from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- When Craig Patrick was general manager of the Penguins, he used to talk a lot about maximizing his opportunities. In other words, he knew that he had Lemieux, then Jaromir Jagr, then the spectacular deal for Ron Francis. “We had to find a way to surround Mario with better players,” Patrick said. “We only had so much time to get it right.” Ken Holland must feel that way in Edmonton with McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Darnell Nurse on his roster. There is a certain responsibility now to get this right, to build a contender around his superstars. And the world is far more impatient now than it was when Lemieux was coming up in Pittsburgh.

- Colorado vs. Vegas should be great. My concern with the Golden Knights — strength down the middle, even with Nazem Kadri missing from the Colorado lineup. The four Vegas centres with Tomas Nosek out: Chandler Stephenson, William Karlsson, Nicolas Roy and Patrick Brown.

- Ken Campbell, out after 25 years at The Hockey News and The Toronto Star, is a rare gem in the hockey writing world. He can write games, off-days, features, report boldly on contentious subjects, tackle issues, and offer fearless commentary. He takes names and sides: Somebody needs to put him to work.

- Dumb hockey cliches: The fourth game is the hardest to win. And the Stanley Cup is the hardest trophy to win in sports

- I don’t think Ron MacLean did anything but trip over his own awkward words on Hockey Night In Canada. But everything, it seems, offends somebody these days and hardly a day goes by without someone apologizing for something.

a few more notes...