New Wingers on Trade Block; Penguins Make Splash

The Pittsburgh Penguins struck. Monday, Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas ponied up on the NHL trade market to acquire one of the young talents who badly needed a change of scenery by snagging Yegor Chinakhov from the Columbus Blue Jackets for a fair price. Elsewhere in the Daily, a couple of teams are making wingers available that they signed but probably now regret. The Buffalo Sabres are unbeatable since ownership cleaned house at the top, and the NHL might make it snow for the Winter Classic in Florida.

Whew.

It took a good while to get home from Chicago. What should have been a straight six-hour run from Point A to Point B became a 10-plus-hour slog through heavy snow, a Penguins trade that required multiple stops to write stories, and making my car my new conference room for meetings.

Mid-January is now the expected roll-out of the new PHN+ platform. Given the enormous volume of work undertaken thus far, I’m going to add another week onto my expectations. But trust me, when the folks finally finish this up, you’re going to wonder why in the bloody hell we didn’t do this years ago.

After I got home and settled, my intention to do a quick 10-minute video on the trade turned into a 30-minute Live Chat at 11 p.m. Linked below.

What good is livin’ a life you’ve been given
If all you do is stand in one place.

I’m on a river that winds on forever
Follow ’til I get where I’m goin’…

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Let’s start with the Chinakhov trade. Here’s the deal, the price, and the full Penguins trade.

OK, then we moved on to the full analysis portion of the trade. Where does Chinakhov fit with the Penguins, and what is the fallout? Many immediately wondered about more trades, and we get to that possibility in the Penguins analysis.

The Penguins made Kyle Dubas available via email to the five beat outlets, including Pittsburgh Hockey Now. Dubas didn’t steer away from Chinakhov’s public trade request and his problems with the Columbus Blue Jackets, but did offer a good answer on that and a handful of other questions. Here is the Kyle Dubas response.

And the impromptu Live Chat on all things involved in the Penguins news.

Steelers Now: The standard is the standard, and the Steelers have not lived up to the standard for a decade. They did not live in their fears, but they didn’t get the job done on Sunday. Credit the other teams for beating the unprepared Steelers. They will regroup and look forward to the pressure of competition in the AFC North.

Also, do you use the big fork or the little one for Mike Tomlin’s word salads?

Alan Saunders has a must-read story. No, the Steelers weren’t worried overly about Myles Garret’s sack record. No, the truth is much worse for the Steelers’ game plan.

NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now

Sportsnet Edmonton: Mark Spector’s lead paragraphs are simple and blunt. Yet another Edmonton Oilers free agent signing is absolutely washing out and is now trade fodder after the team scratched Andrew Mangiapane and permitted him to talk to other teams for employment elsewhere.

Stan Bowman might just give Peter Chiarelli a run for his money in the race for the largest number of regretted Oilers moves.

Canucks Army: “It’s embarrassing.” Embattled forward Jake DeBrusk signed a seven-year deal with the Vancouver Canucks 18 months ago, but Monday suffered the indignity of being a healthy scratch. Cue the trade rumors and chatter in the Pacific Northwest.

As Brian Burke astutely pointed out years ago, most mistakes are made on July 1.

NHL.com: At the World Junior tourney, James Hagens led a furious Team USA rally as they had to scrap to get past Czechia.

Sportsnet: Snow at the Winter Classic Friday in Florida? In the dome?! Yep, expect to get your White Christmas or New Year’s Friday at the Winter Classic in Miami as the NHL has a trick up its sleeve.

Forever Blueshirts: The New York Rangers had a third-period lead against the Carolina Hurricanes, but that didn’t last. And, stop me if you’ve heard this story before, lost in overtime.

Philly Hockey Now: The Flyers and center Christian Dvorak are talking about a contract extension. The center, who sort of faded into the background for the last few seasons, has found a new home in Philly. Will James lays out the pros and cons of the Philadelphia Flyers extending Dvorak.

WGR: Nine in a row. Fire the GM, go on a tear. That’s the Buffalo Sabres after Zach Benson’s third period tally put the team within one of the franchise record streak.

Detroit Hockey Now: Life’s a garden, dig it. You can’t have No in your heart. The Detroit Red Wings just keep going.

I can’t help but feel good for Buffalo fans. Damn, those folks suffer. The occasional smell of Cheerios just isn’t enough (The General Mills factory is a block away from the arena), but they keep on keepin’ on.

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