We’ll start with Sidney Crosby, unable to play today after picking up an injury in the quarterfinals. The picture sums it up, a gutting ending for his 2026 Olympics, and at 38-years old, stands at what very possibly ends up as his final moment on Olympic ice. That’s a tough ending to that chapter. He’ll always have the 2010 golden goal and captaining his country to another gold in 2014, though it’s not much consolation now.
Now the question becomes what will happen with the Penguins? Pittsburgh plays on Thursday, and Saturday and next Sunday and on and on. Crosby’s knee appeared at least OK enough to make an effort to see if he could play, but he wasn’t able to. That’s a troubling sign for the beginning of what will be a wicked stretch for the Pens and the big question will become how much longer Crosby will have to watch.
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Down in Wilkes, Avery Hayes was held out of the AHL lineup for a game today and is expected to be recalled to Pittsburgh officially when the NHL roster freeze ends tonight. That might make for a troubling sign if Crosby’s next stop is the IR, though he would be able to return from it as soon as his health returns. Speaking of the IR list, if Kris Letang is able to return for Thursday’s game as expected that could spell bad news for Ryan Graves’s roster spot until the trade deadline..There’s still a few weeks to get there, the Pens look like they have some roster juggling coming up for the period while they still have to fit under the 23-player roster limit.
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The gold is instant validation for general manager Bill Guerin and Mike Sullivan. No one can say they didn’t do it their way, and their way ended up working.
That quote has to sting for players like Jason Robertson, Cole Caufield and Adam Fox (who plays on Sullivan’s NHL team) that while they were certainly talented enough to be among the top American players, they ended up not getting a role on this club for very pointed reasons. The US was laser-focused on bringing a squad that could matchup against Canada and the concept was proved out on the medal color that hangs on their neck. Sullivan is now the second coach (along with Mike Babcock) to have won a Stanley Cup and Olympic gold.
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Had the US come up a goal short, the discourse would have turned on Guerin and Sullivan on their decisions. They were flexible enough to move a player like Kyle Conner (great in the NHL, often lost on the national team) down and try Clayton Keller in that spot before finally finding the magic with Jack Hughes being the right fit for that line, it proved enough to work. Sullivan and especially Guerin now can relish in bringing back the gold medal for the first time in 46 years.
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Then again, a great goalie can cover up all sorts of things in front of him, and Connor Hellebuyck with his 41 saves today was absolutely amazing. The difference between the US and Canada (who won a 3-2 OT game last year at 4 Nations) is so fine right now. Doubtlessly the biggest turning point of today was the Americans getting superior goaltending over the course of a game where they were on their heels for most of the second and third periods. As Crosby said post-game (and Nathan MacKinnon matched with understandably even more raw emotion), Canada did just about everything in this game except find that one more goal to pull ahead. Hellebuyck was the clear reason why.
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What a moment it was for the Hughes brothers, who put their stamp on this event. Quinn Hughes is probably the best defender in the game right now, the amount of game control and impact he has on the ice is arguably the slightest notch better than Cale Makar. Jack Hughes is in his seventh NHL season and while he has a 99-point year under his belt he’s only been to the playoffs once and has been overshadowed by other recent No. 1 overall picks. Can’t say that any longer with his bloody mouth and toothless grin after the golden goal. Where both go from here as far as their status in the hockey world will be worth watching. The Pens will get a first-hand view of it with Jack, the Devils and Penguins meet on Thursday in Pittsburgh.
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Connor McDavid has been unflinchingly loyal to the Edmonton Oilers, from the outside one has to wonder if he made the right choice to extend his contract two more seasons there. McDavid and Macklin Celebrini have something special, imagine a world where McDavid joins up with a rising San Jose team? That would be incredible. There’s something to be said about McDavid’s desire to not seek out a new situation and try to make it work where he’s at, but at this point of watching someone else celebrate yet again it’s hard not to wonder how he will respond to that feeling of coming up short again. Matthew Tkachuk famously taunted Leon Draisaitl as ‘always the bridesmaid’, that dig is even more fitting towards McDavid. Credit to McDavid for not turning full Hossa and shopping for teams that are contenders, though at this point it would be tough to blame him for a shift in mindset.
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With that thought still in mind, it was great for the NHL when Matthew Tkachuk got out of Calgary and into a better situation for Florida or when Jack Eichel moved from Buffalo to Vegas. That also might come to pass with Quinn Hughes getting to a better spot in Minnesota now. Selfishly, wouldn’t it be great if that could happen for “Brother Brady” and Zach Werenski? Both are contract tied to their teams for a while and also exceedingly loyal to their clubs -there’s no real reason to expect a change any time soon – it would just be nice for players like that to get in better positions. Fans of Ottawa and Columbus will rightfully be offended by the notion, just a passing thought.
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The lasting image of these games, for me anyways, will be the picture in the header at the top. It was really nice for the US players to keep Johnny Gaudreau’s jersey in the lockerroom and keep his spirit close. When Dylan Larkin and Zach Werenski headed to the stands to get two of Gaudreau’s children and include them in a team picture, man, how can you not get emotional over that? One of the kids, Johnny Jr., celebrated his second birthday today on 2/22. For a family that went through so much losing Johnny and Matthew, seeing them be included in this moment was just the best and as perfect a moment as there could be to wrap up the competition for the Americans.
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