On the Beat: Canucks inks Luongo to 12 yr deal, Q&A with Wild player rep Nick Schultz touches on Paul Kelly firing, Jamie Langenbrunner is going to be keeping his ‘C’ and Can the Red Wings be winning too much?

Word from the team Beat Writers:

• Looks like the Canucks have found their man, signing superstar goaltender Roberto Luongo to a 12 year deal.  Can’t imagine that Brian Burke approves of the length of the deal.
• James Gordon of the Ottawa Citizen gives us an up close and personal view of Pascal Leclaire’s new mask.   For Ottawa’s sake let’s hope that Pascal is more than a pretty mask.
• Over at the Orange County Register, Curtis Zupke is wondering which makeover are NHL fans most interested in seeing.  Not surprisingly his readers are curious about the Ducks but I am interested to see how the Hawks turn out.
• Some new faces have turned up at Bruins camps writes Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe.
• It looks like Jocelyn Thibault is back in the NHL as a goaltending consultant for the Colorado Avalanche.
• David Staples over at Cult of Hockey says the NHL is less than pleased about Hudler being allowed to play in the KHL and they let both the Russians and the IIHF know it.  No big surprise that the Russians are moving ahead but it does seem questionable that the IIHF is going along for the ride.
• Michael Russo has a very interesting Q&A with Minnesota Wild player rep. Nick Schultz on the firing of NHLPA director Paul Kelly.  Very interesting read.
• Habes Inside/Out looks at a very worthwhile which is set for release this fall titled Jacques Plante: The Man Who Changed The Face of Hockey.
• Looks like Jamie Langenbrunner is going to be keeping his ‘C’ writes Rich Cherie of the Star-Ledger.
• Over at Blue Notes they cover some antics that go on during New York Rangers training camp.  Drury seems like he has a good sense of humour.
• Is there such a thing as too much of a good thing?  The guys at Empty Netters look at all the playoff games played by the Detroit Red Wings and wonder if they’ve played so many in the past few seasons, that they will eventually start to burn out.  The beauty of the Wings system though is the constant replenishing of youth from Grand Rapids although some of the Wings were looking very tired towards the end of last season so perhaps they are onto something.  Of course if the Wings win the Central again it might be moot.
• Looks like the Capitals coaching squad is set as Tarik El-Bashir of Washington Post Insider reports that the Caps have named an assistant coach.