Puck Daddy - NHL

Here are your Morning 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.

• Ed Moran of the Philadelphia Daily News reports that Philadelphia Flyers GM Paul Holmgren has admitted his team isn't going to have the cap space to sign Mats Sundin, and that Sundin's agent told the Ottawa Sun that the final four for his client's services are the New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks. [Philly.com]

• Oh, yeah, about those Blackhawks: They took their name out of the Sundin Derby, too. [Bleacher Report]

• Larry Brooks breaks down the Rangers' options with Sundin, including a scenario under which he could begin practicing with the team before he counts against the cap. [NY Post]

• The way Damian Cox sees it, Sundin has two options: Lose and lose. He either goes to a Rangers team that can't score, or he's miserable playing for a Western Conference team closer to Wasilla than Toronto. [Toronto Star]

Sean Avery options for the Dallas Stars, including sending him on a two-week conditioning assignment in the minors and then trading him without "any cap hit or salary remaining." [Dallas Stars Blog]

• The St. Louis Blues would like to open next season against the Detroit Red Wings in Sweden. Because, you know, they're just goofy for Alex Steen and Patrik Berglund over there. And because the Blues would like to sell out a game at some point next season without having to offer to pay someone's mortgage off. [Post-Dispatch]

• If you're playing hockey in an adult league and you're not wearing a cage or a shield, please take note: This could be you one day. (Please note: Link not for the squeamish.) [Third Man In]

• Why are the Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning struggling? According to Don Cherry, it's because they dress like thugs off the ice, claiming that some of them are "gonna steal your hubcaps." And the world breathes a sigh of relief that Cherry chose to say this one season after Ray Emery left for the KHL. That apology would have broken some kind of land-speed record. [Sun Media]

• Taking in the Knicks vs. Nets and the Rangers vs. Devils, and analyzing the Enthusiasm Gap between the NBA and NHL in Jersey. If by "enthusiasm" they mean "fights in the stands," we're pretty sure we know who wins. [Puck the Media]

• The Clint Howard of hockey, Sean Pronger, on being a healthy scratch: "Nowadays, almost all home dressing rooms are designed so you can be in the change room or weight room and not get in the way of the 'regulars.' What really sucks as a healthy scratch is when you have friends or family in town - that's always fun. Your parents fly halfway across the country to watch their boy play and you come home to break the news, 'not tonight folks.' (Near the end of my career I'm pretty sure they had it figured out.)" [THN]

Patrick Marleau provided San Jose Sharks fans with a reminder why he "freakin' rules." Hell of a goal, that one. [Battle of California]

Jeremy Roenick will probably miss more than three weeks after going under the knife. [Working the Corners]

• For some reason, it's Darth Vader Day in the hockey blogosphere. First, Rangerland wants to replace Tom Renney with the Dark Lord of the Sith: "Darth Vader is a man who is hell-bent on winning at any cost, and making sure his opponents are crushed and embarrassed when he's through with them. What does Tom Renney do? He tells his boys to ease up when the game is tied, because he wants to make sure that both teams get a point!" [Rangerland]

• Then, Fan IQ finds this ridiculously cool Darth Vader hockey sweater for the holidays. Suddenly, the Vegas Vaders sounds a hell of a lot more appealing for the NHL. "I find your lack of faith in our goaltending disturbing ..." [Fan IQ]

• Christmas presents for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Honestly, what do you get for the Fedor Tyutin who has everything? [HLOG]

• Among the notable names on the Canadian world juniors team: Angelo Esposito, John Tavares, Jordan Eberle, Cody Hodgson and Ryan Ellis, the team's first 17-year-old defenseman since Jay Bouwmeester. [CP]

• Team Canada's next Olympic head coach: Mike Babcock or Barry Trotz? [Snapshots]

Zdeno Chara dropped the gloves last Friday night, and explains why the Boston Bruins are quick to stick up for each other. Wait, guys in Boston like fighting? Since when? [Bruins]

• Alanah McGinley with a nice valentine to the career of Trevor Linden, who will be honored by the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday. [NHL]

• Finally, Gregory Campbell attempted to fire up his Florida Panthers by taking on NHL penalty-minutes leader Shane O'Brien of the Vancouver Canucks. If you've ever wondered what earns someone a 100-percent victory in HockeyFights.com fan voting, here it is:

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40 Comments

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  1. Journeyman
    1. Posted by Journeyman Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:49 pm EDT

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    It's a neutral zone trap!
    /Ackbar'd
  2. Jenny D
    2. Posted by Jenny D Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:01 pm EDT

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    Goodness, if the Wings played in Sweden it would practically be a home game for them.
  3. Jon A
    3. Posted by Jon A Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:11 pm EDT

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    I heard the sticker-givers in Wal Mart are also in the Sundin Derby.
  4. Maraldo
    4. Posted by Maraldo Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:34 pm EDT

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    Sundin dug his own grave with this one, shoulda went somewhere at the deadline last year and got Toronto some picks/prospects to help the rebuild.
  5. The Forechecker
    5. Posted by The Forechecker Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:06 pm EDT

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    There are two kinds of hockey players; those who wear face protection, and those who will after they get hurt up there. Even NHL'ers wise up eventually, and I'm surprised the league hasn't grandfathered in a requirement already.
    I had a teammate in a beer-league championship game that took a stick up high along the boards, and had to be taken to the hospital to have splinters pull out of his eyeball. He's lucky not to have lost it.
  6. Sobu
    6. Posted by Sobu Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:31 pm EDT

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    Las Vegas Vaders.
    Nice. That would be the ONLY way I would accept a team in Vegas.
    The Marleau goal was phenomenal. The good players would have lost it in their skates, the great players would have got the shot off but not score. It takes some serious skills to handle that puck and then score that goal.
  7. jibblescribbits
    7. Posted by jibblescribbits Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:34 pm EDT

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    I think it's natural for Darth Vader week to be after the week Ryan Miller did his best Hayden Christiansen as Anakin Skywalker impression.
  8. jibblescribbits
    8. Posted by jibblescribbits Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:34 pm EDT

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    ... and +1 to journeyman.
  9. twoeightnine
    9. Posted by twoeightnine Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:25 pm EDT

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    Roenick's having more plastic surgery done?
  10. rwl060
    10. Posted by rwl060 Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:57 pm EDT

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    Marleau is an awesome player, but he's bloodly boring. At least Crosby is controversial in his complete inability to say anything interesting.
  11. Hamilton Tigers
    11. Posted by Hamilton Tigers Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:10 pm EDT

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    @ jibblescribbits - Vader and Ryan Miller in the same sentence? There on the opposite ends of the toughness spectrum...
    Miller makes the average 10-year-old girl look tough...
  12. carl_vs_mastershake
    12. Posted by carl_vs_mastershake Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:18 pm EDT

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    Ah Don Cherry and fashion advice. Maybe he and Avery can host a show on Bravo now that he has got that pesky playing hockey thing out of the way. Their first guest should be Ryan O'Byrne to show us what all the pursesnachers are wearing.
    Also that Vader jersey is awful. It should be black and tie fighter blue with the imperial cog on the shoulders.
  13. jibblescribbits
    13. Posted by jibblescribbits Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:34 pm EDT

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    ..."In fact the current Les Ailes/Avs matchup looks stunningly similar to those Oilers-Stars matchups. The Oilers spent the better part of a decade being first round fodder for the Stars. While the Avs haven't faced Les Ailes in the playoffs nearly as much recently their dominance over the Avs is strikingly similar"....
    Now why would I think there's an East Coast bias in hockey?
    @ Ryan H.
    No I was comparing Ryan Miller to the whiny Anakin Skywalker that Hayden Chritsensen portrayed in the newer movies.
  14. Brian S (brianguy)
    14. Posted by Brian S (brianguy) Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:14 pm EDT

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    all cage, all the time...
  15. Matt
    15. Posted by Matt Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:18 pm EDT

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    Still can't get over Ryan Miller, can we?
  16. MONKEY MAN
    16. Posted by MONKEY MAN Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:32 pm EDT

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    Tim Thomas does look eerily similar to Chewbacca. and lets not even talk about Zdeno "Jar Jar" Chara
  17. Peeler
    17. Posted by Peeler Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:02 pm EDT

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    how about taking a slapshot to the face.....I lost 1 tooth and took 30 stitches......that was pre-cage....and I didn't miss a game.....
  18. ace_avsfan
    18. Posted by ace_avsfan Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:45 pm EDT

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    Imagine Cherry in a Vader suit some night........hmmmmmm.....
  19. tmr
    19. Posted by tmr Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:04 pm EDT

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    Ref: Penalty on #OB1 of the Jedis. 5 minute major for aggravated slashing & burning.
  20. joe h
    20. Posted by joe h Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:26 pm EDT

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    He got roughed up, but that was 100% fight on HF??
  21. tmr
    21. Posted by tmr Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:04 pm EDT

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    By the way...that's a terrible picture of Sundin getting ready to drop the gloves.
  22. Stryker
    22. Posted by Stryker Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:36 pm EDT

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    Every single one of my friends who took their cages off after high school put them right back on, or at least a visor, after taking sticks and pucks to their eyes and mouths. I'm smart enough not to take it off. I noticed in high school how often I took a stick to the cage and realized I was better to leave it on.
  23. books
    23. Posted by books Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:22 pm EDT

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    That's one nice shiner. I took a slapshot to throat myself...they didn't make cages big enough for that one but thank God they made us wear neck guards. I wasn't able to breathe for a couple minutes but as you probably guessed the breathing reflex did kick back in again eventually. Still it's better than what happened to a certain Flyer in the playoffs last year...
  24. Daniel C
    24. Posted by Daniel C Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:39 pm EDT

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    Lose/lose? Both teams are in first place in their divisions. I'd think Sundin would believe that to be good enough reason to join them. Oh, plus $10mil.
  25. joe h
    25. Posted by joe h Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:26 pm EDT

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    And that assessment of the Rangers/Devils game--those games are always a blast. But nothing compares to the games in the 90s, before the Rangers started to suck. I watched a bunch of drunk Rangers fans take a 10-year-old's hat and throw it to the lower level. Then they threw beer at him and the other fans he was with. Great stuff!

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