BHN Puck Links: Never Going To Happen With Kovalchuk, Boston Bruins

Happy holidays and Merry Christmas to all the Boston Bruins fans out there. I hope that Santa was good to you, and that those good tidings carried over into the day after Christmas with a whole holiday weekend in front of us. My son celebrated by scoring his first hat trick for his mites team on Saturday morning in their first win of the season, so things are going very, very well in the Haggerty household at this point.

I hope Christmas was a joyous time spent with family, surrounded by love and maybe even with a cool present or two under the tree, the kind of things that the Christmas spirit is made of even in these challenging times. Now on to the puck links:

*Say goodbye to any shot that Ilya Kovalchuk would have had to play with the Boston Bruins as he signed a two-year deal with Avangard Omsk in the KHL. This makes all kinds of sense after a successful end to his NHL career with a resurgence in Montreal, and a playoff chance with the Washington Capitals at the end of last season. With all the COVID-19 issues impacting the NHL in North America, it really makes more logical sense than ever for veteran Russian guys just like Kovalchuk to simply play at home for the next few years.

We’ll always wonder what might have been last season if the Bruins had dealt for him at the trade deadline, or if they had signed him three years ago to be the trigger man playing with David Krejci. It ended up being the right move for the B’s to not go to a third year with the aging Kovalchuk as the Los Angeles Kings did to sign the Russian sniper, but Kovalchuk also would have been a better fit in Boston than he was with a declining, offensively challenged group in LA. (Sportsnet)

*As always, you’ve got to pay tribute to the Elf-inspired Christmas mask that goalie Petr Mrazek has worn around the holidays.

.@pmrazek34‘s Christmas mask – a CLASSIC.

💯🎄🎅 pic.twitter.com/iSYwguXqWe

— NHL on NBC Sports (@NHLonNBCSports) December 24, 2020

*Congrats to all-around good guy and former Bruins forward Dave Poulin, who has begun writing columns for the Toronto Star. The first one is excellent and takes you into what propelled him as a player and hockey exec. (Toronto Star)

*Sam Carchidi says that the Philadelphia Flyers are potentially a very good team. I would say that is a true statement. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

*Our friends at Vegas Hockey Now have a breakdown of the recently released NHL schedule for Vegas, and it certainly has it’s challenges. (Vegas Hockey Now)

*Some fun holiday reading for your perusal as our friends at Pittsburgh Hockey Now take you through some yuletide memories with the Pittsburgh Penguins. (Pittsburgh Hockey Now)

*For something completely different: This Super Friends Christmas album throwback takes me back to when I was a kid in the 1970’s and 1980’s. I can’t believe I was able to track this down on YouTube.