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Hockey Thoughts On Opening Night
from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,
- Seattle had five players on its COVID list on Monday — Joonas Donskoi, Calle Jarnkrok, Marcus Johansson, Jared McCann and Jamie Oleksiak. Nothing is a better reminder of the uncertainty we still face, which leads to a major early-season storyline: attendance. All arenas but Vancouver’s are open to full capacity. As one executive said last week, “We’ve sold tickets, but aren’t sure how our fans feel about being in a full building. We see some uncertainty.” How will that play out in Ottawa and Toronto, which didn’t have complete clearance until last Friday? What about Calgary and Edmonton, where the health system is buckling under a COVID surge? There are teams who know their attendance will be down due to poor performance, and some who feel very confident. Gate receipts matter, so this will be a closely-watched phenomenon. (Nathan MacKinnon in Covid protocol today)
- That’s a big “W” for the Canadiens to get Nick Suzuki extended. After the Jesperi Kotkaniemi offer sheet, they realized this is no time to screw around and got their number one centre signed long-term. An executive from another team said from what he heard, it was one of calmest negotiations in recent memory (Dave Gagner and Jeff Jackson rep Suzuki). There are always intense conversations, but never any danger of going off the rails.
- Everyone’s being very careful about this, but word is that there are four or five teams indicating comfort with Eichel’s preferred disc replacement. There are legitimate attempts to find a solution, but it’s still a challenge. This is a hard deal to make if you’re giving up top picks/prospects, and have to wait through the surgery. The good news is that I think everyone realizes it is time to sort this out.
- A little surprised Bobby Ryan and Detroit didn’t work out a contract, but Lucas Raymond sure earned his spot. Will Ryan be re-visited if the Red Wings need to add a veteran in the next few weeks? Not many places he’d rather go.
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