STOCKHOLM — It is Day 2 of our grand adventure in the NHL Global Series. The Pittsburgh Penguins are off today, but we have several stories in the queue, including an exclusive insider on the Harrison Brunicke plan and more on Erik Karlsson’s resurgence this season. Tuesday, the Penguins surprised us all as they had a false ending to practice, then worked on shootouts.

Elsewhere in the Daily, injuries are wrecking seasons for a pair of Canadian teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks. David Pastrnak hit a major milestone. The Edmonton Oilers’ goalie search via the NHL trade market is either getting desperate or doesn’t exist, depending on the analyst, and it spawned our first “call Marc-Andre Fleury” suggestion of the season.

…I didn’t get to Old Town last night, but I went to a place that had beers named after Andrew Carnegie. I think. They were quite good, and while they didn’t impair this writer, they put me out cold as soon as I got back to the room at 10 p.m. local time.

Here’s the mall where the rinks are, and Stockholm from the water, looking out the back door from the Carnegie bar, a few blocks from where I’m staying. The Christmas beer and the Ljusslingan (pronounced as it’s spelled) were quite smooth and thus very dangerous to one’s sobriety.

My airplane sleep schedule worked perfectly, and I don’t have any jet lag. Also, I slept in this morning, for the first time in months. Living on Eastern Time AND Stockholm time. This should be a fun week.

I hear the coffee here has a good punch. As soon as I knock this out, I’m headed out to write at a coffee shop or two. Then we’ll see Old Town. Of course, as I type this, it’s approaching noon and the sun goes down at about 3:30 p.m.?!

Live Chat today at NOON EST.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Shootout practice! Also, some fun from the inside involving a can of fish that could replace smelling salts, and more on the Penguins’ practice.

Steelers Now: Maybe some good news as help is on the way for the flagging Steelers. They just landed a top free agent DB, Asante Samuel Jr. Here’s the Steelers news.

Pittsburgh Baseball Now: The latest Q&A is some good stuff. What is the organization’s commitment, REALLY? Jack Suwinkski’s future, and more in Danny Demilio’s Pirates Q&A.

NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now

The Athletic ($): It’s time to talk shake-up trade in Edmonton. Two straight heartbreaks have sent the team reeling, goaltending is a mess, and Connor McDavid didn’t sign long-term. Soooo, the first stop is goaltending. Allan Mitchell has some ideas on Oilers targets.

Mitchell also mentioned calling Marc-Andre Fleury. Yeah, nope. He’s done. As Sidney Crosby said when I brought up those reports that teams would call, “I don’t know. He’s been talking about (retirement) for a year and a half.”

Sportsnet: All aboard the chaos train to Toronto. In addition to a sideways start to the season, now they have major injuries to deal with in goal and star center Auston Matthews. Adversity has come for the Leafs.

The Penguins will regret those two points they lost to Toronto.

Sportsnet Vancouver: Thatcher Demko just isn’t healthy and couldn’t grit through it anymore. He’s on the shelf for an indefinite period. Now there are real problems in Vancouver.

Boston Hockey Now: Get this, the Boston Bruins have won seven in a row, and David Pastrnak scored his 400th career goal. It was a pretty big night and an impressive Bruins game.

TSN Insiders: There’s a bad moon over Milan. After the Global Series, the NHL is sending a group to check out the hockey venue. There is real concern that it’s not ready. And the boys went over the bubble group for Team USA.

New Jersey Hockey Now: Click on this if you dare–an unsung hero for the New Jersey Devils has been the play of Penguins nemesis, Brendon Dillon.

Detroit Hockey Now: Bob Duff is one of my absolute favorites. He’s one of the tough sportswriters who built this industry, and today, he took his team to the woodshed. The Detroit Red Wings are falling fast. Duff writes, it’s not good enough. A lot more players need to give a lot more for the Detroit Red Wings.

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