Here are the morning papers for Thursday the 13th of November:
- Bob Murray gives his take on his transition to GM of the Ducks with Brian Burke’s decision to leave the team. Burke did a good job in Anaheim but he isn’t leaving Bob Murray with the easiest situation in the world, writes Helene Elliot. Randy Youngman of the Orange County Register expects Burke to end up in Toronto.
- Kari Lehtonen (back) is expected to miss both weekend games for the Thrashers.
- The Bruins continued their amazing start to the season with a shootout victory at Chicago on Wednesday. Kevin Paul Dupont thinks the Bruins should hire Brian Burke as team president.
- The Sabres were on their way to blowing out the Blues but the game ended up being closer than expected in the end, writes John Vogl.
- Jim Vandermeer will be out of the Flames line-up for 6-8 weeks with an ankle injury. Calgary will be looking for revenge in San Jose tonight.
- Brandon Sutter doesn’t think his team was physical enough with the Capitals’ star players last night, which is why his team fell 5-1 on home ice.
- The Blackhawks lost a goalie dual last night at the United Center, writes Chris Kuc.
- Peter Budaj matched Roberto Luongo last night and his Avs left GM Place with a 2-1 shootout victory. Ben Guite (ribs) will be out of the Avalanche line-up indefinitely.
- Rick Nash was the target of Ken Hitchcock’s post-game comments, after the Jackets fell 5-2 to the Coyotes. Pascal Leclaire returned to the line-up and was on the bench last night backing up Steve Mason.
- Dallas captain Brenden Morrow wasn’t suspended for jumping into to fight Dustin Brown on Tuesday.
- Chris Osgood says the Wings won’t go anywhere in the playoffs if they continue with their poor defensive play. Maybe the road will be a help the Wings turn up their game, writes Dave Dye.
- Joanne Ireland of the Edmonton Journal tells readers that the Oilers generally don’t play well in the first home game after a road trip. With the Leafs coming to town tonight, Jim Matheson talks about the Buds in his morning article. It looks like Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers is probably going to get the start tonight.
- With Craig Anderson’s play in last night’s victory over Tampa, George Richards of the Miami Herald wonders if there is a goaltending controversy brewing in South Florida. The Panthers’ success on the power play didn’t hurt either.
- It took Jacques Lemaire a long time, but he has finally changed up all his lines, writes Michael Russo. In contract news, the Wild brass hasn’t spoken to Marian Gaborik’s representative in weeks.
- Barry Trotz tried some new line combinations at practice on Wednesday.
- Ryan O’Byrne discusses the adjustment from a player’s first year in the NHL to a player’s second. Meanwhile, Pat Hickey isn’t impressed with Jarkko Ruutu’s “Who me?” act.
- Scott Gordon’s Islanders have the worst record in the NHL but he feels like the group is moving in the right direction, writes John Jeansonne.
- Scott Gomez (ankle) missed last night’s game against his former Devils teammates. The Rangers continued their domination of their Hudson River rivals by recording a 5-2 road victory. Larry Brooks says Henrik Lundqvist owns the Devils.
- This video tells you that Senators practice was intense on Wednesday.
- In Philadelphia, Daniel Briere is slated to miss a week of action because of a groin strain.
- Somehow Shane Doan missed out on his first career hat trick, but all he cared about was that his Coyotes recorded a 5-2 road victory at Columbus.
- Heading into yesterday, Evgeni Malkin was leading the NHL and his teammate Sidney Crosby is scoring. The new arena in Pittsburgh is going to cost a lot more than originally anticipated. Joe Starkey of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review says that the Penguins want Jordan Staal to sign a long-term deal.
- Sharks center Torrey Mitchell is improving every day and can’t wait to get back on the ice with his Sharks teammates.
- Barry Melrose elaborates on what he said to his team on Tuesday before practice. Whatever he said sure didn’t work very well as the Bolts lost to the Panthers 4-0 on Wednesday.
- Brian Burke should be the Leafs’ next GM, writes Damien Cox. Here’s what Richard Peddie had to say about the Burke rumors. “Maybe it’s not meant for me to be here,” said struggling winger Jason Blake about his time in Toronto.
- Roberto Luongo finally allowed a goal and the Canucks couldn’t help him out, as the team lost 2-1 to the Avs in a shootout. If not for his amazing last second save in the third period, the Canucks wouldn’t have recorded a point on Wednesday.
- The Capitals’ stars were their stars last night and they cruised to a 5-1 victory as a result, writes Tarik El-Bashir.
For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.