What do the 2011-12 NHL season and The Essential Billy Joel have in common? Both are full of questionable hits. Yeah. Billy Joel sucks. Deal with it.

Anyway, here's another one of those questionable hits. Midway through the first period of Saturday's tilt between the New York Islanders and the Dallas Stars, Nino Niederreiter was cutting through the neutral zone when Mark Fistric absolutely levelled him.

Problem was, unfortunately, the principle point of contact was the head. And Niederreiter left the game with what appeared to be (and was later announced to be) a concussion. That's never good.

So will Fistric get suspended for this hit? It's up for debate. The fact that Niederreiter was concussed doesn't bode well, but the fact that the hit went unpenalized does. There were six minutes of penalties handed out on the play: a minor to Fistric for roughing and a double minor to Matt Martin (for double roughing?), all from the scuffle after the hit. As far as the officials were concerned,

Saturday night saw Ryan Miller return to the lineup after missing a month with a concussion believed to be from his run-in with Boston Bruins' forward Milan Lucic. You probably remember that incident.

Miller looked excellent through the first half of the game, stopping every shot the Predators threw at him. It was enough to make one wonder if, like Frogger, his only weakness was being by run over. So Jordin Tootoo decided to test that theory:

Welcome back, Ryan Miller.

First question: was that intentional? A generous read of the situation says that Tootoo was on his way to the goal when Christian Ehrhoff shoved him from behind. Unable to stop, he tried to leap Miller, as Ryan Kesler successfully did the other other night. He was nowhere near as successful.

The less generous read, however, says that Tootoo saw an opportunity to hit Miller, fully aware that sort of thing tends to throw Buffalo off their game a little, and took it. And he leapt into him. This seems the likelier read,

134312368Not unlike the Hamburglar with a plateful of hamburgers, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is running away with the Calder. The 18-year-old boasts 11 goals and 17 assists through his first 26 games, tops among rookies and fifth among, you know, everyone. He's received NHL rookie of the month honours for both October and November, and looks poised to clean up Advent as well.

Most importantly, he's turned the Edmonton Oilers into a respectable hockey team, which is no small feat: Only last year, they were the Patch Adams of the league, capable of inciting laughter just by walking into a room. This is appears to be a thing of the past. RNH is the real deal.

134262870Impressive as this is, it's also something of a shame. Sure, it's nice to herald a brand new superstar, especially one young enough to wear light up shoes to the rink, but it's also sucked much of the intrigue from the Calder debate. The league boasts a number of other standout rookies, but none are mentioned in the same breath as Ryan

As if Nathan Gerbe didn't have enough problems, what with being the shortest player in the NHL at 5'5", the diminutive Buffalo Sabres forward left Friday night's game with the Detroit Red Wings after being kicked in the face by teammate Paul Gaustad.

Let us remember that Paul Gaustad, like all NHL players, wears knives on his feet during NHL action. Here's the gruesome video, although if you're squeamish, trust me -- it looks pretty much how you think it will.

Yikes. The fact that Gerbe skated to the bench on his own here is admirable. Take that, people who think the Sabres are soft.

And as for Milan Lucic: watch out, because Paul Gaustad has been training for round two with Shaolin monks, and the full-fledged bicycle kick to the face is now a part of his repertoire. Stay away from Ryan Miller.

According to David Amber, Gerbe received treatment for cuts to the nose and lip. Incredibly, nothing serious. Clearly, what the guy lacks in size, he makes up for in strength of face. He's

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.

RQYY3• Best NHL.com pun ever? I'm saying yes. [Reddit Hockey]

• Tough break for the Calgary Flames: Standout defenseman Mark Giordano is out indefinitely with partially torn leg tendons. [Flames]

• Not nearly as tough a break for Calgary: Cory Sarich has requested a trade. [Matchsticks & Gasoline]

• The Tampa Bay Lightning has increased season tickets from 6,000 to 11,000 in the last year. Sure, some of that has to do with the fact that they're winning and have one of the most exciting young players in the league, but it's also because they sell jerseys with freaking microchips in them. [Mashable]

• Reimer, Reimer, gonna be startin' Reimer. After missing the last 18 games with concussion-like symptoms (one of which is a concussion), the Toronto Maple Leafs' goalie has been cleared to play. [The Globe & Mail]

• With 16

134342091There probably weren't a lot of people in the Montreal Canadiens organization happy with Brendan Shanahan's decision to suspend Max Pacioretty for three games, but if you were looking for one, I'd suggest 2009 1st round draft pick Louis Leblanc.

Down a forward, the Canadiens fired up the old claw crane and plucked Leblanc from their minor-league affiliate in Hamilton on Monday. Two days later, he dressed in his first ever NHL game, a 4-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks.

Leblanc registered 1 shot and 2 hits during 7:52 of icetime Wednesday night, so it wasn't a impactful debut for the Point-Claire, Quebec native. Still, it was a massive career milestone, one that his parents were in attendance to witness.

And that's where this story gets sort of cool. Were it not for Erik Cole, they wouldn't have been.

During last night's broadcast, Canadiens' announcer Pierre Houde explained that Cole had taken it upon himself to ensure the Leblanc family was able to witness their son's big day firsthand,

134306476Pavel Datsyuk wins one of the 900 faceoffs he took versus Tampa Bay.

No. 1 Star: Corey Perry, Anaheim Ducks

After seven consecutive losses, Corey Perry finally put his foot down, scoring a goal and adding two assists to lead the Ducks to a win, a glorious win, topping the Montreal Canadiens, 4-1. Ryan Getzlaf's foot was also put down rather assertively -- he registered the exact same totals.

No. 2 Star: Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings

Datsyuk opened the scoring, went 22-for-31 in the faceoff circle, and added a beautiful assist on one of the prettiest powerplay goals of the year to lead the Red Wings to a  4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Seriously, look at that puck movement on this goal. All five Red Wings touch the puck.

No. 3 Star: David Krejci, Boston Bruins

Krejci had a three-point night in the Bruins' convincing 6-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, scoring a goal and setting up teammates Milan Lucic and Zdeno Chara for two others. With the win, the Bruins closed out an

Back by popular demand, here are your Puck Previews: Spotlighting the key games in NHL action, news and views as well as general frivolity. Make sure to stop back here for the nightly Three Stars when the games are finished.

ryanpancakeBobby Ryan goes to his happy place, which is a pancake house in Pasadena.

Preview: Boston Bruins at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7:00 p.m. EST

Bruins-Leafs games are always fun, especially now that you can directly compare the play of Tyler Seguin to the play of Phil Kessel, but at this point, it's worth watching the Bruins when they play anyone. They're on an 11-0-1 run. Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs aren't too bad a watch either -- they're currently in possession of the top line in the NHL, the trio of Tyler Bozak, Phil Kessel, and Joffrey Lupul. I know -- I don't understand how this happened either.

Preview: Montreal Canadiens at Anaheim Ducks, 10:00 p.m. EST

The Ducks are beginning to approach the unthinkable: creating a world where the Columbus Blue Jackets aren't the