Your midday sports snack.

Toast points

• The Canadian Olympic curling pre-trials got underway in P.E.I. yesterday, kickstarting round-robin competition that continues through Friday.  The top two men’s and women’s teams will qualify for the Dec. 2-10 trials in Ottawa.

Prominent names in the men’s field include 2010 Olympic gold medallist John Morris, four-time world champ Glenn Howard, two-time Brier champ Pat Simmons and 2006 Brier winner Jean-Michel Menard. 2006 Olympic bronze medallist Shannon Kleibrink, 2016 Scotties runner-up Krista McCarville and Sherry Middaugh, the runner-up at the last Olympic trials, headline the women’s draw.

• When the Predators take the ice in Columbus tonight, they won’t have the centre they landed in a marquee weekend trade. Kyle Turris, late of the Senators, isn’t expected to join his new team until later in the week due to holdups with the immigration process. Matt Duchene, meanwhile, is in Stockholm, where he’ll debut with the Senators against his old team, the Avalanche, on Friday and Saturday.

• Kasperi Kapanen’s latest stint with the Maple Leafs is over. The Finnish playoff darling was loaned to the AHL Toronto Marlies this morning after going pointless in three games since being recalled just over a week ago. Frederik Gauthier was summoned from the Marlies in his place and could make his season debut as soon as tomorrow, when the Leafs host the Wild.

• In injury news: Carey Price’s lower-body ailment will keep him out of a third straight game tonight, but Canadiens coach Claude Julien says he’s hopeful Price will be back on the ice sometime this week. And Auston Matthews missed Leafs practice today after gutting through “soreness” to suit up against Vegas last night.

• The NHL reports that the Winnipeg Jets are closing in on an old Atlanta Thrashers franchise record. The Jets have earned a point in eight straight games (5-0-3), which is one game short of tying the franchise record set when Atlanta went 6-0-3 over a stretch in December 2005. And if the Jets thought acquiring Steve Mason would stabilize their goaltending, someone forgot to tell Connor Hellebuyck. He is 8-0-2 this season after beating Arizona 3-2 in overtime last night.

• The finalists for baseball’s four major individual awards were announced last night. There weren’t many surprises, other than perhaps the Orioles’ Trey Mancini getting an AL Rookie of the Year nod over the Astros’ Yuli Gurriel. (There may have been some Baseball Writers Association of America voters who docked Gurriel, a recent Cuban defector, for being 31 years old.) Reds first baseman and Toronto native Joey Votto is an NL MVP finalist for the third time. The winners will be revealed Monday through Thursday next week.

• Ten names were put forward last night for reconsideration for the Baseball Hall of Fame. The 10 will go before the Modern Baseball Era committee, which will vote in December for inclusion in the 2018 class. Former union leader Marvin Miller is on the list with nine players whom the BBWAA did not elect while they were eligible: Steve Garvey, Tommy John, Don Mattingly, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Ted Simmons, Luis Tiant and Alan Trammell.

Nutritional information

Which teams and positions generate the most MVPs in Major League Baseball? Yankees and Giants outfielders.

Going back to 1931, when the award was first presented, the Yankees outfield MVPs have been split between Joe DiMaggio (three), Mickey Mantle (three) and Roger Maris (two). The Giants outfield MVPs went to Barry Bonds (five) and Willie Mays (two). A couple of other three-time MVPs, Yankees catcher Yogi Berra and former Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, also generate some deep blues here.

Photos of the day

Were it not for his shaky knees or Punch Imlach’s callous approach to contract negotiations, Mike Palmateer might have made it to the Hockey Hall of Fame as a member of the Maple Leafs. Instead, the Popcorn Kid will finally get his due on Wednesday — at the Aurora Sports Hall of Fame north of Toronto.

Post reporter Joe O’Connor paid homage today to the acrobatic goalie with the wickedly cool mask, the Leaf every young fan aspired to be in the 1970s. Here are two throwback shots of Palmateer from our archives, plus one of more recent vintage.

At nationalpost.com

• The NHL, you may have heard, won’t be attending the Pyeongchang Olympics, which means Hockey Canada has begun to execute a backup plan: recruit from Europe. Nick Faris took stock of the Canadian KHLers who could end up leading the charge for a third straight gold medal, from former Leafs and Oilers goalie Ben Scrivens to Canucks and Flames washout Linden Vey, the KHL’s current No. 1 scorer.

• Who improved in the Duchene-Turris trade? Is Nikita Kucherov a top-five player in the NHL? And what should we make of Mitch Marner’s start to the season? Michael Traikos joined Off the Post, Postmedia’s national hockey podcast, to opine on these topics and more.

TV tonight

Until 5:30 p.m. Tennis: ATP NextGen Finals TSN2
7 p.m. NHL: Edmonton at NY Islanders SN Oilers, TVAS
7:30 p.m. NBA: Chicago at Toronto TSN1,3-5
7:30 p.m. NHL: Vegas at Montreal TSN2, RDS
8 p.m. CHL: Russia vs. WHL SN One, Sportsnet
9 p.m. NHL: Vancouver at Calgary SN West, SN Pacific
10 p.m. NBA
— Oklahoma City at Sacramento TSN1,3
— Memphis at Portland NBATV

Early Wednesday

8 a.m. Tennis: ATP NextGen Finals TSN2

Hot Buttered Post is served Monday through Thursday.