He’s back, but in the wrong colour jersey. James van Riemsdyk and his Flyer buddies are coming to Toronto tonight for Hockey Night in Canada. There will be a tribute and all of that and I will be sad.

A nice consolation would be a win though, right? The Leafs lost in Columbus last night, despite obviously playing very well.

Game Recap: Leafs fall to Ryan Lacey’s Columbus Blue Jackets

The Marlies defeated the Monsters 6-5 last night in overtime. Guess who scored the OT winner for the second game in a row?

That was Marchment’s second goal of the game. Carl Grundstrom also picked up two goals. Also, I didn’t see what happened, but one of the Monsters got the infamous “Throwing Equipment” misconduct penalty at the end of the game. That’s such a fun oddity to see on the AHL box scores.

It’s another really busy night for the NHL with 11 games on the schedule, but only one matinee today at 2:00 p.m. hosted by the Rangers. We’ll have a preview of tonight’s game later this morning.

Of course, there’s the whole Nylander situation which has only about one week left to play out so speculation will be at a fever pitch for the Saturday night hockey broadcasts. There were a few false alarms yesterday suggesting a deal was either done or imminent.

It didn’t happen.

Please make sure any information from Twitter you share today is from verified sources, and preferably local sources, not journalists from other cities who name drop William Nylander in trade speculation only to get attention.

In the mean time, I’m going down to my empty basement and totally not cry.

Other News

Antoine Roussel was hungry during the game last night.

What is it with Canucks players biting everyone?

Remember the famous incident during the Bruins-Canucks playoff series where that doofus Alex Burrows bit Patrice Bergeron?

Maybe they need to get them some Goldfish to snack on at the bench? Or some nice orange slices? Maybe it’s the smelling salts? I blame the smelling salts. Perhaps they need to have some of James van Riemsdyk’s Power Play Penne casserole ready during the intermission. It’s delicious!

The really scary part is how Roussel now has a taste for blood; who knows what this Nosferatu will will do next! Keep your gloves on during the next game, Leafs.

Additional Citizen-Attacking Twitter Bots Discovered - Silver Seven
Five more fake accounts have appeared, with alleged ties to the Senators.

A CFL game in Mexico? It could happen - TSN
"CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie and LFA officials Oscar Perez and Alejandro Jaimes signed a letter of intent Friday to work together on several projects. That includes playing a future CFL game in Mexico City."

Meet Denise Coates, the best paid woman in the world - The Guardian
Coates started Bet365 from a Portakabin in Stoke, and turned it into a sports gambling empire. Now she's making headlines for her pay package, which some call "obscene," and others call her well deserved reward for hard work. Her current compensation is the Canadian Dollar equivalent of over $450 million per year.

From The Branches