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Monday Morning Skate: Here's What Happened In The NHL Over The Weekend

By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston

Matt Dolloff's Monday Morning Skate recaps the past weekend in the National Hockey League, from the head of a hockey nut, JV high school superstar, and staunch Bruins loyalist.

BOSTON (CBS) -- The first edition of the Monday Morning Skate comes with no real game action to report since we're coming off All-Star weekend. But that doesn't mean there is any shortage of stories going on around the ice.

The biggest story, by far, of the All-Star Game, was enforcer John Scott, whom internet trolls jokingly voted into the game and inadvertently set off a chain of events that resulted in a surreal celebration of goons that dragged through the entire weekend. Scott scored two goals (he has five in his whole career) and won All-Star Game MVP, the cherry on top of a farce sundae that amused a lot of fans but enraged those who rail against fighters and their dwindling place in the game.

Here's what else John Scott and others did over the weekend that was in the NHL...

- The league extended commissioner Gary Bettman through 2022, according to SI's Michael Farber. If not for a certain fire-haired fellow in the NFL, Bettman would be easily the worst commissioner in professional sports, which makes this extension a head-scratcher. But the end of the 2021-22 season is when the current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires, so this could just be the beginning of the end of Bettman's rocky tenure as commish.

- 19-year-old Dylan Larkin of the Detroit Red Wings, Michigan native and frontrunner for the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year, broke the record in the fastest skater competition. The record was previously held by Mike Gartner, who set it at the 1996 All-Star Game in Boston - six months before Larkin was born. Larkin may have obliterated the record if he didn't slip and almost fall on the last turn, but he broke it anyway. The kid can fly and he's yet another young stud that makes the future bright for Team U.S.A. at the Olympics.

Larkin breaks record to win Fastest Skater Competition by NHL on YouTube

- NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly says the league has not yet closed its investigation of Patrick Kane and his alleged sexual assault. "We have to satisfy ourselves with the facts," Daly said. Interesting that the league hasn't given up, even though Kane's accuser and the district attorney have.

- Speaking of Kane, in the All-Star Game he scored a goal and dropped the gloves with Scott as a goof. He entered the All-Star break still scoring at a significantly higher rate than every other player in the league, making himself the frontrunner for the Hart Trophy as league MVP.

Kane scores, tussles with Scott by NHL on YouTube

- NHL.com announced a redesigned website and app, which launched Monday morning. NHL Gamecenter has been updated and rebranded as "NHL.tv," which will allow fans to watch all games all the time in high quality. We'll see how the new app goes, but it's about time the league redesigned that lumbering clunker of a website.

- P.K. Subban continued to make it hard for anyone in Boston to dislike him as he dressed up like 43-year-old Jaromir Jagr, complete with mullet, and scored in the shootout competition. As expected, he finished it off with the famous Jagr salute.

Subban dresses as Jagr in Breakaway Challenge by NHL on YouTube

- The Bruins' Patrice Bergeron struggled a bit in the accuracy shooting contest - at least, when compared to winner John Tavares. It's hard for someone like Bergeron to show what he does best (lock-down defense, impeccable instincts) in a setting like the skills competition. It's a style-over-substance scenario.

Tavares wins NHL Accuracy Shooting by NHL on YouTube

- Anaheim Ducks goalie John Gibson showed why he's one of the best young netminders in the league with this ridiculous save on Tyler Seguin in the All-Star Game. And all of the goalies, under siege by three superstar players at all times, showed how exciting the game could be if they had their pad size reduced and actually had to, you know, make saves.

Gibson's dazzling split save leads to Hall goal by NHL on YouTube

Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.

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