Top Line: Penguins botch coach search; P.K. Subban tries Tinder

By Allan Muir

An annotated guide to this morning’s must-read hockey stories:

• There's no telling whether Willie Desjardins will be a great NHL coach, but we know this much: He doesn't want one of the best jobs in hockey and it's because of the bungling of new GM Jim Rutherford.

• Here's why he's not a Penguin and here's where he's going instead.

• Back to the Pens, here's an outstanding video feature our own Michael Farber worked up for TSN on the 1983-84 Pittsburgh team that may have tanked to secure Mario Lemieux. Either way, it worked out pretty well for them, eh?

• The New York Rangers decided it was time to rip off the band-aid and bought out the remainder of Brad Richards' contract.

• The Los Angeles Kings have finally made a decision on the future of fourth-line center Mike Richards. Will they use a compliance buyout to shed that massive cap hit?

• Tanner Pearson was passed over his first time through the NHL draft and he went on to become a top-six forward for the Stanley Cup champion Kings. This year, teams have a chance to correct their 2013 oversight and snag massive forward Hunter Smith. That's a good Windsor boy right there, so you know someone's getting a beauty.

• Here's the one player Buffalo GM Tim Murray doesn't expect to be available when the Sabres step up to make the No. 2 overall pick.

• P.K. Subban tries out Tinder. How else can a millionaire superstar find true love?

• We knew the new CCM Tacks skates would be hot but not this hot.

• Matt Larkin makes the argument that this rebuilding team should trade down at the draft.

• Ronnie Shuker says it's not cool to attend a game wearing a sweater of a team that's not playing.

• Here's a statistical analysis of how Joe Thornton can be expected to perform over the remaining years of his contract. The numbers look pretty good...but then again, it was never the regular season production that the Sharks worried about, was it?

• The Big Three will be reunited in the rafters of the Bell Centre next season as Guy Lapointe's No. 5 jersey is raised to join Larry Robinson and Serge Savard in retirement. It's an honor long overdue the legendary defenseman.

• The AHL championship won by the Texas Stars could change the trade/free agency approach of Dallas GM Jim Nill. Clearly there are a few pieces on the Texas squad that could step up in time, but that Calder Cup was won mostly by players not ready for the primetime.