Get your hotels booked. In an occurrence of the NHL getting something right, the Pittsburgh Penguins were announced as the season-opening game against an old friend that many of you won’t have trouble rooting against. The team announced the dates for the Prospect Tournament in Buffalo. And we began our countdown of the Penguins’ prospects. Elsewhere, Canadian media is beginning to focus on an Erik Karlsson trade and his best landing spots. Don Cherry has been in a public dust-up not of his choosing over the last few days, which ended with Grapes getting an apology. And Blues general manager Doug Armstrong may have put to rest the NHL trade chatter surrounding Jordan Kyrou.

A little note–My new partners with the Now group have been working behind the scenes. Nothing has changed yet–it’s been a methodical merger. I’m taking a good look at their company (no, we haven’t announced much yet) and working with their employees, while they’re working to grow us in a big way. They’re holding meetings with national outlets and such. They sent me a new logo last night, and I could only giggle.

I think we’re going to knock down a lot of perceptions and exceed expectations. Have you ever known me to coast or not fight like hell to move the heavens and earth? As soon as these moves are final, we can announce. It’s been a lot of minutiae over the last couple of weeks, and I’m looking forward to big announcements that will Penguins and hockey fans will hopefully enjoy.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Let’s start with the big news. The Penguins will open the NHL season against … wait for it … Mike Sullivan and the New York Rangers. In fact, both coaches will go against their old team. Here’s the first note on the Penguins’ schedule.

If you’d like to go–I booked the cheapest hotel room in Manhattan that still had a private bathroom, and even with my discounts and platinum status on Hotels.com, it was nearly $450 for two nights. I may have gotten the last room, too.

A few weeks before the Penguins open the NHL season, their prospects will do battle at the annual Prospects Challenge in Buffalo. Here’s the schedule to get a good look at the Penguins’ prospects.

It will be interesting to see which prospects the Penguins take to Buffalo. Will they take Rutger McGroarty, Owen Pickering, and Ville Koivunen? Or will they focus on their most recent draft picks with depth prospects such as Travis Hayes and Charlie Tretheway?

Now, let’s crack open the biggest story. I must confess it took me a few hours to get this one done and plan out the top 25. We begin with the honorable mentions and the back five prospects on the Top 25 Penguins prospect list.

And for you Wheeling fans, Derek Army got a promotion, but he had to go to a different organization. Here are the details on Army heading to the AHL.

Steelers Now: In the latest Steelers mailbag, Alan Saunders gets into the secondary, Jalen Ramsey’s role, and sleeper quarterback prospects for your Pittsburgh Steelers.

Pittsburgh Baseball Now: The minor league report has some good news, albeit at the lower levels. It’s another week, another perfect game for Pittsburgh Pirates prospects.

NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now

Toronto Sun: I’ll make no secret of my fandom of Don Cherry. I just missed him a few times around the halls of Sportsnet, but his strident populist politics got him in trouble during a particularly sensitive moment. His friend and co-host of Coach’s Corner, Ron MacLean, disavowed the comments and remained with Sportsnet while Cherry got the heave-ho. The old wounds were reopened over the last few days when MacLean gave an interview saying he believed Cherry made the inflammatory comments to get fired. Cherry rebuffed his former friend via the Toronto Sun, and the situation ended with a surprising in-person apology that may have gone no further than Cherry’s front stoop. Here’s the end of the saga and a stinging opinion.

Joe Warmington wrote the stories for the Toronto Sun and did an outstanding job.

TSN: Travis Yost adds some interesting statistical context to a possible Erik Karlsson trade. And then he speculated on the big three potential landing spots, and all three were Canadian teams, including Ottawa. A good read here from Travis.

WGR: The Bo Byram saga has ended, for now. The defenseman signed a late-night two-year deal for $6.25 million per year.

Edmonton Journal: The Edmonton Oilers made some coaching changes and reassigned Paul Coffey away from the team. Yet, the Oilers fans went batty and hurled negatives. Even the paper of record was shocked at the vociferous reaction by the Oilers fans.

NHL Rumors: The St. Louis Blues are done for the summer, or at least that was the message from GM Doug Armstrong on the NHL Network. And seems to put a pretty good lid on the Jordan Kyrou trade talk, doesn’t it?

NYI Hockey Now: The player that many of us assumed the Penguins would take at No. 11 or 12, but they passed on is scoring winger Victor Eklund. He wasted no time and has already signed his ELC with the New York Islanders.

Detroit Hockey Now: Every team has a few draft stingers–picks that could have been. However, Detroit’s whoopsie really stings. In the 2018 first round, they passed on Quinn Hughes to take Filip Zadina. Yeah, ouch. At 26, Zdina just decided against the Red Wings, again. Here’s the full story, and you can empathize or have a good laugh at the Detroit Red Wings’ expense.

Forever Blueshirts: It’s going to be a big decision–his contract is up in a year, but what to do with premier winger Artemi Panarin?