from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- This may be completely unrelated to Carey Price’s current personal situation, but more than one hockey person was convinced this summer that Price wanted to be chosen in the expansion draft by the Seattle Kraken but remained in Montreal instead.

- After Aleksander Barkov’s first game in Toronto years ago, I rode down the elevator with then-Florida GM Dale Tallon. I told Tallon that Barkov reminded me of a little of Jonathan Toews, whom Tallon had drafted in Chicago. Tallon smiled and said “better.” Barkov’s new deal in Florida pays him $10 million a year. Toews is being paid $10.5 million after he helped bring three Stanley Cups to Chicago.

- Another bet: One of Shane Pinto or Cole Caufield will win the rookie of the year award in the NHL.

- The part of the Robin Lehner story that made no sense to me: Coaches don’t dispense medications. I’ve been around a lot of teams for a lot of years and have never seen a coach give out a pill. Training staff and medical staff provide medication. Why Lehner centred out Alain Vigneault, whom he never played for, was hard to understand. And I respect the hell out of Lehner for speaking out, even if some of his wording needed to be edited. Lehner later clarified to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan he never intended to accuse Vigneault of distributing pills.

- Did Team USA GM Stan Bowman add Seth Jones to the Olympic team among his first three ahead of Adam Fox, Charlie McAvoy or John Carlson because he was the obvious choice or because he happens to be a Blackhawk?

a few more hockey notes...