Crashing The Crease – Oct 1, 2013
Crashing the Crease is SenShot’s daily tour around the NHL, bringing some interesting news and notes.
June 5, 2013; Boston, MA USA; Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman
Kris Letang(58) skates with the puck during the first period in game three of the Eastern Conference finals of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
- Merry Hockey Christmas! Today is one of the days on the calendar, like World Juniors, NHL playoffs, Olympics, Trade Deadline, Entry Draft and the opening of Free Agency, that feels like it should be a national holiday. The puck drops for real tonight on 3 fronts.
- The season hasn’t started yet and Sabre fan is already all over Drew Stafford for his lack of production. Or its just reasonable expectation of a letdown.
- It today the day Phil Kessel goes from very rich to exceedingly disgustingly filthy rich? A contract extension might be done today, rumored to be 8 years, in the $8M per range.
- A busy week in Florida has resulted in some former Ottawa Senators sliding down the depth chart. Bad news for Bobby Butler, Jesse Winchester and Matt Gilroy.
- Anaheim got some help in Mathieu Perreault to stem some of the offensive loss that they have experienced with the loss of Bobby Ryan, the aging of Saku Koivu and will continue to feel after Teemu Selanne retires.
- It’s kind of early to put coaches and executives on the hotseat, but Broad Street Buzz has staked an early claim for their own Philadelphia Flyer brass. I said the same thing a few weeks ago. There has been so much turnover recently, that many coaches will get some rope this season, and most will last the year. Laviolette could be an exception to that rule.
- The Penguins placed two important pieces of their club, including the player I believe to be their most important player, on IR to start the season. Tomas Vokoun (blood clot) and Kris Letang (lower body) will both be out indefinitely. Vokoun is important, but on a team stacked offensively, the loss of Letang will be akin to the Senators losing Erik Karlsson.
You can check around to find all the opening day rosters, because it’s hockey time!
Don’t forget to check out our SenShot Prediction Pool that will run all season long! Today’s Questions are up!