Welcome to the PHT Morning Skate, a collection of links from the NHL and around the hockey world. Have a link you want to submit? Email us at phtblog@nbcsports.
• Ondrej Palat cashes in and signs with the Devils on a five-year, $30 million deal. [NJ.com]
• In other Devils news, Andrew Brunette will join Lindy Ruff’s staff as an assistant coach. [All About the Jersey]
• After watching Johnny Gaudreau sign in Columbus where do the Flames go now? [Sportsnet]
• Now that he’s landed Johnny Hockey, what comes next for Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen? [The Cannon]
• Where does the Flyers’ “aggressive retool” stand after failing to sign Gaudreau? [NBC Sports Philadelphia]
• Capitals GM Brian MacLellan on moving on from Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov and going with Darcy Kuemper and Charlie Lindgren in goal: “I guess it’s a little frustrating that I wish one of them would have taken over the No. 1 spot. And it seemed like one or the other were going to, but then they never quite did it and I think we ran out of time to wait for it. I still think they both have good futures in the NHL. They’re still young, they’re still improving. It was just a situation where we tried it, and we don’t have more time to stick with them both.” [NHL.com]
[NHL free agency tracker 2022: Full list of offseason signings]
• On Steve Yzerman’s free agent approach this offseason: “To me, it looks like Steve Yzerman is starting to position his team for the post-rebuild phase. It’s really not clear what an NHL team coached by Derek Lalonde will look like but it’s very clear they want to make the offense more potent and add some size to the defense. The terms of the contracts are what they are. The NHL is trending toward a major-shift in how important contract terms really are. The reality: The league has no problem when teams circumvent the cap. When you add that with the revolving-door that is rebuilding teams, you can usually find someone to help you with an ugly contract. That’s today’s NHL.” [Winging it in Motown]
• Hockey Canada “made a series of announcements in an open letter to Canadians published Thursday, including the reopening of a third-party investigation into an alleged sexual assault involving members of the country’s 2018 world junior team.” [CBC]
• On the Penguins’ offseason moves so far, highlighted by re-signing Bryan Rust, Kris Letang, and Evgeni Malkin: “In the short term, this is still a playoff team, and a very good playoff team. No, the results have not been there once they have reached the playoffs, but replacing your good players with inferior players is not going to fix that problem. And that was always my problem with the ‘let them go and make changes’ suggestions that had been kicked around all offseason.” [Pensburgh]
• Juraj Slafkovský and Shane Wright have signed their entry-level NHL contracts. [TSN]
• In praise of Pierre Dorion’s aggressive summer to help the Senators win now. [Silver Seven Sens]
More NHL news
Johnny Gaudreau signs with Blue Jackets in free agency stunner Trade: Golden Knights send Max Pacioretty to Hurricanes in salary dump Senators land Claude Giroux with three-year, $19.5M deal
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.
PHT Morning Skate: Palat signs with Devils; What’s next for Blue Jackets? originally appeared on NBCSports.com
