Links, News and Notes: Kleven season?

It seems like just yesterday that I was writing that the Sens don’t play until Saturday. It was actually three days ago, and that’s still true. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing to talk about in Sens land, so let’s get to it.

• Ian Mendes (autorec) has a two-part mailbag for The Athletic. [Part 1, Part 2] In particular, he confirms that Tyler Kleven will likely turn pro at the end of this season — especially if the Sens dangle some NHL games if he signs. The NCAA season does go until April 8th, so if UND have a great year, the Sens only have two games after then that he could get into, on April 10th and 13th. It is intriguing though, especially since he’s seen as big and physical, which means he’s potentially seen as the complement to Erik Brännström in the team’s longer-term plans.
• Elliotte Friedman’s latest 32 Thoughts has a couple of Sens ones, including that Troy Mann is hiring legal counsel to defend himself against allegations. This could get ugly and messy. If ownership changes and they immediately change house in the front office, does this mean Mann’s lawsuit is against Pierre Dorion and Ryan Bowness? Friedman also gives an update on Sens ownership, which is mainly that there is no further update.
• TSN’s Insider Trading tells us that the price for the Sens could be more than $800M. That’s higher than anyone would’ve predicted last summer.
• Jacob Billington has a piece digging into how Brännström has been effective for the Sens this season. Why not keep the controversy going?
• Also at The Hockey Writers, where might Cam Talbot end up if the Sens trade him (as is expected)? Colton Pankiw gives three options.
• The Hockey News projects the Sens will stay about 6th in the Atlantic Division, and will change all the management and coaching staff as new ownership takes over.
• Dylan Cozens, at 22 years old, agreed to a seven-year, $7.1M AAV contract with the Sabres. Tidy bit of locking up the future by Buffalo here.
• ESPN has a tidy wrap-up of the latest NHL rumours, including that Dylan Larkin and the Red Wings still seem at a contract impasse.
• Meanwhile, James van Riemsdyk is expecting to get traded from a bottom-feeding Flyers team.
• Jessica Pegula, current world #4 in women’s tennis, revealed that her mom, Sabres co-owner Kim Pegula, went through cardiac arrest in June and is still dealing with memory issues as part of her recovery. It’s a harrowing read, including how Jessica’s sister Kelly gave their mom CPR waiting for the ambulance to arrive.
• In non-hockey news, you probably heard that LeBron James broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 38-year career points record in the NBA. CBS had a look at 25 remarkable numbers from James’s career. The most impressive to me is that James is both the youngest (20) and oldest (38) player to average 25 points-per-game for a full season. Not even Gretzky was that effective in the twilight of his career./