Around these parts, we’ll do our best to give you everything you need to know about the Columbus Blue Jackets. We’ll also fill you in on the stories you may not have heard about (or those you didn’t think you need to know about), the social media buzz around the league, along with a few random nuggets for good measure.
Think of it as your morning coffee with a shot of hockey talk.
GAME ON AFTER GAME 3: It's okay, you can admit it. We all went there. When Jake Guentzel scored early on in Game 3 on Saturday night, you thought the Penguins were ready to grab hold of the Stanley Cup Final and put the pedal down on the Nashville Predators. But the Predators, in their barn and with a rowdy crowd behind them, only got better from that point forward and responded with an emphatic win in Game 3. Needless to say, it was a win they needed; 2-1 is a whole lot different than 3-0. Captain Obvious, checking out.
The Predators' answer to early adversity was encouraging because it was led by Pekka Rinne, who closed the door after the Guentzel goal and made some key saves to keep the momentum rolling in his team's direction. Thanks in large part to the crowd, the Predators had a ton of energy and kept coming in waves, and when you're getting goals from guys like fourth-liner Freddy Gaudreau, you'd like to think you have a fighting chance against the defending champs.
And when Mattias Ekholm, your solid and reliable defenseman who hasn't scored in 40-plus games is scoring, it's a good night for the locals at Bridgestone Arena.
Game on.
"READY TO DEAL": Half-assed apologies in advance because this space will be home to expansion draft notes and coverage for the next few weeks. The build-up has been and will continue to be fascinating; the league hasn't gone through expansion in the digital era and Twitter/social media has taken the hype train clear off the tracks in advance of the Vegas Golden Knights picking the core of their roster from the other 30 member clubs.
What I'm most interested to see is how well Vegas makes out from these "side deals" (sorry, can't call them that) that help guarantee certain players won't be selected. You have to think a large number of NHL GMs are looking at their protected lists and thinking they need to sweet-talk George McPhee into a deal to save a player they'd rather not be taken, which puts the veteran GM in a good spot as he looks to build the Golden Knights from the ground up.
It's reasonable to think the Blue Jackets are one of those teams, but we'll see once the expansion draft gets closer. McPhee also confirmed to TSN over the weekend that the Golden Knights will get more time -- three days now instead of two -- to sort through the final protected lists and make their selections.
Here's what McPhee said at the NHL Scouting Combine (via The Canadian Press):
"Most of the guys have been really forthright in what they want to do, who they'll probably expose and who they'd like to protect," McPhee said. "And we're trying to find ways to accommodate each other. We won't be able to do that with everyone."
A ROYAL PAIN: Injuries are an inconvenience no matter what, so the news that Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist suffered a knee injury at the IIHF World Championships would definitely fall in that category. Speaking with a Swedish publication, Lundqvist confirmed he injured one of his knees at the annual international tournament (where Sweden won the gold medal) and is scheduled to miss four to six weeks of his offseason training program.
No word on if the injury occurred during that legendary dogpile.
ICYMI: Our guy Jeff Svoboda penned a fantastic look at Sergei Bobrovsky and how it could've been bad timing with a red-hot opponent in the playoffs ... The Blue Jackets will part with their 2017 second-round pick as compensation for hiring John Tortorella in October 2015 ... Our final 1OB Award of 2016-17 is for Blue Jackets MVP, and we're curious to hear your thoughts on our selection.
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