On the Beat: Sidney Crosby’s October surprise, Patrick Elias still sore, Ken Hitchcock responds to the assertion that they targeted Ovechkin, are teams looking to dump salary?

Word from the team beat writers:

• The Bruins will be looking for some offense as they head to Detroit to take on the Wings tonight writes Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe.
• Just as the team managed to beat the flu bug, the Sabres coaching staff gets hit (literally) with an injury that takes out Associate coach Brian McCutcheon. 
• Columbus Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock admits that they were targeting Ovechkin on Sunday, but not in the manner being suggested by Caps coach Bruce Boudreau.
  
• Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News talks about the  Dallas Stars farm team, the Texas Stars, which is off to a pretty good start with many good story lines.
• Perhaps the weakest position in Detroit’s depth pool, the right wing position has potential, but no one boasting a great deal of offensive skill.
• Rich Hammond takes a look at the evolution of the Kings lines in last night’s come from behind victory in Phoenix.
• Wild coach Todd Richards had the team laughing and smiling with a very fun practice, high-tempo, scrimmage-like practice.
• Nashville Predator Dan Hamhuis talks about how much more fun the guys are having at the rink now that they feel like they’ve turned things around.
  
• With the lack of success the Devils are having at home this season, perhaps they are rushing a bit to get Patrick Elias back in the lineup as he is still feeling soreness.
• Damien Cox of the Toronto Star talks about the situation in Phoenix and how it doesn’t appear to be getting any better in the near future.
• Sidney Crosby is clearly (heavy on sarcasm) on the decline in Pittsburgh as his points per game average for the month October dropped for a third straight season.
• While it is still pretty early for any teams to be having a firesale just yet, the chatter is starting to intensify as some teams aren’t playing to the levels they expected and may be looking to dump salary.
• The Capitals Niklas Backstrom knows that it will be tough without Alex Ovechkin in the lineup but he is also aware that the team has to show that they can play without him.