What team beat writers are saying this afternoon:
- Patrick Kane and his cousin have been indicted on misdemeanor assault and theft charges. He avoids felony charges, but that doesn’t mean he avoids all trouble as a conviction could mean up to a year in prison.
- The Hurricanes are not going to be broadcast nationally on Versus once this year. Wow. I realize they don’t carry mass U.S. appeal, but they play a fairly exciting style and have stars like Eric Staal and Cam Ward, so this is somewhat puzzling.
- Speaking of Carolina, the team has signed center Stephane Yelle to a one-year deal. Yelle provides little else aside from a face-off man who can kill penalties but his signing certainly doesn’t hurt.
- Mike Heika profiles Mark Fistric for the Dallas Stars Blog. I don’t think Fistric will become a dependable top-four defenseman unless he improves his skating
- Curtis Zupke of the Orange County Register thinks the Leafs will make the playoffs before the Kings. This obviously has to do with strength of conference/competition but I still don’t agree.
- The Wild is getting ready to unveil its third jersey. I heard the Wild has already pre-sold 1,000 third jerseys with #4 Favre on the back…
- Alexei Kovalev gives back to the community. I will never understand why people don’t just appreciate Kovalev for what he is, instead of always worrying about what he’s not.
- Dany Heatley for Patrick Marleau straight up? The Senators would need more in return, especially with Marleau’s contract coming to an end after this coming season.
- Some news and notes about the Predators from John Glennon. Speaking of Glennon, he will be our first guest on the IllegalCurve.com Radio Show tonight at 7:20pm CST.