Good morning. Couple things to start your day. First, Patrick Kane is a disgusting human being and I don’t want him anywhere near my Maple Leafs, and the fact Barstool is pandering this makes it extra gross. Ignore them. Second, always read the username before sharing fake trade tweets. Pension Plan Puppets is the only source of Leafs news you can trust; if we didn’t say it, it didn’t happen (TM).

Okay, now that we got the stupid out of the way, let’s get into the news.

First up, Sarah Nurse was named to the cover of EA Sports NHL 23 alongside Trevor Zegras. Nurse broke the Olympic record for points in a single tournament last winter, scoring 18 points in only seven games as she helped lead Canada to another gold medal. She is one of the faces of hockey in Canada and her hometown of Toronto. EA introduced women players in the game for the first time last year (NHL 22) and Nurse is the first woman on the cover this year.

Sarah Nurse on EA Sports cover history, women in hockey and judging 'Drag Race'

Trevor Zegras is a rising star in the NHL and is emblematic of the spirit and energy hockey fans love. Despite being only a rookie last season, Zegras quickly became appointment viewing because he kept producing something special every night.

I do hope women’s hockey gets that platform where they can show off everything awesome about themselves every night from October to April.

I’m posting Nurse’s tweet of the cover because young men were loudly being insecure about their feelings on the EA Sports NHL tweet replies.

Until then, the IIHF Women’s World Championships are kicking off TODAY, with Canada playing Finland at 1pm on TSN. We have a preview of the tournament on our site and I’ll be providing you with recaps for all of Canada’s games. Can’t wait for Sarah Fillier to score two goals early every night and then struggle for the rest of the game to get the hat trick.

PPP: 2022 Women’s Worlds Preview

The NHL is planning to re-restart the World Cup of Hockey in 2024. See if you can figure out how they plan to work out the whole “Russia” thing.

Halifax Police now have the names of two players who allegedly participated as members of Hockey Canada’s World Junior team in a 2003 gang sexual assault. The source who told this to CBC said both had NHL careers. Only two players on that HC team didn’t play in the NHL.

Brand new Leafs prospect Nikita Grebyonkin is having a time in the KHL preseason.

PHIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLL is off the board.

And lastly, some tough news out of France as Alexandre Texier is taking a leave of absence from the Blue Jackets to be close to his family. Texier is expected to play in th Swiss league. Geneva is about a 90 minute drive from his hometown of Grenoble on the border between France and Switzerland. Texier was admitted into the Substance Abuse and Behavioural Health (SADH) program, or as it’s being called internally, the Players’ Assistance Program. Here’s an article from ESPN talking about the program. It sounds like exactly what is needed.

And for those of you who have scrolled down this far, we have a surprise for you with today’s upload for the Top 25 Under 25.

From The Branches