Snapshots: Wilson, Schedule, Lemieux

In a piece for The Players’ Tribune that is well worth the full read, unrestricted free agent forward Colin Wilson detailed his ongoing battles with his mental health and addiction.  Towards the end of the piece, he indicated that he believes his playing days have come to an end.  The 31-year-old was only able to play in nine games for the Avalanche last season after undergoing double hip surgery that didn’t fix the issue so he underwent the procedure again since then.  If it is indeed the end of the line for Wilson, he’ll wind up with 113 goals and 173 assists in 632 career games over 11 seasons between Colorado and Nashville, who drafted him seventh overall back in 2008.

More from around the hockey world:

• NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan that one of the things they’re focusing on as they work on the 2020-21 schedule is trying to get back to a more normal one for 2021-22. For that to happen, next season would likely need to be somewhat truncated which is something that both the players and the league appear to want to avoid.  Daly also pointed out that they do not view the start of the Olympics in July as a date that they have to finish by as some of their possible models involve playing past that time.  However, if the goal is to get closer to a regular start for the following year, playing into late July or early August would make that difficult.
• The Rangers have a pair of arbitration hearings on the docket for next week in center Ryan Strome and winger Brendan Lemieux. While they’re limited to a one-year term for the former, they’ll have the option to elect a one-year or two-year award for the latter.  Larry Brooks of the New York Post suggests that New York will opt for a two-year term for Lemieux in an effort to limit his earning upside for 2021-22.  The 22-year-old had six goals and a dozen assists along with 111 PIMs in 59 games last season.  Lemieux’s hearing is scheduled for November 6th.