Here are all the links from around the hockey world, and what I’m reading from inside a 75-foot snowbank in the Star Market parking lot.
*Here’s a play in two videos: Joe Thornton and Nazem Kadri dropping the gloves for a fight, and Kadri grabbing a fistful of Jumbo Joe’s beard during the quick fracas. Kadri is just lucky he went down before Thornton could really land a punch because Jumbo is way out of that little agitator’s weight class.
*Well, so much for USA Hockey passing by Canada in terms of the amateur hockey ranks. That loss to Sweden in the elimination round of the World Junior tournament was not impressive.
*Speaking of the World Junior tournament, what exactly went wrong with the attendance in Buffalo that’s been rough these last few weeks?
Boston Bruins
*PHT writer and FOH (Friend of Haggs) Sean Leahy has Rene Fasel stating what we all kinda know: The fate of the 2022 Winter Olympics and NHL participation rests solely in the hands of the NHl and the NHLPA, and this could be a very interesting process.
*A couple of longtime Montreal Canadiens media types, Arpon Basu and John Lu, gauge where the Habs are at the midway point.
* Congrats to P-Bruins goalie Jordan Binnington and center Austin Czarnik making the AHL All-Star game roster.
*For something completely different: Seth Wickersham talks to Toucher and Rich about his much ballyhooed New England Patriots story that has got everybody talking.