night. The fact that Sanderson actually does his own cooking probably has him miles ahead of most pros, though.

-How do you know the season is rapidly approaching? The ice is back in at the Canadian Tire Centre, and with the new sheet comes a spiffy new look at centre ice:

-Over in the Western Conference, the Nashville Predators traded star goalie prospect Yaroslav Askorov to the San Jose Sharks on Friday. In exchange for Askarov, Nolan Burke and a 2025 3rd round pick, the Predators received David Edstrom, a conditional 2025 1st round pick, and Magnus Chrona. Ryan Clark analyzes what, on the surface at least, seems like a fairly light return for a goalie who was once considered a can't-miss-prospect.

-Elliotte Friedman's latest 32 Thoughts has some interesting stuff on expansion, and the Carolina Hurricanes' roster machinations, but no mention of the Sens.

-The AHL mandated protective neck gear for all of its player on Friday, to which I say: good. I've seen all the same polling that the rest of you have showing players largely oppose the mandating of the same gear in the NHL, but at some point you have to take some decisions regarding player safety out of the player's hands – crazy as that may seem. Before helmets were mandated they were hugely opposed, Craig McTavish famously wasn't wearing a helmet as recently as the 1996-97 season, but I don't think there's much of an argument to be made today that players aren't much safer for having them in.

-After a somewhat unexpected exit from the Hurricanes' organization, Don Waddell caught on with the Columbus Blue Jackets where he's promising to change the culture of the organization. All I can say is that I think he's got a pretty big job ahead of him!

-Lastly, in a full little bit of off-season silliness, several of the Athletic's NHL staff take a stab at some deliberately outrageous predictions. Of all the outlandish proclamations, Jake Guentzel to win the Maurice Ricard trophy intrigues me the most. If he's playing all season wit Nikita Kucherov, as seems likely, Guentzels is gonna score A TONNE.