NHL has an Olympic opt-out date in January
TSN: Pierre LeBrun notes that there is a January 10th opt-out for the NHL for the Winter Olympics that get underway in February.
“If COVID cases escalate to a point where games start to get postponed and rescheduled, then there is a conversation to be had. So keep that in mind as we go along.”
Kings looking for a defenseman
TSN: The Los Angeles Kings are working the phones according to Pierre LeBrun as they look for at least a right-sided depth defenseman after they lost two, top-four defensemen in Drew Doughty and Sean Walker.
“Doughty will be back in 6-to-8 weeks so that’s why they can’t just go out and replace his $11 million cap hit. Walker is out for the season. Huge injuries for the Kings’ blueline and the team hopes to at least go and find some depth there.”
Would be a surprise if Cheveldayoff remains with the Jets after today
* Update: Chris Johnston: “The NHL says it will not impose discipline on #NHLJets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff for his role with the 2010 #blackhawks handling of sexual abuse allegations.”
Sportsnet: Sean Reynolds of Sportsnet said that it would be really surprising if Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff were to remain with the team after his meeting with Gary Bettman today.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
“Yeah, I don’t see a scenario by which everyone who was referenced in the meeting where they discussed the situation, and ultimately decided that they weren’t going to handle the situation, or bring it into the spotlight.
With Kevin Cheveldayoff being the last person in that room, there would need to be silver bullet type evidence of something that he did in order to have a different outcome for him. For him to be the last person in that room and somehow survive this when everyone else who had a hand in this, did not survive, it would be surprising to see. And regardless of what we know about his stance at the time, what was said in that meeting. Whether he stood up and slammed his hands on the table and said ‘We need to do something about this.’
The fact of the matter is, this does not continue as long as it does without the culture of secrecy. We know he knew about the situation. We know his complicit in that culture of secrecy. And that’s the kind of thing we need to root out if these kind of things are going to stop in hockey. We want them to stop. We need to take steps to make sure they stop. The culture of secrecy has to go.”