It's hot out there! It's so hot shoes are literally melting on Toronto's Sports fields.

Blazing heat burning shoe soles on Toronto's turf fields - CBC
Amateur soccer players say artificial turf is melting the bottoms of their shoes.

Today could be the hottest day of the year, with temperatures forecast to reach the mid-30's, with very high humidity on top of that. Stay cool, PPPers!

Here's your hockey links for the day.

Mailbag: Brendan Shanahan | The Players' Tribune
Read through for the Sean Avery story.

World Cup Huge Stage For Morgan Rielly - Editor in Leaf
The Leafs lone defensive representative for the World Cup of Hockey is going to get an opportunity for development on a huge stage.

Do The Rangers Have To Land Jimmy Vesey? - Blueshirt Banter
The Jimmy Vesey sweepstakes are set to begin this coming Monday, August 15th. That’s the day Vesey officially fulfills the loophole status and becomes a free agent.

AZ Den Talk: Summer of Women Who Love Hockey - Five For Howling
AZ Den Talk is a podcast brought to you by Sarah and mrssoco of the AZ Snake Pit! This week we have Sasky Stewart of the CWHL and many other things.

KHL goon suckerpunches three opponents, attacks bench - Hockey News
Highlights from the chaotic match between Barys Astana and Red Star Kunlun.

Nassau County Pitching New York Islanders Return - Arena Digest
The team’s current landlord at Barclays Center has signed off on the concept.

Everybody loves Steve Yzerman - Raw Charge
Lightning GM kicking ass and taking names.

How The Kings Came To Draft A Kid From Alabama - Today's Slapshot
When you meet Kings' center prospect Nic Dowd and find out that he is a native of Huntsville, Alabama, the first thought is how did he get involved in hockey?

20,000 coin flips suggest you choose big life changes when offered - The Atlantic
Steven Levitt, an economist and the co-author of Freakonomics, studied what happened when people made major life decisions based on random chance.

From The Branches