NHL Columns: Pro Sports Daily

Does perception of NHL in America rest in hands of the Bruins?

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March 18

Pittsburgh Tribune Review

columnist Rob Rossi

"I'm a huge fan of "Cheers," for my money the best ensemble sitcom in television history. It also has one of the iconic theme songs of any television program. I particularly like these lines: You want to go where people know/people are all the same/You want to go/where everybody knows your name Well, everybody in Boston, the setting for fictional "Cheers," knows the name of Penguins LW MATT COOKE. Though, as you can see from these Boston newspaper articles, he's probably most known in this city as "bum" or "rat" or… uh, just take a look: Well, never let it be said that Boston's media lacks for keeping water at a boil. Good on them. Hey, it takes a lot to knock the Red Sox off the perch in ..."

Time to worry, Ottawa

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March 18

Ottawa Sun

columnist Don Brennan

"They blamed at least part of it on a Monster, but what's really scary is an embarrassed, desperate and "urgent" Senators team couldn't beat a group of no-name Toronto Maple Leafs. OK, so there was some passion to the Senators play in a 4-1 loss to the bad Buds at Scotiabank Place on Tuesday. And it's true Toronto goalie Jonas Gustavsson (a.k.a. "The Monster") was solid in making 30 saves. But on the heels of that dog in Vancouver on Saturday -- and with only one win in six games before the latest Battle of Ontario -- the Senators very much needed to get back on track. And they didn't have enough to defeat a last place team. How young are the Leafs? In his sophomore NHL season, 20-year-old ..."

Teasing or pleasing Leafs?

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March 18

Toronto Sun

columnist Lance Hornby

"Tomas Kaberle loves to pass the puck, but there is no way to pass the buck on this question. How different would life be today for the Maple Leafs if they had this kind of young team in the autumn and the veterans applied the effort they are showing now, long after their playoff fate had been settled and the trade deadline's passing eased fears of survivors? "You win one game in the first 10 and you don't give yourself much of a chance," Kaberle said prior to attempting a sixth win in eight games Thursday against the New Jersey Devils. "We didn't have a good start and that was pretty much the season. We had trouble with this all year. We couldn't get two or three wins in a row." This ..."

Campbell, Gregson to attend Bruins-Pens rematch

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March 18

TSN.ca

columninst Bob McKenzie

"NHL VP Colie Campbell and director of officiating Terry Gregson will both attend the Bruins-Penguins game tomorrow night, the first meeting of the two teams since Matt Cooke knocked out Marc Savard with a shoulder to the head that may spell the end of Savard's season. It's expected that the league executives will meet personally tomorrow with both general managers -- Boston's Peter Chiarelli and Pittsburgh's Ray Shero -- as well as both head coaches -- Boston's Claude Julien and Pittsburgh's Dan Bylsma -- to ensure that whatever happens in terms of retribution, it falls within reasonable limits."

Blues appear to have stalled

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March 18

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

columnist Bernie Miklasz

"The 2009-2010 St. Louis Blues have continued their tradition of being the Chicago Cubs of hockey. The Blues are a tease who usually find a way to break their fans' hearts. They aren't close to winning the league championship. And waiting for next year — hoping that it will be better than the last — is a way of life. After losing consecutive games to Minnesota and Colorado, the Blues are on the road for games at the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils. They'd fallen into a crevice in the Western Conference standings, trailing eighth-place Detroit by seven points and seventh-place Nashville by 10 points with only 13 games remaining. The math is bleak. Last season the Blues put on a ..."

Dustin Brown tries to lead Kings toward collective effort

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March 18

Los Angeles Times

columnist Helene Elliot

"Something is not quite right with the Kings. Dustin Brown, their captain, their heartbeat, can feel it. He told his teammates so Sunday, after a 3-2 loss to Nashville had dropped their post-Olympic record to 3-3-1. Usually as soft-spoken in the locker room as he is hard-hitting on the ice, Brown didn't have to shout to get their attention. "When he has something to say, everyone listens," winger Wayne Simmonds said. "He had said that we have to get on the same page right now. It's something that we've got to listen to." They will benefit by taking his words to heart because Brown has seen slumps turn into morale-crushing dives in his six Kings seasons. He remembers the despair, if not the ..."

Make the Penguins pay the right way

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March 18

Boston Herald

columnist Ron Borges

"With the NHL's vice principal for discipline, Colin "Mr. Peepers" Campbell, in attendance tonight at the Garden, the Bruins have three ways they can handle the arrival of Pittsburgh Penguin hatchetman Matt Cooke. They can sign Manny Pacquiao to a one-night contract and let him take care of the situation for them. They can call my boyhood friend, Nickie "The Nap" Napoliano, who makes problems disappear for a living. Or they can just go out and play hockey. Not just hockey, but old fashioned hockey. Knock-your-block-off, knock-your socks-off hockey. Take-you-into-the-boards, take-you-to-the-ice, take-you-into-the-goalie hockey. Forget all the phony media chest beating about mandatory ..."

Golden puck nets spot in Hockey Hall of Fame

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March 17

Toronto Star

columnist Daniel Girard

"The puck that wasn't stopped here is not staying here. The hockey puck that Sidney Crosby fired past Ryan Miller in overtime of the Olympic gold medal game has been sent to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto where it will be put on display and occasionally sent on a tour around Canada. "I never thought there'd be so much brouhaha over six ounces of rubber," John Furlong, chief executive officer of VANOC, told a news conference Tuesday where it was also announced that four other pucks from the overtime period will be auctioned off."

Flames season may have turned on missed shot

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March 17

Calgary Sun

columnist Eric Francis

"And so, in the end, the Calgary Flames' season may all just come down to a missed penalty shot. Not that Curtis Glencross should be vilified for being stopped on a one-on-one showdown weighed heavily in favour of all netminders, but his failed attempt in Monday's loss to Detroit could ultimately cost the club a playoff spot. It may also be a perfect example of the opportunities the Flames have squandered all season long, landing them in this sordid state. Up 1-0 late in the second against the team the Flames are chasing for the final playoff spot in the west, Glencross was hijacked while on a shorthanded breakaway. On the resulting penalty shot he opted to abandon his trademark snapshot ..."

Evaluating Alex Ovechkin after another hard hit and more punishment

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March 17

Washington Post

columnist Mike Wise

"If Alex Ovechkin listens to no one else, he needs to listen to Mike Knuble. If the NHL's most breathtaking player tunes out everyone but Knuble, he might actually be around for another decade or so. If not, enjoy Ovie while you can. Savor his fire and flair now. Soak up the rivalry with Sidney Crosby while it lasts. Because if Ovechkin keeps throwing his body around at warp speed on every shift, no matter the score -- if his reputation as the most predatory superstar in the game keeps growing -- he isn't going to enjoy the fruits of a long and prosperous career. And that's provided some genuine goon doesn't take a run at him or Ovechkin doesn't wind up on the wrong side of a knee-on-knee ..."

NHL shouldn't tolerate hits to the head

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March 17

Boston Herald

columnist Arthur Staple

"On the eve of the general managers' meetings a week ago, Matt Cooke threw a shoulder to Marc Savard's head. Colin Campbell, the NHL's vice president of hockey operations, its czar of discipline and the host of sorts of the general manager meetings, was about to deliver a presentation on hits to the head and hopefully come out with some sort of encompassing rule to cover all blows to the head in games. With the Bruins' Savard possibly out for the season with a concussion and the Penguins' Cooke awaiting a hearing, the general manager meetings took on extra attention. And Campbell, whose job is the least enviable perhaps in all of sports, dropped the ball this time. After a hearing with ..."

Irish ties smile on Leafs

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March 17

Toronto Sun

columnist Lance Hornby

"Here's to Clancy, Quinn and McNamara, and the one day that Leafs Nation turns from blue to green. Not in envy of all the teams who've passed Toronto in the standings, but in celebration of the proud and often quirky history its hockey club has with the Emerald Isle. Of Ireland 'tis said: "The inevitable never happens and the unexpected constantly occurs". The same is true today of the team that once had a shamrock where the Leafs crest resides. It was 76 St. Patrick Days ago that the first tribute game for a local athlete was staged, with the new Maple Leaf Gardens crammed full to fete Francis Michael (King) Clancy, the team's first franchise player. In a pre-game ceremony before playing ..."

Dallas Stars need to see more of Keri Lehtonen

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March 16

Dallas Morning News

columnist Jean-Jacques Taylor

"We all know the Stars, currently 12th in the Western Conference, aren't going to make the playoffs. We all know Marty Turco, a free agent at the end of the season, isn't going to return next season. That means it's time to look toward the future. These days, the 26-year-old Lehtonen is the future. Now, that doesn't mean he can't play himself out of being the No. 1 goalie next season, but the Stars should certainly use the end of this season to figure it out. Lehtonen should play as much as possible during the season's final month. It's not going to make Turco happy, and it's probably not going to make players such as Brenden Morrow, Brad Richards and Steve Ott, who will refuse to raise ..."

NHL flailing in Ovechkin suspension

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March 16

Toronto Star

columnist Damien Cox

"It's a typical NHL suspension. It pleases no one. It accomplishes zero. To those who believe Alex Ovechkin, the league's best player, committed a heinous hockey crime on Sunday, two games of press box exile is laughable, particularly with his victim, Chicago's Brian Campbell, reportedly out for the rest of the season with a busted collarbone. To folks who view the incident this way, it's just as bad as seeing Claude Lemieux given a mild scolding while Kris Draper was being carted away for plastic surgery on his mashed face."

Maple Leafs fall back

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March 15

Toronto Sun

columnist Lance Hornby

"The hard fact of life for NHLers is being called upon to play back-to-back, to get on a plane and duplicate a great effort, sometimes less than 24 hours later. It would be easy to blame the Maple Leafs' hot-and- cold, night-and-day weekend split on being the league's second youngest team. But the concept of playing consecutive games shouldn't be a foreign one to those in the group who have slogged it out on the buses in the minors or in juniors. Nor should those dwindling number of Leafs in the veterans category get off the hook. When taking the ice against the Islanders here on Sunday night, they had a chance to be part of just the ninth sweep of back-to-back games in the 71 times it has ..."

Blueshirts must avoid looking 'too far ahead'

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March 15

New York Post

columnist Jay Greenberg

"It's the Bruins, Canadiens and Flyers that the Rangers are chasing, not Philadelphia wing Daniel Carcillo. "We are in such a spot here we have to concentrate on playing our game," said Rangers coach John Tortorella. "It's too important a game to do something stupid and cost your team doing some payback." It's taken a lot of discipline by the fans to still believe in their punchless team, much more discipline than Olli Jokinen showed in two-handing Arron Asham before yesterday's game was eight minutes old. Daniel Briere soon thereafter cashed in past a screened Henrik Lundqvist. And the way the Rangers are forced to operate, this already seemed to be one more dumb mistake than they could ..."

Blackhawks TV spot takes fans back to 1961

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March 15

Chicago Sun-Times

columnist Lewis Lazare

"With the Stanley Cup playoffs fast approaching, it's not surprising the resurgent Blackhawks have begun to step up their marketing initiatives. What better time to boost brand loyalty and remind longtime fans -- as well as newcomers to hockey and to the Hawks -- of the team's great heritage. Toward that end, the Hawks have just unveiled a new TV spot, developed in-house, that from a kid's perspective brings that heritage into focus while suggesting today's young Blackhawks followers are a hip, technology-savvy crowd indeed. The new spot opens in a young boy's bedroom -- probably circa 1961 -- as a mother tucks her son into bed. As soon as she leaves the room, the kid pulls a transistor ..."

Difficult to envision rushed rule

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March 15

Toronto Star

columnist Damien Cox

"Haste is apparently now of the essence. Just five days after NHL general managers announced plans to enact new legislation designed to curb, if not outlaw, head shots in the sport, outcry within the industry and from the public has both the league and the players association searching for ways to enter the rule into law faster. Like yesterday. You might think two organizations that announced they were happily joined in "partnership" after the last collective bargaining agreement was signed five years ago would be able to get in a room and make this happen."

NHL welcomes violence, so look out Sid!

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March 15

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

columnist Ron Cook

"Only in the NHL, where gratuitous violence among the players not only is legal but encouraged, is it not the least bit preposterous to suggest that a coach hold his star players out of a game for fear of retaliation by the opponents. Really, what other team sport is so barbaric? What other sport has so little regard for the welfare of its players? There's virtually no chance that Penguins coach Dan Bylsma will sit Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin when the team plays in Boston Thursday night. But maybe he should. Could you blame the angry Bruins if they seek a little vigilante justice for the hit by the Penguins' Matt Cooke on their Marc Savard a week ago, a shoulder-to-head blow that ..."

Hockey's code of conduct on display

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March 14

San Jose Mercury News

columnist Gary Peterson

"On the surface — and when it comes to games played on ice, the surface is all-important — the Sharks had all the requisite ingredients for a whopping good hand-wringing. There was the false hope generated by their quick and easy 2-0 lead over the Florida Panthers. There was their inability to supersize that lead into something more meaningful. There was their foot unaccountably coming off the accelerator, as the Panthers insinuated themselves back into the game. Finally, there was the overtime goal that snaked its way past San Jose goalie Thomas Greiss, which sent a sedate Saturday afternoon crowd murmuring out into the blinding sunshine. "We let it get away from us," coach Todd McLellan ..."

Bettman needs to take his time regarding 2014 Olympic decision

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March 14

Buffalo News

columnist Bucky Gleason

"Only two weeks removed from one of the greatest games in hockey history, with the NHL back in full swing, the cool-down period is just beginning. It will take a few months before whatever emotion drummed up during the Winter Olympics fades away and is replaced by rational thinking. At some point within the next three years, emotionless NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman will find himself in a no-win situation when it comes to allowing NHL players to participate in the 2014 Winter Games in Russia. The commissioner is almost certain to wind up looking like the bad guy unless he can find a reasonable solution. Good luck with that. Bettman is a linear thinker, which suits a decision that will come ..."

Defending blows-to-head penalty

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March 14

Camden Courier-Post

colulmnist Chuck Gormley

"First things first. I'm old-school when it comes to playing physical hockey. I like fighting if it has a purpose. I like shot blockers, crease crashers and players without teeth. And I love open-ice hits. But I also agree whole-heartedly with the NHL's proposal to curb blows to the head by implementing harsher penalties to offenders. Forty of the league's 750 players have been sidelined this season with concussions and that's far too many. Some suggest the increase in concussions is the result of players getting bigger and the game getting faster. The truth is that too many players have lost respect for their opponents and have forced the league to take action. Assuming the rule change ..."

Can't Canada just leave hockey alone?

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March 14

Toronto Star

columnist Rosie Dimanno

"Hockey is Freudian for Canadians – it puts the id in our collective identity. The father of psychoanalysis would have had a wet dream dissecting the thumb-sucking relationship between a game and a people. Not that there's been a shortage of behavioural experts to probe this particular symbiosis, from pinhead academics to press-box philosophers. There have been songs, both country-twangy and tragically hip; there have been doctoral dissertations; there have been books. No less an authority than Stephen Harper has tackled the subject, the PM working on his endlessly germinating exposition for, oh, the past two decades."

NHL fumbling in the dark on head shots

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March 14

Toronto Star

columnist Garth Woolsey

"The NHL has been concussed once too often. Experts recommend that its senior decision makers be shut away in a dark, quiet room, get plenty of rest and, especially, do as little as possible. (They're quite good at that last bit.) Eventually, if they are lucky, their aching heads will return to normal. If they're not so fortunate, well ... c'est la guerre, right? The NHL, in its wisdom, has done absolutely nothing to punish the "head shot" that has banished Marc Savard of the Bruins to a dark, quiet room, where he is reported getting as much rest and doing as little as possible – other than wondering whether he will ever be able to resume his career. He is not the first and will certainly ..."

He's fashionably GR8

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March 14

Chicago Tribune

columnist David Haugh

"Jonathan Toews proved during the Olympics that he belongs in hockey's upper echelon, where Alex Ovechkin's reputation resides. So I asked Toews when he was releasing his own fashion line the way Ovechkin did last year. "We're working on it," Toews said, chuckling. "I haven't seen his clothes, but I doubt we have the same tastes and style." When it comes to style, the only thing Toews and Ovechkin have in common may be a desire to accessorize with a Stanley Cup ring. Toews goes by "Captain Serious." Ovechkin goes by his own rules. When Ovechkin launched a designer streetwear line in his native Russia last summer, he arrived for a publicity event in a double-decker Hummer limousine. The ..."

Colin Campbell's act appalling

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March 14

Boston Herald

columnist Stephen Harris

"Never has Colin Campbell looked so stupid and incompetent, and that's saying something for a guy whose rulings on supplemental discipline have been an ongoing disgrace for the National Hockey League. Aside to commissioner Gary Bettman: If you want to know a big reason why your league is viewed by a large segment of American sports fandom as a second-rate joke, look no farther than your own senior executive vice president of hockey operations, Mr. Campbell. The NHL has a big problem when four on-ice officials - referees Marc Joanette and Tim Peel, and linesmen Bryan Pancich and Pierre Racicot - and Campbell can look at Matt Cooke's deliberate attempt to injure a defenseless Marc Savard with ..."

Accept it: danger is part of deal in NHL

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March 14

Pittsburgh Tribune Review

columnist Rob Rossi

"On the second day of high school football practice during my sophomore year, a senior linebacker busted through a gap on a dummy-team offensive line and crushed a fairly clueless fullback with force. I was that fullback. A few plays later I alerted a coach to the blurred vision and was removed from practice. After a night in the hospital for observation I was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome, and I didn't play for another 10 weeks. Four months after football season ended a blade-hockey defenseman was lightly bumped while retrieving the ball in the defensive zone. Teammates said the following few shifts showed that defenseman skating with a slower stride, his reaction to plays a few ..."

NHL welcomes violence, so look out Sid!

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March 14

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

columnist Ron Cook

"Only in the NHL, where gratuitous violence among the players not only is legal but encouraged, is it not the least bit preposterous to suggest that a coach hold his star players out of a game for fear of retaliation by the opponents. Really, what other team sport is so barbaric? What other sport has so little regard for the welfare of its players? There's virtually no chance that Penguins coach Dan Bylsma will sit Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin when the team plays in Boston Thursday night. But maybe he should. Could you blame the angry Bruins if they seek a little vigilante justice for the hit by the Penguins' Matt Cooke on their Marc Savard a week ago, a shoulder-to-head blow that ..."

Canucks trying to avoid post-trip letdown

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March 13

ESPN.com

columnist Pierre LeBrun

"The Vancouver Canucks wouldn't say it beforehand, but I believe they would have been pleased with earning 14 out of 28 points from their epic 14-game road trip. So to go 8-5-1 and collect 17 points on the NHL's longest-ever road trip? Gravy, baby. Now, the Canucks have 10 of their last 15 games at home and return to beautiful Vancouver after the 42-day trek still sitting in first place in the Northwest Division. Nicely done. "Before leaving on that trip, and obviously there was a lot of attention to it, but I kept telling everyone that we were a good road team," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault told ESPN.com on Friday. "I knew that we could play well on that trip." Interestingly, the Canucks ..."

Ovechkin, Crosby locked in duel for Rocket trophy

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March 13

Toronto Star

columnist Damien Cox

"Ray Shero has a secret. A bit of a treasonous one. It seems that while Shero was part of the U.S. Olympic management team for the recent Vancouver Winter Games, he may not have been cheering wholeheartedly for the Americans in the gold-medal match against Canada. Specifically, after U.S. forward Zach Parise nearly sent all of Canada into cardiac arrest by tying the game in the final seconds, Shero had some quietly un-American thoughts as he watched the game from his home in Pittsburgh. "When Parise scored, I thought to myself, `Well, that will give Crosby a chance to score in overtime,'" smiled the Penguins GM at league meetings in Florida this week. "Hey, he plays for the Penguins. I'm ..."

Kovalchuk, Devils more difficult to handle

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March 13

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

columnist Gene Collier

"It was 4:56 p.m. when game-day personnel at Prudential Center conducted a formal test of the New Jersey Devils' ear-splitter. "This is a test of the Devils goal horn," came a faceless voice preceding a deafening fog horn in a near-empty building. "This is only a test." Uh-huh. Had this been an actual goal, there probably would have been players on the ice, although the presence in a Devils uniform of Ilya Kovalchuk hardly seemed to augment that probability. In the first post-trade deadline collision of the top two teams in the Atlantic Division, the Penguins attempted to invert the working karma of the rivalry via the unusual gambit of putting the puck in the net. Sidney Crosby's ..."

Leafs can only drool over Tampa's Stamkos

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March 12

Toronto Star

columnist Rosie DiManno

"Now, Colton Orr may be an entirely fine fellow and precisely as advertised, pugilistic defender of the Maple Leaf realm, with probably his own adoring fan faction. But when the scoreboard un-spools a highlight reel for a player with two (2) goals and two (2) assists on the season – albeit third overall in league penalty minutes (183) – a cynical observer might suggest Toronto is scraping the bottom of the video-meritorious barrel, just as it is creeping along bedrock bottom of the NHL standings, a race to the abyss that will be contended come Pat Quinn's sadsack Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night. Not to dump on Orr and his ilk. At this point in another lost Maple Leafs campaign, all ..."

The mysterious struggles of Datsyuk and Zetterberg

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March 12

Detroit Free Press

columnist Michael Rosenberg

""Both of those guys, in my opinion, are the best two-way players in the world." -- Red Wings general manager Ken Holland, speaking about Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, June 5, 2008 That comment has stuck with me, for a few reasons. One is that Holland said it on the ice in Pittsburgh after the Red Wings had won the Stanley Cup. He said it even though Pittsburgh had two more touted young stars, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Holland is not prone to overstatement, and certainly not to gloating, yet he said it on Crosby and Malkin's home ice. And mostly, I remember it because it did not seem like an opinion. It seemed like a statement of extraordinary fact. Zetterberg and Datsyuk had ..."

Red Wings couldn't stand to lose, rose to challenge

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March 12

Detroit Free Press

columnist Michael Rosenberg

"This was the kind of boring, predictable, easy victory that we've seen 1,000 times from the Red Wings over the years. Except that it wasn't boring. And it wasn't predictable. And it wasn't as easy as it used to be. And it probably won't be easy again all year. The final was Wings 5, Minnesota Wild 1, and you can try to break down what it means, or you can just decide that is what it means: They needed to win and they did. The Wings have never doubted their talent, and they shouldn't. The team they are putting on the ice now is good enough to make the playoffs. Johan Franzen scored two goals, Henrik Zetterberg scored and was a force for most of the game, and Drew Miller scored a goal off ..."

Better goalies not the only goal

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March 12

Chicago Sun-Times

columnist Carol Slezak

"Oh, to be young and gifted like the Blackhawks. This team truly believes it can outscore anyone. And more often than not, it does. For most of the season, the Hawks seemed to be on cruise control. Maybe winning was coming too easy for them. Hey, look at us, we can turn it on whenever we want! But the Hawks have played like only an average team in the games leading up to the Olympic break and immediately after the break. And we blamed the goalies, as if it was all their fault. It's easy to forget that for most of the season Antti Niemi and Cristobal Huet were good enough. And it's easy to overlook the fact that their recent poor play has coincided with some sloppy play in front of them. ..."

Another Savvy move by Hawks

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March 12

Chicago Tribune

columnist Dan Mcneil

"If Denis Savard ever took another stab at being an NHL coach, it would be easy for many of us to root for his team. Unless, of course, they're playing the Blackhawks. In that case, there would remain — in Savard-speak — a commitment to the Indian. Meanwhile, I'm all good with the Blackhawks continuing to pay homage to yesterday's stars, as they did with Savvy on Wednesday night. Before the Hawks' 3-2 overtime win over Los Angeles, the man canned for Joel Quenneville four games into last season took another bow and dropped the ceremonial first puck. I've heard a few grumbles via the usual social networks about the Hawks continuing to live in the past with a Barnum & Bailey approach to every ..."

Time to show muscles

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March 12

Boston Herald

columnist Steve Buckley

"This is too good to be true: When the Bruins host the Pittsburgh Penguins next Thursday at the Garden, the team will be honoring the 1970 outfit that roared through the postseason en route to bringing Boston its first Stanley Cup championship in 29 years. Perhaps you've heard of some of those guys. Phil Esposito. Johnny Bucyk. Derek Sanderson. Johnny McKenzie. Gerry Cheevers. Orr. They were called the Big, Bad Bruins. And that's what they're calling the special event that'll be held next Thursday at the Garden: Big, Bad Bruins Night. Oh, the irony. Big, Bad Bruins Night? On this night? Of all nights? It's going to put the current collection of Bruins in a bit of a bind, this because, fair ..."

Jackets players know they must take charge

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March 12

Columbus Dispatch

columnist Michael Arace

"Conditions are right for a long-needed change to take root in Nationwide Arena. This change is only loosely connected to a series of unfortunate events - the losing streaks, coaching change, trade-deadline fire sale and overarching disappointment - that has darkened this, the Blue Jackets' ninth season. The players can become the face of the team. That is the change, potentially. Is that a major development? It should not be. When one conjures a hockey team, be it a Stanley Cup champion or an also-ran, the first pictures that spring to mind are the players: yesterday's Production Line, today's young Penguins, tomorrow's Coyotes. Last night, the Atlanta Thrashers were in Nationwide Arena. ..."

Tuneup day puts Vanek back in synch

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March 11

Buffalo News

columnist Jerry Sullivan

"Lindy Ruff gave Thomas Vanek a break from practice on Tuesday, giving Vanek two days off in a row. Ruff said Vanek was suffering from some undisclosed, nagging injury. They both called it a "maintenance" day. Well, if this is what happens when a Sabre goes in for maintenance, we should all line up outside HSBC Arena for some minor rehab. I'm thinking of bringing my car in for a quick look. And seeing how we've had a nice break in the weather, maybe the trainers could do some maintenance on my golf swing. Vanek scored his team-leading 20th goal midway through the second period to snap a 3-3 tie Wednesday night and lead the Sabres to their third straight victory, a 5-3 win over the Dallas ..."

Richards hit pushed many NHL GMs to act

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March 11

Toronto Star

columnist Damien Cox

"They don't have a name for it yet, but the Mike Richards Rule sounds about right. It was, after all, the vicious blindside hit by the Flyers captain on youngster David Booth of the Panthers in late October that swung all the momentum toward enacting a new rule outlawing blindside head shots in the NHL. That rule was approved by the league's general managers on Wednesday for installation in the rule book for next season."

Coach's methods fall flat

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March 11

New York Post

columnist Larry Brooks

"For his next trick, Rangers' head coach and travel director John Tortorella will have his players take rickshaws to Atlanta for tomorrow night's match with the Thrashers. It's always about something else with Tortorella, always about establishing turf and about those meaningless catch phrases the coach likes to toss out there to distract attention from the issue at large, which happens to be that his team is largely unresponsive to him and his methods. The particular catch phrase for yesterday was, "Limos flying in all over the place," because Tortorella had taken it upon himself to become offended that prior regimes had permitted Rangers players to travel by car service to games in New ..."

Fans on 'tenderhooks

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March 10

Chicago Sun-Times

columnist Rick Morrissey

"The Blackhawks have finally arrived. We know this because Hawks fans booed goalie Cristobal Huet during a 5-4 loss Sunday to Detroit and afterward lamented the sorry state of goaltending in this miserable hellhole of a town they call home. OK, so they were depressed. Blackhawks followers think they'd have a decent chance of posing with the Stanley Cup in the offseason if only the team could find a goalie who didn't have the fine motor skills of an inchworm. They and others are telling us the Hawks can't win with Huet and Antti Niemi. On Tuesday, hockey analyst and former Hawks goalie Darren Pang told WSCR-AM (670) that the Hawks aren't title contenders ''the way that they are playing right ..."

Comeback kids

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March 10

Toronto Sun

columnist Bill Lankhof

"As masterpieces go, it looked a bit like fridge art. But, with victories so scarce, Nikolai Kulemin, Luca Caputi and Carl Gunnarsson combined on what felt like a genuine Picasso. The Maple Leafs missed open nets, they failed on the power play and Phil Kessel remains snake-bitten against his former club. But none of that mattered after Kulemin scored with 50 seconds left for a 4-3 overtime win over Boston. Caputi, making his Air Canada Centre debut scored the tying goal, Gunnarsson was a threat much of the night joining the rush and somehow the Leafs picked up the pieces of a fractured game. Mostly, they never quit, coming from behind three times. "I didn't think we had a good first ..."

With playoffs approaching, San Jose Sharks need to polish their game

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March 10

San Jose Mercury News

columnist Mark Purdy

"You will be happy to learn that the Olympics did not totally destroy the Sharks. That was a worry for rabid followers of the team, you know. The theory went this way: The eight Sharks players who represented their countries in Vancouver would return to San Jose as complete psychological and physical wrecks. I was at practice this week. I saw no wrecks. I did see a team that has won two of three games since the Olympic break. I did see a team that still is leading the NHL Western Conference. I did see Dan Boyle. The gold-medal defenseman was taking off his skates. He mentioned the Olympics only when I brought it up. "That was, what, just over a week ago, right?" Boyle asked. "Seems like a ..."

History, missing equipment link Sidney Crosby, Paul Henderson

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March 9

Toronto Star

columnist Chris Zelkovich

"Sidney Crosby and Paul Henderson have something more in common than the fact they both rewrote Canadian hockey history. Neither knows the whereabouts of all of the equipment they wore or used while scoring their historic goals. The stick Crosby was holding when he scored the overtime goal that gave Canada the gold medal at the Vancouver Olympics is missing, along with one of his gloves, apparently scooped up by someone hoping to cash in big time on their historical value. A $10,000 reward has been offered for their return, no questions asked."

Mind the hits

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March 9

Toronto Sun

columnist Lance Hornby

"They carted off Marc Savard on a stretcher on Sunday, now see if the NHL sweeps him under a carpet. Matt Cooke could wind up with a suspension, the general managers committee will have another intense deliberation on the topic on Tuesday and there will be more hand-wringing about head shots in the media and demands for automatic minors and majors. But tinkering with the physical element of the game touches too close to home for a lot of people and not just those with power and influence. As much as the Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins were critical of Cooke on Monday, and to a lesser extent, Chris Neil of the Senators, who flattened Toronto's John Mitchell shoulder-to-noggin on Saturday, they ..."

Fredrik Modin savors Kings' 6-0 win over Columbus

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March 9

Los Angeles Times

columnist Helene Elliot

"When the Kings acquired forward Fredrik Modin from Columbus last Wednesday for a conditional seventh-round pick in the June draft, they never specified the condition. Here's the scoop: The Blue Jackets will get the pick if the Kings win the Stanley Cup but will get nothing if the Kings don't win Lord Stanley's trophy this season. The Kings probably won't have to surrender that pick. But they will have a shot in the playoffs -- and Modin will have the satisfaction of knowing his goal and assist in a 6-0 rout of his former team Monday at Staples Center helped carry the Kings closer to their first postseason berth since the 2001-02 season. Alexander Frolov scored a goal and tied a career high ..."

Concussion conundrum faces NHL executives

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March 9

Toronto Star

columnist Damien Cox

"The way Jim Rutherford looks at it, Mike Richards should send Matt Cooke a thank you note. After all, the veteran Carolina Hurricanes GM figured, having Cooke nail Boston's Marc Savard with a vicious open ice hit on Sunday just before NHL hockey executives were set to meet in Florida to discuss head shots meant the hit last fall by Philly's Mike Richards on David Booth of the Panthers won't be cited first, second and third any longer whenever the issue comes up. "Maybe that hit took a bit of the spotlight off Richards and put it on somebody else," said Rutherford."

The Leafs' Punisher

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March 9

Toronto Sun

columnist Steve Simmons

"If he could it again, and Colton Orr knows full well he cannot, he would keep his fingers to himself. All three of them. "That's not me," he said on the phone Monday, talking of his post-fight celebration after his fourth scrap with Matt Carkner. "I don't really do that kind of stuff. I've never been one of those guys who likes to celebrate. I just like to do my job. "If I had that situation again, it would be different." That was Saturday night in Ottawa. The next night in Philadelphia may have been worse. "I took bad penalties," Orr said. "You can't do that. A couple of bad penalties really cost the team. You can't put your team in that kind of trouble." It is forever a fine line for ..."

Blackhawks can't give up on goalie Cristobal Huet

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March 8

Chicago Tribune

columnist David Haugh

"Unlike the four goals he gave up in Sunday's 5-4 loss to the Red Wings at the United Center, Blackhawks goalie Cristobal Huet had a good, clear view of one of the worst losses of the season. "Obviously, it's my responsibility and I don't hide from that,'' Huet said softly outside the Hawks' dressing room. "But I felt pretty good. I thought I was ready. I'll be fine. I think everybody let everybody down today.'' No matter how true Huet's words may ring, the boos ringing from the crowd of 22,309 weren't meant for the ears of everybody. They weren't intended for every Blackhawk sloppy on defense or shoddy with the puck. They were directed at Huet, mercifully pulled 10 minutes, 27 seconds into ..."

Blame for this mess only starts with Glen

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March 8

New York Post

columnist Jay Greenberg

"While more than 100 orga nized Glen Sather haters gathered on Seventh Avenue looked about ready to slit their wrists over the mediocre state of their team, John Tortorella tried to open a vein in the Rangers' stone. "Honestly, let's call a spade a spade, our top guys were no-shows and it can't happen at this time of year," the coach said 20 hours off a 2-0 shutout defeat in Washington, four hours from a 2-1 home overtime loss to Buffalo. "Listen, they are good people. Erik [Christensen] is put in a spot here he hasn't been in a long time. He's a No. 1 center right now, and he has to try to handle that responsibility. He has had some good games for us, but it can't be the inconsistent ..."

Blue and white tally troubles

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March 8

Toronto Sun

columnist Rob Longley

"They fight for each other, finish checks and generally put in an honest all-for-one, one-for-all effort most nights. But the biggest challenge facing the young Maple Leafs for the remainder of the NHL season will be mastering the game's basic requirement. Scoring continues to be at a premium for coach Ron Wilson's hard-working team, post trade deadline purge. They outshot the Philadelphia Flyers Sunday night at the Wachovia Center and often outplayed them, yet with no punch up front, never really had a shot of winning. The result was a 3-1 loss, the Leafs fifth defeat in the past six games, a run of games in which they were unable to score more than two goals even once. Without touch ..."