Steve Mason and zombie Ben Franklin; Nazem Kadri on contract; Eric Staal skates (Puck Headlines)
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.
• Via keeper of the Stanley Cup, Phil Pritchard, Chicago Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville celebrated with some old friends from the Hartford Whalers, like Ron Francis and Kevin Dineen.
• Nazem Kadri on his stalled contract talks: "I know I’m being pretty reasonable, taking all that cap into consideration, when really, that’s not my job to do." Shots fired. [Toronto Sun]
• Ryan Suter has been a member of the Minnesota Wild for one season now, but the grapes are still sour in Nashville Predators head coach Barry Trotz's mouth: "We've got to start new rivalries, like us and Minnesota. They stole Ryan Suter, so I want to kick their butt, plain and simple." [On the Forecheck]
• After suffering a knee injury at the World Championships in May, Eric Staal was back skating Wednesday at the Hurricanes' practice facility and said everything is fine. [News and Observer]
•This summer has dragged on, so there are a few NHL storylines you might have forgotten about. Remember Mikhail Grabovski? [Grantland]
• Our good friends at the Bakersfield Condors will be bringing back the famous condor, Queen Victoria, for their opening night festivities. You may remember what happened last time she made an appearance... [Condors]
• J.S. Giguere's new mask will make him look like a Yeti. [In Goal Mag]
• Brian Burke has another job after being named to Rugby Canada's Board of Directors. [Rugby Canada]
•Which NHL players might be good "buy low" options for your fantasy league? [Dobber Hockey]
• After the death of junior hockey player Jordan Boyd, one CHL general manager expects better medical testing going forward. [Buzzing the Net]
• Matt Martin of the New York Islanders will be serving as Alyonka Larionov's co-host for the in-house feed at Barclays Center at this year's MTV Music Awards. [Newsday]
• With Rich Peverley and Tyler Seguin in Dallas, now is the time for Jordan Caron to earn a third line spot. [Bruins Daily]
• Meet Garth Snow, the NHL's most underrated general manager. [The Hockey Writers]
• After spending last season with three teams, Zach Boychuk inks a one-year, two-way contract to return to the Carolina Hurricanes. [Hurricanes]
• Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond signs with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and as Dobber points out, sets record for most hyphens on a contract. [WBS Penguins]
• If you took all of the remaining unrestricted free agents and built a team, they wouldn't be that bad. [Flames Nation]
• Finally, Steve Mason will have a new mask this season with the Philadelphia Flyers. It will feature, yes, a zombie Ben Franklin:
