Deep Blue Sea: Gritty’s Big Day

We have to admit something, Sharks fans:

We have Good Mascot Privilege™.

Sharkie is fine. Maybe great, even! He’s a normal-enough-looking Shark, who gives Brent Burns weirdly intimate hugs and bangs a drum in the crowd at games. It’s easy to take this good fish boy for granted, but sometimes we need to take a moment to sit down and really appreciate how lucky we are to have a mascot that isn’t completely and utterly nightmare-inducing.

Sorry, Philadelphia.

The Flyers have gone this long without a mascot. And somehow, I feel like a hairy orange dude is a pretty apt description of more than a few of their players, so maybe they’re onto something with this guy.

But did he have to have googly eyes?

There were plenty of Gritty memes on Twitter yesterday, so feel free to share your favorites below.

News & Notes

• The Flyers are getting Gritty
• More mascot content, because this is who we are as a league now: PHT Power Rankings: NHL’s most absurd mascots
• Don’t let Gritty distract you from the biggest actual hockey news of the day: Seattle NHL expansion group gets approval for $700M building: report
• After 16 seasons, Brian Gionta announces his retirement
• Very few things on this list seems correct, but I love being mad about other people’s hockey opinions: Ranking all 31 NHL teams by their forwards
• We miss Patrick Marleau, but here he is weighing in on the biggest moves of the summer being made by the only teams he’s ever played for: LeBrun: Patrick Marleau on the blockbuster deals made by both his current and former team
• We’ll preview the Edmonton Connor McDavids later today, but yesterday, his GQ spread dropped and whew! It’s a lot. Connor McDavid Is Done Being Chirped At
• For some heart warming hockey content, Team USA Captain Megan Duggan married Canadian Olympian Gillian Apps and it is too cute for words:

Scores & Recaps

• Boston Bruins 4, Philadelphia Flyers 3 [Stanley Cup of Chowder highlights, Broad Street Hockey]
• Montreal Canadiens 5, Toronto Maple Leafs 1 [Habs EOTP story stream, Pension Plan Puppets recap]
• Minnesota Wild 3, Dallas Stars 5 [Hockey Wilderness gamethread, Defending Big D recap]
• Vancouver Canucks 1, Los Angeles Kings 4 [Nucks Misconduct, Jewels from the Crown]
• Arizona Coyotes 2, Anaheim Ducks 4 [Five For Howling, Anaheim Calling]
• New Jersey Devils 3, New York Rangers 4 (OT) [All About the Jersey recap, Blueshirt Banter gamethread]
• Winnipeg Jets 5, Calgary Flames 4 (OT) [Arctic Ice Hockey gamethread, Matchsticks and Gasoline]
• Colorado Avalanche 5, Vegas Golden Knights 3 [Mile High Hockey recap, Knights on Ice]