from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- The best twosomes in the NHL: Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn in Dallas; Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine in Winnipeg; and the old guys, Daniel and Henrik Sedin in Vancouver. None of those are Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy or Mark Messier and Glenn Anderson, but Matthews and Nylander will be fascinating to watch grow together.

- The naivete of the Pittsburgh Penguins has been rather astounding as they have mistakenly entered the discussion of sports meeting political unrest, primarily in the United States. The one they were trying to avoid.

They did so by shockingly announcing last Sunday they would go to Donald Trump’s White House for the annual Stanley Cup celebration.

They made that announcement before anyone really knew they had been invited — before they even needed to make any announcement at all. They did so by trying to make a bigger story go away. But all they did was become part of the very story they were trying to avoid....

more on the Penguins, plus more topics including Brendan Shanahn's work with the Leafs...