from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- Connor McDavid is right. He should be going to the Olympics in February. And he should be mad about it. All NHL players deemed eligible should be going to PyeongChang. But what hockey fans needed was for McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, Carey Price, Alex Ovechkin, Auston Matthews and Erik Karlsson to go against the culture of their sport and stand up and speak out against the NHL. They needed to have their voices heard, representing the four best hockey-playing nations in the world, and they needed to put pressure on the league and their historically lame Players’ Association, to find a way to make a deal ... I’m the last thing from a Bob Goodenow fan but I can’t believe Goodenow would have allowed this Olympic blackout if he was still in charge of the PA.

- Centres I’d rather have than Ryan Johanssen: Crosby, McDavid, Toews, Steven Stamkos, John Tavares, Anze Kopitar, Patrice Bergeron, Matthews, Leon Draisaitl, Jeff Carter, Jack Eichel, Nick Backstrom, Sasha Barkov, Ryan Getzlaf and Tyler Seguin. And I’m probably missing a few. David Poile is normally the most prudent of general managers. He seems to have overpaid for Johanssen at $8 million a year.

- Price is going to have to be exceptional to get what’s left of the Montreal Canadiens into the playoffs.

- Your name is Lou Lamoriello and you have $6 million to spend on the Maple Leafs. What do you do?

Do you, as he did, spend the $6 million and change on the soon-to-be 38-year-old forward Patrick Marleau? That took a three-year commitment.

Or do you, as he chose not to dabble, spend the $6 million a year for one fewer season, and bet on a slow horse named Andrei Markov?

All negotiations being equal, if I’m sitting in the general manager’s chair, and knowing the strengths and weaknesses of this Maple Leafs team, I’m offering a deal to Markov, who has now left the NHL, before I’m considering offering it to Marleau.

more on the Leafs plus a few more hockey topics...