Sunday Morning Hockey Notes

from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun, - Kyle Dubas signed a seven-year contract to take over the Pittsburgh Penguins and it may take all seven years for him to remake this franchise so in need of alteration. This is Sidney Crosby’s 20th season. This is Evgeni Malkin’s 19th season. This is Kris Letang’s 18th season. They are the three best players on the Penguins and have been that for the past two decades. When they’re gone, what will be left for Dubas to build around? - The best defenceman in hockey, Cale Maker, ranks 36th in salary in the NHL, ahead of Alex Pietrangelo at 40, Miro Heiskanen at 55, Victor Hedman at 76 and Norris Trophy winner Quinn Hughes at 82. - For years, the NCAA has illegally discriminated against major junior hockey players in Canada, disallowing them from gaining scholarships to their schools. Now that players in every sport are getting paid, the NCAA has no choice but to change its rules. But this is a hockey quagmire of sorts that will take a while to properly unpack. Time was, if you played one game of major junior hockey you were not scholarship eligible. What nonsense that was then and now. - When the Atlanta Flames moved to Calgary in 1980, they had a great first season in their new home. When the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver, they won the Stanley Cup in their first year as the Avalanche. Don’t be surprised if the Utah Hockey Club gets a similar kind of bounce – not Cup winning necessarily – in their first season in Salt Lake City after leaving Arizona. - Sam Bennett is a pending free agent with the Florida Panthers. Mitch Marner is a pending free agent with the Maple Leafs. An interesting question asked by a hockey friend: If you had one game to win, who would you want in your lineup, Bennett or Marner? Bennett will be paid $4.4 million this season. Marner will be paid just below $11 million. more