Happy Monday everyone. I was alarmed to discover that there was a game today. There just should not be games on Monday. But it might be an interesting one as the once much loved former coach in Toronto returns at the helm of the Ducks.

Wait, no? The Ducks didn’t fire Randy after losing a billion to some to the Jets and replace him with Dallas Eakins? Damn. We have an old article with that headline on it ready to bring out if they do though.

Okay, well, we had a lot of things going on here yesterday you might have missed, what with it being Super Bowl weekend. You shouldn’t feel bad if you are indifferent to the Super Bowl though, I’m sure no one suddenly exposed their nipples again or something like that, so you missed nothing. I was (this is actually true) listening to Bach and reading a novel about class warfare. So we all spend our downtime in our own ways.

You might be surprised to learn that the Marlies made a trade:

Toronto Marlies trade Stefan Leblanc for Tanner MacMaster - Pension Plan Puppets
Laurence Gilman acquires yet another guy from the Utica Comets.

This is how I think it went down. Gilman was going over to the Dubas house for a Super Bowl party, and realized he’d forgotten to get a gift for his host, so he got him a trade as a present.

Back to Excited Podcast: Episode 49 - Mailbag - Pension Plan Puppets
We answer your questions

I haven’t had a chance to listen to this yet, but I’ll get that done today. You should too.

CWHL Recap: Victoria Bach, Markham Thunder beat Worcester Blades 9-3 - Pension Plan Puppets
Victoria Bach scores her first hat trick and adds a couple of assists in the win.

Worcester Blades = Ducks in this game, it seems. (Also Bach is a great name.)

If you were totally gone all weekend, you likely missed that Martin Marincin was waived on Saturday. He cleared:

UPDATED: Maple Leafs defender Martin Marincin clears waivers - Pension Plan Puppets
He will likely be assigned to the AHL as soon as Tyler Ennis is ready to come off of IR.

Maple Leafs European Prospect Report: Korshkov with a game-winner - Pension Plan Puppets
Eemeli Räsänen actually plays in a KHL game, and the rest of the prospects are rolling along to the end of the season.

This is a weird story:

Rising ESPN star Adnan Virk fired, escorted out in leak investigation
ESPN rising star Adnan Virk has been fired by the network, sources told The Post.

Virk is accused of leaking confidential company information to the media on...

So the Post is ostentatiously telegraphing here that they still have sources at ESPN. Or trying to imply that the stated reason is maybe a dodge around the truth. Anyway, this will likely have a chapter two at some point.

And this was the contract talk on Saturday. I think the key here is not the numbers but that all the insiders/reporters/etc. think this deal is happening soon. Maybe check with Marc Savard?

Saturday Headlines: Talks between Maple Leafs, Matthews intensifying - Sportsnet.ca
This weekend the Hockey Night In Canada panel discusses contract talks between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Auston Matthews plus much more.

Today, we’ll have a preview of the Ducks - Leafs game, and maybe some surprises as well.

Now it’s your turn to talk about that football game or how much you hate football or if you spilled ketchup on your cargo shorts while watching football or whatever you like.

Oh, okay, here’s that one ad everyone will be aflutter over:

From The Branches