Monday Morning NHL Papers (Western Conference): Oilers hold team meeting, Willie Mitchell didn’t face any retribution and the transformation of Marc Crawford

Posted by Richard Pollock in NHL Morning Papers on November 23, 2009 — No Comments

Central Division

“It was a goalie win. You get five or six over the course of the year and that was definitely one of them,” said Blackhawkjs coach Joel Quenneville after his team’s 1-0 win at Vancouver. Some suspected the Blackhawks would go after Willie Mitchell last night but nothing happened.
Tom Reed of the Columbus Dispatch writes about the maturation process of Rostislav Klesla. It looks like the Blue Jackets will open next season in Europe. Here are the Blue Jackets’ lines for tonight’s game.
Tough break for the Red Wings, as defenseman Niklas Kronwall is out of the lineup for at least four weeks with a sprained MCL. An injury to Niklas Kronwall will result in an opportunity for Derek Meech.
Nashville winger Patric Hornqvist looks up to Tomas Holmstrom and wants to take after the veteran in a number of ways. David Poile says there is no timetable for Colin Wilson’s return to the NHL.
With all the team’s offensive firepower, did anyone think that a defenseman would be leading the Blues in scoring this far into the season? The Blues look to make it three in a row tonight when the Bruins come to town.

Northwest Division

Jarome Iginla’s early season struggles are long gone, writes Steve MacFarlane of the Calgary Sun. Iginla has the second most even strength goals in hockey this season.
The Avalanche has holes and those holes cause inconsistency, writes Terry Frei of the Denver Post.
Dany Heatley is going to get quite the reception on Friday when he makes his first appearance in Edmonton since he rejected his trade to Alberta’s capital. With Nikolai Khabibulin’s back acting up, the Oilers have called up Devan Dubnyk. The Oilers are struggling and all issues were addressed in team meeting on Sunday. So, Craig MacTavish wasn’t the problem after all?
Pierre-Marc Bouchard is feeling better in Minnesota but his recovery is going very, very slowly, explains Michael Russo.
The Canucks actually outplayed Chicago last night but the bounces weren’t going their way and that led to a 1-0 loss at GM Place.

Pacific Division

Not many Ducks practiced yesterday after this team’s loss to San Jose on Saturday.
In Dallas, coach Marc Crawford has changed from the coach he once was and rarely loses his cool.
Ilya Brygalov has been one of the main reasons the Coyotes have played well so far this season and that is partly because of his off-season training plan.

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