Here are all the links from around the hockey world, and what I’m reading while shoveling, shoveling and more shoveling.
*So how do we feel about the new NHL All-Star sweaters. I think they’re better than the black, gray and neon ones from a couple of seasons ago, but I just don’t understand the league’s fascination with neon colors. They make professional sporting events look like a Wham! concert from 1984.
*In an interesting twist, Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Frederik Andersen has been fined by the NHL for diving/embellishment. Pro Hockey Talk has the details.
*Interesting look at the top of the trade rental market this spring, including players like Patrick Maroon and Thomas Vanek that might be good fits as experienced, proven producers on the wing. While things have stabilized with Ryan Spooner for the time being, one would expect the wing might be a place where the Bruins want to get a little bigger, a little grittier around the net and with a little more of a proven track record.
*Erik Gudbranson has a pretty great way to ask for the smelling salts on the bench prior to the drop of the puck.
*Interesting piece on former highly rated Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Angelo Esposito, who never made it as an NHL player and is now getting involved as a businessman in Montreal.
Boston Bruins
*For something completely different: Here’s a really interesting story on the rise and fall of former Red Sox reliever Daniel Bard, who went from looking like the successor to Jonathan Papelbon to out of baseball at 32 because of “Steve Blass Disease.”