More games postponed
NHL PR: More games have been postponed by the NHL.
“The National Hockey League announced today that two additional Buffalo Sabres games (Feb. 11 and Feb. 13 vs. Washington); three more New Jersey Devils contests (Feb. 11 and Feb. 13 vs. Philadelphia and Feb. 15 vs. Boston) and two additional Minnesota Wild games (Feb. 11 vs. St. Louis and Feb. 13 vs. Los Angeles) have been postponed as a result of the NHL’s COVID Protocols. A decision on the three teams’ resumption of practice and game play will be made by the League’s, NHLPA’s and Clubs’ medical groups in the coming days.
All three organizations have, and will continue to follow, all recommended guidelines aimed at protecting the health and safety of their Players, staff and community at large as set by the NHL, local, state and national agencies.”
Dahlin one of 24 Sabres, Devils to have entered the NHL’s COVID Protocol
John Vogl: Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin was added to the NHL’s Protocol Absence list, bringing the Sabres total number of players on the list up to nine.
24 players between the Sabres and Devils who played on January 30th and 31st have entered COVID protocols.
Also, the two linesmen who worked the games have entered protocols.
The Devils have been shut down since last Monday. They were eligible to return today but they chose not to use their training facilities.
The Sabres had hoped to return to their training facilities tomorrow.
Penguins GM Search
Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Player agent Dee Rizzo is getting a push for the Pittsburgh Penguins vacant GM position. Two sources have said that he’s not a leading candidate though.
After talking to multiple people, it seems like Mario Lemieux may have Ron Hextall as a frontrunner. The Penguins had a close view of Hextall’s work from his days running the Philadelphia Flyers. Hextall is currently with the Los Angeles Kings as a part-time senior advisor.
Rob Rossi of The Athletic: The next Pittsburgh Penguins GM will have to come up with multiple plans. They will need some retooling around Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
“A quick turnaround — like, being a Cup contender — for the next few seasons with those big boys, and be a playoff contender for the end of Crosby and Malkin and coming out of that,” said a source close to a candidate about the GM job.
“Nobody there wants to hear about the Penguins becoming the next Kings or Blackhawks. Sounds like they really think there’s a way to be a lot better a year from now, be built better by the next playoffs (2022) and maybe be a Cup contender, but definitely for a couple of years after. And they want a GM who’ll build their system along the way.
“You hear they like what the Rangers did. Sounds like they want something like that, but without completely tearing everything apart.”