The Dan vacation jinx has worked again. The Pittsburgh Penguins swung a trade Wednesday, though it will have no impact on the organization. We also compiled the list of our top 20 Penguins prospects into one published post, and I spent some time at an empty coffee shop to drop an opinion piece about the state of the game.

Elsewhere in the Daily, there are a handful of bargain-bin free agents left who are still looking for contracts. The Washington Capitals expect to further reduce Alex Ovechkin’s role, and he’s OK with it. And the Montreal Canadiens will honor Carey Price.

Oh, Wednesday was a good day. I knocked out three stories for you and then … knocked off for the day (or so I thought). There is a little bar across the river in what they call the West End of Marietta. It has $2 Miller Lite in frozen mugs (they’re actually $2.50, but the bartender didn’t add my beers until Happy Hour, when they drop to $2. God love her), wing specials, pretty good food, and a wood-paneled dive-bar vibe.

So, I spent the afternoon trying to empty their freezer of frozen mugs while the bartender, who looked shockingly like Mila Kunis, took care of the regulars.

You know you’re in a locals’ bar when you get up to recycle the beer, and you hear people asking, “Who’s that?” I spent the entire afternoon there, but a good two hours talking cars, Top Gear, and the problems of training young writers with a retired communications professor. And you have to love small-town pricing. It felt like 2010 when eight mugs (Mila only rang me up for four, God love her, again), a Coney Island chili dog, and a really good meatball sub served with French fries were… wait for it… $27.

Yes, I tipped the heck out of her (take care of service people), but alas, this might be my last trip here. I walked around all afternoon on Tuesday. Tried again to find signs of life on Wednesday. And all that was left at the local microbrewery was the stuff people don’t drink. So, that was one and done. The area isn’t depressed; it’s just some weird level of disinterest in itself. The vibe is way off. I might try once more next year, but if the town is still vacant literally and figuratively, it’s off the list.

To the hockey.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Given the uproar and debate over the national publication’s Penguins U23 list, we compiled our Top 20 Penguins prospects list (heavily abridged).

I’m quite proud of the work we did to create the original list. That was a lot of conversations, a lot of trips, and some real study put into it.

Dan Unfiltered. There’s an undercurrent in hockey that is becoming a swift current: players trying to force trades, or young players rejecting good contract offers they would have jumped at just a few months ago. It’s all getting distasteful. I didn’t go fully unfiltered, since there’s no profanity or name-calling, but here’s a real look at the game and the big-picture problems on the horizon from someone who has been through them before for the NHL.

And the trade! The jinx remains, though I may have been a little delayed. Cruz Lucius wouldn’t sign with the Penguins, and many of us assumed he was a free agent. However, it appears he has a fifth year of eligibility, so the Penguins did their former prospect a solid and dealt him to the Anaheim Ducks in an anticlimactic Penguins trade.

I know a few fans really put some hope in Lucius, but he wasn’t that guy. His game is slow, and he would have had a steep curve, probably starting in Wheeling.

NHL Rumors, News, & NHN

NHLtraderumors.me: Alex Ovechkin chatted with the Russian paper of record about his role this season. His ice time dipped below 18 minutes last season, and he expects it to drop even further–and he tells the Russian paper that it’s a good thing.

Sportsnet: Sidney Crosby didn’t make the list because Sportsnet set the cut-off at 40 years old, but Evgeni Malkin will have a chance to make the list this season. The outlet up north dropped the list of the best seasons in NHL history by players 40 and older. The ageless warriors.

TSN: This isn’t news, is it? Didn’t we all know the NHL was dropping a fourth jersey to go with the home, away, and the alternate? Now it’s official. Each team is dropping a Hometown Remix sweater, but not until sometime in October, just in time for your Christmas shopping.

The rumors have existed for months that the Penguins are going to black and blue with yellow piping. We even published a story in July on the past, present, and future Penguins jerseys.

DFO: It is quickly becoming late August, and there remain unsigned free agents too good for a PTO but who don’t yet have contracts. Gosh golly, what about Reilly Smith–where does he want to sign? Smith doesn’t make the list, but here are the five best bargain players still on the market.

New Jersey Hockey Now: After a year-long trial, our NJ site is moving back to its original domain soon. James Nichols has been a trooper with market-leading coverage. And this might seem a simple idea, but it’s far more complicated when you peel back the layers. The importance of health and Jack Hughes for the New Jersey Devils.

Yes, Hughes’s health has been very nice, very evil for the NJD.

Detroit Hockey Now: There’s been a little uproar in Detroit over what Bob Duff wrote about Dylan Larkin. In fairness to Bob, he didn’t write anything out of line or untrue, but simply that Larkin is almost assuredly coming to camp because he’s the captain and under contract. Duh, right? Well, the blogs got ahold of it, and the local radio stations mischaracterized it, and yesterday Bob appeared on the NHL Network to talk about what in the hell is going on with the Detroit Red Wings.

It seems they are cursed.

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