Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.
• Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas, San Jose Sharks center Joe Thornton and Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith have been named the NHL 'Three Stars' for the week ending Oct. 31. Thomas had two shutouts. Keith led all defensemen in scoring with seven points last week. Thomas Thornton played the Devils. [NHL]
• Defenseman Brian Campbell is back for the Chicago Blackhawks, which means there's a good chance Super Nintendo Hjalmarsson could turn his season around: "I always have the same attitude when I play, but it's a bit of a comfort thing having the guy that you played with for a while and played in big games with." [Between the Circles]
• Sound the panic alarm in Ottawa: Daniel Alfredsson is hurt and Pascal Leclaire is healthy! [TSN]
• Interesting ratings news from Lepore, who offers the top 5 and the bottom 5 as far as viewership on VERSUS for October. The best? The Philadelphia Flyers vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 7, with 730,000. The worst? Minnesota Wild and Carolina Hurricanes from overseas, seen by 80,000 people in the afternoon. [Puck The Media]
• The Edmonton Oilers have placed goalie Jeff Deslauriers on waivers, and Copper & Blue explains why. [C&B]
• Anaheim Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle takes the San Jose Sharks to task for having their big guns on the ice with a 5-0 lead and a 5-on-3 power play; Mr. Plank takes a psychological evaluation of his motivations. [Fear The Fin]
• Ken Campbell all but writes that the NHL has blood on its hands because they publish fight videos on NHL.com: "The league seems to think all of this bloodlust is not only acceptable, but worthy of promotion." [THN]
• Los Angeles Kings blog Jewels From the Crown with a parting shot at Ilya Kovalchuk. [JFTC]
• From Elliotte Friedman: "One thing that will be on the agenda of next week's GM meetings: Yapping at the opposition during warmups. The NHL wants an end to it." We say this without a hint of sarcasm: We're headed for mandatory handshakes after games in the regular season, aren't we? [CBC Sports]
• Frustrating news out of Calgary, regarding Calgary Flames center Daymond Langkow: "A Flames official tells the Sun it's now about ‘a 50-50 proposition' as to whether the 34-year-old can come back from the neck injury he sustained late last season when a slap shot on an awkward play did damage to his spinal cord. The latest setback came last week when Langkow and the team's doctors decided to shut him down after he experienced numbness below the waist during heavy exertion." [QMI]
• New Jersey Devils star Zach Parise's injury may have been lingering since August. Hey, at least the team will have the cap room to bring back Brian Rolston (in theory, of course). [Fire & Ice]
• Tom Reed of the Columbus Dispatch on Steve Mason of the Columbus Blue Jackets: "I don't know what to make of Mason. He's been excellent on some nights and fishing lots of pucks out of his net on others. He's been in goal for all three lopsided losses, but not been the major culprit in any of them. Still, he's paid to make big saves and last night he couldn't supply them." [Puck-rakers]
• Jon Sim has been waived by the New York Islanders. [Islanders]
• Milan Jurcina's out 2-4 weeks for the Isles. [Slam]
• Really nice piece by Kent Wilson on "The Decline of Jarome Iginla" of the Flames: "Going forward, the Flames face a bit of a conundrum: they've built around Iginla with the assumption he'd be the primary difference maker up front indefinitely. Their farm system is totally bereft of similar quality talents. Paying a guy you have to shelter $7 million per season is obviously never an ideal situation, but it's hopelessly exacerbated when the club lacks the ability to replace his contributions, whether by internal promotion, by trading assets or by spending cap space. Aside from the emergence of Rene Bourque as a legitimate power versus power option, the Flames currently have none of the above." [Houses of the Hockey]
• Via GJ Berg on Twitter, it's the latest San Jose Sharks commercial with Pickles as a lousy gardener.
• Chris Osgood was injured in practice for the Detroit Red Wings. [MLive]
• Terry Mercury on whether the Atlanta Thrashers are exploiting their black players in marketing the team locally: "If the Boston Bruins had a kid with an Irish-sounding surname do you think they'd get his face out there in the Beantown media?" [Hockey Independent]
• Washington Capitals blog On Frozen Blog covers Danny Briere's latest suspension in a piece called "On Little Punks and Their Cowardly Stickwork" [OFB]
• Solid stuff with Seth and Joe Mullen, talking about the Pittsburgh Penguins and specifically here about the Ron Francis trade: "I think there was a little bit of shock because Johnny was having a good year. He had a good year before. He was really coming on the year before. I think for Kevin Stevens, they were buddy-buddy so it was probably more of a shock for him." [Empty Netters]
• Yours truly and New Jersey Devils bloggers survey the Titanic. [From The Rink]
• Calling out Columbus Blue Jackets fans for their negativity: "Remind yourself that there are just as many (if not more) reasons to believe this team can win every night as there are to fear they might lose. And at worst, when the team loses (and it's not if - it's when - no team in the NHL has ever gone 78-4, much as we might hope), try to shake it off and remember there's another game coming up where they'll have a chance to get right back into the win column. And maybe, just maybe, as the team works to fix the attitude in the locker room, we can help fix the attitude around the town." [The Cannon]
• Mark Madden offers a calm, rational assessment of the Pittsburgh Penguins' power play struggles: "Coach Dan Bylsma has taken charge of the power play himself this season. Good. At least blame is easier to place." [Beaver County Times]
• The American Hockey League announced today that Syracuse Crunch right wing Kyle Palmieri has been named the Reebok/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending Oct. 31, 2010. Palmieri scored five goals and added an assist for six points in three games last week. [AHL]
• Anaheim Calling on the Cam Fowler conundrum. [Anaheim Calling]
• Finally, what the Los Angeles Kings wore for Halloween. Jonathan Quick was Kermit the Frog, which is better than Jonathan Bernier's suggestion of a Placeholder.
No comments:
Post a Comment