NEWSLETTER
I truly hope you all had a good weekend. The first weekend since the Stanley Cup Final ended and the NHL offseason commenced. It was relatively quiet, no? I mean, outside of the absolute upheaval that was caused by Patrick Kane winning the ESPY for Best NHL Player in 2021. But who’s counting?
• With the offseason getting off to a slow-burn pace so fast, we were ripe for a Monday morning news blast.
• Enter the Ottawa Senators:
News Release: The #Sens have announced the appointment of Pierre McGuire as senior vice president of player development: https://t.co/SRogJf3nHC pic.twitter.com/AMvaK20VB9
— Sens Communications (@Media_Sens) July 12, 2021
• Yes, THE Pierre McGuire. The Senators have hired former NHL on NBC in-gamer analyst and everyone’s favorite useless information machine to a senior VP of player development role.
I'm now thinking about how much I hate meetings that are prolonged by verbose coworkers and that, in the near future, someone in an Ottawa conference room is going to turn their head and say "Pierre, what are your thoughts?" https://t.co/S6uTjQ5fxs
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) July 12, 2021
• And there was much rejoicing:
Thank you, Senators…..signed, American hockey fans. https://t.co/Gxd2ZuIFSm
— Greg Boysen (@GregBoysen) July 12, 2021
• Look, Pierre McGuire has been a lightning rod for criticism and being the butt of the joke for a long time in his role with NBC. Honestly, he was misused as an in-game analyst and should have been more suited for a studio analyst role, where we could know when he was going to say outrageous things that either didn’t make sense, didn’t pertain to the game, or just was off-putting.
What is your favorite Pierre McGuire moment?
(🎥@NHLonNBCSports) pic.twitter.com/SkkxJrKcHS— Mario Tirabassi (@Mario_Tirabassi) July 12, 2021
• Good for him to land the job and good for the Senators on being able to save money on their analytics department, now that they don’t need it.
• A team that does invest in analytics, the Tampa Bay Lightning, get to have their second Stanley Cup boat parade today.
IT’S BOAT PARADE DAY 🗣 #GoBolts pic.twitter.com/qEVwVDAxpA
— x – Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) July 12, 2021
• As we have seen in the last few months, the Tampa area can sure put on a swell boat parade. The Lightning did this last year, as well as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after winning the Super Bowl. Like we mentioned in yesterday’s Bullets, the Lightning have a knack for playing the role of the troll after winning back-to-back Cups. First it was the “#1 Bullshit” t-shirts and now its the $18M over the Cap t-shirts:
Nice shirt, @86Kucherov pic.twitter.com/wmkSHQKAj1
— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) July 11, 2021
• I mean, lean into it. You’re the Cup champions, might as well live it up.
The #tblightning shirts embracing the LTIR narrative (which the #NHL investigated and had zero problem with). Don’t think they’ll be wearing them at boat parade Monday but likely on the boat today. From agent @HockeyAgent1 Instagram pic.twitter.com/oM2EgbCs8S
— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithTB) July 11, 2021
• Also mentioned in yesterday’s Bullets, could this be Steve Stamkos’ last boat parade with the Lightning? No one is saying it, but I am pondering it…
Back to Boat ! @86Kucherov pic.twitter.com/Bmk99Wx1bs
— Steven Stamkos (@RealStamkos91) July 12, 2021
• Ok, so which one is getting tossed from boat-to-boat?
Its #StanleyCup parade day in @CityofTampa the trophies are ready, players ready, staff ready are you? @TBLightning @nhl@HockeyHallFame pic.twitter.com/6JIzEXGVRJ
— Philip Pritchard (@keeperofthecup) July 12, 2021
• My money is one the Conn Smythe getting tossed from Vasilevskiy to Kucherov and back.
• With the end of the season, NHL Safety Watch (I recommend following on Twitter), wraps up the concussion numbers from the NHL this season.
As not all concussions are confirmed by the team, had to do some digging. That being said I am confident about this numbers (2/3)
— NHL Safety Watch (@NHLSafetyWatch) July 11, 2021
• Any concussion can be a grim diagnosis, but the lasting effects that extreme contact sports like Hockey and Football can produce need to be taken seriously. The league, however, has said on numerous occasions that they deny the connection between concussions and CTE.
A 2016 study published in The Journal of Neurotrauma found overall cumulative "subconcussive" blows, not only concussions, can predict problems later in life like memory loss, depression, and apathy.https://t.co/o8dKYTybFl https://t.co/zyOKQUWPAc
— Rick Westhead (@rwesthead) July 11, 2021
• It’s a bitter reality we are faced with as hockey fans. Here’s to any player who suffered a concussion(s) this season, that they can recover and be as healthy as possible moving forward.
• In Blackhawks-land, which is a lot less magical as it sounds, Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times did a great report on the team’s hold on talent coming from Plzen in the Czech Republic after Dominik Kubalík, Matej Chalupa, and Jakub Pour have all joined the team.
Dominik Kubalik's success with the Blackhawks has wooed two other players from HC Plzen, his hometown Czech team, to make the North American jump.
My story after talking with Kubalik and new signing Jakub Pour: https://t.co/5APGLUUafa
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) July 11, 2021
• Also, a congratulations to Kubalík and his wife Klára Melková on their weeding this weekend!
• I’ll leave you with some heartwarming content as Jon Merrill of the Montreal Canadiens returned home this weekend and was welcomed by his wife and three daughters:
Jon Merrill reuniting with his daughters is the cutest thing you'll see all day. ❤️
(🎥 @JesMolina) pic.twitter.com/wz0qqZVmt1
— NHL (@NHL) July 12, 2021
• What is it with Merrill and his family that just seems to bring out these kinds of adorable emotions?
• That will do it for today. Enjoy your Monday!
• FINAL CALL! Last chance to get your Monday Mailbag questions in for today’s mailbag post. Use the hashtag #BNHawksMailbag on Twitter to get them answered!
