Jim Vandermeer

Here are the morning papers for Wednesday the 14th of January: With so many injuries, the Ducks will be icing a fairly young roster against the Red Wings tonight. Rich Peverley will make his Thrashers debut tonight against the Senators. Also rookie defenseman Zach Bogosian will return to the lineup. Zdeno Chara set the tone for the Bruins victory over the Habs on Tuesday. Last night's match was a pretty impressive regular season affair. Meanwhile, Patrice Bergeron is very happy that he's at least able to skate right now. Could the Bruins deal for Vincent Lecavalier? Former Sabre Brian Campbell loves playing in Chicago. Lindy Ruff flipped out on his forwards at practice yesterday. It was a rough and tough game in Calgary last night, as the Flames defeated the Blues 3-1. Jim Vandermeer lined up at forward for Calgary. Brandon Prust can still hardly eat any food that isn't really soft. George Johnson of the Calgary Herald wonders what's wrong with Dion Phaneuf? Last night, the Hurricanes found out that the Senators have not yet packed it in this season. Dave Bolland has added a nice scoring touch to the Blackhawks' third line. Avalanche coach Tony Granato wasn't fixated on his team's loss to Columbus on Tuesday night, and is just looking forward to the team's next game. David Jones suffered a back injury yesterday. It was pretty much of a reversal of what's happened the entire season, as the Blue Jackets bailed out Steve Mason at home on Tuesday versus Colorado. R.J. Umberger was very impressive against the Avs. After so many years of struggling, the Blue Jackets seem to have finally turned the corner, writes Bob Hunter. The Stars don't want to follow their big win over Detroit with a loss, writes Mike Heika. Pavel Datsyuk is so good that even his teammates can't believe some of his moves. I think it is fair to say Datsyuk is a candidate for MVP. Dwayne Roloson was great and Erik Cole had a hat trick as the Oilers upset Washington on Tuesday. You know things are going well when Steve MacIntyre gets on the board. The Capitals are a big deal again in Washington. Meantime, the Oilers are retiring Glenn Anderson's number on Sunday. Ville Peltonen will be out of the Panthers lineup for at least two weeks with a broken foot. The Wild had a rare high-scoring game against Phoenix yesterday, throwing six goals on the board in the victory. Derek Boogaard hasn't scored a goal in a whopping 147 games. Andrei Kostitsyn's penalty was the turning point in last night's Habs/Bruins contest. It has become obvious to Pat Hickey that the Bruins have bought into Claude Julien's system. Dave Waddell says Georges Laraque is the heavyweight champ of the NHL. The Tampa perspective on the Lecavalier rumors. Steve Sullivan is not only back for the Predators, but he made the key play on the team's winning goal last night in Toronto. In even better news, Sullivan wasn't at all phased after getting hit by Luke Schenn. Rick DiPietro's season could be over on the Island. Mark Herrmann, for one, thinks the Islanders should shut him down. Let's just say Larry Brooks wasn't overly impressed with the Rangers' performance against the Islanders. Henrik Lundqvist was great for NYR yesterday. The Senators got a solid performance from Brian Elliot in net and the team's goal-scorers finally broke out with a few goals, as the Sens defeated Carolina 5-1. The Ottawa Sun beat writers provide their takes on a few Senators related questions. The Flyers didn't look very sharp against the Penguins, writes Ed Moran. Philadelphia just turned over the puck too much. Daniel Briere is going to play in the AHL to ensure that his groin is okay or to give the Flyers cap relief for the time being. "It's been a long time since we played such a solid game," said Penguins coach Michel Therrien. The newly formed Crosby-Malkin-Cooke line worked out quite well. It is Malkin versus Ovechkin tonight. The Sharks crushed the Lightning in the Bay Area on Tuesday in one of the bigger mismatches of the season. Vincent Lecavalier knows he will be in for a few questions when he shows up for the All-Star game in Montreal. If Tampa trades Lecavalier, the organization will lose credibility, writes Gary Shelton. The game always seems secondary in reporting Lightning news, but the Bolts fans should be happy that is the case, after last night's performance at San Jose. The Leafs didn't have much life to their game against Nashville last night. More injuries for the Leafs. Ryan Kesler says the Canucks didn't deserve to win on Tuesday night against New Jersey. Tuesday's loss was the team's fifth in a row at home. Jason LaBarbera was pretty down after his performance against the Devils. "When it gets to the point that everyone wants to be the scorer but no one wants to be the mucker, you're not going to do anything," said Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau after last night's home loss to the Oilers. The Capitals outplayed Edmonton to start the game but couldn't score and that came back to bite them.

NHL Morning Papers (Wednesday Edition): Lecavalier rumors continue, Ovechkin versus Malkin tonight and Canucks continue poor play

NHL Morning Papers (Saturday Edition): Saku Koivu and Paul Kariya not close to returning, the Blue Jackets are talking trade and the weather leading into the Winter Classic may be “too nice”

Some more free agent signings

NHL Morning Papers–Western Conference (Friday Edition)