Logan Brown Traded to the St. Louis Blues for Zach Sanford
Ian Mendes of The Athletic: Again, it was just a matter of time before something happened with Logan Brown and the Ottawa Senators.
“I drove my truck up here four days ago from St. Louis. So I still had everything still packed. I just threw my hockey bag in the back and I’m driving back there now,” Brown told The Athletic on Saturday evening. “It’s 33 hours of driving that I wouldn’t have had to do.” .
This does kind of symbolize Logan Brown’s tenure in some way. The 23-year old took the high road on Saturday with Ottawa. A trade probably could have been executed earlier in the week but it was not.
Either way, this does not look good for Ottawa. However, they did acquire Zach Sanford, who is a rather serviceable middle-six center. Sanford can score some goals and plays pretty well defensively. It was the kind of depth that Ottawa needs.
Brown was a first-round pick that just never met expectations. Maybe now, a fresh start in St. Louis gains him more playing time and a second chance.
Finally, for St. Louis, this allows them cap flexibility to offer one of their PTO’s an NHL contract potentially.
The New Cross Checking Rules?
Josh Smith of Scouting The Refs: At some point, new rules were coming. This will be some adjustment but the NHL is now trying to crack down on cross-checking throughout the NHL.
It is now clear that the league has more of a focus on situations where a player could use a simple body check. Instead, most are using their stick in an obstructive cross-checking way to impede offensive progress.
At what point, does it get called more? It looks like now we will find out.
Now about those front of the crease cross-checks, those seem a little less clear on rules interpretations. However, the feeling is those will be called more as penalties as well.
Players and officials will adjust but do expect more infractions called early in the 2021-22 season.
