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Lace 'em up. Time for the Morning Skate.
AGGRESSIVE NEGOTIATIONS
Welcome to the most important preseason week in the NHL. Yes, there is such a thing. Most teams have trimmed the fat from their preseason rosters. This final week of tune-up games are for the kids and spare parts battling for depth positions. In other words, you have permission to pay attention now.
Meanwhile, no diplomatic solutions seem on the horizon for a couple of noteworthy un-signed restricted free agents.
- Rasmus Ristolainen is in camp with the Sabres, but GM Tim Murray was quick to remind everyone that doesn’t change anything.
- It sure doesn’t look like the Flames and Johnny Gaudreau are any closer to a deal. Which, frankly, is ridiculous. Pay the man. At any rate, the lack of news is making Flames fans wonder what an opening night lineup would look like without Johnny Hockey.
EVERYONE CALM DOWN
Niklas Hjalmarsson will meet with the league today about his high hit on Ty Rattie over the weekend. He’ll probably be suspended for one game, making that two NHLers suspended before the season even begins. Slow down, people.
ELSEWHERE IN TRAINING CAMP LAND
- P.K. Subban made his Predators debut this weekend!
- Dylan Larkin was the best player on the ice in Detroit’s win over Chicago.
- The kids in Toronto lit up the place in a fun win against the Canadiens.
- The Stars and Panthers reportedly played a game yesterday. Working to confirm.
- Two of the Canadiens’ best prospects didn’t make the first roster cut.
- Tampa Bay dropped a whopping seven players onto the waiver wire.
- Boston’s latest roster cut included a ton of veterans (including Peter Mueller), and the rookies shined in an overtime win against the Flyers.
- Matt Nieto scored the game-winner in San Jose’s third straight overtime win.
- Four goals on seven shots for the Jets. Not great, Flames.
- Another night, another fantastic showing for Ivan Provorov.
- Henrik Lundqvist will make his preseason debut tonight.
- The Blue Jackets were terrible last night. So sad!
- Hey, guess what! The Stars lost another center for six months. Someone out there has a Stars voodoo doll, and I WILL FIND YOU.
"HEY, THE SEASON IS AROUND THE CORNER" CORNER
- Everything is aligned perfectly for a major year from Mike Hoffman.
- Two top prospects are in a dogfight for one of the Coyotes’ center positions.
- The World Cup of Hockey was ... actually good?
- Travis Zajac is suddenly surplus to requirements in New Jersey. (see: Pavel Zacha)
- Carolina’s forward group will look much different this year.
- We already have a good sense of what the Wild will look like this year.
A BIT OF HOUSEKEEPING
- Our Ducks blog just hired a ton of new writers. Go meet them! Say hi! Be nice.
- Meanwhile, our Kings blog is looking for contributors!
- So is our Red Wings blog!
- And our Devils blog!
- And our Flyers blog!
- And our Sharks blog!
- And our Habs blog!
- And our Blackhawks blog!