veteran leaders

What team beat writers are saying this afternoon: Luke Decock of the News & Observer thinks Tuomo Ruutu will play on Thursday but Erik Cole will not. His offensive numbers haven't been strong this playoffs, but Cole's loss is still very significant. Tim Sassone says the Hawks may very well learn more from losing their current series against Detroit than they did beating either Calgary or Vancouver. If the Hawks have a chance in this series, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook will have to play ten times better than they did on Sunday. People who see Pavel Datsyuk as only a goal-scorer are missing the big picture. Agreed. This guy is about as good an all-around player as there is in the game today. Maybe Miroslav Satan's playoff performance shouldn't be surprising people as much as it is. Interesting piece. Teams that are not in the playoffs: In Anaheim, Chris Pronger knows it is possible he could be moved this summer. It will be decision time for Bob Murray this summer. On one hand, he could choose to ride out Pronger's remaining year and go for a Cup run. On the other hand, he could trade Pronger while he still has a year left on his deal before possibly losing him for nothing. Should be an interesting summer in SoCal. It seems like Manny Fernandez is seriously considering retirement. If you've been reading his comments all season long, retirement kind of seems likely at this point. In other Boston news, Claude Julien has won Sporting News Coach of the Year. They may have lost out in the second round, but few predicted so much success for Boston this season and that's a testament to the job Julien did. Erik Erlendsson gained a lot of respect for Mark Recchi this season. He's a veteran leader for sure.

On the Beat: Carolina injuries, Manny Fernandez may retire and Chris Pronger’s future