Pittsburgh Penguins news, NHL trade talk.
We will begin today with a nod to one of the all-time great goalies, even if he was a Broad Street Bully. Bernie Parent passed away at 80 years old. We’ll have the tributes and remembrances below. Elsewhere in the Daily is our Pittsburgh Penguins news. They begin the preseason tonight in Montreal. Shelly Anderson chatted up Filip Hallander about coming back to the Penguins and even his new skate blades, and I finally completed my week-long work on the Penguins’ land development, including the deadlines and the threats the city is making.
Across the NHL, some storylines are beginning to take shape. Will Nick Robertson finally find a place in the Toronto Maple Leafs lineup? Elliotte Friedman expounded and opined on the Sidney Crosby trade talk, and TSN ranked the top 50 active players but snubbed some big names.
I appreciate all of the kind words on the Penguins’ land deal story. I’m not sure if I should call it an exposé, an investigative report, a news report, or simply a story.
I really don’t know if the situation affects the Penguins’ sale or not. I also hope the story was fair and down the middle. There are plenty of politics involved, from city politics to racial lines, and I tried to present facts and let you inject your own worldview. My opinion is the Penguins probably should do more with the land, but the cold reality is that even if they did, it wouldn’t be the cash cow the city wants. That part of town just isn’t easy access.
And lastly, a quick note, PHN won’t be in Montreal tonight, but I’ll still have a full analysis. It wasn’t so much the expense of the trip as the time. There are no easy or reasonable flights to Montreal, and the drive takes 10 hours after stops for gas, a quick bite or two, and there is a full day of practices on Tuesday that we’d miss. I guess discretion can be the better part of valor, sometimes.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Hockey Now: First, here is the lineup for the Penguins game tonight.
Guess who’s back? Back again? In what is technically his third stint with the Penguins, Hallander is fresh from a breakout season in the Swedish Elite League. He’s got a new type of skate (more on that soon), but he’s hoping for a chance. Here’s what has changed for Filip Hallender.
A good old-fashioned Sunday morning read as local leaders are really turning up the pressure, with some heated rhetoric spoken to PHN, including, “We’re fed up,” from State Sen. Wayne Fontana. Deadlines are looming, and threats are being made. Here’s the big story about the Penguins’ land deals.
And now to one of the worst games I’ve had to watch in a long, long time…
Steelers Now: There was just no reason that the Steelers got a win other than the Patriots really, really earned a loss. Five turnovers. Here is the begrudging, ugly postgame wrap from the (*clears throat) Steelers win.
And just for fun, remember George Pickens? Yep, the NFL’s most talented toddler had another outburst on the Dallas Cowboys sideline.
NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now
La Poche Bleue: It’s a French podcast network, so I have no way to verify the following tweets that quoted Elliotte Friedman, but the NHL Rumours account reports on radio appearances and such–it’s not a “make up rumors and claim to be an insider” account.
Take from it what you will. I think the situation is something we all know to be true, but it does land differently when someone from the outside says it out loud, eh? The Penguins and Kyle Dubas keep using the Tom Brady example for Crosby’s longevity. Except, umm, Brady went to Tampa Bay for the last years of his career. Whoops.
Forever Blueshirts: Our buddy Jim Cerny is getting his first taste of covering Mike Sullivan. As the Rangers camp moves to preseason, here are the three takeaways from the new Rangers coach.
Sportsnet: What to remember about each team–all 32–as preseason begins.
TSN: The list of top 50 players this season, at least according to TSN, will not include Lane Hutson or Connor Bedard. So, of course, TSN is teasing the snubs in advance.
Colorado Hockey Now: Wait, Matt Grzelcyk rejected a $1 million contract offer to sign a PTO with Chicago?! Was the team that Grzelcyk spurned the Colorado Avalanche?
RG.org: OK, I hesitate to put RG on the list. They’ve had some whoppers blown out of the water, but I like Jimmy Murphy. He writes that the Lightning, Canadiens, and Panthers have called the Penguins about Evgeni Malkin, but Dubas gave them a “hard no.”
Detroit Hockey Now: Things aren’t as good as expected. After a couple of years of waiting, ASP has finally arrived at Detroit Red Wings camp, but he’s…OK. Axel Sandin Pellikka is lacking something.
Philly Hockey Now: He was largely before my time, but if you know hockey, you know the Philadelphia Flyers’ two Stanley Cups. They were the Broad Street Bullies. But backing them up was a great goaltender and a good human, Bernie Parent. The hockey world paid tribute as he passed away at age 80.
Tags: bernie parent Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby
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