Welcome to the PHT Morning Skate, a collection of links from around the hockey world. Have a link you want to submit? Email us at phtblog@nbcsports.com.
• Congrats to Patrice Bergeron, who on Tuesday night will become the sixth player in Boston Bruins history to play 1,000 NHL games. [Bruins Daily]
• Brent Seabrook on reports that the Chicago Blackhawks asked him to waive his no-trade clause: “I haven’t been approached by anybody. So I don’t know where the reports came from. ... I haven’t been approached or talked to about anything, so it’s news to me.” [NBC Chicago]
• On the Blackhawks: “This is a club in accidental-tank mode, meaning they can’t go out and load up on picks and prospects, but they’re still one of the worst teams in the league. Barring a draft lottery win, which is narrowly possible (they currently have about a 19 percent chance to pick first or second overall and get a borderline-elite prospect), it doesn’t seem like anyone’s coming to make Bowman look smart again.” [Yahoo]
• The San Jose Sharks are becoming the team we thought they’d be, thanks to their blue line. [TSN]
• Jake Muzzin has lived up to his end of the bargain so far for the Toronto Maple Leafs. [Sportsnet]
• It’s not been a typical Evgeny Kuznetsov season in Washington. [Japers’ Rink]
• Would the Dallas Stars use their first-round pick to bolster their playoff chances this season? [Dallas Morning News]
• “League sources told Postmedia on the weekend mediation involving Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk and partner John Ruddy of the Trinity Development Group is heating up with several days of meetings scheduled to start Monday in Toronto in an attempt to try to the save RendezVous LeBreton’s deal with the National Capital Commission.” [Ottawa Citizen]
• The Buffalo Sabres are hoping to use practice to create better working habits. [Buffalo Hockey Beat]
• Scoring first and winning used to be the Vegas Golden Knights’ thing. Those days are over. [Sin Bin Vegas]
• Dave Hakstol has gone to Sweden in order to search for new coaching techniques. [NBC Philadelphia]
• Could Wayne Simmonds fit perfectly in Boston? [The Point]
• “Elias Pettersson doesn’t have a personality problem; hockey has a personality problem.” [Vancouver Courier]
• Who are the top 100 hockey players of the 1990s? [Greatest Hockey Legends]
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.