Morning Skate: Subban not speaking to media is a bad look for the NHL

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Here are all the links from around the hockey world and what I’m reading while knowing the hockey season could be done on this day. 

 

*This situation with PK Subban not speaking to the media for three straight days during the Stanley Cup Final is ridiculous, and bad for the game. The league can’t allow one of the NHL’s most vibrant personalities and entertaining superstars to go silent during the league’s marquee event, and the Predators are doing the NHL a disservice by hiding him right now. The other sports have figured out that you maximize the availability and visibility of your best, most entertaining players in the big moments instead of hiding them behind a PR team looking to play it safe. Situations like this prove that the league still has a long way to go to sell their game, and to best use their most effective ambassadors to sell the entertainment value of the game as well. The Listerine stuff was fun and games, and his back-and-forth with Sidney Crosby has been one of the best things about this series. What a bummer to hear PK hasn’t been heard from for this long. 

*Larry Brooks says it will be a flat salary cap of $73 million for next season, which means there will be some tough salary cap decisions across the league this summer. 

*USA Hockey executive Dave Ogrean is retiring and leaving the state of US hockey in very good hands after a job well done. Ogrean made it clear he thinks that the US players will be back in China for the 2022 Olympics. 

*Tampa Bay Lightning GM Steve Yzerman is playing the waiting game with his team as he waits for opportunities to improve his roster this summer. 

*It shouldn’t come as much of a shock that Benoit Pouliot is going to be left exposed by the Edmonton Oilers in the NHL expansion draft. What a blow to the fancy stat geeks that advised signing Pouliot to that ridiculous contract in the first place as a free agent. He’s still got the same flaws and inconsistencies now as he did then, much to the chagrin of the Oilers. 

*FOH (Friend of Haggs) Elliotte Friedman has his 30 Thoughts on which players might waive their no-movement clauses ahead of the NHL expansion draft. 

*The Philadelphia Flyers are in a no-lose situation with the No. 2 overall selection in the upcoming NHL Draft, and with a roster of players that could jump quickly back into the playoff picture. 

*For something completely different: Yup, the Black Panther movie looks excellent going by the first trailer dropped by Marvel Studios. 

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