from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- Try explaining Erik Karlsson’s season in San Jose. You can’t. He has more even-strength points than McDavid and leads the NHL having been on the ice for 94 even-strength goals, 21 more than McDavid. The next 35 players with even strength points behind him are all forwards not defencemen. And yet on the other side of the ledger, Karlsson leads the NHL in being scored upon — 96 times in all. This isn’t like Bobby Orr’s 139-point season in Boston where he finished at plus-124 or even like Paul Coffey’s 138-point season in Edmonton, where he finished at plus-61.

- A long-time NHL evaluator says this about the New Jersey Devils: “Look at the Florida Panthers last year. Look at the Devils this year. Those are teams playing fast hockey. The common thread, Andrew Brunette was coaching in Florida last year and is coaching in Jersey now.”

- Please tell me that talk of further NHL expansion is just talk. Yes, expansion to Seattle and Vegas has been successful financially and on the ice in those markets and way beyond any expectations. It’s been a win-win for the NHL. But now discussion of Houston and Atlanta (again?) seems premature and unnecessary. The league needs to strengthen its own markets, not water down its product by adding additional cities

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