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Dater’s Daily: Masks required again at Ball Arena, Eichel removes Buffalo from Twitter account, a purge in Vegas

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Ball Arena

Good Friday to you all. Hope your AC bills aren’t crushing you. Let’s do some hockey links, starting off with some news about Ball Arena, and if you’re going in anytime soon (I know I plan to, on Sept. 1 – Hall and Oates and Squeeze!).

  • Last week, Ball Arena made masks mandatory again for fans and staff in the building. This is REGARDLESS of vaccination status. Could that change by Sept. 30, when the Avs play their next hockey game at Ball (preseason tilt, against Minnesota)? Who knows? But for now, the masks are baaa-aaaack.
  • Seems like the NHL trade market is settling down now. August is always the slowest month of the season for hockey news/developments, so it is what it is. Pretty much every hockey player and GM goes on some kind of a vacation in August. But there is still the Jack Eichel drama going on, and you never know what might happen here.
  • In fact, Eichel caused a stir earlier today by starting a brand new Twitter account that has no mention of Buffalo anywhere on it – like his old one did (WYRK Buffalo)
  • Boston: Our boys in Boston were doing some heavy lifting. The Bruins are adding names to the NHL trade market, including Jake DeBrusk again, and sources confirmed the name at the top of their list is Arizona Coyotes center, Christian Dvorak.
  • What’s going on in Vegas?  Fleury-gone. Reaves-gone. Reilly Smith–on the NHL trade block. And now, the CMO of the organization, who built a perfect, fun, and beautiful marketing strategy–GONE, too. 
  • Detroit: If you’re into prospects, Detroit is LOADED. Stevie Y knows what he’s doing, and another under-the-radar prospect is popping up for Team Sweden and making waves.
  • Vancouver: Big get for our new guy Rob Simpson in Vancouver! He chatted with Canucks head coach Travis Green about COVID, the short summer, and GM Jim Benning’s work on the NHL trade fronts. COVID really knocked Green out. 
  • San Jose: Assistant coach John Madden was one of many people close to Columbus Blue Jackets goalie Mattis Kivlenieks, who passed away last month in a fireworks accident. He died a hero as he made one more save–getting between a stray firework launch and a teammate’s family. John Madden fondly remembered Kivlenieks. 
  • Cam & Strick Podcast: Grab a cup of coffee. Settle in. Former NHLer and DU product Beau Bennett was a guest, talking about a wild Evgeni Malkin locker room fight in Pittsburgh and Phil Kessel chirping Sidney Crosby.
  • Speaking of Kessel, it looks like he’s tired of the Arizona desert. “After missing the playoffs for the eighth time in nine seasons, the Coyotes traded away captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland to the Canucks, Darcy Kuemper to the Avalanche, and allowed Alex GoligoskiJason Demers, and Antti Raanta to walk in free agency,” says Craig Morgan, who covers the team. Now last season’s leading scorer, Kessel, says he wants out, with one year left on his deal.
  • I thought Kessel might have made for a nice one-year fill-in for Brandon Saad, but I had that quickly shot down by my sources. Another problem is he would still cost something in trade. But, the guy still puts up points. Twenty goals, 43 points in 56 games last year for a bad team.

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