from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- The quality of young defenceman in the NHL may be at all time high. Under the age of 25: Cale Makar, Rasmus Dahlin, Quinn Hughes, Miro Heiskanen, Adam Fox, Owen Power, Jake Sanderson, Mo Seider, Evan Bouchard, Mikhail Sergachev, K’Andre Miller, Noah Dobson. And Charlie McAvoy is only 25.

- NHL Network has put together its top 100 list for the coming season. The weird thing — and it might well be accurate at this time in history — is Alexander Ovechkin listed as No. 30. Because it’s Ovie, though, it just seems wrong.

- Great goaltenders who have not won Stanley Cups: Henrik Lundqvist, Roberto Luongo, Pekka Rinne, Miikka Kiprusoff and Curtis Joseph.

- When I talked to Jon Cooper before training camp began in Tampa, one of the first things he said was “if you have Andrei Vasilevskiy, you always have a chance.” Now Vasilevskiy is out for two months. The Bruins begin play with Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci retired. There is an opening to start for the Maple Leafs atop the Atlantic Division and an opening for Ottawa and Buffalo to push into playoff contention.

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