The Buffalo Sabres at down with another big name yesterday, bringing in Penguins’ assistant GM Bill Guerin for an interview according to Pierre LeBrun of TSN. Pittsburgh is Guerin’s first job in management since his retirement in 2010, but he has a ton of experience to fall back on; the 1263 NHL games in which he scored 856 points give him a built-in respect.
Guerin was first hired to work in the Penguins’ development team, and he has still had his hands in the recruitment and development of many NCAA players such as Conor Sheary and Zach Aston-Reese. He himself went to Boston College before entering the NHL, so can relate to the journey college players go on.
- The NHL has lost its latest court battle in the war over brain injuries and CTE, reports TSN’s Rick Westhead. The last we heard the league had issued a subpoena to try and get Boston University to hand over all documents and communication related to their research—an ask that would certainly bury the study in paperwork for years. Now, as Westhead writes, a federal judge in Minneapolis has denied the subpoena agreeing that it would be a “staggering” task for the university. This hopefully will allow BU to continue their research unimpeded, which will now include the brain of recently-deceased former NFL football player Aaron Hernandez as well as more than 400 others.
- Kevin Fiala was taken to hospital last night after crashing hard into the boards and being removed by stretcher. The team provided just the update that he was stable but had suffered a leg injury. Fiala’s legs went first into the boards and it looked as though the injury was extremely serious, likely taking him out for the remainder of the playoffs. If that’s true, it’s a big blow to the Predators who had come to rely on Fiala as a part of their top-six. Colin Wilson moved up in his absence, and will likely be asked to do so again on Friday night.