In Red Wings Land

Jeff Blashill pleased with Wings’ push to ‘get better’ through turbulent season

“Certainly we’d like our record to be better than it is,” Blashill said. “In critical moments, we’ve stubbed our toes a lot, no doubt about that. But our guys came back the next night and came back ready to get after it and they’ve done that consistently.

I agree with this. I think where last year’s team had a collapse and really struggled to climb out of quicksand, the resilience this year has been much better. They’re not immune to collapses (because nobody is), but the creeping blowouts have slowed and they’ve been more fun to watch this season because of it.

Around the League

31 Thoughts: What the Turner Sports TV deal means for the NHL – Sportsnet

For awhile now, teams have indicated they’d like to reign in coaching/front-office salaries, and we’re going to get an indication of how serious that really is over the next little while. Carolina’s Tom Dundon is one owner who’s mentioned it, and the Hurricanes are working on an extension with Rod Brind’Amour — who sets the tone for a really good team.

This creates an interesting scenario in which teams lowball good coaches and the super-rich clubs don’t do that and we get a two-tiered system of coaching where cheap teams get great results for coaches who get paydays from rich teams before everybody discovers it wasn’t the coach driving that.

It also plays favorably for Jeff Blashill getting another year because he’s one of the lowest-paid coaches in the league and I don’t think he’s in much position to demand a raise.

On cross-checking, GMs were reminded of the standard: a push versus a punch with the stick. The former is okay, the latter is not. There’s a little more latitude in front of the net as opposed to elsewhere on the ice. There is supposed to be an allowance for net-front battling, which is where the subjectivity comes in and makes some people crazy.

They should paint a second crease (I propose fuchsia) where cross-checking is allowed.

jesus christ https://t.co/ltYzJbrcIT pic.twitter.com/URpQNODJ1q

— thomas williams (@nosalaryretaind) April 27, 2021

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