Blog Hits: Crosby to celebrate his birthday with Stanley, Who will IC’s Ezra celebrate his birthday with?

Some news and notes from the Blogs today & I’d like to wish IC contributor Ezzy a happy birthday:

• Raw Charge:  Lightning marketing, genius or cornball?  Not sure its one or the other but it is quite interesting.  And at least it’s different from the everyday.  Hopefully for the Lightning they will draw bigger crowds as a result.
• Silver Seven:  Who leaked the Heatley trade?  I don’t see how Heatley would leak this news?  All it does is weaken the Senators bargaining position and means its more likely that he stays in Ottawa which is clearly not what he wants.  Similarly the Sens & Oilers wouldn’t gain from a premature leak.  This is the problem with everyone trying to be the first to report things.  Sometimes it’s more of a detriment that a help.
• From the Rink:  Crosby to celebrate birthday with the Stanley Cup.  Isn’t this how everyone celebrates their birthday?
• Stanley Cup of Chowder: (Rumor) Bruins close to signing Derrik Morris.  Sounds like this is a done deal.  Good for the B’s. 
• The Bruins Blog:  Aaron Ward is goin’ (back) to Carolina.  Well I guess this means Bruins fans can strike this game from most anticipated, that is if they anticipated a re-match between Ward and Walker.  Although Ward did say that despite it being water under the bridge, he can always get Walker back in practice.
• Slap Shot:  Traktor Chelyabinsk to sue Florida Panthers over Dadonov.  As Jeff Klein says, so much for that ‘era’ of good will between the NHL and KHL.  I say all is fair in love and hockey.
• On Frozen Blog:    The murky status of Dmitri Orlov.  Another story of problems with young prospects and their development.  KHL rules are a lot stricter than the old Russian Super league and that means prospects can get “stuck” in the KHL for quite some time.
• Snapshots:  This week’s ‘Beware the imminent demise of the Detroit Red Wings’ column.  I wonder if the Wings ever get tired of everyone wanting to see them get knocked from the top?  Every year we are told that this is the year, Detroit is going to fall, and for what seems like the last decade and a half they continue to play at an elite level.  I don’t anticipate this upcoming year being any different.  Sure they lost some players.  But with the core they have expect Detroit to be in the mix.
• Puck Daddy:  Glendale facing political watchdogs on tax dollars for Coyotes.  The drama continues in Arizona.  Today is the last day for bidders.  And it appears that some conservative groups are attempting to ensure that any handouts the City of Glendale may use to sweeten the deal are made public.
• Oilersnation: The toughest division in the NHL?  Interesting piece.  Which division do IC readers think is currently the toughest?
• Flamesnation:  Under pressure?  It’s all on Kipper.  Should be a very interesting 2009/10 season in Calgary.  I was pulling for these guys last year and if not for injury felt they could have had a much different result against Chicago.  I think Kipper steps up big (and with the added presence of Jay Bouwmeester) should really be shut down next season.
• Lions in Winter:  Thank goodness for the Russians.  Agreed.  As long as the translation is reliable, they seem to get quite close with the players, which usually makes for some good interviews, as can be seen here.