- Curtis Zupke of the Orange County Register has a Q & A with Ducks winger Joffrey Lupul.
- “No question I can play, I just needed someone to take a risk,” said Thrashers training camp invitee Manny Legace about his goaltending abilities. (Writer’s note: He may still have it, but I just don’t understand why he is in Atlanta. They have Lehtonen, Pavelec, Hedberg and MacIntyre at camp.)
- Steve Begin is in Boston now, but he still has no idea what went wrong with him and Guy Carbonneau in Montreal.
- In sad news, long-time Bruins play-by-play voice Fred Cusick has passed away.
- The results of pre-season games carry little importance, but the fact that Marco Sturm was back on the ice for Boston gave the organization lots to be happy about.
- “I thought Stralman was very good tonight,” said Flames coach Brent Sutter.
- Kris Chucko felt like he had to improve his skating to compete at the next level and he feels like he’s done just that, writes Steve MacFarlane.
- Former Hurricanes defenseman Brett Hedican has decided to finally call it a career.
- Patrick Kane has been playing NHL 2010, but he admits to trading his real teammates for his friend Sam Gagner.
Patrick Kane has been playing NHL 2010 and has even traded for his former London Knight teammate Sam Gagner. (Picture courtesy of ballhype.com)
- Justin Mercier is likely to begin the season in the AHL, but Avalanche coach Joe Sacco has been impressed with him thus far, writes Adrian Dater.
- The Blue Jackets received a terrific performance from backup netminder Mathieu Garon on Tuesday night, writes Tom Reed.
- Tuesday was an important day for the Jackets off the ice, as the organization locked up Antoine Vermette for an extra five years.
- Not that people needed Vermette’s contract extension to realize this but the Blue Jackets are getting the core of the team signed long-term, and Scott Howson deserves a lot of credit for that, opines Michael Arace.
- The Stars have two forward spots up for grabs at training camp and here are the competitors for that spot.
- The Red Wings organization has to decide what to do with Dan Cloutier.
- “I think Patty is going to come in here, and he’s going to be a real good fit for us,” said Wings forward Daniel Cleary about Patrick Eaves.
- Mike Babcock is hoping his meeting with Jacques Lemaire last month will help improve his teams awful penalty killing from last season.
- Patrick O’Sullivan scored twice last night for Edmonton versus Calgary and exhibited some good chemistry with Mike Comrie.
- Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Sun thought Rob Schremp looked very good on the power play last night.
- Pat Quinn wants his fighters to serve a purpose on the ice, writes Joanne Ireland.
- George Richards of the Miami Herald profiles David Booth of the Panthers.
- The Panthers defeated the Senators last night in Halifax, and Nathan Horton was happy to be back on the wing.
- Meanwhile, Scott Clemmensen is happy to be a Panther, writes Steve Gorten.
- Jonathan Bernier stopped 20 of 23 shots last night, as he tries to compete with Erik Ersberg and Jonathan Quick for one of the Kings’ two goaltending spots.
- You have to read the hilarious back and forth from coach Terry Murray and L.A. Times writer Helene Elliot about possibly catching the Jack Johnson goal from last night on the highlight shows.
- After reading this article by Michael Russo of the Star-Tribune, it is hard not to like Martin Havlat.
Wild fans should grow to love Martin Havlat. (Picture courtesy of imgs.inds.cez)
- The exhibition season is not only for the players, as Wild coach Todd Richards admitted he was a bit rusty handling the bench duties last night.
- In Montreal, Tomas Plekanec is trying to forget that last season ever happened, writes Pat Hickey.
- There is a reason that Colton Gillies is called the Wrecker by his teammates.
- Five questions with Predators center Jason Arnott.
- Both Colin Wilson and Ryan Ellis are expected to play in Nashville’s exhibition game tonight.
- Predators prospect Mike Santorelli is getting an opportunity to play in the top-six during the exhibition season.
- Is Brendan Shanahan going to steal Jamie Langenbrunner’s spot on the number one line in New Jersey?
- The Devils hope to have Patrik Elias’s groin examination results back today.
- It looks like Rangers defenseman Matt Gilroy’s style of play and coach John Tortorella’s preference to push the play are a good match.
- Rangers coach John Tortorella is hoping a veteran defenseman becomes available before the regular season starts because he does not want to be dressing two rookies as his 5/6 defensemen this season.
- New Senators winger Milan Michalek heard only good things about Ottawa from fellow Czech Martin Havlat.
- Meanwhile, Bryan Murray has the utmost in trust for his coach Cory Clouston.
- “It’s good to get that first one in. It’s been a long time,” said Senators new netminder Pascal Leclaire.
- “It’s been a long summer,” said Flyers captain Mike Richards in an interview with Sam Donnellon.
- JVR is excited that he is making the Flyers’ first exhibition road trip.
- Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic thinks Wayne Gretzky should be at Coyotes training camp suffering with the rest of the team.
- On the ice, it appears that Martin Hanzal is back to 100% after recovering from his back injury last season.
- There is debate in Glendale as to whether to accept the $50 million offered to the city by Jim Basillie.
- The debate isn’t that strong in favor of Balsillie, as the city prefers the NHL’s bid.
- Penguins superstar Evgeni Malkin is not satisfied with one Stanley Cup, he wants ten.
Evgeni Malkin wants ten Stanley Cup rings. (Picture courtesy of bleacherreport.com)
- The other Penguins defensemen are happy to have Jay McKee around blocking shots and doing the dirty work.
- Todd McLellan has his work cut out for him, as he tries to change the Sharks’ mindsets.
- The fans in St. Louis are buying the hype of their up-and-coming team and the numbers demonstrate that.
- In other Blues news, Andy Murray has seen another season added to his contract.
- Steve Downie is attempting to change his image from seasons past, writes Damian Cristodero.
- The Bolts are happy to put the circus that was last season behind them.
- Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star has the details on Jonas Gustavsson’s minor heart procedure.
- Coach Ron Wilson says Mike Van Ryn is a little bit behind the eight-ball when it comes to competing for a spot on defense.
- Ron Wilson wants to see more from Jiri Tlusty.
- “It’s not inevitable,” said Brian Burke in response to the Phil Kessel rumors.
- Shane O’Brien knows that with all the team’s new acquisitions, he is in tough to get any significant minutes on the Canucks’ back-end this season.
- His name is Cody Hodgson, but the G is supposed to be silent people.
- While defense was a team weakness last season, the Capitals have some more depth at the position this training cmap.
Tonight is the IllegalCurve.com Radio Show from 7pm through 9pm Central time. Tonight’s guests are Ron MacLean of Hockey Night in Canada and Will Carroll of Puck Prospectus.
