Nashville Predators News & Notes
Crickets and tumbleweeds on the injuries to Filip Forsberg and Matt Duchene, but you weren’t expecting anything else, were you? Maybe Duchene’s baby will accidentally livestream something showing a bandage—I think everyone old enough to intentionally operate a phone learned from the incident last time Forsberg was hurt, but I’m holding out hope for a precocious infant. (Kidding. They have a right to privacy. I would appreciate a timeline from the team, though…)
Nashville Predators 3, Tampa Bay Lightning 2 (OT): Saros Picks Up First Win; Defense, Power Play Contribute Big | On the Forecheck
A depleted team still managed to pull together and get Saros the W last night. I have the recap in case you missed it.
Other News & Notes
Sharks’ Brenden Dillon won’t face discipline for Auston Matthews hit | Sportsnet.ca
The NHL: Feeling is the head was not the main point of contact.
Narrator: It was.
How do you solve a problem like Gary Bettman?
Jets rally to take Heritage Classic from Flames: 3 takeaways | ProHockeyTalk
How to tell outdoor games are overdone: there were beat reporters, people whose literal jobs it is to follow hockey news, who were startled to learn yesterday that there was an outdoor game today. Remember when it used to be a big deal?
Also, two minutes and possibly nothing more for Adam Lowry for that hit is awful. Hopefully someone sends some strong coffee and maybe a foghorn to the DoPS offices.
NHL making plans for potential women’s league when time is right | Sportsnet.ca
(One important caveat: it’s if time is right, not when time is right. They’re still saying “if”.)
The idea of Bettman getting involved in women’s hockey is…not great! Remember when he said he didn’t see any difference between fans calling Corey Perry “Katy Perry” and fans calling an opponent goalie a sieve? That was rad. The NHL’s complete indifference, as a matter of formal league policy, to crimes of violence against women might be on the NHLPA and/or team ownerships more than it is Bettman, but still.
And remember earlier this year when he said that there wasn’t any scientific evidence that people getting hit in the head repeatedly was bad, because if he said otherwise the NHL might have to financially support people who have been severely and permanently harmed by playing in the NHL? That was rad too!
Let’s hear it for Gary Bettman, who has done nothing in his tenure as commissioner to indicate he supports either women or hockey players, and is now exploring the possibility of being in some way responsible for the careers of women who play hockey!
Anyway. In lighter news:
Blackhawks have a lot of problems right now | ProHockeyTalk
It just brings a tear to the eye, doesn’t it.
IIHF to meet with NHL, NHLPA over future of international hockey | Sportsnet.ca
The Olympics aren’t great, but people think they’re great–they certainly have fantastic cultural imagery–and until they don’t matter to the players themselves I’m not sure there is a way to change the narrative about NHL participation.
Pastrnak keeps rolling as Bruins top Blues in Stanley Cup Final rematch | ProHockeyTalk
No word yet on whether this has mended the post-apocalyptic desolation of the city of Boston.
Coach’s Corner: How First Nations players have impacted the NHL | Sportsnet.ca
Now, I have not watched the video yet (it was late when I clipped these links), so I have no idea if it’s as nightmarish as the combination of the phrases “Coach’s Corner” and “First Nations” suggest to me, but the article itself includes zero syllables of whatever reactionary nonsense Cherry is spewing out of his mouth at any given moment.
NWHL’s Whale captain Shannon Doyle’s Blocks for Books spreading positivity | The Ice Garden
This is a great story and a great initiative. I love that Doyle specifically chose a charity that gets kids books in their own languages and with protagonists who look like them, and the connection drawn between that and women’s hockey: it matters that you see people like you in the world. Definitely check this one out if you have a minute–Doyle is a fun interview and the project is lovely.
City of Lethbridge renames arena after victim of Humboldt bus crash | Sportsnet.ca
It was renamed in honor of Logan Boulet, the young player whose status as an organ donor inspired others and helped save lives after his own untimely death.