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<\/p>\nNEW YORK \u2014 The final lap of the restrictor plate races in NASCAR is generally filled with wild moves, wadded-up cars, and lots of smoke. The days leading up to the 2026 NHL trade deadline are beginning to resemble those final laps at Daytona as more sellers than buyers emerge. There is a misunderstood Pittsburgh Penguins trade rumor that we\u2019ll untangle below. There is a credible report with the extreme asking price for Blues center Robert Thomas, and Steve Stamkos took direct aim to shoot down his trade rumors. <\/p>\n
Also in the Daily, Shelly Anderson had practice, while this goofball made his way to New York (212 games in a row and counting) for the day game. The Penguins got a little bad luck with an injury to Sam Girard and also seemed to shuffle the defense pairs independent of that injury. And Shells dropped a nice column that really touched on some of the themes we\u2019ve been talking about all season\u2013how Muse has become the Penguins\u2019 whisperer. <\/p>\n
Now, I\u2019m not really a church-going type, but there are parts of my Catholic upbringing to which I adhere. One of those is not eating meat on Fridays during Lent (you\u2019re welcome for all of those fire hall fish frys), at least when I remember what day it is. So, last night, I sacrificed giant slices of pepperoni for cheese, and when I went to dinner, I had a black bean burger instead of, you know, a good burger. <\/p>\n
Such a waste of a dinner in New York. Seriously, how do you Vegetarians do it? That damned thing had less flavor than a grease-soaked wrapper from Taco Bell. Less texture, too!<\/p>\n
At least I got a slice. At the expense of my breath, I added garlic knots instead of a second slice. I\u2019ll tell you, after much comparison and exploration, Little Italy Pizza is the best in New York. On 5th and 33rd is my location, but there are a few around the five boroughs. The garlic on the knots is real (not just garlic butter), and they are AWESOME. <\/p>\n
Fortunately, I can eat garlic without a lingering effect. I have some family who wreak for days like a trash can in the summer\u2026<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh Penguins<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Well, that didn\u2019t take long\u2013newly acquired Penguins defenseman Sam Girard is out with a lower-body injury. Shelly had practice, including Dan Muse on the Pittsburgh boys Vincent Trochek and J.T. Miller, and the new Penguins lines<\/a>. <\/p>\n In case I haven\u2019t made it clear, Shelly drove home one of the central tenets of this season. Dan Muse has made a difference. Here\u2019s Shelly\u2019s column\u2013Muse is the Penguins whisperer<\/a>. <\/p>\n Steelers Now: Oh, it\u2019s the NFL combine, and good god almighty, some people are so desperate for football, they\u2019re glued to the TV watching college players run sprints and bench press. Seriously, if you\u2019re going to do that\u2013just do them yourself. However, Alan Saunders is in Indianapolis scouting the Steelers scouting the draft prospects. Here\u2019s the master list of the Steelers meetings<\/a>, so far.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh Baseball Now: I\u2019ll freely admit, this Connor Griffin talk bewilders me. Maybe I\u2019ve seen too many can\u2019t-miss prospects absolutely miss? Danny Demilio writes\u2013Extend Connor Griffin before it\u2019s too late<\/a>!<\/p>\n NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now<\/p>\n Sportsnet: The 32 Thoughts podcast was a nice car companion Friday. In it, Elliotte Friedman talked about several hot-button trade rumors, including Vincent Trocheck. There\u2019s a good bit in the podcast, but Friedman DID NOT report the Penguins are interested in Trocheck. Repeat: DID NOT. He said there are teams that suspect the Penguins are interested, but he did not believe it was a fit. Here\u2019s the pod<\/a>.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s Sportsnet\u2019s print wrap-up of the latest chatter on Trocheck and others in the trade rumor buzz<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Athletic ($): You want HOW MUCH?! The price for Robert Thomas is not a small pill to swallow. It is not smooth whiskey. And it is not cheap. You want Thomas? It will cost three major assets<\/a>.<\/p>\n New Jersey Hockey Now: Steve Stamkos. Pierre LeBrun furthered an earlier report by our James Nichols that Stamkos could be a New Jersey Devils trade target<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Tennessean: Thursday, TSN reports that Stamkos didn\u2019t want to be traded, but had compiled a list of teams to which he would accept a move, including NJ. Friday, Stamkos spoke to the local newspaper and made it clear: 0% chance he will waive his no-movement clause<\/a>.<\/p>\n Who to believe?<\/p>\n Sportsnet Edmonton: I get it, for some of you, this dark humor. The No. 1 goalie position is now wide open in Edmonton, and Connor Ingram will get a chance to supplant Tristan Jarry<\/a>.<\/p>\n Philly Hockey Now: Flyers deadline trade tracker\u2013the latest gossip, rumors, and news as the Flyers trade talks<\/a> heat up.<\/p>\n Boston Hockey Now: Gee, what happens when a rival GM and AGM show up at a game? Yeah, you get an explosion of trade chatter between the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues (The Blues brass were at the Bruins game). Jack Studley has the latest Bruins trade talk<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTags: nhl trade<\/a> Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> sam girard<\/a> vincent trocheck<\/a> <\/p>\n Categorized:Links<\/a> NHL Trade Rumors<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 The final lap of the restrictor plate races in NASCAR is generally filled with wild…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,4983,1790,225438,99,51064],"class_list":{"0":"post-495850","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-nhl-trade","10":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","11":"tag-sam-girard","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-vincent-trocheck"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}