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Eddie Olczyk appears to call out Leah Hextall for ‘imitating’ John Forslund’s goal call.

There was something of an unusual interaction on air during one of the National Hockey League broadcasts over the weekend, one that did not go unnoticed by attentive fans who caught every word of it.

Veteran NHL broadcaster Eddie Olczyk appeared to put fellow NHL broadcaster Leah Hextall on blast on Saturday, when he made some relatively vague allusions to famous calls being copied by other broadcasters. Olczyk’s tone during his comments appeared to indicate that he was clearly irritated by something, but he never called anyone out specifically or even so much as mentioned a name.

“It is the sincerest form of flattery right, is imitation?” asked a frustrated sounding Olczyk. “But if you are going to imitate somebody, like on a goal call, just make sure you give that person credit please. Ok? Right is that fair? JT that’s fair right?”

Fans were quick to put two and two together given the other people in the booth with Olczyk at the time of his comments, including fellow NHL broadcaster John Forslund who is the ‘JT’ referenced above. Earlier in the week, prior to Olczyk making these comments, Leah Hextall used Forslund’s famous “hey hey what do you say” during a game between the Seattle Kraken and Arizona Coyotes this past Thursday after the Kraken scored their 4th goal of the game.

You can hear both the clip that is suspected to have led to Olczyk’s comments, as well as the comments themselves in the short video below.

Here’s an example of Forslund doing the call himself, as he has done countless times in the past:

Do you agree with Eddie Olczyk on this one, if he was indeed calling out Hextall as many believe he was, or did he perhaps go a step too far? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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Rod Brind’Amour’s son drawing interest from NHL teams.

Chip Alexander/Raleigh News & Observer

There may be a little trouble brewing on the horizon for the Edmonton Oilers.

National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman has revealed that Skyler Brind’Amour. the son of Carolina Hurricanes head coach and former NHL player Rod Brind’Amour, is currently drawing interest from teams around the league. Skyler is fresh off of winning the NCAA’s Frozen Four as a member of the Quinnipiac University Bobcat’s, and no doubt that has played a major role in how he is being viewed by team’s around the league.

“One other thing I wanna mention about Quinnipiac is they’ve got some players.” stated Friedman on the 32 Thoughts Podcast. “Skyler Brind’Amour… Rod’s son.”

Skyler has already been drafted into the NHL and his rights are currently controlled by the Edmonton Oilers who selected him in the 6th round (177th overall) of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, but it sounds like there may be no guarantee he will end up in Edmonton.

“The Oilers have to make a decision,” revealed Friedman. “The thing they like best about him is he’s a Brind’Amour.”

The Oilers aren’t the only ones who have to make a decision however, with Brind’Amour having the option to go to free agency later in the year if he chooses to do so. Although there hasn’t been an indication that he plans to go down this route, Friedman cautions that there may be other teams in the NHL looking to take advantage of that fact.

“Brind’Amour is gonna have to decide if Edmonton is the best path for him, because like I’ve said before the vultures are circling,” said Friedman. “The way he’s played I think there’s gonna be some teams saying ‘If you go to free agency we’re interested.'”

That leaves the Oilers in something of an unenviable position, one where Skyler Brind’Amour will wield significant negotiating power for a player that has yet to play in an NHL game. Only time will tell if his first NHL game will come as a member of the Edmonton Oilers, or some other rival team in the league.

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Sidney Crosby hits 1500 career points on Saturday.

The Pittsburgh Penguins were in a fight for their playoff hopes on Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings, and with the season on the line the organization’s most important player took center stage.

It was a milestone afternoon for Sidney Crosby, the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins, as he put on his captain cape and willed the Penguins to victory over the Red Wings with 4 shots on goal, 2 goals and an assist for a total of 3 points on the day for the Penguins.

Not only was it a big game performance from Crosby, but it was one that would also bring him into a truly elite group of players in National Hockey League history. Thanks to his big day, Crosby reached the 1500 point plateau, becoming only the 15th player in the history of the league to do and furthermore becoming the sixth faster player in league history to reach the impressive milestone.

Here’s the goal that earned Crosby the 1500th point of his NHL career:

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Philadelphia Flyers first round pick headed to free agency.

Philadelphia Flyers/NHL

The Philadelphia Flyers are set to let one of their former first round draft selections walk away as a free agent.

On Saturday night, National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman reported that 2018 first round pick (19th overall) Jay O’Brien would not be signed by the Flyers after another season at Boston University, leaving O’Brien eligible to sign with any team in the NHL willing to offer him a contract.

“The Flyers and the player had to make a decision to sign and I have heard that the decision has been made,” revealed Friedman on Hockey Night in Canada. “The Flyers will not sign him and that allows O’Brien to test free agency. He’s 23 years old and he can pick which team or organization he wants to play for.”

Although typically a team that allows a player to walk to free agency gets nothing in return, that will not be the case in this particular scenario for the Flyers. As per the rules of the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement, because O’Brien was a first round pick the Flyers will be compensated with a slightly lower draft pick at the upcoming NHL draft.

“The Flyers as a result will get a second round pick in the upcoming draft,” confirmed Friedman. “But O’Brien will not be a Flyer.”

Only time will tell if O’Brien is offered an NHL contract, but perhaps the man that drafted him will be among those to show interest. It was former Flyers general manager Ron Hextall that drafted O’Brien in 2018, and as we know he now serves in the role of general manager for Flyer’s intrastate rivals the Pittsburgh Penguins.

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Bruins make several moves as Taylor Hall returns to the lineup.

Steve Babineau/NHLI/Getty Images

The Boston Bruins have been without the services of veteran forward Taylor Hall since the month of February, but on Saturday Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery confirmed that the former Hart Trophy winner would make his highly anticipated return to the lineup.

Hall was no doubt excited for the opportunity to play tonight given that the opponent will be the New Jersey Devils. Not only are the Devils playoff bound and fierce competition, but they are also one of Hall’s former teams and that no doubt includes former teammates he is eager to test himself against.

The return of Hall, and by extension the return of his salary to the Bruins cap hit meant that the team also had to make a number of adjustments on Saturday. The team moved both Nick Foligno and Derek Forbort to long term injured reserve retroactive to when they suffered their injuries, shutting both men down for the remainder of the regular season.

The Bruins also sent forward Oskar Steen back down to the American Hockey League on Saturday, after Steen was called up on an emergency basis earlier in the week.

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Kyle Dubas orchestrating a plan to bring in Matthew Knies?

Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press

What initially appeared to be something of a goaltending crisis for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday may actually have been part of a bigger plan on the part of general manager Kyle Dubas and company.

The Maple Leafs backed themselves into that crisis on Saturday after sending goaltender Joseph Woll down to the American Hockey League and calling up veteran Wayne Simmonds, giving the team insufficient cap space to call Woll back up should the need arise. That need would arise when veteran goaltender Matt Murray proved to be unable to back up Ilya Samsonov, forcing the Leafs to sign an amateur goalie for tonight’s game.

While this may not be ideal for the Maple Leafs tonight, it also appears to have put them in an ideal scenario moving forward should the organization have the intent of signing one of their top prospects in forward Matthew Knies in the coming days.

According to Cap Friendly, by playing short tonight the Maple Leafs have created a scenario in which they would be able to sign Knies to a new deal and call Woll back up to the main roster as early as this weekend. After creating an emergency situation as per the rules of the collective bargaining agreement by playing short tonight, the Leafs would have to send Wayne Simmonds back down, sign Matthew Knies to an entry level contract, and recall Woll on an emergency basis to make it all fit… but it could all fit.

Knies will be playing in what could be the final game of his collegiate career tonight in the Frozen Four, and many suspect that the Maple Leafs will be quick to sign him following the conclusion of his season.

Could what looked like an unfortunate situation for the Maple Leafs prove to be a stroke of salary cap genius from Kyle Dubas and the Maple Leafs? Only time will tell.

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Maple Leafs forced to sign a new goalie for cap reasons.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have been forced to sign a new goalie due to salary cap constraints.

Earlier today we detailed how the Maple Leafs may have backed themselves into something of a goaltending crisis of their own making, and it seems that what once was only a possibility has now become a reality.

According to the latest from Maple Leafs beat reporter Lance Hornby, the Maple Leafs have now signed goaltender Jett Alexander for the purpose of having him play backup to Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov tonight. This means that, despite what the Leafs were hoping for, veteran goaltender Matt Murray is still not healthy enough to play since suffering his latest in a long series of injuries this season.

23 year old Alexander most recently played for the University of Toronto where he had a 2.21 goals against average and a .927 save percentage over 22 games this season, but of course the NHL would be a major leap up in competition. In all likelihood we won’t see Alexander hit the ice tonight barring any major catastrophes for the Leafs, but it will no doubt make for a great experience and a nice payday for the young man.

The Leafs likely would have prefered to use Joseph Woll in this scenario, but they have called up Wayne Simmonds for what is believed to be his final home game in a Maple Leafs uniform, and they would be unable to fit Woll under the salary cap given the addition of Simmonds’ cap hit.

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Connor McDavid becomes the 6th player to record 150 points in a single season.

Andy Devlin/Getty Images

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid is a truly special player, and on Saturday he proved that once again when he joined a truly elite group of players in the National Hockey League history books.

On a Saturday where every single team in the NHL was in action, McDavid became only the 6th player in NHL history to record 150 points in a single season. McDavid would accomplish the feat in the first period of a game between the Oilers and the San Jose Sharks when he picked up a rebound in front of a wide open Sharks net. Although it was a major milestone, it may have also been the easiest goal of the season for McDavid.

McDavid now joins NHL legends Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Bernie Nicholls and Phil Esposito as the only players to have ever broken the 150 points plateau in a single season.

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Bo Horvat takes a brutal shot at the Vancouver Canucks and their fans.

The fans of the Vancouver Canucks may not be looking at their Bo Horvat jerseys with the same fondness that they once did after these comments from their former captain.

On Saturday night, Horvat took a shot at his former team and their fans after he was asked what was a relatively run of the mill question during a post game interview.

Question: How does this rank for you in playoff pushes, the excitement of this building and the fans’ involvement over the last couple of games?

“It’s been unbelievable,” answered Horvat before then taking an unprompted shot at the Canucks and their fans. “It’s a lot better than Vancouver I’ll tell you that for free.”

The fact that the comments about Vancouver came without any provocation made them seem somewhat mean-spirited on the part of Horvat, but perhaps, if you’re looking to give him the benefit of the doubt, with how poorly the season went for the Canucks he is just very happy to be in a new organization.

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Maple Leafs put EBUG Jett Alexander in the game!

The Toronto Maple Leafs were put in a bit of an awkward goaltending situation on Saturday night, but it turned out to be a pretty feel good moment for their team, their fans, and of course emergency backup goaltender Jett Alexander.

The Maple Leafs, who have already secured their spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs, were facing off against the Montreal Canadiens in what was a relatively meaningless game for both teams with the Habs well out of playoff contention. The Leafs would dominate the contest, taking a 7-1 lead in the third period, and that opened the door for Jett Alexander to step in.

The 23 year old goaltender from the University of Toronto was given the thrill of a lifetime when he got to step out onto the ice in the final minute of the game thanks to a terrific gesture from head coach Sheldon Keefe and Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov.

Alexander now joins a very short list of emergency backup goalies that have played in the NHL, and the Maple Leafs finally find themselves on the right side of one of these stories.