Advertisement

Puck Headlines: Tortorella, DeBoer need to shut up; NHL ratings; Wings’ Howard hurt

Harrison Mooney

• Via Reddit Hockey, the many faces of Mike Babcock.

• Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard re-aggravated his groin and won't accompany the team to New York for Wednesday's game at the Rangers. They've recalled Ty Conklin on emergency basis, but if he's claimed on waivers then it's Jordan Pearce time for the Wings. [MLive]

• Some good ratings news via NBC: "Last night's Rangers-Devils game on NBC Sports Network generated a 1.94 HH rating in New York, the highest ever for the market for a regular-season game on NBC Sports Network (formerly VERSUS). The local rating was up 30 percent from the previous Rangers-Devils matchup earlier this season (1.49). Nationally, the game did a .36 HH rating, up nine percent for a previous matchup between the two teams (.33). Sunday's Penguins-Flyers game on NBC generated a 15.1 rating in Pittsburgh, the highest rating for that market for a regular-season game, excluding Winter Classics, on record (since 1996). Nationally, the game generated a 1.0 overnight rating, up 43 percent from last year's comparable coverage (0.7; NYR-Pit)."

• How the Rangers/Devils brawl was like an episode of "The Good Wife." That's absurd! We watched the Rangers/Devils brawl! [NYT]

• Today in awesome protests: Members of the Occupy Wall Street movement protested the Wells Fargo bailout by playing road hockey on Broad Street. [Philly Now]

• Elliotte Friedman's always interesting 30 thoughts, including this tidbit on how the Radulov situation pertains to the Sochi Olympics: "The KHL reached out to the NHL last week, looking to 'negotiate terms' of his return. The NHL considers him a 'stolen player' and refused. With the Sochi Olympics looming, Alexander Medvedev knows he's got to play it carefully. How important are NHLers at the Olympics to Russia? When NHLPA boss Donald Fehr travelled to Russia in February, Vladimir Putin found time to sit down with him. That's not an easy meeting to get." [CBC]

• Who scored hockey's first recorded goal? [Cult of Hockey]

• The Hockey News reclaims the Man of the Year award it gave to Graham James. [THN]

• Let the Patrick Roy to the Habs speculation begin! (More on this in a moment.) [Globe & Mail]

• The Phoenix Coyotes announce their fan appreciation night. Lucky guy. [Coyotes]

• John Tortorella politely tells off coach Peter DeBoer: "Basically just shut up. And I need to also." [ESPN]

• Today is Bobby Orr's birthday. No other hockey birthdays today matter. [Montreal Gazette]

• Bourne breaks down a Carl Hagelin goal from last night. [Backhand Shelf]

• The St. Louis Blues media guide from their inaugural season is super cool. Modern media guides don't feature nearly enough illustrations. [Reddit Hockey]

• Henrik Lundqvist will be on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel Tuesday night. According to the promotional material, the segment "delves into Lundqvist's guitar-playing, his impeccable taste, good looks, beautiful wife, and, of course, his athletic gift." Expect hard-hitting journalism. [New York Times]

• Huzzah! "HBO's "24/7 Flyers/Rangers: Road to the NHL Winter Classic" and NBC's hockey coverage combined for 10 Sports Emmy Award nominations Tuesday. The HBO four-part documentary received six nominations, while NBC received four. The 10 NHL-related nominations are five more than last year and two more than two years ago." [NHL]

• The Dallas Stars will get Sheldon Souray and Radek Dvorak back from injury tonight. [Defending Big D]

• Rudy Kelly on a big night in the Western Conference playoff race: "If the Kings miss the playoffs I will be devastated because I'm a baby but ultimately it won't be so bad. It could be, and has been, so much worse. This team should make the playoffs. Will they? I don't know. Either this season is a lost season or the Kings end up where I thought they'd be back in August. Which will it be? I don't know. Maybe it'll end up working out, maybe not. But at least there's a chance. That's something." [BoC]

• Will a second concussion affect the way Washington Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom plays? "I hope not, and I honestly don't think it will affect me. I think that once I'm back playing again I'm gonna be so preoccupied with playing that there won't be time to think about that. If it happens, it happens. But it's not like I should skate around constantly thinking about it." [Japers]

• Brent Sutter, on what it's about right now: "It's not about X's and O's," head coach Brent Sutter said. "It's not about systems. It's nuts and bolts hockey right now. It's about compete. It's about jam. It's about any word you want to use, that's what it's about right now. Either you have it or you don't." This is hockey's equivalent of the "It's about connection" scene from The 40-Year-Old Virgin. [National Post]

• Here are 99 facts about 100-point scorers. [The Good Point]

• The Vancouver Canucks talk about the You Can Play campaign.