Illegal Curve Hockey

On the Beat

Dan Wood of the Orange County Register discusses whether the Sharks are the favorites in the Pacific Division. (Writer’s note: I believe the Sharks should be slotted ahead of the Stars as favorites in the Pacific. The team added two key pieces in Dan Boyle and Rob Blake and their best move may have been the hiring of Todd McLellan to lead the ship.)
Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch tells readers that Nikita Filatov’s injury is nothing to worry about.
Everyone loves James Neal in Dallas.
Steve Zipay gives you some details from Rangers scrimmage number two.
Click here to see what Markus Naslund and Tom Renney think of Nikolai Zherdev. (Writer’s note: Will Rangers fans love or hate Zherdev? My feeling is that it will change from game-to-game. He will certainly draw Alexei Kovalev comparisons and Kovalev was a Ranger multiple times, so we will wait and see.)
Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette chills out and still has a rundown of the Penguins’ first day of training camp.
Apparently Barry Melrose likes the hulking Vladimir Mihalik.