On the Beat: Alexander Ovechkin is feeling much better, Kari Lehtonen has back surgery, Blackhawks surface in trade rumors, Patrik Elias will delay making his debut, Have Hurricanes reached ‘that point’ in the season?

Word from the team beat writers:

• Curtis Zupke of the Orange County Register brings Duck fans the latest numbers after the 4-3 loss to the Penguins.
• Looks like the injuries are piling up in Atlanta, as goalie Kari Lehtonen will be out 6-8 weeks after he had another back surgery to remove some bone, which was causing him discomfort.
• Sabres goaltender Patrick Lalime has suffered a groin injury, forcing the team to recall second-year netminder Jhonas Enroth from Portland.
  
• Calgary Flames coach Brent Sutter has shuffled the lines in bid to spark Iginla, Jokinen.
• Chip Alexander of the News & Observer wonders if the Carolina Hurricanes have reached “that point” in the team’s season where the trade rumours heat up.
• Another team which has recently been mentioned in trade rumours are the Chicago Blackhawks although Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune suggests that while he wouldn’t be surprised if they pulled off a trade, you might not want to believe everything you read.
• Adrian Dater of the Denver Post has three video clips with the Avalanche’s Cody McLeod who talks about the fear of possibly losing an eye, and his decision NOT to wear a protective visor after the three or four weeks he’s been told he MUST wear one as well as video’s of coach Joe Sacco and Ryan O’Reily showing off his skills at practice.
• At last night’s Wings game (which I attended) fans were given ‘Hockeytown, no limits‘ posters which George Malik thinks isn’t a bad Red Wings advertising slogan.
  
• Enigmatic Oilers full of puzzling trends but at least they’ve been able to win at home writes Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal.
• The Los Angeles Kings Drew Doughty talks to Kings Insider Rich Hammond about the art of delivering a legal hip check.
• Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune talks from the Wild practice about Josh Harding, goalie Khudobin being sent down, some injury updates as well as a focus on some draft-eligible players taking part at the Bauer NIT this weekend.
• The Montreal Canadiens are hard at work today, with work on their defensive play writes Mike Boone of the Montreal Gazette.
• The Devils Patrik Elias will delay making his 2009-10 debut for at least another two days as he won’t play Wednesday night.  Instead Matt Halischuk was recalled from Lowell (AHL) and will be in the lineup against the Washington Capitals.
• The New York Rangers Michael Del Zotto may be young, but he has a veteran-like game writes Steve Zipay of Newsday.
  
• Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette looks at Bill Guerin‘s play, by the numbers as he played in his 1,200th game last night.
• The Tampa Bay Lightning puts forward Ryan Craig on re-entry waivers writes Damian Cristodero of the St. Petersburg Times.
• Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post says that Alexander Ovechkin is feeling much better and that Varlamov will start against the Devils.