from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- Gary Bettman isn’t used to losing any negotiations — or anything else for that matter.

But right now, the commissioner of the National Hockey League is in the kind of fight he has never been in before; this one three-sided, in the middle of a global pandemic, without a way out, necessarily.

Normally when Bettman negotiates a deal — or in this case tries to re-negotiate a deal with the players — he is doing so on behalf of the owners he represents. The problem here is, Bettman made a good-faith deal in the summer with the players, further chipping away at salaries for the next several seasons.

He made it without NHL owners being fully aware of what the coming season or seasons were going to be like....

- Will Babcock coach in the NHL again? Almost certainly. Will it be soon? Not necessarily. There are those, though, in high places who think Babcock should coach Canada’s Olympic team in 2022 in China. There is no Team Canada management group yet. That should be announced once the NHL has a schedule. I’m figuring Doug Armstrong as general manager with a group surrounding him that could include Ken Holland, Kelly McCrimmon, Jim Rutherford and maybe Jim Nill.

- but will one person say, ‘great logo, I’m buying tickets now’? … Isn’t Bruce Boudreau a perfect choice to be the first coach of the Seattle Kraken? Who better to charm a new audience than Boudreau?

more on the first topic plus other notes...