from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- After watching Herb Carnegie play, Conn Smythe apparently offered $10,000 to anyone who could turn Carnegie’s skin colour to white.

He was being facetious, of course. He was also being racist.

Carnegie was more than good enough to play in the National Hockey League in the late 1940s, early ’50s, years before Willie O’Ree. The Maple Leafs and the rest of the NHL wouldn’t sign him.

He never got the chance to play at the highest level because he was black....

- So many of the people screaming about Auston Matthews’ privacy being violated by my report of him testing positive for COVID-19 were remarkably silent just a few days earlier when reports of Ezekiel Elliott’s positive COVID test came out. That story was broken by the NFL Network. And almost immediately, it became part of daily conversation on ESPN.

Here in hockey-crazed Canada, the same networks and news outlets that have turned a blind eye to the Matthews story, as if it didn’t happen, not even mentioning it on television, reported Elliott’s situation without delay. So, is Matthews’ privacy more important or more valuable than Elliott’s? Or has the hockey culture gone silent once again?

- Jarome Iginla will make history when he is named to the Hockey Hall of Fame in a few days time. He will become the first black skater (non-goalie) in hockey history to be elected in the player category. He will head up the class of 2020, which should include Marian Hossa. After that, it’s guessing time for the other two spots. Maybe Alex Mogilny. Maybe Tom Barrasso. Maybe Mike Vernon. Maybe the long overdue Doug Wilson. Maybe Theo Fleury or Jeremy Roenick.

- This is where statistics lie. Dave Andreychuk, Hall of Famer, scored 640 NHL goals. Dino Ciccarelli, Hall of Famer, scored 608 goals. Patrik Elias, with 408 goals, was a better player year-in, year-out, than either Andreychuk or Ciccarelli. He’d be in my Hall of Fame ahead of a lot of people already there.

more on the first topic and other notes...