What team beat writers are saying this afternoon:
- Ryan Getzlaf (sports hernia) is hoping to be back in the Ducks lineup for the team’s final two exhibition games. So long as he is ready to go for puck drop of the regular season, I’m sure that’s all Ducks fans care about.
- The Thrashers are going to have four goalies in camp competing for the top two spots, writes Chris Vivlamore. Always smart to have insurance around when Kari Lehtonen is number one. You have to wonder whether this will be the year that Ondrej Pavelec takes the leap to number two on a consistent basis, but with Johan Hedberg signed, it seems like he’ll really have to prove his worth to jump over “The Moose.”
- The Blue Jackets have finalized their minor league agreement with the Gwinnett Gladiators of the ECHL. Just passing this along.
- The Tampa Bay Lightning have re-signed Martins Karsums to a one-year deal. They acquired Karsums in the Recchi deal last season and he can score quite a bit at the AHL level (just under a point-per-game last season), so we’ll see if he can make the jump on a consistent basis.
- James Gordon of the Ottawa Citizen thinks Dany Heatley needs to give the fans and media a little bit more credit with his answers. Agreed. To be honest, he’s not helping himself with any of his answers, so he’s probably better off if he stops answering questions until he’s traded.
- The Wild’s new third jersey has been leaked and can be seen here. Hat tip to Russo’s Rants for the find.
Team Canada notes:
- Here are how the forward lines and defense pairings are looking this morning. Talk about some insane competition for roster spots on this team…
- Here is video from Mike Babcock’s news conference yesterday. He’s totally in mid-season form already.
