Here are the morning papers for Saturday the 21st of March:
- Randy Youngman of the Orange County Register thinks there is little chance the Ducks will retire Paul Kariya’s number nine.
- The Thrashers might have been playing well coming into last night’s game against Detroit, but after being defeated 6-3 by the powerful Wings, they know they still have lots of progress to make. Off the ice, It is “touch and go” for Atlanta when it comes to whether the team will sell enough tickets this season to qualify for revenue sharing. (Writer’s note: If they don’t reach that threshold, I cannot imagine how much money that ownership would end up losing this year…)
- Yesterday was a scrimmage day for the Bruins, as Claude Julien tries to change it up in Beantown. “To be honest, I thought our scrimmage was better than our game,” said Julien.
- With the Sabres playing horribly, Bucky Gleason wonders about the job security of both Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier. Buffalo was 0 for 7 on the power play in yesterday’s loss to Philadelphia.
- Flames coach Mike Keenan thought one stat was telling on Friday night as his Flames at home to St. Louis. After last night’s loss, the Flames have a record of 2-5 in the last seven games. On the injury front, Todd Bertuzzi and Rene Bourque feel like they are both moving closer to a return to the lineup.
- The Hurricanes made it seven consecutive home wins with a crazy 5-4 victory over the much-improved Islanders.
- It looks like Joel Queneville has named Nikolai Khabibulin the Blackhawks’ number one netminder. Sure the Hawks got a point on Friday, but the game was still the team’s fifth loss in a row.
- With so much money against the cap for next season, Adrian Dater tells Avs fans it will be difficult to retool.
- Tom Reed of the Columbus Dispatch has the best article of the morning, as he details the relationship between Ken Hitchcock and Pat Burns. In a less important story, Jason Williams will play all over the Jackets’ forward lines in today’s game. Here are five questions for Jackets defenseman Mike Commodore.
- The Stars are done talking about injuries and are only focused on the task at hand.
- Henrik Zetterberg posted a career-high four assists, as the Wings handled the Thrashers quite easily on Friday night. There has been an important sign of improvement for Detroit on the team’s penalty killing. Meanwhile, Chris Osgood is looking more like his old-self.
- Oilers GM Steve Tambellini wasn’t up for discussing the Jaromir Jagr rumors yesterday. Edmonton fans are probably happy that coach MacTavish did end up tapping Dwayne Roloson for yesterday’s game at Chicago. Patrick O’Sullivan talks about his plan during the shootout.
- The Panthers are hoping to get Nathan Horton back in the lineup on Monday. The Cats play the Blue Jackets tonight and Peter DeBoer is quite familiar with netminder Steve Mason.
- The Kings’ momentum from Thursday’s win over Boston didn’t last too long in Pittsburgh.
- Jacques Lemaire lost his patience with Marek Zidlicky after last night’s loss in Newark. Cal Clutterbuck thinks the referees target him.
- It looks like both Andrei Kostitsyn and Mike Komisarek will be healthy scratches tonight for Montreal. The next Montreal head coach will almost certainly speak French. Red Fisher’s Saturday notebook.
- Patrik Elias talks about being the Devils’ all-time leading scorer. With one record down, Martin Brodeur stepped a little bit closer to the shutout record yesterday.
- The Islanders weren’t happy with the officiating in Friday night’s contest versus Carolina.
- The Rangers go into each game thinking about winning every period. Derek Morris talks about how excited he was when he heard he was headed to New York City. Apparently Sean Avery has kept a low profile in the Rangers’ room.
- The Ottawa Sun columnists talk about a number of NHL happenings in the weekly roundtable. Mike Comrie (flu) is expected to play tonight against his former team. Islanders coach called Mike Comrie and Chris Campoli “bad apples“.
- Finally, Daniel Briere showed off his true form last night against his old team. Randy Jones may be able to return to the Flyers lineup tomorrow.
- Keith Yandle is getting a chance to play a lot in the desert.
- The Penguins have been thoroughly dominating since Dan Bylsma took over behind the bench. Sidney Crosby took the diplomatic route when asked abotu Alexander Ovechkin’s 50 goal celebration.
- If you are not a fan of the Sharks, you are probably wondering who is Brad Staubitz and why is he so popular?
- Even without Keith Tkachuk, the Blues scored twice in the third period to comeback and defeat the Flames at the Saddledome on Friday.
- If the Thrashers and Lightning play tonight and no one is there to see it, does it really happen? Ryan Malone has great hands.
- Damien Cox talks about the possibility of Brian Burke going after the Sedins this summer. (Writer’s note: Jeff Marek of CBC predicted just that on IllegalCurve.com Radio Show this past Wednesday.) The Leafs are hoping for Tomas Kaberle’s return to the lineup against Montreal.
- The Canucks third line has taken on the nickname of the BMW line and boy, has the trio been playing well.
- Thom Loverro with an interesting take on Alexander Ovechkin’s 50th goal celebration. When healthy, Simeon Varlamov is darn good.