Monday's LNN: Let the Hockey Begin!
It's time for the first Links, News, and Notes of the pre-season
With the Ottawa Senators' stunning overtime victory over the Maple Leafs last night, I am ready to declare them the new, unquestioned favourites to win the Stanley Cup.
Too soon?
Of course last night really means nothing in the grand scheme of things, but damn if it wasn't a lot of fun. Feels good to have some real hockey to talk about.
Here's some news from around the hockey world:
-Michael Andlauer spoke to the media before Saturday's scrimmage at the Centre Slush Puppie in Gatineau. Steve Warne over at the Hockey News has the transcript of his comments.
-On Sunday, Graeme Nichols had a nice tribute to Wayne Scanlan on his Rome in a Day blog. Scanlan announced last week that he'd be taking a step back from full-time coverage of the Sens, but will continue writing occasional features and columns. For those of us of a certain vintage, Scanner has been a staple of Senators' media since the very beginning. I'm sure I'm hardly alone in saying that I used to look forward to his columns whenever I opened up the Ottawa Citizen. All the best to one of the best.
-Wayne's replacement at Sportsnet, Alex Adams, had a nice piece last week on Linus Ullmark's importance to the team. The key point (emphasis mine):
The Senators fell behind on the first or second shot they allowed in nearly a quarter of their games last season, leaving the forwards constantly looking to find a make-up goal and the defence pinching rather than minding the store at home.
Having a good, or even great, goalie can paper over a lot of shortcomings. I expect the Sens will allow fewer goals this year, and Ullmark will be a big part of that.
-Johnny Gaudreau's absence is going to felt for as long as his friends and family are alive. Emily Kaplan's got a feature over at ESPN on how the Columbus Blue Jackets are approaching this season, trying to honour his memory.
-Speaking of the Blue Jackets, Rick Nash has been named President of Hockey Operations. It's a meteoric rise up the ranks for the former star player, who started in the Columbus front office in 2019 as a special assistant to the General Manager.
-The Utah HC have signed Dylan Guenther, one of their prized young players, to an 8-year, $57.14MM contract. Guenther certainly profiles as a star, but there's definitely a bit of risk in giving a guy with 78 career NHL games over $7MM a season until 2033. Still, it's the kind of bet that I think is worth taking. There's a chance this looks like one of the best bargains in the league in a year or two.
-It seems like it may be the end of the line for Robin Lehner in the NHL, as he didn't report to the Vegas Golden Knights' training camp, and has been described as "unfit to play" by GM Kelly McCrimmon. Lehner is in the final year of a five-year deal.
-Jets' D Ville Heinola is out indefinitely after developing a serious infection caused by a screw in his surgically-repaired ankle. As someone who once had screws in his own surgically-repaired ankle, this is a personal nightmare of mine.
