Here are all the links around the hockey world, and what I’m reading while readying for the NHL bye week just like everybody else.
-- Pretty solid rip job from Eric Francis on Dougie Hamilton after the Flames decided to waive his brother Freddie, who was then claimed by the Arizona Coyotes. It ends the Hamilton brothers' time together in Calgary, and ends a peculiar situation where it seemed like Dougie was pulling strings to keep them together on the same team. The Bruins, to their credit, never went for that in Boston, and now it looks like Dougie isn’t taking it very well in Cow Town. It’s time for Dougie to grow up a little bit and be able to answer simple questions when his brother is no longer with the organization.
-- It sounds like Jaromir Jagr is done in Calgary, probably done in the NHL, and probably not going to be allowed to participate in the Winter Olympics. What a crappy development this is. Pro Hockey Talk has the details.
-- Speaking of the five-to-seven-day byes, here is the comprehensive list of byes for each of the 31 teams that will all come over the next two weeks, a big change from last season when the bye weeks were much more spread out.
-- Matthew Tkachuk says that he’s got a much more balanced approach to his NHL season the second time around with the Calgary Flames.
-- Claude Giroux is back among the NHL’s elite and enjoying a really nice bounce-back season with the Philadelphia Flyers.
-- Are the Pittsburgh Penguins still a Stanley Cup contender as they languish toward the bottom of the Metro Division? Tough to count them out given what they’ve done in the last two seasons, but they look like an awfully tired hockey club to me.
For something completely different: Ruh-roh Jacksonville, it looks like the Bills Mafia is out in full force in Florida today.