Wednesday Morning NHL Papers (Eastern Conference): Martin Brodeur not reading too much into tonight’s game against Roberto Luongo, talk of expansion and is John Stevens safe in Philadelphia?

Remember that tonight is the IllegalCurve.com Radio Show.  Tonight’s guests are: Mike Harrington (Buffalo  News), Jeremy Rutherford (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) and David Pollak (San Jose Mercury News).  The show starts at 7pm Central time.  Hope you tune in!

Atlantic Division

• “This is an interesting story, the goaltending, because it’s up for grabs,” said Martin Brodeur about his battle for the number one goaltending spot for Team Canada.  Everyone is excited for Brodeur to face-off against Roberto Luongo tonight but he doesn’t think the winner will decide who is the starter in February.
• John Tavares is starting to make a name for himself in New York, writes Arthur Staple.  Doug Weight thinks the Isles have a shot at making the playoffs.
• Everyone knows the Rangers have no consistent scoring threat after Marian Gaborik, but what has been with the play of Henrik Lundqvist?
• “He’s a man of integrity. I think the coaches are doing the best they can. They have to get better now, too, just like the players. I do, too. We all have to do our jobs better just to get out of this,” said Flyers GM Paul Holmgren about coach John Stevens and his coaching staff.  Meanwhile, Tony Amonte looks back at his time Philadelphia fondly.
• Did you know Pascal Dupuis is the second leading scoring winger on the Penguins?  Here is a good article by Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review assessing Ray Shero’s biggest cap responsibilities as Penguins GM.  Sidney Crosby is on pace to score 49 goals this season.

Northeast Division

• Kevin Paul Dupont has the annual salary breakdown of Marc Savard’s new seven-year contract extension.  Claude Julien is obviously excited by yesterday’s news.
• Ryan Miller has been tremendous this season and has been playing a lot, but most of the top netminders play that much, explains Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News.
• With the ownership transfer finally complete, the Molson brothers may want to sell the Habs after last night’s performance.  Montreal actually started well but couldn’t sustain their solid play for very long.  Here is more on the sale of the franchise.
• Brian Elliot wasn’t sharp last night and it cost the Senators in the team’s first game against ex-teammate Dany Heatley.  “I would gladly exchange those two goals for two points,” said Milan Michalek after a terrific two-goal performance fell short for Ottawa.  Chris Campoli was a healthy scratch last night.
• Damien Cox talks about the worry surrounding Jonas Gustavsson’s heart condition.  On the ice, the Leafs took it to the Habs with a fairly easy 3-0 road win.  Larry Tannenbaum has complete confidence in Brian Burke.

Southeast Division

• Joe Corvo will be out of the lineup for a while but he actually got quite lucky when he was cut by Karl Alzner’s skate, explains Javier Serna.
• In Florida, Keith Ballard will not be suspended for hitting teammate Tomas Vokoun in the face accidentally with his stick.  The guilt that Ballard has to live with should be punishment enough, opines Harvey Fialkov.  Vokoun won’t play tonight, as Scott Clemmensen is slated to start against Colorado.
• It has been a similar problem all season, the Lightning cannot get anything close to even goal-scoring distribution.  At least the team’s power play is improving.
• Alexander Ovechkin avoided serious injury but didn’t avoid suspension.  Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post wonders if Ovechkin pushes the limits too often.

Expansion

• Is Gary Bettman looking to expand rather than have current teams move?

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