About a month ago, a DJ Smith press conference probably wouldn’t grab my attention.
At the peak of the NHL regular season, he’s doing at least one of those a day. Two of ’em on game days. By March, they start to get a tad repetitive. Yet as the NHL pause continues a blurry zoom video conference with the Senators Head Coach was a sight for sore eyes.
It’s not quite the same as, you know, the start of the NHL playoffs or the most important Draft Lottery in the history of the Ottawa Senators but it’s kind of related to NHL hockey and that counts for something.
Not a lot in there obviously but it’s just nice to see a familiar face.
The good news from the press conference was further confirmation that the players on the team diagnosed with COVID-19 are all doing well. According to Smith, none of the players had an overly serious reaction to the virus.
For what it’s worth, DJ is still talking like finishing the regular season is a legitimate possibility. That’s a long-shot at this point but for someone in Smith’s position, it makes sense.
He needs to be prepared as though he’s going back to work.
Gary Bettman also offered up some comments on next steps and it’s pretty clear that things are still very much up in the air. The league seems to be aware that a lost season is a very real possibility but they want to exhaust all possible options before making a final decision.
Meanwhile, tomorrow is April 9th. Draft Lottery Day. Sigh.
What’s say we all get drunk and mash the draft simulator button a few timers tomorrow night. Sound good? Sounds good.
-NHL Central Scouting released their final rankings earlier today and it looked as expected at the top. Alexis Lafreniere and Quinton Byfield are 1/2 on the North American side while Tim Stuetzle and Alexander Holtz lead the way among International skaters. There were some surprises among the final North American rankings though as two defenceman (Jamie Drysdale and Jeff Sanderson) sit 3rd and 4th ahead of the likes of Cole Perfetti and Ottawa 67’s star Marco Rossi. You can find the full rankings here.
