Puck Headlines: Why Marleau to the Blue Jackets makes sense

Yahoo! Sports

Mon Jun 02 06:26pm EDT

Puck Headlines: Why Marleau to the Blue Jackets makes sense

Here are your Evening 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.

• Remember: Live Blog starts here at 7:45 p.m.

• David Pollak of the Working the Corners blog drops a bit of a bombshell on Game 5 Monday: The San Jose Sharks and Columbus Blue Jackets could be close to a deal that would send Patrick Marleau and another player to the Jackets for their 6th overall pick and enigmatic right wing Nikolai Zherdev. Good deal for the Sharks? Pollak thinks so, especially if it frees up some dough for a run to keep Brian Campbell. [San Jose Mercury News]

• Don Cherry believes Alexander Ovechkin is the best player in the world. That should go over well with Sidney. [Japers Rink]

• Some rather touching coverage of Luc Bourdon's funeral, attended by thousands. [National Post]

• Tapeleg covers a rather overlooked story about another hockey player in a motorcycle accident. Jerseys and Hockey Love reports tonight that Les Borsheim remains in critical condition, and has been cited for driving under the influence of alcohol, careless driving and violating restrictions on a driver's license. He also was not wearing a helmet.

• Speaking of unnecessary injuries, no-touch icing has been dismissed by the NHL's general managers. [The Hockey News]

• Scotty Hockey presents his three stars for this year's New York Rangers. And with that, Sean Avery's name returns to Puck Daddy after a brief absence. [Scotty Hockey]

• Finally, we haven't had the pleasure of seeing the ageless Chris Chelios on the ice for the Detroit Red Wings since Game 5 of their series against the Dallas Stars. He won't play in tonight's Game 5 against the Penguins, either. This is far from the end for Chelios, who will likely still be playing in the NHL when the sun explodes. He's played 260 Stanley Cup playoff games, which had us wondering: How come a Greek guy with a Nixonian, perpetual five o'clock shadow doesn't participate in the grand tradition of the playoff beard?

Cheli explained it all to the Associated Press: "It wasn't a tradition in Montreal when I started, and I never liked beards and mustaches ... I always play clean-shaven because Guy Lafleur always shaved right before games, so I copied him. It helps you be the first one to get out of the shower after the game." So there you go.