Thursday LNN: Letang Suffers Stroke, Ovechkin Breaks Record, Coyotes Arena Update and More

The Ottawa Senators played last night and it didn’t go well. Let’s not dwell on that too much. There’s a lot of interesting hockey stories to go around this week:

• Kris Letang is one of the cornerstones of the Pittsburgh Penguins modern franchise. Alongside Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the trio make up the foundation of this highly decorated generation of Pens’ players. In 2014, Letang suffered a stroke which took him out for a few months. It was a big scare that he would get a stroke at such a young age but he seemed to have recovered without any long-term effects. However, it was announced yesterday by the Penguins that Letang suffered yet another stroke and will be out indefinitely. Both Letang and the Penguins have stated that he will be back but our thoughts are with his family; suffering two strokes before at just the age of 35 is really scary.
• To absolutely nobody’s surprise, Alexander Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky’s road goals record. He scored twice against the Vancouver Canucks to gain this honour and I think he’s not going to slow down anytime soon. The man is, simply put, a machine.
• For anyone concerned about relocation talks regarding the Ottawa Senators, you really have no reason to be. For starters, the Sens are never leaving Ottawa (my take), and second, just take a look at the Arizona Coyotes. They are the perfect example of a franchise that can have everything go wrong with it from a business point of view yet the NHL continues to fight for its place in Arizona. After all, Matthews would have never become a hockey player without that team. For now, things might improve for the Coyotes at lease in terms of a new arena as a proposal for a new entertainment district has advanced to move to a public vote.
• While Sportsnet is probably not the most enjoyable broadcast to watch Sens games through, they will be providing us all a chance to watch the PWHPA Hockey Day in Canada game which will be held in Owen Sound.
• Hockey can be an emotional sport and coaches tend to be under the most stress at any given level. However, things seem to have gotten really stressful for two Hockey Outaouais minor hockey coaches as an altercation led to a nationwide lifetime ban for both of them. A police investigation is also underway but as of now, both these coaches will not be able to coach minor hockey again./