from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- How do you get an ‘A’ defenceman? That seems to be the ongoing conversation in hockey. The list in the NHL would always begin with Erik Karlsson, Drew Doughty and Victor Hedman. Alex Pietrangelo, in St. Louis, is playing that way this season. Duncan Keith, normally an ‘A,’ isn’t at the same level he once was and the same could be said of the aging Zdeno Chara. The past few years, Brent Burns was that player, just not this season. So you look around and there aren’t many of them. There are more A-minus defenceman, like Roman Josi, P.K. Subban or Kris Letang and even that’s limited. Leafs’ Morgan Rielly has improved to the point where he is knocking on the A-minus door. If he can improve his gaps and stop chasing the play in his own end and get comfortable killing penalties, he can join the group that includes Subban. Finding the ‘A,’ frankly, is next to impossible.

- This is embarrassing: Neither Jack Eichel nor Leon Draisaitl, they of the $140 million in contracts signed, have not scored a power-play goal this season. Draisaitl doesn’t have a power-play point. Is it little wonder that Buffalo and Edmonton are two of the three worst teams in the NHL.

a few more hockey related notes...