Tuesday Morning NHL Papers (Western Conference): Pat Quinn not pleased with Keith Ballard, Colorado’s road heavy schedule and Drew Doughty’s chances at Olympic team

Posted by Richard Pollock in NHL Morning Papers on December 8, 2009 — 4 Comments

Central Division

Adam Burish tore his ACL in the pre-season but he is champing at the bit to get back and wants to return before March 1. The Hawks’ power play is good, the problem is that they don’t go on the power play enough. Patrick Kane is bigger and stronger this sesaon.
Ken Hitchcock is a really big fan of Fredrik Modin, unfortunately the big Swede cannot stay healthy. As part of his rehab, Rostislav Klesla is only allowed to walk one mile per day to start.
Mike Babcock likes Ville Leino’s game, he just wants to get more from the youngster–as the Wings have been hit by injuries and need secondary scoring. It is not like Mike Babcock hasn’t given Leino a chance either.
Colin Wilson is relieved that the doctors discovered the root of his pain, and he looks forward to getting back to playing hockey at the level he did to begin the year.
Last night, the Blues’ continued to have as much trouble at home as Tiger Woods, writes Dan O’Neill. Since returning from a broken wrist, it has taken Alex Steen a while to get back into old form.

Northwest Division

“You only give up 16 shots against, so it was pretty good on that side, but we needed our powerplay to win the game,” said Brent Sutter about last night’s 2-1 loss for Calgary at Los Angeles. Keeping the Kings to 16 shots was pretty good considering the team played without Robyn Regehr and Cory Sarich. The Flames tried their ninth different player on the top line with Iginla and Jokinen last night.
Two Avalanche players, who some have been writing off for a while now, contributed significantly to the team’s win at St. Louis last night, writes Terry Frei. Did you know the Avalanche has played ten more road games than home games this season?
“You have to ride these highs as long as you can, you have to get as many points as you can,” said Shawn Horcoff after scoring the shootout winner to lead the Oilers to their third win a row. Pat Quinn had no problem with Gilbert Brule popping Keith Ballard with a good one last night.
Todd Richards said it looked like the Wild was “stuck in mud” last night in the team’s loss at Phoenix. Coach Richards compares Guillaume Latendresse to Ryane Clowe.
Alain Vigneault wants more of his players to score at clutch times, writes Jason Botchford. “Obviously, when you are up 4-2 and make it 5-2 or 6-2, those goals really don’t mean a lot,” said Vigneault.

Pacific Division

Randy Carlyle has completely switched up the Ducks’ defense combinations, details Eric Stephens of the OC Register.
The Stars are so high on Ivan Vishnevskiy that the team called him up to the big club to replace Karlis Skrastins, even though they already have a very young group on the back-end.
The Kings made the most of their chances last night, even if there weren’t many, and beat a difficult road team in Calgary. Drew Doughty is really coming into his own in only his second season in Los Angeles. Helene Elliot has an interesting column on attendance and the challenge of filling seats in Los Angeles and Anaheim.
People need to take notice of Ilya Bryzgalov, as the Russian netminder recorded his fourth shutout of the season on Monday, leading the Coyotes to their fifth straight win.
For whatever reason, the Sharks have horrible home power play success, writes David Pollak.

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rusty

I agree with Quinn. That hit was pretty low.

Speaking of attendance woes, lots of empty seats in Florida last night.
http://www.illegalcurve.com Richard

I’ve watched games on tv that have been in Florida, Dallas and Los Angeles and no one has been in any of the lower bowl seats.
rusty

Same here. It was too the point that when Florida scored, the camera guy had to pan in extra tight to cheering fans lest he show all the empty seats nearby.

Tough sell down there, no wonder the ticket sales positions at the Panthers come open every month.
Banana Belt

I was able to attend a Panthers game last year. We went down and figured we would be able to go and just pick up tickets on the cheap at the rink before the game. Major problem – They were playing the Canadiens. The only games they sell out are when they play the Canadiens because there are so many Quebeckers who live and vacation down there. It was literally a home game for the Habs.