Top Line: Change of heart on Subban; youth served in San Jose; more links
An annotated guide to this morning's must-read hockey stories:
• Pat Hickey doubts Montreal GM Marc Bergevin was calling P.K. Subban “a rare talent” in front of the arbitrator on Friday, but he changed his tune in time to get a franchise-record deal signed with the fan-favorite defenseman. Ridiculous that it got to the point it did before the accord was reached but, in the end, Subban seems to be happy and the Canadiens have one of the game's best blueliners locked up for the next eight years. Everybody wins. Here's a sampling of reactions to the agreement.
Subban settlement sets a precedent Canadiens brass can live with
• With recent first-roundersNikolayGoldobin and Mirco Mueller expected to compete for jobs in camp, San Jose GM Doug Wilson says the Sharks might end up being the youngest team in the league next season. So, maybe we're getting that “rebuild” after all, is that it?
• Fluto Shinzawa talks Cory Schneider's business-like approach in New Jersey, depth problems for the Blueshirts, and a key organizational hire for the Kings in this week's edition of the best Sunday column in the business.
• Larry Brooks says the Rangers aren't doing themselves any favors by dawdling on a contract extension for Marc Staal, considers a strange twist of fate at the Department of Player Safety and thinks there's one NHL team that should be all over Michael Del Zotto.
• Sure, the money and the fame and the championships are nice, but ultimately every player has just one goal: to have a street named after him.
• Steve Simmons explains how the Leafs are putting Morgan Rielly in a position to succeed and how the decision to move on from Dave Bolland allowed Toronto to bring on four forwards in his place in his multi-sport Sunday column.
• Nathan MacKinnon and Brad Marchand helped raise $100,000 playing in a charity tournament honoring the memory of Jordan Boyd, the 16-year-old who died in camp with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the QMJHL last fall.
• Maybe we haven't seen the last of BizNasty after all. Washington is one of six teams reportedly interested in signing the free-agent pugilist and online bon vivant.
• Going by this headline, there's not a lot of enthusiasm in Winnipeg over the signing of free-agent forward T.J. Galiardi.
• Mike Richards knows it's not what you eat for breakfast that matters -- it's what you eat out of.
• Adam Proteau solicited input on how to better market the game to women and after rolling through a list of reader complaints about pink jerseys and ice girls he concludes with one letter that looks at the big picture and recognizes there's no one-size-fits-all solution. In the end, this whole exercise makes me glad I'm not in marketing.
• Joe Pelletier looks back at the events of the 1945-46 season, including the return of players who'd fought overseas in World War II and talk of expansion to San Francisco.