from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

- The hysterical response to Johnny Gaudreau’s decision to leave millions on the table in Calgary and instead sign with Columbus was indeed just that. Players are routinely lambasted across the professional sports landscape for being greedy mercenaries. Now this one is being targeted for taking a road less traveled.

Why No. 13’s path took him to Ohio is anyone’s guess. It is possible that he — and his wife, who is expecting — fell in love with the city, much as Rick Nash did pretty much from the moment he arrived as the 2002 draft’s first-overall selection. It is possible Blue Jackets president John Davidson and general manager Jarmo Kekalainen sold a vision of the franchise that coincided with the All-Star left winger’s....

- The Penguins and their legions seem extremely impressed with themselves for keeping both Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang on long-term deals that will enable the team to run it back over and over again with much of the same crew that has not won a postseason round since 2018, going 6-15 in the process. Congrats!

And when the Penguins re-upped Malkin, that opened the door for the Rangers to sign Pittsburgh native Vincent Trocheck, who otherwise would likely have been out of reach had a bidding war ensued.

- No organization has descended into a quagmire as quickly and as inefficiently as Vegas, which was gifted (in exchange for Bill Foley’s $500 million entry fee) the greatest cap advantage in NHL history and immediately forfeited it with wild overreach on just about every shiny toy on the market.

more on the first topic and other topics too...