from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

It is always amusing when Colin Campbell leaps to the defense of the integrity of the league, as the NHL’s director of hockey operations indirectly did when castigating John Tortorella’s “unprofessional and unacceptable” Dec. 29 postgame tirade against the officials and the folks in the video review center in Toronto.

The Columbus coach was not merely castigated by the league, he was fined $20,000 and informed he would be “conditionally” fined another $25,000 in the event of a repeat episode between now and Dec. 29, 2020.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to hear what Tortorella will have to say on Dec. 30, 2020. One can only hope the Blue Jackets are at the Garden that day.

Also, now that the league is moving into the area of “conditional” discipline, how about conditionally suspending Tom Wilson for 10 games if he delivers a headshot between now and, oh, next week?

continued with mor topics like this...

Dylan Larkin of the Red Wings, who will have five full months off once the regular season ends of the fourth day of April, says that he prefers not to be selected as the Last Man In(to) the All-Star extravaganza because he’d rather have the time off.

The 23-year-old at least gets a couple of points for honesty, which is more than can be said for Strongman-loving Alex Ovechkin’s assertion that he’ll be skipping the Jan. 24-25 festivities in St. Louis so he can use the time to prepare his body for the playoffs....