Brunicke Update, FSG Sells Penguins, & A Christmas Carol Brawl

Some moments are too funny for reasons you just cannot explain, such as a line brawl while the arena plays Christmas music, and the Bruins and Mammoth did just that. The big NHL news was that the Fenway Sports Group finally unloaded, er, sold the Pittsburgh Penguins for a healthy profit to the Hoffman Family of Companies. We’ve got a Harrison Brunicke update from Team Canada camp, Penguins injury updates, and we review some internal questions in our notebook.

Elsewhere in the Daily, the NHL trade chatter is to center on the St. Louis Blues, who “must consider everything.” There’s bad news for the Philadelphia Flyers, Macklin Celebrini scored a “wow” goal, and Greg Wyshinski reported the trade ask from the Canucks to the Devils for Quinn Hughes.

There are days. After an eight-hour drive with a stop to write the Penguins sale story and a few phone calls to hire a new beat writer for Boston Hockey Now, I settled into this little town of Brockville, Ont. I know as part of this conversation that I’m supposed to explore new places and find some unique little spot, but sometimes, I just look forward to a familiar spot.

A flight of beer at the 1000 Islands Brewery in Brockville with a donair while I watch hockey. Their blond ale is very, very drinkable, but alas, I was responsible. Then, I grabbed some all-dressed Ruffles at the local grocery store.

A donair is like a gyro. But much, much … much better. Someone in Pittsburgh needs to learn how to make these (hey, Mike & Tony’s, call it the Crosby since they’re native to Halifax)

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Let’s start with the sale. There’s no word about any Mario Lemieux involvement, but the Penguins’ sale to the Hoffman Family of Companies finally happened.

Small vent here. You can figure out the sources when the league’s broadcast partners have the news and none of the local reporters do. It’s not because we weren’t trying. Our report a couple of weeks ago that the sale was still moving forward despite reports to the contrary was a coup. I was quite proud of it and really wanted to finish off this story. Oh well.

More good news that was lost in the shuffle, this on the ice. Evgeni Malkin and injured players were on the ice. Shelly Anderson has the Penguins’ injury update.

This losing streak and the players’ reaction Tuesday provided a bad feeling. There are some internal questions, too. Several interesting notes in the Penguins blog.

NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now

ESPN: The Vancouver Canucks asked the Devils for Nico Hischier. Yep, they went big on the ask for Quinn Hughes, and the Devils politely declined.

New Jersey Hockey Now: OK, now that the dust is settling and the Devils will not get the third Hughes brother, they’re still mired in the middling quicksand of the mediocre Eastern Conference. James Nichols writes–a significant Devils trade is still needed.

The Athletic ($): Scott Wheeler was at Team Canada camp. Harrison Brunicke is a primary figure in Team Canada’s plans, but the coaches are trying to figure out with whom to pair him.

Sportsnet: An interesting article from Luke Fox. The relationship between Auston Matthews and Maple Leafs fans is getting a little bit complicated.

San Jose Hockey Now: I missed this, but you need to see the spin-o-rama goal. Scroll down to the third period highlights and check the goal by Macklin Celebrini.

TSN: Nick Saban has bought a minority share of the Nashville Predators.

How does a college football coach have that kind of cash?!

The Athletic ($) StL: “Everything has to be considered.” The St. Louis Blues management is not happy, and GM Doug Armstrong is taking calls. Operators are standing by (boomer reference), and we could see some heavy-duty trade talk out of St. Louis.

All you need is love? How about a good old-fashioned line brawl while the arena plays Feliz Navidad? This just cracked me up.

As for the Live Chat on Wednesday, yeah. The travel, the news, and just my desire to not rush around to squeeze one in on an eight-hour drive while I get frustrated or angry trying to pull it together on the fly, while the suction cup phone holder on my windshield falls off at the wrong moment, put it on ice. Perhaps another Friday afternoon chat–last week’s chat had huge numbers. I can’t do one on cell service up here because I only get 15 GB of data per month in Canada, and a live chat would chew up all of that. (Also, some time to myself is a much-needed commodity that I sell out as a matter of habit). I’ve thought about buying a Starlink for these occasions and motorcycle rides to nowhere. We’ll see.

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