from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

- Six weeks out from training camp, the roster of unsigned free agents might challenge for a playoff spot — or would do an equally credible job as did the 2021-22 expansion Kraken.

That is a function of the flat cap that has squeezed teams and the free-agent class, as it will for at least the next two summers until the NHLPA’s escrow debt to the league is paid in full. This is a function of the 2020 collective bargaining agreement extension that fully contemplated this issue.

At this juncture, Sonny Milano is out there, and so is Tyler Motte. Paul Stastny, Calvin De Haan, Evan Rodrigues, Zach Aston-Reese, P.K. Subban, Cody Eakin, Ryan Murray, Jay Beagle and Derek Stepan are unsigned. So is Braden Holtby. So is Phil Kessel.

And even Nazem Kadri, who apparently is waiting for his preferred team to clear enough cap space to either sign him or register an already signed deal that is some general manager’s bottom desk drawer.

- So maybe the Red Wings will never erect a statue of Sergei Fedorov outside their arena, but have not the statute of limitations run out on the transcendent center’s 1998 perceived offer sheet transgression with Carolina?

It is surely past time for Detroit to retire Fedorov’s No. 91.

The two biggest miscarriages of justice in NHL awards voting of my career are: 1) Joe Thornton winning the 2006 Hart Trophy instead of Jaromir Jagr; 2) Steve Yzerman winning the 1998 Conn Smythe instead of Fedorov.

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It has raised serious questions, not only in Canada, but also surely here in the United States — about the macho, old-boy mentality that infects the sport from both from the top down and from the bottom up.

Canada deserved better from Hockey Canada. So did the sport. The organization needs a cleansing. It needs a new voice, new direction and new priorities. It needs new leadership. The past must make way for the future. The current regime must go.