Dater’s Daily: NHL free-agent buzz heating back up

Happy Thursday to all. Another sunny, warm day here in Thornton. As I type this, I’m watching “Ice Guardians” for the first time, on Amazon Prime video. Surprised I hadn’t seen it yet. It’s about NHL enforcers. I’ll try not to get too distracted here as I do some NHL links, including the first one on how the NHL free-agent buzz is picking back up again:

• Good rundown on the situation from old pal Greg Wyshynski at ESPN, on who’s still out there and where they might go. One nugget: Evan Rodrigues has “seven or eight teams” interested in him, according to his agent (ESPN)
• I still don’t think the Avalanche is one of them. But that’s more of an educated guess at this point. I just think the Avalanche will look to promote from within, at least to start the season.
• I’m 30 minutes in on “Ice Guardians” and it’s good. A bit repetitive and it feels a bit dated, as the days of enforcers have dwindled some. Or, have they? Does anyone want to argue anymore that Kurtis MacDermid wasn’t a very valuable member of the defending Stanley Cup champions?
• Washington Hockey Now: Great find by Sammi Silber — At least one top Russian coach is angry the country and KHL have not done more to keep Russian players and to bring players like Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin home.
• TSN: The Minnesota Wild were able to dump over $5 million in salary when they traded defenseman Dmitry Kulikov to Anaheim for…nothing. The ol’ future considerations bit. That’s the cost of moving salary on the NHL trade market.
• Vancouver Hockey Now: P.K. Subban. A PTO? How about the Vancouver Canucks?
• Here’s a blueprint of how the Red Wings could make the 2022-23 Stanley Cup playoffs
• Has Pittsburgh’s Mike Sullivan changed how the game is coached? (Pittsburgh Hockey Now)
• It’s a relatively easy October slate for the Panthers. That should be enabling them to get off to a fast start in the 2022-23 NHL regular season. Florida Panthers
• Are the Maple Leafs kidding themselves in the belief their goaltending is good enough? (Hockey News)
• The most underrated signings so far in 2022 (Hockey News)
• Want 20% off a full-year subscription to Colorado Hockey Now, $29.99 to $24.99? Enter the promo code word 5off in the checkout box and the deal is yours (Checkout box)
• Still a ways to go in “Ice Guardians.” I’ve seen a lot of really tough fighters. Probably the scariest guy, IMO, was Tony Twist. But the one guy I’ve been told was really the scariest and toughest was Dave Brown. Scott Parker was no fun either.
• Happy 27th to Nathan MacKinnon.