Jay McClement

Here are the morning papers for Tuesday the 17th of March: With Sami Pahlsson and Travis Moen having been traded, the Ducks are searching to find the right mix for a new checking line. Kari Lehtonen stopped a whopping 49 shots, as he led the Thrashers to their sixth consecutive victory. If the Bruins want to turn things around the team has a light schedule over the next two weeks that will allow them to change things up. The Devils are six points back of Boston with three games in-hand. Ryan Miller is hoping to return to the Sabres lineup soon, writes Mike Harrington. The Sabres are still mad about losing to Atlanta. Steve Macfarlane says the Flames need to really watch Miikka Kiprusoff's workload over the next few weeks. The Flames had a good hard practice on Monday. The two new Flames, Olli Jokinen and Jordan Leopold, can't wait to play at the Saddledome. The Hurricanes will make a decision on Paul Maurice's future after the season. The Blackhawks are going to try and avoid being a part of history tonight. It has been a difficult year for Darcy Tucker in Colorado. Scott Howson has done a tremendous job quietly turning around the Blue Jackets' franchise. Here are the moves he had made. The Stars have a tough three-game road trip on the horizon, writes Mike Heika. Kris Draper is slated to play his 1000th game in a Red Wings jersey tonight. This is one of the most frustrating Oilers teams that Terry Jones has ever watched. Ladislav Smid won't play tonight. As Jay Bouwmeester goes, so go the Panthers, writes David J. Neal. In positive news, Bryan McCabe will return to the Panthers lineup tonight. Yesterday's loss to the Predators was a difficult one to stomach for the Kings. Now the Kings begin a six-game road trip that will basically decide their playoff chances. Is the Wild soft? Kurtis Foster is disappointed that he's not in the Wild lineup but he's not mad. Bob Gainey went back to basics yesterday at Habs practice. Martin Brodeur is driven to get the all-time wins record tonight versus Chicago. Here is an interesting question and answer with Brodeur. Greg Logan presents the Mark Streit for the Norris Trophy argument. John Tortorella and Chris Drury are getting to know each other. Nik Antropov has added a nice size element to the Rangers. It is Habs versus Rangers tonight. Cory Clouston is starting to get more comfortable as an NHL head coach. Coach Clouston's system is resulting in better numbers for a lot of Senators players. Randy Jones is expected to be out of the Flyers lineup for ten days. The Flyers can measure themselves against the Wings tonight. Brian McGrattan is ready to return to the Coyotes. Ray Shero has done a great job finding Sidney Crosby two worthty linemates. The Penguins can certainly not take Atlanta for granted tonight. Evgeni Malkin appears to have the flu. The Sharks are certainly not out of gas, says coach Todd McLellan. The Blues are so young that David Backes and Jay McClement are the team veterans. Apparently Lightning forward Evgeny Artyukhin doesn't get under opponent's skin on purpose. Mikhail Grabovski and Jason Blake went at it at practice again on Monday. In injury news, Tomas Kaberle hopes to return to the Leafs lineup on Saturday. Ron Wilson missed practice yesterday to tend to some family issues. Roberto Luongo got a little hot under the collar at some questions he received from the media on Monday. "Kari Lehtonen was great all game, but we were still really, really bad in the first two periods," said Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau after last night's loss to Atlanta. Join the IllegalCurve.com Facebook group or start following IllegalCurve.com on Twitter by clicking on the Facebook/Twitter icons on the right hand side of the Illegal Curve home page.

NHL Morning Papers (Tuesday Edition): Jason Blake and Mikhail Grabovski scuffle again at practice, Scott Howson has turned around the Jackets and Cory Clouston’s hiring has improved the stats of many Senators