Puck Wire: Top Hockey News Of The Day: March 19th

Here is today’s edition of Puck Wire as you get set for another vitally important night of NHL hockey late in the playoff race.

• Big news in Nashville, as Predators’ F Austin Watson has officially been reinstated by the league. Watson was serving a suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, which came down on January 29th.
• Who has done the best job behind the bench this season? Maybe in this year more than any other, you could make the case for over five coaches for this honor. Picking a Jack Adams Award winner will not be easy this June. Here is PHT’s look at the best coaching jobs in hockey this season.
• NCAA free agency is well underway, and on Monday the Washington Capitals tipped their toes into the water and signed a hometown boy. Yale’s Joe Snively agreed to an entry-level deal with the club, and already knows his most famous teammate thanks to maybe the only fun trip to the dentists’ office ever.
• Joel Quenneville back in action? It sure seems like that will be a reality at some point during the off-season. Coach Q has gone dark since being let go by the Blackhawks earlier this season, but teams are expected to go hard after him this summer. More on that and other rumors from The Hockey Writers.
• In case you missed it from over the weekend…..The NHL’s draft lottery will held a little earlier this season, kicking off on April 9th as part of NBCSN’s playoff preview coverage.
• Speaking of the lottery…..A look at the updated odds following Monday night’s action around the league.

photo credit: Santeri Viinamäki [CC BY-SA 4.0], from Wikimedia Commons