Gary Bettman told reporters at the Columbus All-Star Game that the NHL has no scoring issue. — GETTY

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

Welcome to Tuesday 12 Qs, our chat that takes place each week at 9 a.m. and offers you a chance to carry the conversation. Use the comments below to submit an entry.

UPDATE 9 a.m.: And we’re off …

Dave in Ross Township: Can hockey as a sport ever make the right moves to get back to its fast and exciting way of play? As it is now, it’s nearly unwatchable.

DK: It stinks. It’s awful. It’s all the bad adjectives times all the bad numbers.

And you know what’s funny, Dave?

When I wrote this column eviscerating the NHL and Gary Bettman from All-Star weekend in Columbus, I can tell you that it was largely received with a what-game-are-you-watching reaction from hockey fandom as a whole. Maybe that’s because the Penguins hadn’t yet caught the disease, maybe it’s because it’s worsened in the past month — it has, with goals per game now at an utterly embarrassing 4.96 for March — but I pretty much looked like a weirdo in writing it.

Not so much anymore.

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The steps up to the outfield boardwalk at McKechnie Field this morning. — DEJAN KOVACEVIC

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

BRADENTON, Fla. — Welcome to Tuesday 12 Qs, our chat that takes place each week at 9 a.m. and offers you a chance to carry the conversation. Use the comments below to submit an entry, and I’ll tackle them upon arriving at McKechnie Field in the morning. All topics on the table, as always, but I’ll surely be leaning toward baseball here.

UPDATE 9 a.m.: And away we go on a sunny, spectacular morning at McKechnie …

Woodie Alan Band: Tony Sanchez seems to be having a great spring and seems to have straightened out his throwing issues. Is there any scenario in which he makes the team? How are they feeling about Chris Stewart?

DK: Sanchez is 8 for 15 with a home run and two doubles through a couple weeks of Grapefruit ball and, according to people here, is, in fact, holding his own defensively. But be sure that, in addition to spring offensive stats meaning almost nothing, the latter is the priority now and going forward.

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BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

In bit of a weird spot and could use some help: Because I’m flying the world’s worst airline tonight, my flight has been delayed two hours. As such, doing the Tuesday 12 Qs will be a huge challenge in the normal timeframe, so I’m asking you here if you could send along your non-Pirates submissions now. I can tackle the Pirates stuff when — or if — I get to McKechnie Field in the morning.

Just enter your Qs down in the comments, as usual.

Thanks so much in advance!

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People flock from far and wide to the new Simon Despres statue on the North Shore. — Photo-illustration DALI KOVACEVIC

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

Welcome to Tuesday 12 Qs, our chat that takes place each week at 9 a.m. and offers you a chance to carry the conversation. Use the comments below to submit an entry. No more than one per person, please. Submit early if you prefer, and I’ll pick from that batch to get rolling.

UPDATE 9 a.m.: And off we go …

dsglass74: I understand your perspective on the Pens’ trades, but doesn’t the extreme focus on 2015 — as shown by the draft picks traded, as well as trading a 23-year-old for a 31-year-old straight up — concern you? The Pens have a window now, sure, but farm system depth can extend that window, and there isn’t much depth at all left in the system.

DK: One thing about Simon Despres, before he’s bronzed and sharing space alongside Mario Lemieux and Roberto Clemente in the Pittsburgh sporting pantheon, is that despite his youth, he’s eligible for unrestricted free agency after next season. I should have brought this up in the column you cite because it’s relevant: A decision was looming as to whether to pay Despres at an open-market rate, regardless of his age. His current contract pays an average of $900,000. By mere virtue of free agency, it was going to rise exponentially, even if he never got any better.

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Robert Bortuzzo and the Canucks’ Zack Kassian fight Saturday in Vancouver. — GETTY

BY DEJAN KOVACEVIC

Welcome to Tuesday 12 Qs, our chat that takes place each week at 9 a.m. and offers you a chance to carry the conversation. (Which undoubtedly is a great idea given how sensationally I’m recovering from seven flights in six days!)

Use the comments below to submit an entry. No more than one per person, please. Submit early if you prefer, and I’ll pick from that batch to get rolling, then monitor new entries once we go live.

UPDATE 9 a.m.: And away we go …

turk482: Everyone seems focused on a top-six winger, but watching the Pens in some recent struggles, it seems that they miss the physical presence of a Brooks Orpik-like defenseman more than another winger. Neither Robert Bortuzzo, Scott Harrington or Rob Scuderi seem to fill that need. Should this be their trade deadline focus?

DK: It is, actually, as I reported from Western Canada. And yes, it absolutely should be.

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