No, the Philadelphia Flyers did not play Monday night, but it bears repeating that the Philadelphia Flyers are still winless for another day. Because of fan anger, Flyers GM Daniel Briere had to confront Rick Tocchet’s job status. Elsewhere in the Daily, the Pittsburgh Penguins made another trade for a depth defenseman that might be better than his current team credited. Coach Dan Muse made another hard decision for the lineup that had fans gritting their teeth. And a former Penguins D-man suffered an injury in Vegas.

We’re on the road again. I can’t put the Chicago dateline on the Daily because I’m typing at the Pittsburgh airport well before the sun comes up (and hitting publish during a layover in Detroit). My travels are typically the stuff of Tom Green movies or Mr. Bean episodes, but I’m finally getting the hang of packing the night before and knowing what fits so I can get some sleep without that anxiety the night before.

I will also offer a little tip. I just stuffed enough clothes for two weeks into my travel backpack (Game clothes and casual clothes so I don’t have to wear a dress shirt and sweater all day). For this year, I bought a couple of Aerless vacuum compression bags…In Bag One, I fit four dress shirts, three sweaters, two pairs of pants, and a shacket. And I had room in my backpack to stuff all of my casual civvies in Bag Two. I wish I’d bought these darned things years ago.

And we did rearrange heaven and earth and will be spending three days in Chicago to cover the Penguins’ practice on Thursday rather than rushing off to Denver. The guilt of not covering the practice was eating at me, so we bucked up to cancel some non-refundable reservations. Hopefully the hotel in Denver properly canceled only part of my reservation as we discussed, not the whole thing—but of course, I am expecting all hell to break loose when I try to check in. Or maybe it’s the downtown coffee shop/hotel in Chicago under the L that I could afford that will be the disaster story. We’ll see!

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Trade! OK, not the big splash or even a name you’ve heard before, but the Penguins did jettison Caleb Jones and depth prospect Daniel Laatsch to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for a good skating lefty D-man, Ryan Johnson.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Practice was interesting, and a lot of folks who are investing in Elmer Soderblom weren’t so happy. Here are the new lines, those who are on the outs, and Muse explained his fairly blunt message to those players as well as the direction he’s going with the Penguins lineup.

And our favorite Wilkes-Barre contributor Sam Wismer chipped in with a good look at prospect Owen Pickering. She had a chat with the big guy about his final steps and what he’s working on to finally crack the Penguins roster.

Clearly, the Penguins soured on Caleb Jones after his PED suspension. That much was evident from Kyle Dubas’s tone and facial expression last spring. If Dubas has a “type,” it’s obviously unassuming, steady lefties who can skate and otherwise are lost in the shuffle of their other teams.

Chicago Hockey Now: Connor Bedard is likely to return tonight when the Penguins visit the Chicago Blackhawks. Here’s how that’s going to change everything for the Blackhawks.

Here is the first No Pucks Given of the season, followed by our Live Chat feature:

NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now

Reminder: The Flyers are still winless.

Philly Hockey Now: Oh boy. Something has to give for the Flyers.

And you can go to X for the carnage in the replies to this report. If this gets any worse, the next mascot that Gritty flings over the balcony will be… Gritty.

Fwiw Tocchet’s job isn’t in trouble, I’m told.

Don’t expect an imminent coaching change for PHI.@DailyFaceoff

— Anthony Di Marco (@ADiMarco25) October 12, 2026

NY Post: Mollie Walker runs down the realistic next steps and options for the New York Rangers after getting the bad news on Igor Shesterkin. The options aren’t good, but it seems the murmurs of Jonathan Quick coming out of retirement is more idle speculation than reality.

NHLtraderumors.me: Reportedly, there are five teams still circling Patrik Laine, who is reportedly waiting for the right opportunity. Reportedly.

The Vegas Golden Knights announced Parker Wotherspoon is now out week-to-week as his Vegas career is not off to a good start.

NHL.com: Tonight is one of those promo nights that the NHL loves. The “Frozen Frenzy” is a hockey game starting every 15 minutes from 6 p.m. ET. And the broadcast partners are making a big deal of wall-to-wall hockey tonight.

I wish I could have 10 minutes with the NHL marketing dept. Fans don’t want hockey every 15 minutes; they want rivalries every 15 minutes. The NHL is the last sport in which teams still hate each other. To wit: Do Steelers fans hate the Browns anymore? Heck, the Ravens barely get a Yinzers’ pulse up. When was the last time a team visited PNC Park and you absolutely needed to see that team get crushed so badly their moms had to send a care package?

Yeah. Hockey = Rivalries. Not Penguins vs. Chicago. Nay nay to Florida vs. Columbus or St. Louis vs. Ottawa. And so on. In the immortal words of the farmers in Letterkenny: Figure it out.

They can fill the screens with hockey, but until the folks pulling the levers really understand you, they’re going to keep trotting out gimmicks with cool names that do little more than make you shrug and turn on the Penguins game.

Tags:Caleb Jones Connor Bedard Daniel Laatsch Elmer Soderblom Igor Shesterkin Jonathan Quick Owen Pickering Patrik Laine

Categorized:Pittsburgh Penguins