Spring is in full bloom and, for those of us here in the Frozen North, it couldn’t come soon enough. Not only is the weather nicer, but I don’t have to suffer through Minnesota Wild games on TV anymore. The same can be said, at times, for my beloved Red Wings. Typically, the entire focus of the hockey world shifts to the playoffs at this point, but there’s been some pretty juicy stories that deserve a little time in the sun.
Connor
As most have probably already heard and seen, Connor McDavid suffered, what appeared to be, a brutal injury while going to the net. News shortly after said that the x-ray’s were negative which is good because it was oddly reminiscent of Stammer’s fracture he suffered against Boston some years ago. He won’t travel to World’s, as is Oiler tradition following their regular season, due to the injury and he’s expected to make a full recovery. This applies to all athletes, but it would have been a fuckin’ shame if this injury had had long term ramifications on his career, a la Bobby Orr.
Q
Today it was announced that Joel Quenneville will be joining the Florida Panthers next year as the bench boss. This comes just one day after the Sunrise franchise released “The Boogieman.” Rumors were out there that Q was interested in the Cats but to see him go was still a bit surprising. I’d always imagined him ending up somewhere like St. Louis or elsewhere West so he could stick it to Chicago on a regular basis. His decision also thickens the “Bob and The Bread Man” plot. It should be fascinating to see whether those rumors come to fruition because, HOT DAMN would Florida be a trendy pick in Vegas if so.
Out of the Housley
Not a lot to say here. Phil Housley got canned. Jack Eichel is the shadow GM. We’ll see who he picks next to lead them to another lottery pick.
PLAYOFFS, BABY!!!
The table is set for what should be an interesting first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Tomorrow I’ll have a nice little primer on the match-ups. The one nugget I’ll leave here; NHL.com bracket challenge is dumb.