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Dan’s Daily: Sabres Make More Changes; Trade Chatter; Shellshocked Penguins
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- Dan’s Daily: Sabres Make More Changes; Trade Chatter; Shellshocked Penguins
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Opponents and bad luck have shelled the Pittsburgh Penguins , who are currently posting their longest scoring drought in 16 years and their worst winless streak since Sidney Crosby 's rookie year in 2005-06. It's getting bad and we didn't spare feelings after our latest, even after coach Dan Muse made sweeping changes to the lineup.
Elsewhere in the Daily, new Buffalo Sabres general manager Jarmo Kekalainen is moving quickly to remake the Sabres' front office, hiring, firing, and asking for permission to speak with potential assistant GMs. The NHL roster freeze will prevent any trades for the next week, but the St. Louis Blues are headed toward potentially big moves. And the Carolina Hurricanes put a pretty good offer on the table for Quinn Hughes .
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Please excuse the abbreviated Daily today. Trying to get a couple of hours of sleep before the long drive home to be at the game tonight. Wish me luck.
I will tell you–the fans in Montreal are incredible. That place is rocking every time we're there, and the engagement is through the roof. My desire is to one day see you get to enjoy hockey crowds like that. Pittsburgh has been wild at times, but it always dies with success, which is backwards!
Guys in ugly sweaters with bad grammar sitting on their hands killed the 1990s enthusiasm, and too often the eras have been defined by expectant fans waiting for a highlight goal, creating a mauseleum atmosphere until one happens. Heck, the fans stayed last night to serenade Jacob Fowler with chants as the first star. Cmon, Pittsburgh used to do that!
I don't know if it's ticket prices, that not enough fans will put down the football to embrace the nuts and bolts of hockey, or how we got here, but whether there are 8,000 or 18,000 in the barn, I'd like to see you who come here for hockey be the ones that begin to force change. You diehards are the ones who can. Don't be afraid to participate in the game's emotion. Don't wait for racing donuts or scoreboard contests to jiggle for ice cream. Drag others into the fight.
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Seriously, there's enough hockey love in Pittsburgh. I make a living because there is. How do we unearth it and make Penguins games a raucous time again (so that more fans want to come and this franchise isn't a few bad years away from disaster)? It can't be based on the reflected glory of winning. It's got to be based on the game of hockey. You can do it.
Semi rant over.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Hockey Now: The lonely, kind of sad recap from a performance that was almost good enough to win but was another Penguins loss .
Montreal Hockey Now: Here's the flip side coverage from colleague Marc Dumont as the Canadiens win .
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OK, the report card was not kind. It was pretty tough, actually. We gave some good grades to call out the better performances, but also addressed the elephant in the room. Have a read of the Penguins' report card .
Coach Dan Muse made significant changes to the lineup and admitted that his decisions were not based on science or expectation, but because something had to change to give the Penguins a boost .
NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now
Sportsnet: Kekalainen isn't wasting time. He fired former Penguins AGM Jason Karmanos. He hired Marc Bergevin away from the LA Kings . And Kekalainen is asking to speak to other currently employed folks to hire them in Buffalo .
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The Athletic ($): It's not a matter of if, but how many. Which St. Louis Blues will be on the way out as St. Louis falls further out of contention? Will they deal Jordan Binnington ? It could get messy in StL .
NHLTradeRumors.me: Elliotte Friedman was on NHL Radio this week and dropped some knowledge about the Quinn Hughes trade sweepstakes. It seems Carolina put some top prospects on the table and made a real push for Hughes .
Philly Hockey Now: Daniel Briere had a pre-holiday presser and addressed where the Philadelphia Flyers are headed.
New Jersey Hockey Now: In a departure from coaches who hide injury updates as a matter of principle, coach Sheldon Keefe teased some big returns for the New Jersey Devils .
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The post Dan's Daily: Sabres Make More Changes; Trade Chatter; Shellshocked Penguins appeared first on Pittsburgh Hockey Now .
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