Thursday Links, News, and Notes: Coaches Playing Musical Chairs Edition

I don't want to alarm anyone, but the Ottawa Charge may just have me believing in Ottawa hockey once again. Any time you get to watch Montreal squirm sounds like a good time to me. Also the NHL playoffs continue with various storylines and also some Ottawa Senators have played some international hockey but as long as we have spring hockey right here in Ottawa, that should hold our collective focus.

• For anyone who foolishly missed Beata's game three recap, I guess you could check out the CBC recap but uh seriously read Beata's first and foremost. Gwyneth Philips all day every day tbh.
• Closer to the Senators, Linus Ullmark voiced his disappointment when Sweden's head coach Sam Hallam left both Ullmark and former Senator Filip Gustavsson off the Swedish national team's roster for the world championship (in Sweden by the way). Selfishly I like that Ullmark will have more time to rest and recover this summer but also I get that he wanted to represent his country at home in front of his friends and family. Somehow I can see this coming back to bite team Sweden in the ass.
• In more general NHL news, we now know the offer sheet thresholds for this summer, officially. I think for the most part, folks who expect a lot of offer sheets this summer will end up disappointed as I think last year represented more of an anomaly and yes I know the cap will go up. As a Sens fan, it doesn't really affect me as I doubt the organization feels ready to part with the few draft picks they have but man I would laugh like hell if Toronto loses Knies.
• Over at daily faceoff, the staff again ask the question as to whether we currently reside in some golden age of hockey. I would probably say maybe. Connor McDavid seems pretty good and when I grew up in the nineties and early 2000s nobody really scored goals and every playoff game ended like 2-0 so yeah this does seem way cooler and also watching those defences and goalies from the seventies and eighties they seem kinda craptastic. Live in the now.
• Down in southern California, the Kings will reportedly hire general manager Ken Holland to get them over the proverbial hump because god forbid a team try something different. My unpopular take is that Rob Blake did a good job in LA and just ran into some rotten luck in the playoffs. He should probably get another gig. Speaking of the Kings, Steve Warne notes that DJ Smith could get another head coaching job in the NHL sooner than later. I think most Sens fans liked Smith the person and wish him best of luck but also if he coaches in the eastern conference I wish him limited success in terms of wins.
• Speaking of the dead puck era, it looks like the Canucks will promote Adam Foote as their head coach. Like most people in this part of North America, I really don't care what the Canucks do but I can definitely say I remember Foote as a dude who played on a team with Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, and Patrick Roy (and also Rob Blake as I recall). Meanwhile the garbage recycling continues unabated on the eastern seaboard as the Flyers will reportedly hire Rick Tocchet as their new coach. I mean anything marks an upgrade over the last guy in Philadelphia but also I expected a young GM like Danny Briere to think a little more unconventionally. Oh well.

Happy Thursday, folks!