Another new week, let’s get caught up if you missed what turned out to be an eventful weekend...
Sidney Crosby left Saturday’s scrimmage early, with no update from the Penguins due to new league policies. [Pensburgh]
But based on a placeholder for Sunday’s practice (that Sid also missed) plus some media reports, the word on the street is that it’s a very minor issue that doesn’t have many concerned about Crosby’s status for the upcoming playoffs. [Pensburgh]
And you can add Rob Rossi to the media reports indicating sources saying the issue with Crosby is “only a precaution”. [The Athletic $]
From the actual scrimmage though, it was a really good day for Conor Sheary, who had three primary assists. [Pensburgh]
It was also a very noticeable day for Sam Lafferty, who already has a history of popping up and looking really good for brief flashes. [Pensburgh]
And, now that we’re all caught up, a look around the league..
The Pens have their second scrimmage scheduled for this morning at 10:45am. Like Saturday, you can watch through many online platforms including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Check out the official Penguins social media channels for more. [Twitter - Penguins]
Youngster Noah Juulsen is finally healthy and looking at a great opportunity to establish himself for the Canadiens when they go up against the Pens. [Habs Eyes on the Prize]
ETOP also breaks down the matchup of Montreal forwards vs. Pittsburgh forwards. A nice look and it shows just how great of an edge the Evgeni Malkin line will have in this series. They also seem to be selling short the fact that defensemen have to play against forwards too, which also depth-wise should be a very big factor. [EOTP]
Seven more Bruins (and important ones too!) in Tuukka Rask, Nick Ritchie, Chris Wagner, Torey Krug, Charlie Coyle, David Krejci, and Sean Kuraly have joined David Pastrnak and Ondrej Kase as being the dreaded “unfit to participate”. This is approaching a nightmare scenario for the league to have so many important players knocked out so close to the games starting. [Stanley Cup of Chowder]
In other unsurprising “unfit to participate” news, Olli Maatta wasn’t going to escape this virus forever with his checkered injury/illness history. Hopefully all is well for him being as he is a cancer survivor. Maatta’s defensive partner Connor Murphy was also listed as “unfit to participate” by the Blackhawks too. Very cool. [Second City Hockey]
After an inconclusive test result kept Philly’s Jakub Voracek off the ice for a bit, a follow-up negative test allowed him to return to Flyers practice on Sunday. [Reuters]
In better news, after recovering from a lower body injury Steven Stamkos practiced for the second day in a row on Sunday. [NHL.com]
NHL players are predicting this summer’s games will be very exciting. [TSN]
The Rangers are looking to make a call on their three-way battle of a goalie competition pretty soon. It’s like the old saying when you’ve got two quarterbacks, you don’t have a quarterback...So what does that mean about THREE? (Probably just don’t want to hurt Henrik Lundqvist’s feelings since it aint him anymore). [NHL.com]
And can the World Cup of Hockey’s early season start and centralized games in 2016 provide a preview for this restart? Let’s hope so, including the part where Crosby is MVP and the best player on the ice. [TSN]
In what must feel like deja vu all over again, Marc-Andre Fleury’s starting job is again under fire from a younger, statistically superior goalie, this time in the form of Robin Lehner. But for his part, the consummate pro in Fleury is not pouting about having to compete for his place in the net. [NHL.com]