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Matt Murray has some big shoes to fill for being a solid guy as Penguins starting goalie, but he’s off to a good start. [Bardown]
"Best day ever!" for this young Matt Murray fan running a lemonade stand to raise money for the Humane Society when guess who showed up! pic.twitter.com/KsbrvhqSNu
— PuckShots (@Puck_Shots) July 16, 2017
And here’s the GoFundMe for the lemonade stand if you’d like to help the cause from afar. [GoFundMe]
Evgeni Malkin not only makes a list this time, he makes it as #1! For Top Russian NHL’ers of all time. Other notable players with Penguins ties: Sergei Gonchar (#9), Alexei Kovalev (12) -- both under-rated if you ask me, and Darius Kasparaitis checks in at #24 despite being from Lithuania (though he did play internationally for the Russians). [The Hockey News]
—Buy or sell that ranking? Feels a little too team heavy for accomplishments. For better or worse, Alex Ovechkin (while 2 years older) has 230 more NHL goals and 203 more points than Geno does. That’s not something to brush away. Malkin’s got his Conn Smythe and should be in the conversation, but ranking Ovechkin 3rd seems an over-reaction to team results. Malkin (157 points in 149 games) is a better playoff performer than Ovie (90p in 97 games) but overall how much do you weigh that versus the huge regular season edge Ovechkin has?
Tomas “Give the fools their” Tatar sauce and the Red Wings are $1.2 million apart as their arbitration draws near. Tatar asked for $5.3 million, Detroit is offering $4.1 million. [TSN.ca]
And in the other news, Colton Parayko asked for $4.85 million from St. Louis for his arbitration hearing, the Blues are offering $3.5 million in their briefing. [Yahoo Sports]
Ryan Dzingel (who ppl forget is the late round pick that Ottawa got from Pittsburgh for the Alex Kovalev 2011 trade), is still far apart from the Senators and they may be heading for an arbitration hearing too. [Pro Hockey Talk]
—Speaking of arbitration, Brian Dumoulin will have his hearing on Monday, if he doesn’t agree to a contract with the Pens before then. We have a big surprise and great feature planned for you on Friday morning that I’m excited to share! So get excited.
Phil Kessel bestie and rumored trade possibility Tyler Bozak has his Toronto condo up for sale.....Gentleman Jim to do it again? [Leafs Nation]
Some Colorado fans still confident in Joe Sakic. (As a manager, not as a player). Yeah, I don’t know about that either, but good luck with it! Jimmy also call them up! [Mile High Hockey]
Jonathan Drouin excited to start making $5.5 million dollars a year err play for Montreal. [Fan Rag Sports]
Chicago’s power play is going to look a lot different with Brandon Saad and Patrick Sharp back again, but will have Marian Hossa and Artemi Panarin gone. [Second City Hockey]
Jarome Iginla and Shane Doan (both 40 years young) can’t find NHL contract offers, and thus have to consider what happens if no one comes callin’. [NHL.com]
Speaking of old guys, breaking down where Jaromir Jagr might end up (hint: not Pittsburgh on longer than a one-day deal). Would be cool to see him on a playoff caliber team like Calgary or Montreal though. [Puck Daddy]
New enemy (officially): Nolan Patrick has signed his entry level contract with the Flyers. [Broad Street Hockey]
OK, after that unpleasant Flyers mention, here’s a pallet cleanser:
The Empire Strikes Back-to-back. pic.twitter.com/EHktJfGCnB
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) July 13, 2017
Enjoy the day, everyone!