YELLOWKNIFE, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES – Granted, some sports content – like hockey and curling – is more readily discussed in places like Yellowknife, but the task here is find sports nuggets worth sharing with a bigger audience. Thus, today’s categories & topics: Pucks, Bucs & Coughs: Connor McDavid & Hart Trophy, JJ Watt to Bucs, NHL COVID Draft
What’s happening here…? https://t.co/5xjpeLxiBo
— Matthew Modine (@MatthewModine) February 13, 2021
Connor McDavid & Hart Trophy
Have you ever been to Edmonton? No. You haven’t. Neither has just about anyone you know. There is reason to go, however, even in the dead of winter if you are a Puck Head… to see Connor McDavid play. Indeed, there are many a discussion being held in ice fishing huts across Canada about Connor Andrew McDavid’s season thus far. It’s pretty incredible and if he was in LA or NYC, we’d be sick of seeing him on TV. He has 9 goals and 19 assists for 28 points in just 16 games for a 9-7 team. The Oilers’ Captain is just 24 years old and already won the MVP when he was a wee lad of 2o. Is he Gretzky II? No. But he’s damn good. Hitting 100 points is a given – barring injury – but he’ll likely garner more, as Mr. Connor McDavid remains the favorite at +275 average odds to win the Hart Trophy again, says Sports Betting Dime. Put that in your Cheesy Bruin pipes and smoke it.
JJ Watt To Bucs
While we’re talking about odds, yours truly says you should bet the rent on JJ Watt going to Tampa. A) He’s used to warm weather. B) Since he’s the offensive version of Rob Gronkowski (whose brother Chris retweeted Cam James’ piece yesterday – see above), the endorsement opportunities will be endless C) They have Tom Brady & are built to win now D) COVID doesn’t seem to exist in Tampa Bay…
Or does it, Steven Stamkos?
NHL COVID Draft
Add the Tampa Bay Lightning’s electric Captain Stamkos and Academy Award hopeful, Oskar Lindblom to the long list of hockey’s C-List; players that COVID-19 protocol mandates they miss games. Sure, some of these will come back as false positives but golly, it’s a list you want to make, nor does anyone want to see it grow. But maybe we can forage a positive from this. How about the Seattle Kraken draft their team from the COVID-19 List? Heck, by just picking from the Sabres, Devils and Flyers, they might even eclipse the Las Vegas Golden Knights as the league’s most successful expansion team.
Arizona – John Hayden
Buffalo – Dylan Cozens; Rasmus Dahlin; Taylor Hall; Curtis Lazar; Jake McCabe; Casey Mittelstadt; Brandon Montour; Tobias Rieder; Rasmus Ristolainen
Chicago – Ryan Carpenter
Colorado – Tyson Jost, Gabriel Landeskog, Samuel Girard
Detroit – Calvin Pickard
Edmonton – Jesse Puljujarvi
Florida – Anthony Duclair
Los Angeles – Andreas Athanasiou; Blake Lizotte
Minnesota – TBA
New Jersey – Nate Bastian; Jesper Bratt; Connor Carrick; Eric Comrie; Nikita Gusev; Nico Hischier; Jack Hughes; Andreas Johnsson; Dmitry Kulikov; Janne Kuokkanen; Michael McLeod; Kyle Palmieri; Damon Severson; Ty Smith; Matt Tennyson; Sami Vatanen; Pavel Zacha; Travis Zajac
NY Islanders – none
NY Rangers – Filip Chytil
Philadelphia – Justin Braun; Morgan Frost; Claude Giroux; Scott Laughton; Oskar Lindblom; Travis Sanheim; Jakub Voracek
Tampa Bay – Steven Stamkos
Vegas – Tomas Nosek
