from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

- I will admit this even if it makes me look unprofessional, but I’m rooting for a Buffalo victory. No one deserves this level of on-ice misery in such a mentally challenging isolation season.

With two weeks until the trade deadline, no GM is using more data than Kevyn Adams. The Sabres are out of the race and not pretending otherwise. I thought he did well to get two picks for Eric Staal, and Adams tried for a second-rounder before committing to Montreal. The advantage for him right now is some other teams (Arizona, Columbus, Nashville among them) are holding because they’re suddenly in the race.

Adams was believed to be discussing something with struggling St. Louis. I wondered if it would be Taylor Hall, but received pushback on that idea, so we’ll see where it goes. There are a ton of teams calling to see what he’s willing to do, and what it will take.

- I’m another one who believes Luke Glendening is very much on Edmonton’s radar. (Tippett is not the source for this.) Makes too much sense, but the challenge for the Oilers is getting outbid by a higher pick than they want to exchange.

I heard that his Detroit teammates jokingly compared Glendening — when in the face-off circle — to a dog eying a ball. His eyes never leave the puck in a linesman’s hand. He’s completely focused on it and ignores all else. Guess that’s why he’s at 64 per cent.

- According to multiple sources, Peel, devastated by what happened, threw himself on the grenade and took full responsibility, apologizing to the Predators post-game. Apparently, he’d seen a replay of his call on the video screen, realized it was a miss, and was annoyed at himself.

Most of the current and retired officials who were willing to discuss the incident said they understood the decision. They didn’t like it, and felt terribly for Peel, but they understood. A couple of them brought up disgraced ex-NBA referee Tim Donaghy, who was caught betting on games in 2007. (Let’s just state for the record, I don’t believe Peel was doing anything remotely similar or unethical.)

“When that happened,” one said, “the NHL immediately reached out to us. They asked us if there was anything they needed to know.”

more on Tim Peel and other notes of interest...