NHL Morning Papers (Friday Edition)

Here are the morning papers for Friday the 19th of September:

• The NHLPA has its sights set on NHL participation at the Olympics past 2010.
• George Richards of the Miami Herald answers five questions about the Panthers this season.  What do you know, the Florida Sun-Sentinel also has five questions regarding the Panthers.
• Sam Donnellon of the Philadelphia Daily News thinks Kimmo Timonen should have been named Flyers captain.  On the injury front, Derrian Hatcher can’t play right now but is still holding out hope that he will be able to play NHL hockey again.  Here are five things to watch at Flyers training camp.
• Restricted free agent Patrick O’Sullivan is not at Kings camp because he has yet to sign a contract.
• Bruce Dowbiggen of the Calgary Herald wonders if the Flames’ loaning of Marcus Nilson to the KHL will set a precedent in the NHL that other teams will follow.  George Johnson asks are the new look Flames really any better than last season?  On Thursday the Flames saw assistant coach Wayne Fleming leave the team and join Omsk of the KHL.
• Patrick Kane is a lot more comfortable heading into his sophomore season than he was in his rookie year, writes Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune.
• Stop the presses, Craig MacTavish has a hand injury and will be out of action until Monday, explains Jim Matheson.
• Brendan Bell thought he was signing in Ottawa with a good chance at cracking the team’s top six, and the Bryan Murray traded for two defensemen and invited another to training camp.  Here are more details on the battle for spots on the Senators defense.  Meanwhile, Murray says he expects more offense from Antoine Vermette in the next three years.  Chris Neil had his differences with John Paddock last season, that is why he is looking forward to playing under Craig Hartsburg.
• Brent Sutter is very excited to have Brian Rolston on board, writes Mark Everson of the NY Post.
• Mike Zeisberger of the Toronto Sun has a list of what to watch for in Leafs training camp.  If Luke Schenn wants to crack the Leafs’ roster, he will have to earn top-four minutes on the back-end otherwise the organization does not want to stunt his growth by having him sit on the bench most games.  Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star tells readers what Ron Wilson is like as a coach.  Here are twelve Leafs to watch this season.
• Jacques Lemaire really was not sure if he was going to return for his eighth season behind the bench for the Wild, writes Michael Russo.
• Blues defenseman Erik Johnson didn’t think golf was a contact sport, but he hurt himself on the course and will miss the first few days of camp.
• Here are five questions about the Nashville Predators heading into the 2008/09 season.  The team certainly has some offensive spots that are up for grabs with the deparature of Alexander Radulov.
• The Canucks report for training camp today and the team is certainly not without its question marks, writes Elliot Pap of the Vancouver Sun.
• Apparently new Islanders boss behind the bench Scott Gordon is an offensive-minded coach.
• Dan Arritt of the L.A. Times looks at who is new and who is gone from the Ducks this season.
• Thrashers coach John Anderson is going to name four alternate captains before selecting his actual captain, writes Mike Knobler.
• It looks like there are four defensemen competing for the seventh spot on the Rangers’ defense.  Meantime, Nikolai Zherdev stood out at Rangers camp for all the wrong reasons on Thursday, writes Larry Brooks.
• As Fluto Shinzawa explains, both Petteri Nokelainen and the Bruins were happy with the way things turned out last season.  Youngster Kevin Regan realizes he still has a lot of work to do if we wants to play in the NHL.
• If rookies want to make a name for themselves at Sharks camp, they will have to prove it against the veterans, writes David Pollak of the San Jose Mercury News.
• With Jason Pominville having signed a five-year extension on Thursday, Darcy Regeir completed another task on his off-season to-do list.
• Jim Rutherford thinks Joni Pitkanen’s style fits in well with how the Hurricanes want to play.  Everyone on the Canes feels bad about Justin Williams’ injury.
• If the Avalanche are going to make noise this year they will need some solid play from their two netminders.
• Here are five questions for the Blue Jackets from Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch.
• Considering the Stars played well last year when Sergei Zubov was injured, the team is not in as much of a panic to hear that the veteran defenseman is on the shelf for 4-8 weeks.
• Penguins defenseman Mark Eaton is hoping he can avoid the injury bug for the first time in two seasons.  Evgeni Malkin has improved on his English and even addressed the fans with it yesterday.  Here is a very clever piece by Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
• Chris Chelios partied with the Stanley Cup and Rocky at the same time this summer.  Wings GM Kenny Holland has his reasons for hoping for both the young and the old at Wings training camp.
• Nothing that difficult about Barry Melrose’s decision to name Vincent Lecavalier captain.  In roster news, 27 year old Zenon Konopka will do anything to make the Bolts.
• Get to know Capitals prospect Josh Godfrey.

For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.