Top Line: O'Reilly offer sheet reaction, DiPietro's suicide talk, more links
Ryan O'Reilly's return to Colorado left some questioning the sanity of the Calgary Flames. (Russell Lansford/Icon SMI)
By Allan Muir
A guide to this morning's must-read hockey stories:
• Here's a sampling of reactions to the Ryan O'Reilly offer sheet drama from Calgary, Denver, the national media and yours truly.
• Here's a radio interview with O'Reilly conducted right after Colorado matched.
• "Obviously, [suicide] is not something you should joke about." Rick DiPietro qualifies the remarks that stunned the hockey world early Thursday. Here's another take.
• Watch DiPietro's comments for yourself. Does he sound like he's being facetious when he talks about driving his car off a bridge? Not so much...
• Chicago's season-opening point streak hit 20 games with a 3-0 win over the Blues, but the Hawks lost starter Corey Crawford to an upper-body injury. A bigger concern: they continue to take a rash of third-period penalties. It's going to catch up to them.
• Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Patrick Kane reflect on the third anniversary of the epic 2010 Olympic gold medal game.
• The return of Rick Nash helped the Rangers snap a four-game losing streak. Good to see Brad Richards with a jump in his step. He looked hopeless out there during Nash's convalescence.
• This is what Evgeni Malkin can do when he's hurt. Oh yeah, I could totally do that, too.
• Viral videos are turning top prospect Jonathan Drouin into a social media legend.
• The Jets got two goals from Andrew Ladd and an ugly win over the Devils to move into playoff position.
• Tough to tell the bigger problem for the Stars: a looming suspension for Jamie Benn or the pervasive lack of discipline that's led them to become the league's most penalized team.
• USA Today has the latest 2013 draft update from The Red Line Report.
• Nazem Kadri put on a show against the Islanders, scoring his first career hat trick. I'm still trying to figure out what Travis Hamonic was thinking on that one, though.
• "One day in the summer, we were playing golf in Halifax. We were the first ones out, just get up and hit it. [Gordie] shoots 68. Lou Boudreau told me he watched Gordie hit baseballs in Tiger Stadium and tried to sign him to a contract with the Indians. So I said: ‘Gordie, you’re the greatest hockey player of all time, you just shot 68 and you could have played major league baseball. It doesn’t seem fair.’ He said, 'You should see me bowl.'"
• Any list of the NHL's top GMs has to include Boston's Peter Chiarelli.