from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- Connor McDavid is not, repeat not, LeBron James. He doesn’t want to coach, manage and play all at the same time for the Edmonton Oilers. He just wants to win. So, the fact that McDavid’s former agent, Jeff Jackson is now in charge of the Oilers and his former junior coach, Kris Knoblauch has replaced Jay Woodcroft behind the Edmonton bench, is not McDavid orchestrating havoc behind the scenes. It is ownership doing whatever it believes is necessary to make certain McDavid doesn’t sour on the franchise. GM Ken Holland will be gone at the end of the season — his call — and I wouldn’t be surprised if Dave Gagner, whose son plays for the Oilers and is another former McDavid associate and a close Jackson friend, is brought in to be Oilers GM.

- Pavel Datsyuk is eligible for next year’s Hockey Hall of Fame class. Could the Hall find a way to get him and Henrik Zetterberg in as a pair? Their entire careers were almost played side-by-side.

- How is it that the American networks, TNT and ESPN, one year in, have figured out how to present hockey better than Rogers Sportsnet is doing it in Year 10 of its 12-year deal with the NHL where Hockey Night In Canada remains a work in progress.

- This is a dangerous place where media organizations are regularly going, either linking up with, or becoming, sports gambling outfits themselves. The latest to do it is ESPN. Sometimes you can’t tell the difference between editorial content and gambling advertising on television. Hockey Night In Canada, among others, treat it as though it’s part of the show. It shouldn’t be allowed.

- Can Johnny Gaudreau have a do-over in free agency? In 97 games with the Columbus Blue Jackets, he has 22 goals and 58 assists for a respectable 80 points. In his final 97 games as a Calgary Flame, he had 45 goals, 90 assists for a spectacular 135 points.

more