Monday Morning NHL Papers (Western Conference): Jonathan Toews to return tonight, Daniel Sedin to return tomorrow and some great Hall of Fame features
Central Division
Dave Bolland’s back is bothering him, so Hawks coach Joel Quenneville has moved Kris Versteeg to center. In other injury news, Jonathan Toews and Ben Eager are expected to return to the Hawks lineup tonight. “In all the years we’ve been involved in hockey, it’s one thing for me to look back on my career of 23 years and all the wonderful things that happened to me, but to be able to have your son be considered one of the greatest to ever play the game and one of the greatest goal scorers in the history of the game, that’s a Hull of a moment,” said Bobby Hull about his son Brett’s inductment into the Hall of Fame tonight.
With Steve Yzerman being inducted into the Hall of Fame tonight, the Detroit Free Press has republished Mitch Albom’s and Michael Rosenberg’s goodbye column to the great captain from 2006. Yzerman was a standout player from a very young age, says former NHL netminder Darren Pang. It appears winger Jason Williams will be out at least eight weeks with a leg injury. With Williams added to the injury list, some suspected Ken Holland would make a move for some reinforcements, but so far that is not the plan.
“The thing just darted left on me,” said Blues goaltender Ty Conklin after allowing a long shot to Ron Hainsey with little time remaining in his team’s game versus Atlanta. The Blues are struggling but tonight is a special night for John Davidson.
The Avalanche’s second ranked penalty killing unit took a beating against the Oilers man advantage last night. Milan Hejduk didn’t suit up for last night’s contest because of a bad back.
The Oilers’ new power play units both gelled, as the team defeated Colorado 5-3 on the back of four power play markers. Liam Reddox ws ecstatic to be called up to the big club and made a good impression with his play last night.
Wild netminder Niklas Backstrom has come a long way to be one win away from 100 for his NHL career.