from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- Evander Kane is hopeful yet somewhat naive that hockey or social media will change just because he believes it’s the right time to change.

Truth is, it has been the right time for decades but now social media, giving loud voice to cowards and bigots and trolls, has increased the hatred, the noise, the name-calling, not just in sport, but in almost every walk of life.

The problem, as always, is multi-faceted....

- I’m told the Leafs could have signed Marner a year ago for eight years and $8 million a year but they thought it was too much at the time.

- At $7.2 million David Krejci is the highest-paid player on the rather frugal and salary-wise Boston Bruins roster. Below that, they have Tuukaa Rask, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak signed. So here’s the problem. They need to sign half their top defencemen, Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo, who combined should come in at around $11-12 million. But they only have about $7 million if they want to leave themselves any room for the season.

- On the matter of Rogers ousting Nick Kypreos, (John) Shannon, Bob McCown, Doug MacLean and others, understand this much: Some were paid to leave. Some contracts expired. None went willingly.

more on the first topic plue additional hockey talk...