**Remember that tonight is the IllegalCurve.com Radio Show starting at 7pm Central time.**
What team beat writers are saying this afternoon:
- Have the Ducks gone soft? I don’t think that’s the case. Remember it is early in the season and this is a veteran team, so I’d attribute it more to that than anything else.
- Here is how the new look Bruins may line up tonight. Wow, talk about a change. This was arguably the deepest scoring team in the NHL coming into the season, now this team looks like it may be hard pressed to score.
- Practice? Who needs practice? Certainly not Joni Pitkanen. Pitkanen is a horse out there, and Maurice demonstrated his admiration for Pitkanen in the playoffs last season. Regardless, this gives me an excuse to post the Allen Iverson “practice” clip.
- Brent Sopel will be a healthy scratch for the Blackhawks tonight. Sopel is poor defensively and that’s certainly been evident early this season.
- Here are the new look Kings lines from practice today. Frolov back in, now skating with Handzus and Brown.
- Cal Clutterbuck is one tough player. He is somehow already back at practice. Only days ago, he was out for “weeks”.
- Mike Cammalleri loves the idea of playing in Montreal. The crowd for last night’s early regular season game demonstrates the passion of Habs fans.
- Still in Montreal, the Habs hope to have Glen Metropolit back in the lineup tomorrow. He is a useful player and the team misses his versatility.
- Ilya Zubov is on his way to the KHL. Talk about a letdown for Sens fans, who thought he’d be a scoring contributor heading into training camp.
- How will Sean Avery react to being benched for taking bad penalties. Carpinello raises some very good points.
- Confirmation on Sergei Gonchar’s broken wrist. The Penguins are one of the few teams that can withstand this type of injury. However, remember that Gonchar’s return last season coincided with Dan Bylsma’s hiring. So maybe we will see which move played a bigger role in the Penguins’ success. I think it was Bylsma, but Gonchar is important.
- Want to see the Lightning’s strip shootout mentioned in today’s Morning Papers? Thanks to Bolts Report for the link.
