from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- The best way to judge a general manager: How many games do you win? So far, it’s Lou Lamoriello 83, Kyle Dubas 82 in two seasons since major changes were made with the Maple Leafs. Lamoriello’s Islanders have won a playoff round. Dubas’ Maple Leafs have yet to accomplish that. Short term, it’s Lamoriello 1, Dubas 0.

- This is not in any way a defence of Brandon Leipsic — there is no defence — getting caught in an immature, improper, misogynistic chat with his pals, which almost certainly will cost him his NHL career. When you’re a borderline player, how idiotic of you to get involved with such behavior. But I do wonder, in today’s world with multiple social media outlets and inappropriate texting and conversation so prominent, if you confiscated the phones of every player in professional sports, male and female, and searched for troubling dialogue, you might wind up having to suspend a large percentage of kids under the age of 30.

- Can’t imagine any team in the NHL will want Leipsic. He’s a run-of-the- mill player. Why bring in a 20th man for your roster who comes with this kind of baggage? But this much we do know based on history: If Leipsic were a significant player, the Washington Capitals would have handled this differently. That’s the rub here. If you’re Auston Matthews and you get in trouble in Arizona in the summer, it goes away rather quickly. Years back, the Red Wings did everything to keep Bob Probert on their roster, no matter what trouble he got into. Others were let go in Detroit. Never the late Probert. He was too valuable.

- When the NHL stopped playing, the Philadelphia Flyers were just about the hottest team in hockey That’s a pretty good group, put together mostly by Ron Hextall, the former general manager. It would make sense for one of the waffling franchises to take a run at the methodical Hextall as GM.

a few more hockey notes