TAMPA, Fla. — The NHL had better figure out a Plan B, and quickly, because things are not looking good for the completion of the shoddy arena in Milan. Word is quickly spreading, the NHL brass is speaking out, and each story seems more dire than the last. Elsewhere in the Daily, trade talks are happening between the St. Louis Blues and Montreal Canadiens, at least one of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ rivals has kicked tires on Kiefer Sherwood, and Penguins GM Kyle Dubas delivered some bad news on the Penguins’ injury front.

We managed to get through the Penguins Live Chat last night. If you were there for the beginning, you got a good mime show for two minutes as Dan flashed a little anger. And the sound was a bit rough–that was presumably caused by the internet that I was stealing from the church next door, but it was still better than the hotel’s WiFi (and I reposted an edited version without the near temper tantrum at the beginning, sorry).

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Tampa, it’s got it’s own culture. I popped into a chain restaurant for dinner last night. I’m still processing if it will change my life, as it was the local “meat market” for “mature” adults. And no, I was not buried in my phone, but was eavesdropping on everything. Sitting at the bar, we had one meetup two seats down from me with a man in his 60s, chatting up a woman in her 50s, and their date banner included retirement plans. She was not a Trump fan, which threw him off his game. The couple at my three o’clock was pretty chummy; he somehow worked into the conversation how much better shape he was in at 61 than at 40.

And I just plowed through my steak and bloomin’ onion pedals while watching the NHL network rerun the same 30-minute show over and over, which ironically included an interview with Ben Kindel, pondering if that scene was my future. Dude on my right struck out. There was no red hat exchange. But the couple at three o’clock probably watched the sunrise in bathtubs.

Someday, I’ll tell you about my time hanging out at the Pittsburgh meat market when I briefly ran with the socialite crowd. The beginning and end of the story is a woman informed me I had a few months to buy her a $2000 purse, then angrily called me poor when I declined. Yep…

Thank God it’s a Penguins game day. I don’t do off days well.

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Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: OK, here we go–Shelly Anderson chatted with Sidney Crosby and teammates about Crosby’s recent offensive outburst. Teammates marveled, and Crosby was humble. It was a good slice from the Penguins locker room.

The injury news seemed to be good news on Wednesday morning as both Justin Brazeau and Noel Acciari were full go. However, on his team-hosted radio show, Dubas delivered longer timelines and some bad Penguins injury news.

You can see the aftermath of my getting my (crap) together on a dark patio with palm trees behind me and doing an interesting Penguins Live Chat.

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NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now

Sportsnet Video: Frank Seravalli updated all things Olympic rink with a few details no one else is thinking about, too.

NHLtraderumors.me: The aggregation site did a nice job putting several stories together, as multiple reporters put out the info via Twitter instead of publishing stories. Even deputy commissioner Bill Daly delivered some ominous comments on the record.

TSN Video: Craig Button didn’t pull any punches–urging the NHL and NHLPA to tell the Olympic committee, “look, we’re NOT playing there.“

Alberta makes a lot of sense, and they could handle a quickly thrown-together tournament with rinks in Edmonton and Calgary, with plenty of smaller WHL rinks between. Hotels would be the biggest problem, but if the NFL can move a Super Bowl, this can be done, too.

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Funny thought–is the rink in Glendale, Arizona, still capable of producing an ice sheet? At this point, the NHL can’t lose three weeks of the season for nothing. And the women need the Olympics badly because it traditionally does more to promote their league than anything else.

The Athletic: Aaron Portzline talked with some former NHL coaches about a topic you know well–how to handle a team that is too good at blowing third period leads. Also, Portzline has a little NHL trade chatter, as the Columbus Blue Jackets have been in contact with the Vancouver Canucks about Sherwood.

Montreal Hockey Now: Righting a wrong by former GM Marc Bergevin, who left Andrei Markov unsigned just 10 games shy of 1000. Wednesday night, Markov got the full treatment and pregame ceremony for playing 16 years with a lot of big moments for the Montreal Canadiens.

NHLtraderumors.me: Enough with breaking NHL trade chatter on a podcast (or at least do a write-up so I can link directly to it instead of an aggregator site, eh?) Darren Dreger did it on the Sekeres and Price show–the Canadiens have been checking in with the St. Louis Blues about a couple of their assets.

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TSN: Some sad news. Kevin Dineen announced he has pancreatic cancer. All the best, good sir. Fight the good fight.

The post Dan’s Daily: Olympic Drama Worsens; Trade Talks; Penguins Injuries appeared first on Pittsburgh Hockey Now.

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