Monday's Links, News, and Notes: Rielly to Face the Music, The Battle of Ontario is Back
Ottawa Senators Hockey: We're back!
The Super Bowl was this Sunday. I guess Kansas City won in dramatic fasion? Good for them.
We've got Ottawa Senators Hockey to cover!
-Morgan Rielly, history's greatest monster, is set to have an in-person hearing with the Department of Player Safety on Tuesday. An in-person hearing opens the door to the possibility that Rielly could face a suspension of six games or more – though it is not a guarantee. I have written on several occasions about my total lack of faith in DoPS so I'm not expecting much, but that would just make a harsh penalty to Rielly all the more delicious and hilarious.
-As Wayne Scanlan discusses in his write-up of Saturday night's match-up with the Maple Leafs, the Battle of Ontario is back!
-Over at Rome in a Day, Graeme Nichols has a good write-up of the Edmonton Oilers' potential interest in Vladimir Tarasenko – and just what the Sens might expect to get in return if they deal the winger.
-Team Canada took down the USA 6-1 on Sunday afternoon to complete a stirring comeback in their Rivalry Series and win 4-3 across the seven match-ups. After falling behind three games to none for the second year in a row, Canada again engineered the "reverse sweep". I'm not sure what that means other than we can expect some damn good hockey when the World Championships get underway in April!
-Speaking of the PWHL, Jeff Marek dismissed the concept of the NHL adopting the "jailbreak" rule that releases a penalized player if their team scores a short-handed goal. As if the NHL could ever be so cool.
-Lastly, Greg Wyshynski has a fun little interview with Charlie McAvoy who, like the rest of us, seems at least somewhat surprised by the Bruins' continued success:
Q. The Bruins have been one of the best stories of the season so far: Pressing for the President's Trophy again after losing some key players and suffering that devastating loss in the playoffs in the first round. Has this season been a surprise for you at all? Or were you confident that the Bruins still had this kind of season in them?
McAvoy: I was definitely surprised. I'll say it. I won't hide it. We lost a lot of guys. Maybe it was the outside noise, but I think I embraced an underdog role this year. I think our team did as well. As we started stringing together our identity and winning more and more hockey games, I was kind of like, how are we doing this? And then it sort of clicked. Like, okay, this isn't luck. We're a really good hockey team again.
