Mark Madden: Penguins' Jake Guentzel isn't the only NHL player returning from injury, you know

Covid-19 and that flood in Edmonton permitting, the NHL playoffs are two weeks away. But the puck drops for refreshing hockey notes right here, right now!

• Penguins fans crow about Jake Guentzel returning from injury because of the pause, but the Penguins aren’t alone in benefiting. Columbus got back dominant defenseman Seth Jones and top goal-scorer Oliver Bjorkstrand. Carolina got back defenseman Dougie Hamilton. Philadelphia got back winger James van Riemsdyk. The New York Rangers got back winger Chris Kreider. Colorado got back winger Mikko Rantanen. St. Louis hit the jackpot with splashy winger Vladimir Tarasenko. The covid-19 break didn’t just help the Penguins.

• Matt Murray will have a hard time losing the starting goaltender’s job before Game 1 vs. Montreal on Aug. 1, and rightly so. But the criteria applied should have little to do with what happened four months ago, even less to do with what happened in 2016 and ’17, and mostly what each goalie looks like at practice. Tristan Jarry seems basically even with Murray.

• Marc-Andre Fleury practiced for Vegas on Friday for the first time since the shutdown. Coach Peter DeBoer, who took the Golden Knights’ helm on Jan. 15, may use Robin Lehner as his playoff goalie. Lehner, a Vezina finalist last season with the New York Islanders, was acquired at the trade deadline. Would the Penguins trade Murray and keep Fleury if they got a do-over from 2017? Probably. Fleury might want that right now, too.

• Hockey can be a very systematic game depending on the team and coach. The Penguins are more reliant on speed and skill. Preliminary round foe Montreal likes to trap. But systematic hockey thrives on repetition and rhythm, and the NHL is coming right out of training camp into the playoffs. This seems like another edge for the Penguins vs. Montreal. If the Canadiens are sloppy, the Penguins’ weaponry can convert.

• Jared McCann’s presence on the top power play at Penguins practice might be him filling a space till Patric Hornqvist begins practicing. Or it might be because McCann shoots a lot — 150 shots in 66 games, fifth-most on the team — and you can’t have too much of that.

• In the Eastern Conference, the now-healthy Penguins have the best team on paper. Boston had the best regular season. Whatever is it Tampa Bay never had, it still hasn’t got. The Lightning are loaded but have disappointed one time too many. Washington isn’t great in goal or on defense. It pains to admit that Philadelphia is a legit sleeper. Goalie Carter Hart is a rookie, true, but so were Murray in ’16 and St. Louis’ Jordan Binnington last year.

• The stated criteria for the NHL’s Lady Byng award is that it goes to the player “adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.” Practically, it goes to somebody with a lot of points and very few penalty minutes. Or maybe it just goes to the biggest sissy.

• Mike Sullivan should be among the finalists for the NHL’s Jack Adams trophy (coach of the year) for piloting the Penguins to a good record despite 298 man-games lost to injury, third-most in the league. He isn’t. Sullivan’s quest is hindered by the perceived ease provided by having Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. (That’s the only hindrance those two provide.) No biggie. Chuck Noll won four Super Bowls but was never NFL Coach of the Year.

• TV analyst and ex-Penguin Bob Errey came on my program and made a startling pick for the Eastern Conference’s representative in the Stanley Cup Final: Columbus. But after thinking, it’s less startling. Jones is back after ankle surgery; he might be the NHL’s best defenseman. John Tortorella is an Adams finalist, and for good reason. If the Blue Jackets upset the Maple Leafs in the prelim round, Toronto might burn. (Or flood.)

• Network analysts Keith Jones and Kevin Weekes said on my program that the top four finishers in each conference won’t take the round robin for seeding seriously. I disagree. That No. 1 seed is as good as gold. With reseeding after every round, the No. 1 seed benefits from every upset. The top seed might play, say, the New York Rangers and New York Islanders in the first two rounds proper. The fifth-seeded Penguins might play, say, Washington and Boston.

• Full credit to the NHL and the NHL Players Association for painlessly hammering out a CBA extension. Hockey is the only big-time North American sport that comprehends there’s a pandemic. But the fuss over NHL players returning to the 2022 Winter Olympics is overblown. The NHL isn’t helped by its players in the Olympics. The NHL is interrupted to showcase a product that overshadows the NHL’s. Players get hurt. Anyway, doesn’t Crosby win enough?

• Penguins players hand-wrote thank-you notes to season ticket holders who renewed. Crosby’s handwriting was akin to calligraphy: Neat, precise and orderly. Crosby could do wedding invitations. I bet every glass used in his house has a coaster underneath.