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.
• Goodbye, dead-puck era. (FiveThirtyEight)
• Things didn’t go so well for Derick Brassard in Pittsburgh. Now that he’s been traded, he opens up about those challenges. (Post-Gazette)
• Despite talks going well, Ottawa Senators forward Matt Duchene appears unsure about what he wants. (Ottawa Citizen)
• Nashville Predators GM David Poile went out and grabbed some depth on Wednesday, but don’t bet on him being done adding other pieces. (Tennessean)
• Alex Ovechkin’s parents salute their son, Russia’s most productive NHLer. (NHL.com)
• The 2019 IIHF Hall of Fame inductees include Miro Satan, Mike Modano, Hayley Wickenheiser, and Ziggy Palffy. (IIHF)
• Beware: Dustin Byfuglien is back. (Winnipeg Sun)
• The Jori Lehtera Era appears to be over after the Philadelphia Flyers waived the forward. (NBC Sports Philadelphia)
• Auston Matthews is evolving into a generational goal scorer. (Sportsnet)
• The biggest trade deadline deal the Canucks can swing is re-signing Alex Edler. (TSN)
• Matthew Tkachuk’s contract conundrum hasn’t gotten any easier for the Calgary Flames. (Flames Nation)
• Somehow, the St. Louis Blues are climbing back up the standings. (St. Louis Game Time)
• Who knows what to expect from Columbus at the deadline, so expect the unexpected. (Union and Blue)
• A Q&A with Hockey Hall of Famer Jayna Hefford, interim commissioner of the CWHL. (ESPN)
• Rebuilding the Rangers means building second and third scoring units. (Blue Seat Blog)
• 10 players from the Swedish Elite League that could be of interest for NHL teams. (EP Rinkside)
Here’s Ep. 4 of The P.K. Project:
Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck