Snapshots: Three Stars, Plekanec, Seattle

The NHL has released their three stars of the week and it comes as no surprise that David Pastrnak is in the top spot. The Boston Bruins forward scored five goals including a hat trick against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and added two assists in a dominant week. The 22-year old forward is well ahead of anyone else in the Maurice Richard race, with 16 goals in his first 17 games on the season.

Second and third go to a pair of veteran forwards that have experienced plenty of success in the past, as Blake Wheeler and Claude Giroux continue their strong seasons. The Winnipeg Jets and Philadelphia Flyers captains had seven and eight points respectively last week, and are doing their best to keep the teams in the playoff hunt. Winnipeg now sits in third place in the Central with 21 points, while the Flyers have climbed out of an early hole and now sit behind only Columbus in the Metropolitan.

• It was obvious it wouldn’t take long for Tomas Plekanec to find work in Europe after he terminated his contract with the Montreal Canadiens, and Czech outlet iSport reports that Kladno—the club owned by former NHL star Jaromir Jagr—and Brno are the leading candidates for his services. Though there isn’t a clear decision at this point, Plekanec will easily be able to find a hockey landing spot as he returns home after a long productive NHL career.
• The NHL Board of Governors are still on track to hold a vote in early December to decide on the expansion application from the city of Seattle, according to Dan Rosen of NHL.com. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told reporters that there will be a decision made during the annual meetings that begin on December 3rd, though wouldn’t commit to the 2020-21 season timeline that has been pushed forward. That all depends on the construction of the arena, which is by no means guaranteed to be ready for the fall of 2020. Still, it does look like things are on track for Seattle to be approved by the league next month, which would force teams once again to start preparing for the next expansion draft.