Kevin Olenick

Frank Seravalli on Frankly Hockey says Connor McDavid has to take some of the criticism for the Oilers season, noting that he is trying to do too much on his own. He pointed to Saturday’s game against Tampa Bay on the 5 on 3 as an example, as well as overtime in the gold medal game for Canada. Seravalli also said this is the last thing the Oilers want to hear from the leader of the team, especially with McDavid praising another team’s coach.

There are no words to express how heartbroken we all are. Jessi Pierce (Hinrichs) was the most vibrant person - the life of the party, always with a smile on her face, always bringing a passion to every article and podcast and interview she did. Jessi simply loved covering the Wild and hockey throughout Minnesota and had a way of brightening everyone’s day with her upbeat, bubbly personality. I have literally NEVER met anybody that had a way of being EVERYBODY’s friend. More than anything, she absolutely loved Hudson, Cayden and Avery and was the greatest mother who did everything she could to bring joy to her sweetest kids. Even at Friday’s practice in her beloved Iowa State sweatshirt, she was so excited to take them to the seasonal opening of Cup and Cone in WBL. Seeing those precious pics yesterday, she provided them with another incredibly fun and loving day. My heart breaks for Mike for the loss of his wife and children and Jessi’s family, friends and colleagues for this unimaginable loss. This hockey community lost a wonderful, energetic and one of a kind voice and story teller and Grade A person. Life can be unbearably unfair sometimes, and it’s impossible to make sense of this tragedy. Please keep Jessi and her beautiful kids in your thoughts and prayers. I wish Mike all the peace and support and happiness in the world. A lot of tears were shed at the arena yesterday. We, in the Wild media and inside the Wild, will miss seeing Jessi everyday, laughing with her everyday. The press box and press room won’t be the same without her. It’ll be a lot quieter, a lot less funny. But her passion and joy for covering this hockey team and sport will remain. Sorry for the length of this, but as Jessi knew better than most as my original Athletic “backup” and somebody who always gave me Minnesota Hockey Journal deadline extensions, as she used to joke, I’m incapable of writing tight. Especially about her. RIP Jessi, Hudson, Cayden and Avery. 🙏💔

Twitter turns 20. What is your favorite tweet of all time?

McDavid post game on the lightning “They got a great system. They’re perfectly coached. They all know what they’re doing all over the ice. It’s impressive. They are a great team.” “They’re extremely well coached they’re extremely well organized. They’re very very rehearsed in everything that they do. It’s very impressive and when you do break them down, they got a heck of a goalie to back stop them.” I Asked him how they can get to that place with their system. “That’s a coaching question you can ask Knobber that question. Obviously we’ve been play together a long time and we feel like we’re somewhat rehearsed and organized, but not to their level.”