I’m back from Vegas, where hockey only exists if you beg the sports book to turn on an Oilers/Devils game on the corner television that no one watches. I could go on for a while, so I have decided that I will talk about hockey in Vegas as the topic of my Wednesday Editorial. Before getting back in the morning papers groove, I’d like to thank the rest of the contributors for picking up the slack while I was away.
Without further ado, here are the morning papers for Tuesday the 11th of November:
- Two teams in Toronto? Not so fast says Gary Bettman.
- The Thrashers have demoted Andrej Pavelec back to the AHL.
- Part of the reason the Bruins are such a cohesive unit on the ice is because of how much time they spend together off of the ice, writes Barbara Matson of the Boston Globe. Meanwhile, Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald is looking forward to tomorrow night’s match up between the newly relevant Bruins and Blackhawks.
- Dion Phaneuf is extremely lucky that his eye injury isn’t a lot worse, writes Randy Sportak. In other Flames news, Brandon Prust leads the NHL in fighting majors.
- If Patrick Kane continues his scoring streak, his beard isn’t going anywhere, writes Chris Kuc.
- The Hurricanes are expecting Matt Cullen, Brandon Sutter and Joni Pitkanen to return to the line up in the near future.
- Tony Granato didn’t mince words when explaining his rationale for benching Tyler Arnason. On the injury front, Joe Sakic’s MRI on his back turned up negative.
- Tom Reed of the Columbus Dispatch profiles the Torres family. Ken Hitchcock laughs at people who think he isn’t playing Derrick Brassard and Jakub Voracek enough.
- Marty Turco isn’t going to let one bad turnover to Patrick Marleau change his style of play.
- Marian Hossa gets to play against his former Penguins teammates tonight for the first time since he signed in Detroit last off-season. The Red Wings should get an added boost with the expected return of Johan Franzen tonight.
- Jeff Drouin-Deslauries made 40 stops en route to a 3-2 shootout victory for the Oilers at MSG. “When he’s confident he’s unbelievable. I think everyone knows that,” said teammate Kyle Brodziak.
- Winning in Anaheim sure made the Panthers’ long flight back home a lot more enjoyable, writes Steve Gorten.
- Kyle Quincey hasn’t demonstrated the flaws many waiver wire pick-ups usually have, says Kings coach Terry Murray.
- The Wild’s injury situation has certainly hurt the team, especially offensively.
- Habs winger Tom Kostopoulos received a three-game suspension for his hit-from-behind on Mike Van Ryn. The Habs will be facing a goalie with numbers you probably didn’t know were that good tonight at the Bell Centre, writes Pat Hickey.
- In injury news, the Predators may be without Martin Erat and Joel Ward for tonight’s tilt with the Sharks.
- The Rangers are becoming a team that is consistent in the wrong areas, writes Steve Zipay. Sure the Rangers lost 3-2 to the Oilers in a shootout but they played better than the score indicated. Larry Brooks isn’t impressed with the way the Rangers start games.
- Has Craig Hartsburg’s decision to move Daniel Alfredsson away from Heatley and Spezza been successful?
- Today is Veteran’s Day, so this is a nice article about the Flyers spending some time with current U.S. soldiers. If you didn’t know, Joffrey Lupul has been demoted to the fourth line.
- The Penguins will have revenge on their minds when the visit Joe Louis Arena tonight. For all the questions about the Pens, their record to open the season isn’t all that bad. In injury news, Evgeni Malkin’s thumb has been bothering him.
- Injured Sharks, Evgeni Nabokov and Jonathan Cheechoo were on the ice yesterday.
- Jay McKee has handled his (probably short) move out of the top six in St. Louis with class.
- His Lightning teammates let Olaf Kolzig down, says veteran center Chris Gratton. At least the Capitals organization didn’t do the same.
- Mats Sundin sold his house in Toronto. (Writer’s note: Does anyone actually care?) The Leafs are really going to miss the services of Mike Van Ryn on the blue line after he took a terrible hit from Tom Kostopoulos on Saturday. Leafs coach Ron Wilson suggests that teams start to become responsible for their players’ actions.
- Taylor Pyatt may not be scoring in Vancouver, but he is contributing in other ways, writes Ben Kuzma.
- The Capitals players weren’t kind to Olaf Kolzig as they scored goals on the team’s first two shots of the games. However, before the game started, Kolzig proved where he stands in the hearts of Washington hockey fans.
For Illegal Curve, I’m Richard Pollock.
