Monday Links, News, and Notes: It’s Draft Week!

• The offseason is officially underway for the foreseeable future, and one of the first big signings was former Senator Robin Lehner, who landed a 5 year contract with the Vegas Golden Knights. Lehner’s been through a lot these last few years, and it’s been really nice to see him grow and come into his own in Vegas.
• I couldn’t exactly write this week’s LNN without mentioning the upcoming draft. There’s been a ton of draft content recently, and I have to give a shoutout to Colin Cudmore for directing me to some of these links and generally being extremely on top of draft coverage. If you haven’t yet, make sure to check out SB Nation’s ongoing mock draft!
• Subscribers to The Athletic can also read their entire seven-round mock draft here!
• In more SB Nation content, Lauren Kelly did a top 31 ranking over on Raw Charge.
• For another top 31 ranking that’s a little more stats focused, click on this thread:/

2020 NHL Draft Rankings: my Top-31!#NHLDraft #2020NHLDraft #HockeyTwitter pic.twitter.com/Z7mreNRsZu

— Mikael Nahabedian (@hunterofstats) September 30, 2020

• Pierre Dorion recently spoke to TSN’s James Duthie about the Sens’ strategy for the draft, as well as what they’re hoping to do in free agency. Check it out here if you haven’t read it yet!
• Sens scout Trent Mann also did a media tour talking about the draft. I’d recommend reading SensChirp’s recap.
• Moving on, Bettman spoke up about that Bubble Confidential that came out not too long ago. The piece featured a lot of pretty damning quotes from NHL players, and Bettman’s response is pretty typical of Bettman. Guess he’s not listening./

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman shared these thoughts on @TSN1040 regarding ESPN's "bubble confidential" story, by yours truly and @emilymkaplan. As a reminder, the NHL banned journalists -- "so-called" or otherwise -- from its bubble, while the NBA had a rotating group of 20+. pic.twitter.com/rc8DB99Isg

— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) October 2, 2020

• Our very own Brandon Maki released a new episode of the Internal Budget podcast yesterday, talking about the draft with Hailey Salvain. I’m biased because the title is “Progressive Mascots,” which is right up my alley, but it is a good listen ahead of the draft!
• Renee Hess of the Black Girl Hockey Club talked about the Get Uncomfortable campaign on the Full 60 podcast.
• BREAKING NEWS: Eugene Melnyk is cheap! /

On his podcast, Friedman mentioned that Ottawa negotiated to collect the insurance if their players on loan get hurt while playing overseas. Agents have told Friedman that this is unprecedented and a little weird. pic.twitter.com/g4lQtjDaID

— Paul (@PaulGb_) October 2, 2020

This isn’t a big deal, it’s just extremely funny and on brand and I needed to share it with you all.

• The Ottawa Sun talked to team President Anthony Leblanc about how the pandemic is affecting the Sens’ efforts to improve their in-game experience. It’s definitely interesting to think about how those plans might be going now, since none of us really have any idea when we’ll be able to have crowds at hockey games again, and it can’t be easy to try to plan ahead with so much uncertainty.
• Relatedly, Greg Wyshynshi wrote a fascinating piece for ESPN on what the next NHL bubbles might look like, including lessons learned from this one.
• And finally, a look at the new jerseys!/

10.6.2020 pic.twitter.com/RBMpnjqryM

— Paul (@PaulGb_) October 5, 2020