from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- I figured Ken Hitchcock to be the perfect coach to bring structure to the Edmonton Oilers, until they won the Connor McDavid lottery. Now you want a coach who can bring structure to the Oilers AND develop a superstar. The job just got more complicated.

- Thomas Vanek, lousy in last year’s playoffs in Montreal, is goal-less this year in Minnesota.

- What if Steve Yzerman had chosen Seth Jones ahead of Jonathan Drouin in 2013 NHL draft? How much different would this very good Tampa Bay Lightning team look then?

You can’t call Drouin a bust yet — it’s still early and clearly there’s a lot of internal disagreement between where the player sees himself and how the Lightning views him. But Jones has been a ready-made NHL defenceman who keeps getting better.

Add him on a second pairing behind Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman and on the Tampa special teams and how much would the Lightning change in terms of talent and size?

more on the Drouin/Jones topic plus additional hockey notes...