Dan’s Daily: Penguins Pay for Mistakes; Bad Teams Shop Trade Market - Pittsburgh Hockey Now

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TORONTO — It was a very early flight to Toronto this morning without enough room to write. Much of Canada is heartbroken following the shocking conclusion to the World Series. It may take a few days (or decades) to heal, but the Pittsburgh Penguins are coming to town for Monday Night hockey. Sunday was a bad loss for the Penguins. No one had a particularly rosy view of it, and nor should they, as it wasn’t merely a few mistakes but several of their festering issues that proved costly.
Elsewhere in the Daily, a couple of struggling teams are reportedly searching for help on the NHL trade block, Steve Stamko’s name is now floating in the trade rumors, Chris Tanev was stretchered off the ice in Toronto, and other teams are wrestling with a decision on a teenage defenseman.
I sat in the sports bar, cheering and enjoying the energy, waiting to celebrate with a few hundred people. But Game 7 ended in the same morose fashion as all but one baseball memory I’ve ever known. It was their Sid Bream.
Winnipeg grew on me. It’s a rough downtown without great dining (the Poutine spot was meh, and the popular sports bar was only passable, at best), but the people are just a cut above. It’s not a vacation spot, and their homeless problem is painfully tied to unique cultural issues and an overwhelming chemical influx, but the people just go out of their way to welcome you.
And in case you think all Pittsburgh media hate each other, I’m currently smuggling a shopping bag full of Winnipeg swag for a colleague who bolted from the arena for a flight and left it behind, but called me in a panic. Since there were only two of us on this part of the trip, it shouldn’t be hard to figure out who else shares my initials, eh?
Pittsburgh Hockey Now: We’ll start with the game in Winnipeg. You can jump to the recap in case you missed the Penguins game here.
Then we got into the analysis. It was deep, it was not pretty, and the overriding question is, was it a harbinger of bad things to come? The Penguins report card.
Before the game, coach Dan Muse announced Justin Brazeau was injured, but also that Harrison Brunicke would return to the lineup. In his comments, did Muse tip their hand on how they plan to handle the Penguins’ rookie defenseman?
Michigan Daily: Will Horcoff was a surprise pick for the Penguins at No. 24 in the 2025 draft, but it seems Wes Clark was on a heater that day. See also: Ben Kindel. Horcoff is off to a hot start at Michigan and snapped the game-winner in OT Saturday.
Steelers Now (Video): Will the Steelers’ freefall continue, or can the increasingly beleaguered Mike Tomlin and company upset the Indy Colts? Zachary Smith and Alan Saunders get into all their Steelers predictions.
Spector’s Hockey: The St. Louis Blues have just three wins. They are shopping for talent. The Minnesota Wild are in the same spot, and they, too, are kicking tires on the NHL trade market. I wasn’t crazy about the reports suggesting StL and MN were going after Pavel Zacha, because those rumors have been largely debunked, but the teams are looking.
Daily Hive: It has been a disaster for Steve Stamkos since he and the Tampa Bay Lightning split, and he signed in Nashville. Nashville is sinking, and it appears the Vancouver Canucks are poking around the idea of a Stamkos trade.
TSN: Chris Tanev is as tough as anyone in the NHL, but a bump from the light Matvei Michkov was enough to set in motion a fall in which Tanev had to be stretchered off the ice.
Sportsnet: Just as the Penguins might be wrestling with the Harrison Brunicke question, the Calgary Flames are in the same spot with Zayne Parekh. He has also just about hit his limit; he has struggled, but he has also outgrown junior hockey. What will the Calgary Flames do?
Forever Blueshirts: Eventually, the New York Rangers would put it together. They’ve now won three straight, and a few things are starting to click for the New York Rangers.
Boston Hockey Now: A new defensive system, a struggling defenseman who is upset with a scratch, and a coach who publicly encouraged him to be “pissed.” It’s a bit of honesty coming from the new Boston Bruins.