Beaver Stadium: Photo Courtesy of Penn State University
The brothers Hughes appear to be synchronizing their contracts, which is bad news for the New Jersey Devils, who are trying to sign electric defenseman Luke Hughes to a new contract. The NHL trade rumor is about to explode with Hughes talk. Also in the Daily, the dark horses to make Team Canada, Montreal buses will not say “Go Habs, Go” for an unbelievable reason, Kirill Kaprizov is asking for an unbelievable sum from Minnesota, and as the off-season ends, are the Pittsburgh Penguins too good?
And I’ll show you the anatomy of a BS hockey trade rumor, the type that is currently surrounding Tyler Bertuzzi in Chicago. Here’s how it started–a blogger suggested the Buffalo Sabres would like a veteran forward with an affordable term, and Bertuzzi fit the bill. The blogger is a nice enough guy, but he’s not a newsbreaker or someone steeped in sources. From there, other bloggers write a story connecting Buffalo and Chicago, because the original blogger is reporting talks or “rumors.” After that, it hits the aggregator sites, which write that multiple reports indicate talks.
Then, fans see several headlines without reading the story, and they discuss it on message boards: “I saw that Buffalo wants Bertuzzi.” The Instagram “reporters” who merely create memes and pictures of reporters’ work as their own method of writing (and Gen Z takes these people as reporters. It drives me nuts) create Bertuzzi Trade Talks memes, and it keeps going.
Quite literally, that is how these things start in too many cases; all from one blogger who typically writes a high volume of 300-word stories merely suggesting a fit. That’s the anatomy of a rumor. And that’s also why I cringe when many of you ask, “What are you hearing??”
Unless I get something from an agent, an exec, sometimes a scout, or a player, I’m not hearing anything but noise. I’ll report whatever I’m hearing if I trust it, so you’ll see my report before you have to ask (and yes, early in my writing career, I had a longer contact list of coaches, executives, assistant executives, et al… I realized that even they sometimes get it wrong and even a few had to be removed from the list for intentionally being wrong).
Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Summer is over after this weekend. So, how did the Metro Division, including the Penguins, do? We laid out the Metro Division power rankings, and are the Penguins too good?
Steelers Now: Whew–here is everything on a plate. Derrick Bell’s mailbag has everything from the rookie evaluations, WR trade targets, and 2026 draft potentials. It’s heavy-duty Steelers analysis.
Pittsburgh Baseball Now: On the diamond, the Buccos rallied past the Red Sox for a win. Paul Skenes got to .500. Blah bah. John Perrotto put Oneil Cruz under the microscope, and the Pirates’ fielder is 100 ways perplexing. Here’s JP’s analysis as only he can do it on the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Philly Hockey Now: Penn State is playing an outdoor game. Our Will James is a PSU alum, and he is geeked. He’s also dreaming of a Penguins-Flyers outdoor game at Penn State, too. Here’s the full story and Will’s daydream. It’s a good read on Penn State.
NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now
Sportsnet: So here’s what’s going down. Luke Hughes wants a five-year deal to coincide with the expiration of big brother Jack’s eight-year deal. New Jersey is saying, nope. You get a three-year deal or an eight-year deal.
I’m not sorry to rain on their parade, but this stuff about brothers and friends trying to rig their contracts or rig situations to play together is disrespectful to the privilege of playing in the NHL. I understand not liking certain situations or living in certain cities–that’s what free agency is for. It wasn’t designed for players to create their own little club.
Vegas Hockey Now: There’s more fallout from the Mitch Marner interview with TSN this week. What is really gaining news and more stories are coming out, were the death threats and invasions of privacy in Toronto. It sounds like a nightmare, and it sounds like a big reason he’s now with the Vegas Golden Knights.
It was weird enough a couple of years ago when one Pirates knucklehead heard I was at the game and went up and down every aisle until he found me to confront me about hating the Pirates (and challenge me to a fight?!). I can’t imagine that being a regular thing. Short speech: Don’t be a lunatic.
Worst Seats podcast: Michael Russo of The Athletic has a podcast, and he dropped some big news about Kirill Kaprizov’s contract ask. It’s bigger than Draisaitl, into McDavid territory. He wants $16 million?!
NHLtraderumors.me: On Jeff Marek’s latest podcast, The Sheet, one of the things he touched on was Conor Zary’s RFA situation in Calgary. It seems Zary is more serious about signing long-term than the Calgary Flames. That’s probably bad for the player.
Montreal Hockey Now: Ahem, Mr. Dubas. Marc Dumont looks at the quickly rising Habs roster, and there’s one weak spot: Defense. The Montreal Canadiens need defensemen.
And in a story that can only happen in government. The saga of Montreal buses reading, “Go Habs Go” on the digital signboard has hit a roadblock. At first, they couldn’t display the slogan because the transit authority didn’t believe it complied with the strict “French only” directive from the language ministry. However, the language police wanted Go Habs Go! So, the transit people complied, only to realize they can’t do it because it would cost a barrel of money. Yeppers, here’s the saga.
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Categorized:Links Pittsburgh Penguins