The NHL trade deadline is more than a week past, but the residuals are still being reported, and the embers of trade talks could lead to some big trades over the summer. The fallout from Radko Gudas\u2019s hit on Auston Matthews included a lot of internal apologies in the Maple Leafs room, hard lobbying for a big suspension, and we\u2019re not 100% certain that Matthews will be ready for next season. <\/p>\n
With the Pittsburgh Penguins, Evgeni Malkin played the godfather and orchestrated a postgame prank on Bryan Rust, using Erik Karlsson as the hitman. On the ice, the Penguins\u2019 playoff chase is getting tougher because their pursuers refuse to lose. The Penguins did the same against the Utah Mammoth in a character-revealing win, but also one in which Penguins coach Dan Muse played a big part. We\u2019ve got full video of the prank, as well as the more important game reporting and analysis from Salt Lake City. <\/p>\n
I tweeted this last night\u2013I\u2019m increasingly wary of all the travel we do to cover games compared to the benefit. There will be changes for next season, but then something happens like Karlsson sneaking up behind you to pie Rust that makes it important to be there. <\/p>\n
Of course, I spent absolutely no time in Salt Lake City. I got about two hours of sleep, but flight delays in Vegas kept me grounded for a few hours. I arrived at noon, got a good nap, and went to the arena. Got back to the hotel at 1 a.m., unwound for an hour before I could fall asleep, and the alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. And then I remembered why I don\u2019t need to travel to every game. We\u2019re off to Denver\u2026<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh Penguins<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh Hockey Now: The game recap was about turning momentum and trends. It was a gutsy game complete with a hard-fought comeback that was capped when Noel Acciari swatted a rebound from his knees. The puck fluttered in so slowly you could read the logos, and the Penguins won 4-3<\/a>.<\/p>\n I did not get it at first. March 14 is Pie Day. Ohhhh\u20133.14\u2026 As part of Pie Day, I was an unwitting participant in this locker room prank. Penguins PR asked that we talk to Bryan Rust first. Uh, okay, sure. I guess I was the blocker as Erik Karlsson sneaked behind me and King of the PG and nailed Rust with a pie to the face. Here\u2019s the full video, including Rust\u2019s reaction, Karlsson rolling on Malkin, and everything else in the Penguins locker room<\/a>.<\/p>\n OK, back to the game. The postgame analysis includes the who and the how the Penguins got to their game after getting pummeled for the first 30 minutes or more. The breakout details and mid-game adjustments were quite interesting. Muse ripped into his team after the first period (we might be the only ones able to report that). A lot of little things illuminated the big picture in the Penguins report card<\/a>.<\/p>\n A couple of Penguins prospects made TSN\u2019s Top 50 affiliated list, and a fifth-rounder is making waves in the NCAA, too. There is some good news about the Penguins\u2019 prospects<\/a>.<\/p>\n NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now<\/p>\n The Tennessean: The Nashville Predators got a lot of calls about 36-year-old Steve Stamkos, but he said, nope. The player made clear he didn\u2019t want to waive his no-trade clause, and so Nashville hung up the phone.<\/a> <\/p>\n Credit our buddy Lyle Richardson, a.k a. Spector\u2019s Hockey, for digging that one up. <\/p>\n NHLtraderumors.me: \u201cNobody believes\u201d the Vancouver Canucks did not get offers for Teddy Blueger, but that\u2019s exactly what GM Patrik Allvin said. No offers, but Vancouver could trade David Kampf, who had passed through waivers? Donnie and Dhali\u00a0aren\u2019t buying what the Canucks are selling<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hockey Night in Canada (Video): The Headlines Segment. When Elliotte Friedman reports that the Maple Leafs are hopeful Matthews won\u2019t need surgery, that also means they don\u2019t KNOW that he won\u2019t. There was quite the behind-the-scenes battle to get Gudas suspended long term. There was also another goalie interference call that directly contradicted one that went against the Penguins, and HNIC noted it perfectly<\/a>.<\/p>\n The GI call Saturday was EXACTLY the same situation as Anthony Mantha \u201ccontacting\u201d Igor Shesterkin in New York. The NHL nullified the Penguins\u2019 goal, but the same play counted on Saturday. It is time for INDEPENDENT referees and officials who have little to no ties to anyone in the game to review plays and suspensions. There\u2019s too much subjectivity born of personal perceptions, relationships, and being \u201cinside\u201d the game. <\/p>\n I know of one story in which a concussion spotter left a player in the game because the spotter knew the player\u2019s father and liked him. That\u2019s the blessing and curse of the small NHL community. <\/p>\n Montreal Hockey Now: A minor-league trade with major implications for the Montreal Canadiens<\/a>.<\/p>\n Philly Hockey Now: Gee, thanks, Philly. Thanks a lot. The Columbus Blue Jackets skated away with two points in a shootout. Here\u2019s what went down and the continuing failures of the Philadelphia Flyers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Boston Hockey Now: It bears watching the wild-card race now, too. The Penguins very well might need one of those spots if Columbus continues to play .800 hockey, which they have done for two months running. Saturday, the Washington Capitals could have helped the Penguins, but they, too, lost in a shootout. Here\u2019s what\u2019s going on and how the Boston Bruins did it<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Athletic ($): And finally, the Vincent Trocheck trade talk will not subside anytime soon. It seems Chris Drury is still working the phones and will try again this summer to unload Trocheck, for a big haul, of course<\/a>. <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTags: Auston Matthews<\/a> Bryan Rust<\/a> nhl trade<\/a> Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> radko gudas<\/a> <\/p>\n Categorized:Links<\/a> NHL Trade Rumors<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NHL trade deadline is more than a week past, but the residuals are still being reported, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[4269,39001,385,4983,1790,236527,99],"class_list":["post-525161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-auston-matthews","tag-bryan-rust","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-trade","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-radko-gudas","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525161","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=525161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}