from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

- At the GM meetings, one suggestion made to increase offence was limiting the number of coaches who could be on the bench. The head man and one assistant. The rest must be elsewhere. The theory behind it is “less talking, more reacting.” Would love to know which GM(s) came up with that idea, but a couple of guys laughed and wouldn’t say.

- The Islanders are right in the Eastern Conference race despite an ugly 8-4 loss to Carolina on Monday night. However, the organization re-iterated that any discussion of Doug Weight’s future behind the bench would not occur until after the season. I can understand Weight wanting to see how things evolve on the flow chart.

- As Erik Karlsson and Brad Marchand force their way into the Hart Trophy conversation, Ottawa’s captain is putting up a season unlike any other in recent memory. He leads the league with 181 blocked shots. Tracking that stat goes back to 2003-04 on the NHL website, and the most points by any player who finished first in any one season was 34. Kris Russell did it in 2014-15; Francois Beauchemin equalled it last season. Karlsson has 62 points with 15 games to go. The average point total by the leader in this category is 24. The Senator defender reached 24 points on Dec. 5.

- I know people get sick of following the Coyotes’ off-ice saga. Heck, we get tired of covering it. If you need a conversation piece around the family dinner table in case it ever comes up, go with this: Commissioner Bettman will do everything humanly possible to make a team work in its current market. Clearly, he’s still fighting for Arizona.

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