Pens Points: Is August over yet?

Today's best Penguins read: a look at how Massachusetts native Mike Sullivan went from being on the ice celebrating the Cup in June with the Blackhawks as a development coach/scout, to being named the Wilkes-Barre Penguins head coach. [Boston Globe]

The Pens hire longtime Seattle Thunderbirds Director of Player Personnel Colin Alexander to be an amateur scout. Wow, like draft picks? [Our Sports]

Bleacher Report (yeah, I know) with a slideshow of every team's worst contract. (Saved you a click: for the Pens, Rob Scuderi) [Bleacher Report]

Friend of the blog Ryan Wilson looks at an underlying reason why Chris Kunitz might bounce-back next season. Really, I think it boils down to hoping the hands come back and he's able to convert more in front of the net. Kunitz's possession numbers are great but that whole 4 ES goals in the last 56 games metric looms large. But hey, new year, new chance, right? [Hockey Buzz]

Should the Montreal Canadiens worry about Dustin Tokarski? Why, did Carey Price decide being the top goalie in the world isn't for him and he's retreating to the mountains? If not, they probably don't need to worry too much. [Eyes on the Prize]

Speaking of, Price is the top rated goalie in NHL16. Also included in the top 10: four goalies in the Metropolitan Division (but not Marc-Andre Fleury). Good thing the Pens beefed up on skill. [EA Sports]

Phil Kessel comes in #6 for the Right Winger in the game. [EA Sports]

Kris Letang, however, did not make the top 10 in defensemen, for some unknown reason. [EA Sports]

The Devils need to be competitive this season. [In Lou We (Used to) Trust]

Tyler Seguin being cool and playing some sled hockey. Seriously, if you ever get the chance to see a sled game, go support it, those players are so impressive. [Defending Big D]

Speaking of the Dallas Stars, Cody Eakin gets a 4 year contract extension ($3.85 million per year kicking in for 2016-17), which is a nice payday but a well-deserved one. [CBS Sports]

Toronto fans toss hats on the field after a 3 home run "hat trick" for Edwin Encarnacion. Might be the last hat-trick seen in T.dot for a long time. [Puck Daddy]

Pull off a Michigan, get linked in Pens Points. It's that simple. Good job, Pavel Medvedev. [Puck Daddy]

Flashback to Sidney Crosby (when he was Sid the Kid) doing the same. Ironic good Canadian boy Crosby does this and not flashy, enigmatic Evgeni Malkin, eh?  [Youtube]

The top 10 weirdest hockey names. Macon Whoopee FTW. {SI.com]

Who will play center for the Minnesota Wild next season? [ProHockeyTalk]

A couple of interesting Penguins related notes on some former Pens; including Matt Cooke still looking for work, the fall-out of Wild assistant coach Daryl Sydor dealing with a DUI, and in non-Pens news, Keith Ballard and Jordan Leopold are both leaning towards retirement. [Star Tribune]

Sadly, Canadiens legend (and 11 [!!!] time Stanley Cup winner) Henri Richard has Alzheimer's disease and isn't doing well. [The Score]

Johnny Boychuk has high expectations for the Islanders this season. With 6 teams the division expecting playoffs, someone's bound to be disappointed. [The Score]

Curtis Glencross took a hometown discount for Calgary a few years ago, and it didn't quite work out for the player. [ProHockeyTalk]

And, like the link above, hockey is a business and the potential of the Quebec Nordiques pulling a Winnipeg and getting back into the NHL scene will depend on financing. So far so good. [TSN]

A look at the case the Los Angeles Kings have against Mike Richards for his contract termination. Seems mediocre to me, since the elephant in the room is that if he didn't have a huge contract, there's zero chance they would have moved to get off the hook for him.  [TSN]

He's informally skating with the hometown Pens now, but Brandon Saad 's contract demands pushed him out of Chicago and got him paid in Columbus. Now he's going from being a supporting piece to being fully under the cross-hairs with pressure. You get paid, you get expectations. [ProHockeyTalk]

Russian article, so take my word for it, but it looks like Ilya Kovalchuk will miss the next 3 months with an injury.[Sovsport.ru]

Old friend James Neal is back in Nashville and getting ready for his second season there, looking to improve on a 23 goal, 14 assist season. [Predators.com]

Finally, RIP to Al Albour, an opponent but a great hockey mind, classy gentleman and man ahead of his time. [Lighthouse Hockey]