The medal games have been set at the IIHF Planet Hockey Championship.  Following Latvia and Germany had been capable to pull off important upsets to get to the semi-finals, one particular of them was capable to do so once again as the Germans scored late in the third to tie it at 3 send their game against Group USA to overtime, paving the way for former Pittsburgh prospect Frederik Tiffels to score the winner late in the additional session.  Meanwhile, in the initial semi-final, the presumptive second-all round choose subsequent month, Adam Fantilli, picked up the winner in the third period as Canada doubled up the Latvians four-two.  Latvia and the US will face off for Bronze even though Germany and Canada will battle for Gold with each games slated for Sunday.

Elsewhere about the hockey planet:

• Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic examines (subscription hyperlink) some prospective trade solutions for the Bruins this summer season, such as defenseman Matt Grzelcyk. The 29-year-old has been a capable secondary producer offensively for the previous numerous seasons, such as notching a profession-higher 26 points in 75 games in 2022-23.  Having said that, his $three.6875MM AAV is a bit on the higher side relative to his ice time which is that of a player on the third pairing and with the group facing very a cap crunch this summer season, Grzelcyk is a luxury they could possibly not be capable to afford.  He, along with fellow left-shot defenders Derek Forbort and Mike Reilly, are all a year away from unrestricted absolutely free agency and there’s a very good likelihood one particular of them, if not extra, will be on the move in the coming months.
• Whilst the Oilers will want to absolutely free up some cap space to re-sign Evan Bouchard and round out their roster this summer season, David Staples of the Edmonton Journal argues that one particular of these cash-saving moves shouldn’t involve moving defenseman Cody Ceci. The 29-year-old nevertheless has two years left on a contract that carries a $three.25MM price tag tag and saw his output dip from 28 to 15 points this season even though seeing his playing time go down slightly as effectively.  Having said that, the truth that he can nevertheless manage second-pairing minutes remains worthwhile on a group that has some unproven defenders and other folks that are very best served with restricted ice time so if they can come across a way to reduce fees elsewhere, that could possibly be a much better way for them to go.