It's been quite the year for St. Louis Blues goaltender Brian Elliott.

First, during a 2010-11 season that saw him split time between the Ottawa Senators and Colorado Avalanche, he won just three of 25 starts after Jan. 1. Then he inked a 1-year, two-way deal worth $600,00 to fight for the backup job behind Jaroslav Halak in St. Louis.

Today, after usurping Halak for the No. 1 gig during a hot stretch in the early part of this season, Elliott inked a new deal with the Blues for two years.

From the Blues:

St. Louis Blues Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Armstrong announced Wednesday the club signed All-Star goaltender Brian Elliott to a two-year contract.

"Brian came in here and helped stabilize our goaltending and make it one of the top tandems in the NHL," said Blues Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Armstrong. "Having Brian and Jaro signed through the 13-14 season our goaltending is set. Along with Ben Bishop and Jake Allen in Peoria, our depth at goaltender has never been stronger."

According to ESPN's Pierre LeBrun, the 26-year old Elliott will make $1.7M next season and $1.9M in 2013-14, making for a $1.8M cap hit. The 2-year deal for Elliott also means that both he and Halak will be unrestricted free agents after the 2013-14 season.

The "contract year player" is one that is very common in sports, and while Elliott could be grouped into that category he did post a 29-18-4, 2.57, .902, five-shutout season after signing a 2-year deal with Ottawa after 2008-09. The rails didn't come off until 2010-11 for him.

A week from Thursday, Elliott will return to Ottawa as an NHL All-Star where he's currently second in goals-against average (1.68), third in save-percentage (.937) and won 15 of his 21 starts. As far as first-half stories in the NHL go, Elliott's revival is near the top.

Given his past success maybe, just maybe, Elliott is this good; and with a netminding tandem rounded out with Halak, the Blues have solidified their crease for at least the next two years.

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

Here are your Puck Previews: Spotlighting the key games in NHL action, news and views as well as general frivolity. Make sure to stop back here for the nightly Three Stars when the games are finished

Preview: Washington Capitals at Montreal Canadiens, 7:30 p.m. ET. He might be on a new team, but the Capitals haven't forgotten about the elbow Rene Bourque laid to the head of Nicklas Backstrom earlier this month. A week and a half later, Bourque was dealt away from the Flames and here we are. There's currently no timetable on Backstrom's return. Aside from retribution on Bourque, the Canadiens have other worries, like turning around their season and making a playoff push as the second half begins. Going 4-9-1 in their last 14 games, Montreal hosts a Capitals team that were blanked by the New York Islanders Tuesday night after winning seven of their previous nine games.

Preview: Buffalo Sabres at Chicago Blackhawks, 7:30 p.m. ET. The Sabres have lost 11 of their last 14 and face a Blackhawks squad that have won three of four and sit a point behind the Detroit Red Wings for the Central Division and Western Conference leads. As Ryan Miller stated on Monday night, no trade will make a difference this season for the Sabres, and that includes removing himself from the situation as rumors repeatedly persist.

Preview: Florida Panthers at Colorado Avalanche, 9:30 p.m. ET. Having not won a road game in their last six tries, the Panthers visit the Avs trying to maintain their Southeast Division lead. Colorado returns home after a three-game road trip looking to increase their output after scoring just six times in their last six games. Shane O'Brien makes his return to the Avs as Brandon Yip heads to waivers.

Preview: Phoenix Coyotes at Anaheim Ducks, 10 p.m. ET. Going 6-3-1 in their last 10, the Ducks have shown some progress after GM Bob Murray revealed everyone but Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu was on the block. The recent success, however, hasn't paid dividends in the Western Conference standings for the Ducks. Currently 14 points out of the eighth spot, Anaheim hosts a Coyotes team who are losers of five of six away from home.

Evening Reading

• Good news: Remember the idiot who beat up a New York Rangers fan after the Winter Classic? His bail today was quadrupled from $100,000 to $400,000. [Reuters]

• This weekend is the KHL All-Star Game and today they announced their list of events in the Skills Competition, including the mysterious "Captains' Duel" which won't be revealed until right before things get underway. The captains this year are Sergei Fedorov and Sandis Ozolinsh. [KHL]

• The president of the University of Alabama-Huntsville revealed the financial plan to help keep the hockey program alive at the school. "Under the new plan, UAH will provide $650,000 to the projected $1.5 million annual budget cited by the school to have a competitive NCAA Division I hockey program. That leaves $850,000 - or 57 percent - to come from other sources." [AL.com]

• Great read about Calgary Flames goaltending coach Clint Malarchuk helping a 15-year old player get through a hockey accident that saw a skate cut him in his throat. [Calgary Sun]

• Cam Cole on Darryl Sutter's switch from the farm back to coaching in the NHL. [Vancouver Sun]

Puck Buddy comment of the Day: "Mr. F" on next year's Winter Classic between Toronto and Detroit:

"is cameron frye going to be invited to the alumni game?"

Seriously. Burning question right there.

Bold prediction: Rene Bourque gets into a "fight" with a Capital and the end result doesn't match the hype.

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

Tampa Bay Lightning mascot Thunderbug is a pest, both in entomology and in actions. He's been known to terrorize spring breakers. Before games against the Flyers, he'd "punch out" a guy dressed like Rocky before the opening faceoff.

On Tuesday night, Thunderbug either engaged in a hilarious comedy bit or an unintentionally hilarious assault involving a Boston Bruins fan. The fan got lippy; the mascot responded with a spray of Silly String; then the Bruins guy went the full Lucic in response.

Well, that escalated quickly.

Seeing the panicked, hasty response from the arena personnel, we're going to go ahead and guess "not a comedy bit." (But given the nature of the incident, we still have some doubts.) We eagerly await the NHL Department of Player Safety's ruling on this clear hit from behind ...

That established, what's most embarrassing: Getting a Silly String shower from a mascot; having that mascot taunt you as you're ejected from your seat; or watching your team lose to an opponent 21 points their lesser?

[ Y! TV: Celebrity chefs' feud heats up over diabetes ]

The silly stringing of opposing fans is a time-honored NHL tradition. For example: Witness Harvey the Hound in Calgary cover a Lightning fan with the stuff.

Still, a pretty ballsy move by Thunderbug. Next time the Bruins are Tampa, they need to bring some mascot muscle of their own. Because it's been well established that Tampa fans fear the Bruins Bear.

s/t Mike Corcoran.

Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports:
• Pat Forde: Too many college basketball coaches are behaving badly
• Video: Who is the best QB in the NFL to start a team?
• Piers Morgan's Twitter war vs. an English Premier League club

No. 1 Star: Michal Neuvirth, Washington Capitals

Making his first start in 11 games, Neuvirth recorded his second shutout of the season and sixth of his career with a 31-save night in a 3-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Holding the lead and shutout in place, Neuvirth made 17 of his 31 saves in the third period. The Capitals got goals from Mathieu Perreault, Marcus Johansson and Alex Ovechkin for their 10th win in their last 14 games in Montreal.

No. 2 Star: Peter Mueller, Colorado Avalanche

After missing all of last season with a concussion and playing just three games in October before once again being out of the lineup, Mueller returned to the Avs last week and in his fourth game back scored a pair of goals and added an assist as Colorado edged the Florida Panthers 4-3 in overtime. Ryan O'Reilly was the hero netting his 13th of the season in the extra frame:

No. 3 Star: Francois Beauchemin, Anaheim Ducks

Beauchemin recorded his first 3-point game since Oct. 6, 2007 and first 2-goal (regular season) game since Mar. 14, 2007 during a 6-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes. Jason Blake scored a goal and added an assist to give him six points in his last three games. Jonas Hiller stopped 25 saves for his fifth win in six starts.

Honorable Mention: Dave Bolland, Jimmy Hayes and Andrew Shaw each scored a goal and added an assist, while captain Jonathan Toews chipped in a pair as the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Buffalo Sabres 6-2 to improve to 4-0-1 i their last five. Toews now has goals in three straight games along with a five-game point streak. Rookie Shaw scored for the fourth straight game and has started his NHL career with five tallies in his first eight games ... Thanks to Luca Sbisa, the Coyotes were denied a great scoring opportunity against the Ducks:

Stephen Weiss scored a goal in the loss for the Panthers in his 600th NHL game ... It didn't take long for Rene Bourque to have to answer for his elbow earlier this month on Nicklas Backstrom:

Did you know? In Mueller's last six games that he's been on the scoresheet, dating back to the 2009-10 season, he's done so with multiple points.

Dishonorable Mention: Jhonas Enroth was in net for all six Chicago goals and dropped his seventh straight start ... Buffalo has now lost 12 of their last 15 and 10 straight games on the road ... As a team, the Sabres won just 19 of 50 faceoffs ... Montreal dropped to 4-10-1 in their last 15 games ... Florida has now lost seven in a row away from BankAtlantic Center.

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

The Montreal Canadiens were shut out by the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night, which means center Scott Gomez had now played 16 games this season without scoring a goal; meanwhile, there are 613 skaters that have at least one goal in the NHL during 2011-12. Overall, he hasn't hit the back of the net since Feb. 5, 2011.

All of this is leaving some Habs fans quite thirsty.

Le Skratch is a pool hall and sports bar chain in Quebec and Ontario. Their locations in Brossard and Laval began a promotion this NHL season that's gotten some notice in the French-language blogosphere: Offering free booze to patrons if Scott Gomez scores as goal.

"So far, no luck," said the bar employee who answered our query on the contest.

The poster (via 25Stanley.com) reads:

"Support Our $8 million man, No. 11 Scott Gomez."
"00 Goals Scored This Season"
"1 Free Shot When Scott Scores!"
"000 Free Shots Given At Present Date This Year!"
"Go Scott Go!"

Le ouch. No word what the bar intends to serve when he finally hits pay dirt. Hopefully something with bitters.

s/t to Ana for bringing the poster to our attention; special thanks to Ashley in Saskatchewan for the translation.

Like the All-Star skills competition, the NHL Winter Classic Alumni Game is starting to create more buzz and memories than the main event. In 2010, Mario Lemieux's return to the ice basically created the alumni game in Pittsburgh. This season, the Eric Lindros and Bernie Parent Show packed 45,000 fans into Citizens Bank Park.

Which is to say that the event is a success, both in popularity and financially. Hence, the men that make the event possible, the NHL alumni, are wondering if they actually get enough of a benefit out of this.

Dave Feschuk and Rick Westhead of the Toronto Star have a story on Thursday that, frankly, makes one reconsider the alumni game experience. Because players ain't getting' paid, yo:

Multiple alumni sources said they weren't paid for their services. Another source with knowledge of alumni affairs said he'd heard they were paid a nominal fee of $200. Perhaps there is more to the story.

While airfare and accommodations were also covered, some players actually spent money to play in the alumni game. Airline baggage fees meant lugging hockey equipment to Philadelphia cost about $50 to $100. Those who didn't want to travel with hockey sticks could purchase one in the dressing room for $50.

This all speaks to a question that'll no doubt come up in the next CBA war this fall: The revenue generated by the Winter Classic, and the players' share of it.

In terms of the alumni game, NHL COO John Collins inferred to the Star that this is a new event with some growing pains, saying that it's the home team — the Philadelphia Flyers — that organizes the alumni game.

Steve Larmer, the former New York Rangers forward and a longtime NHLPA heavy, wants to see some sort of fund for struggling ex-players created or fueled by Winter Classic alumni game revenue: "I think everyone involved would love to know that they are doing something that doesn't just help the NHL team owner, but also does some good."

What does the financial pie look like for the Winter Classic? From Michael Rosenberg of the Detroit Free Press, writing about the 2013 game:

Even though this would be a Wings home game on the schedule, it really is a league event. The league essentially buys a home game from the host team. The NHL writes a check for the revenue from one home game (and rounds up, of course), then controls the event.

As far as revenue generated, The Atlantic reported that it can be upwards of $36 million to the host city:

That's how much Boston reaped in 2010, when 38,112 people braved the elements to watch the Bruins beat the Flyers in overtime at Fenway Park.

Last year's game, held at Heinz Park in Pittsburgh, wasn't quite that lucrative. Revenues there were about $22 million, even 68,111 fans attended, says Craig Davis, vice president of sales and marketing for Visit Pittsburgh, the city's tourism agency.

The lower tally was due to the fact that about half the spectators were from the Pittsburgh area and spent only $34 a day on game-related expenses, or about $6.1 million.

Again, that's for the host city; which means above and beyond tickets and merchandise. So we're just talking a massive amount of coin generated by the event.

Next year, the Winter Classic is going to shatter records. The alumni game between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs will be an essential part of that celebration. Based on the Star story, it's a fairly easy fix for the NHL: Take ownership of the alumni event, seeing how dramatically its grown, and ensure that either the players themselves are better compensated or that the money goes into a fund to help ex-players.

But what about the current players in the Winter Classic?

The Winter Classic revenue is shared between the players and the NHL through their collectively bargained percentages. The bigger the Classic, the more the rest of the NHL's players benefit.

But again: What about the current players in the Winter Classic?

Their participation in unpredictable, uncontrollable elements is the reason we have a game. They hype it. They market it. They appear on candid reality shows on pay cable for it. Yes, the NHLPA as a whole benefits; but should the players who compete in the game directly benefit in a greater way, considering how much revenue is being generated off their efforts to sell and compete in an special attraction?

We're not sure what the answer is. But it wouldn't surprise us at all to hear Donald Fehr ask the question this year.

In case you were wondering about the severity of the psychological scarring suffered by some Vancouver Canucks fans after losing the Stanley Cup to the Boston Bruins: It apparently runs "I'll make a 10-minute propaganda piece with clips from 'The Daily Show' to demonize the Bruins" deep.

That said: This is wickedly entertaining, intercutting between the Bruins' words and deeds in a way that paints them as walking contradictions.

Punctuating the whole video essay: Clips from "The Daily Show" (and one hilarious "King of the Hill" cameo) that were so meticulously chosen and brilliantly deployed that a few YouTube commenters actually believed Jon Stewart had taken a position on the Canucks vs. Bruins feud.

(We will note the irony in using Stewart's epic takedown of FOX News to make a point in a one-sided trashing against the opposition.)

It's the greatest hits of the rivalry, like finger biting and Brad Marchand's "hip check", with other Bruins' foibles tossed in: Paging Dr. Recchi and the Lucic vs. Miller hit.

From the nimble editing fingers of "MAKAVELI719696", here's the Daily Show/Anti-Bruins mashup that would be a cause for prosecution if SOPA passes:

By far the greatest comment on this video:

"Jon_ Stewart is a pompous ass. do you know how much charity work the bruins do? this is why i hate the media."

s/t to reader Dylan Nicholson.

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- When Willie O'Ree stepped on to the ice for the Boston Bruins at the Montreal Forum the night of Jan. 18, 1958, it didn't even hit him that he was doing something historic. Despite it being his first game in the NHL, nerves weren't much of a factor, either.

Playing at the Forum wasn't a new experience for O'Ree. Years in junior hockey and a couple of training camps with the Boston Bruins had seen him play at the fabled Montreal arena countless times.

But the next day, the 23-year old O'Ree realized his first NHL game had become much more than an individual accomplishment.

That night, Willie O'Ree became the first person of color to play in the NHL.

Like baseball's Jackie Robinson 11 years prior, O'Ree faced taunts and racial slurs from opponents and rival fans. And like Robinson, he failed to react to the negativity that came his way in certain cities and focused on hockey.

"All I wanted to do was go out and play hockey and try to represent the hockey club to the best of my ability," said O'Ree Wednesday morning on the 54th anniversary of his breaking the NHL's color barrier. "I knew I was a black player playing in the league. I knew I was going to get racial slurs from not only players on the opposition, but fans in the stands, but I didn't let it bother me."

Growing up in Fredericton, New Brunswick, the youngest of 13 children, O'Ree looked up not only to NHL legends Gordie Howe and Maurice Richard, but also to his brother Richard, who served as a mentor growing up and told him if he wanted to become a professional hockey player, specifically one of color, there would be certain obstacles to overcome.

Race wasn't the only obstacle that O'Ree had to get around.

When he was 19, O'Ree took a puck to his right eye, shattering the retina and causing permanent blindness. A surgeon told him he would never play hockey again. A short time later he began skating and eventually returned to playing, making his way to the Quebec Aces of the Quebec Hockey League, who's coach and general manager at one time was Hockey Hall of Famer Punch Imlach.

Not once during his 21-year career did O'Ree receive an eye exam. After time to adjust to only having vision in his left eye -- especially playing as a left wing -- he continued to be a productive player when his career settled in the Western Hockey League with the Los Angeles Blades and San Diego Gulls. Eventually, due to coach Alfie Pike's need for a right wing, O'Ree made the switch to right wing and won the WHL's scoring title with 38 goals in the 1964-65 season and being named to four All-Star teams.

For the last 14 years, O'Ree has served as the NHL's Director of Youth Development and ambassador for NHL Diversity helping grow the game by introducing hockey young boys and girls all across North America. When NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman first hired him, there were only a handful of programs in the U.S. and Canada. Today there are over 30 and growing annually.

In his time spreading the world that "Hockey is for Everyone", O'Ree has exposed the game to tens of thousands of young children.

"We won't turn any girl or boy away."

At 76, O'Ree still travels around North America running clinics for kids and speaking as schools. Later this month he'll be appearing in Atlantic City, New Jersey and Ottawa for the respective AHL and NHL All-Star Weekends.

Later this year he'll host the fourth annual Willie O'Ree Skills Weekend in Buffalo, which features 50 kids from each of the programs around North America for a weekend of hockey and off-ice life skills training.

O'Ree's message envelopes the story of his hockey career:

"You have to believe in yourself and you have to like yourself to be able to reach your goals," he said. "My expression is 'If you think you can, you can. If you think you can't, you're right' and there's a lot of truth in that. If you set goals for yourself and work towards your goals and make things happen, everything seems to work out."

In April of 2010, O'Ree was awarded with the Order of Canada, which honors a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation.

O'Ree doesn't consider what his does as a job. He gets to continue to be a part of the game and now passes along his love for it to young boys and girls across North America.

"Besides playing pro hockey and playing in the NHL, which is the greatest thing I ever did, working with these kids today and being able to just help them set goals for themselves and work with them towards their goals is a great thing," he said.

"I think sometimes it's better than me breaking the color barrier."

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

Taylor Hall is doubtful for Thursday night's Edmonton Oilers game against the St. Louis Blues because AAAAAAARRRRRGH OMG!

That horror show is a result of Hall getting sliced on the head by the skate of teammate Corey Potter on Tuesday night in Columbus, during a mishap in warm-ups. TSN reported that Hall required 30 stitches from an on-site plastic surgeon.

Hall wasn't made available to the media on Wednesday, so the Edmonton Journal used the old James Reimer-end-around: Calling Hall's mother for an update. And she says Hall has had a safety epiphany.

From Joanne Ireland, it seems Hall will be wearing his helmet in warm-ups, going forward:

"We've had that discussion. Yes, he will be wearing his helmet," said Hall's mother, Kim Strba, from the family home in Kingston, Ont.

… Strba said she talked to her son on Wednesday morning and not only were his spirits good, all things considered, he didn't have any concussion-like symptoms from the blow. What he did say was that when the freezing wore off, he was in considerable pain.

"I think he was thanking his lucky stars. He knows it could have been much worse," Strba said. "I've seen the video a couple of times on TV. It wasn't easy to watch."

So that report on Hall being done for the year sounds a wee bit erroneous.

As for the image above, via the Oilers, ... hey, go figure: Something happened with a Potter and Taylor Hall ends up with the scar on his forehead.

OK, that sucked. We concede the punchline to Colby Cosh: "I like to think Hall's grotesque injury will just bring out his dark side, Harvey Dent-fashion."

It's a Thursday edition of Marek vs. Wyshynski beginning at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT, and we're talking about the following and more:

Special Guest Stars: Tracey Myers of CSN Chicago tells us all about the Chicago Blackhawks and the Western Conference.

• In which Marek and Wysh discuss the disaster in Buffalo.

• Breaking down Montreal's GM options.

• Taylor Hall's horrific face.

• Paying alumni for the Winter Classic.

• Puck Headlines and Talking Points

Question of the Day: "How would you fix the Buffalo Sabres?"

Email your answers to puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or tweet them with the hashtag #MvsW to either @jeffmarek or @wyshynski.

Click here for the Sportsnet live stream or click the play button above! Click here to download podcasts from the show each day Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or Feedburner.

We've heard a lot about concussions over the past year, but it's not often that you hear from the wives of the players suffering from them. That's what makes this video, in which Chris Pronger's wife Lauren opens up about her husband's slow recovery, so compelling.

Heartbreaking, too. While the Philadelphia Flyers no doubt miss a healthy Chris Pronger, it would appear the Pronger family does as well. From CSN Philly:

As someone who's never suffered a concussion, I can't say what would be tougher: being alone during such a difficult period, or being surrounded by friends and family that don't quite understand and can't help but feel anxious. It seems as though, with the headaches and the sensitivity to noise and light, being alone would be preferable at times.

But, as the video indicates, it's not always an option when you have a family.

This quote from Mrs. Pronger really stood out to me:

"[The kids] are confused all the time. 'Dad, when can we go to a game, Dad when are you gonna play,' and he looks at them, he's like, 'Please don't ask that question because God knows I want to get out there and I want to play too.' So it's been an adjustment for all of us. He's around a lot more, I'm not used to that, but I do as much as I can to support him and I want to see him better.

I can't help but key in on that final point, about what the family is used to. As the son of a retired pilot, I can safely say that, when someone goes from coming home intermittently to being at home permanently, the adjustment is hard for everyone. Add a concussion to the mix and it has to be even moreso.

As for Pronger's recovery timeline, depressingly, there's still no indication of progress. "We're hoping for a better day tomorrow, and at least a couple good days in a row would be nice," Lauren says.

We can only join the Pronger family in wishing Chris a speedy recovery.

Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.

• From our resident digital mischief-maker John Schultz.

• Apparently it's Andrew Shaw's world and we're all just living in it. In praise of the Chuck Norris/Gary Roberts-esque "Shaw Facts" that took over social media for the Chicago Blackhawks rookie. [Sun Times and Chicago Now]

• Good piece on the "homecoming" for the Florida Panthers players as they head to Chicago this week. Kris Versteeg: "It's something I've been looking forward to. I want to see the banner, one a lot of us didn't get to see get raised. I still haven't seen it. Hopefully we have a big game as well. There's no bitterness. It was business. I'm happy where I'm at." [On Frozen Pond]

• Dennis Veteri, the Winter Classic brawl suspect, posts bail. [AP]

• Who will Zdeno Chara draft first in the NHL All-Star Game fantasy draft? "The Bruins' Chara and Ottawa's Alfredsson were both selected as captains for the 2012 Tim Hortons NHL All-Star Game, which will be played Jan. 29 at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa. Alfredsson has already said he'd pick Senators' teammate Erik Karlsson at the first opportunity. That means Chara will have the chance to select either Bruins goalie Tim Thomas or right wing Tyler Seguin with his first pick." [NHL.com]

• Steve Staios. Healthy scratch. No revenge for you, Flyers. [CSN Philly]

• Kris Letang is finally back for the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight. [Pens]

• Why were Nicklas Lidstrom and Teemu Selanne not penalized for "skipping" the All-Star Game? The NHL's Rob Blake explains: "There's only a few (players) each year that have earned that right and those two guys have definitely represented the league a number of times and been outstanding players," said Blake. "A lot goes into how they're feeling for their run down the stretch. You obviously want them to be ready for their team especially—a guy like Nick Lidstrom is continuously in conference finals and Stanley Cup finals, the amount of games he plays. ... Those two guys have earned more respect from their years of service in the league." [CP, via Malik]

• Adam Proteau makes the case for combining the Winter Classic and the All-Star Game, and eventually gets to the reason why it's a bad idea for the NHL: "The NHL is fortunate to have stumbled upon another corporate cash cow like the Winter Classic, but it's unlikely to discard the All-Star Game's positive effect on hockey-related revenue simply because the WC has added to the league's bottom line." [THN]

• The future of the ECHL Wheeling Nailers is uncertain as the team is for sale. Man, hoping for the best there. Great little hockey town. [Tribune Democrat]

• The latest USA Today power rankings and awards watch; Jonathan Toews and Evgeni Malkin in a dead heat for the Hart. [USA Today]

• Oh noes! Goaltending controversy for the Boston Bruins? "Tim Thomas allowed four goals to Tampa Bay on Tuesday night, and putting Thomas in net tonight pretty much violates Boston's recent string of "I got next" goaltender selection. But that's not really an issue. What is an issue is that, with the Bruins heading home to face the Eastern Conference-leading New York Rangers on Saturday, Tuukka Rask suddenly looks like the go-to goalie." [Stanley Cup of Chowder]

• The Los Angeles Kings have found their offensive aggression under Darryl Sutter. [LA Kings Insider]

• Here's the creeptastic Taylor Hall discussing his head injury.

• The Monster is in for James Reimer tonight against the Wild. [QMI]

• Gary Bettman gets the Q&A treatment in Anaheim, saying this about the last lockout: "I'm not sure it's about learning lessons, because the lesson that everybody knows — and it's not one you have to learn — is that you want to not have work stoppages. They're not fun. They're counter productive. But if, if you're in a situation as we were where there were fundamental problems that had to be addressed, you have to address the problems. Because you can't live with a dysfunctional system. And so, it's not that we learned anything, it's that we did what we had to do at the time and obviously, if you look back over the last six and a half seasons, the league is in a stronger position when we started collective bargaining on that agreement." [View From My Seats]

• The Ottawa Senators are winning, so Bryan Murray wants to go shopping. [Silver Seven]

• Quote of the year candidate from Blake Wheeler of the Winnipeg Jets, when asked what taking a slap shot to the throat felt like: "It felt like I got a slap shot in the throat." [Globe & Mail]

• Brandon Yip is claimed on waivers by the Nashville Predators, who do an interesting little thing with their press release: Adding "instant analysis" to it. "The Brandon Yip acquisition is a low-risk, high-reward move for the Preds …" [Predators]

• Finally, we weren't sure about that Tampa mascot vs. Bruins fan thing being legit or a bit; this "streaker" is a bit. And, frankly, something we want to watch after consuming hallucinogens.

Boston Bruins honey badger Brad Marchand will be sprung from his cage against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night, as his five-game suspension for clipping Vancouver Canucks defenseman Sami Salo ends.

What did he learn from his time in exile? Repentance? Pacifism? Nay … irritation.

Please recall the clip by Nick Foligno of the Ottawa Senators on Dion Phaneuf of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday, which resulted in a 2-minute minor and an eventual Phaneuf'ing with fists. Marchand saw it, too, and told Joe Haggerty of CSN Boston that it was eerily similar to his clip — save for the fact that Foligno wasn't suspended for it.

From Marchand:

"I saw it. It looked very similar to mine. We were on the same position on the ice. [Foligno] got him in the same area at the same time, and the puck was roughly in the same area," said Marchand. "The only difference was that Phaneuf got up and he didn't get injured. I'd be very surprised if the league doesn't look at that very closely."

Haggs doesn't expect a hearing, and if that's the case he wonders if Marchand's "truly getting hosed by the league's sheriff department." Nose Face Killah is wondering the same:

"They seem to have set a precedent that hits like that are going to be taken care of. They're going to make sure guys are going to get punished for them.

"It might be a little unfair if they give me five games [for a clip] and a guy does it a couple of days later and gets nothing."

Here's the Marchand hit:

And here's the Foligno hit:

We still think Marchand got lower and, as Haggerty noted, as a little less to worry about with Sami Salo heading his way rather than Dion Phaneuf. There's no question the injury — and Marchand's previous run-ins with the NHL — was the basis for the suspension, however.

The Seven is an arbitrary list of randomly connected hockey subjects that will run every Thursday on Puck Daddy. Agree to disagree.

Last year's NHL All-Star Game jerseys will be this year's NHL All-Star Game jerseys, as Zdeno Chara revealed on Thursday.

Did you dig the 2011 models? Those numbers over the logos were — and still are — terrible, but overall the colors and look weren't that bad.

Or at least that bad in context.

Here are The 7 Ugliest NHL All-Star Game Jerseys.

Philadelphia, 1992

This is one of those situations where one sweater in the pair is so awesome that it puts the other to complete shame. In this case, the Campbell Conference's red jerseys in 1992 — these were heritage jerseys for the NHL's 75th anniversary — were incredible.

The Wales? They looked like white supremacist candy stripers, with a logo someone forgot to fill-in.

Boston, 1971

These jerseys were actually used from 1968-1972, after which we can only assume they were returned to the men's cheerleading squad from which they there were originally borrowed. From 1960-1981, the NHL All-Star jerseys had pasties-like stars near the nipples. Joel Schumacher would be proud.

Montreal, 2009

While some feel the 2008 sweaters from the Winnipeg Atlanta NHL All-Star Game were the more heinous use of the abbreviated conference names and stars, we're calling it for the road white Western Conference sweaters from Montreal, which flaunt the same sins and look like someone left-justified them.

Minnesota 2004

While the Western Conference sweaters were green and carried the smell of lumberjack musk, the Eastern Conference ones made players look like red-striped milk bags with felt lettering.

Denver, 2001

Used in 2000 and 2001, at first glance these jerseys might not look that bad. But as we said in naming them the fourth-worst jersey of the decade: An unbalanced, unsightly design whiff that looked like the template for a better sweater. The colors are OK, but it's a completely forgettable jersey for a game whose threads are made for collectors. Five-year-old Colorado Avalanche fan Brandon Barban, moments after this photo was taken: "Your jerseys suck. Oh, and nice hair, Sakic ..."

New York, 1994

The first year of the NHL's radical redesign of its All-Star sweaters, with the Western Conference going eggplant and black and the Eastern Conference showing us what the San Jose Sharks would look like if they were being slowly consumed by the Stay Puft marshmallow man. Extra demerits for the mismatched logo/sweater colors.

Washington, 1982

In which the NHL All-Star Game jerseys made players appear to be suffering from a skin-based contagion.

"Hey, Charlie, you think 100 stars per sweater is enough?" "Nah, Eddie, bettah make It 200."

(And yes, that is Hall of Fame defenseman Larry Robinson and no, he's not Mike Commodore's biological father.)

Previously on Puck Daddy's The 7

The 7 best hockey toy commercials
The 7 Ilya Bryzgalov HBO spinoffs we'd pay to see
The 7 Sean Avery fights that aren't completely terrible
The 7 great skater vs. goalie collisions that resulted in hilarity, chaos
The 7 NHL players with mind-blowing career plus/minus ratings
The 7 NHL journeymen nearing Mike Sillinger levels of relocation
The 7 neglected NHL fan pages we love
The 7 players we'd pay to watch in an NHL shootout
The 7 NHL veterans still livin' the dream in minor leagues
The 7 most heartwarming stories of the NHL preseason

Here are your Puck Previews: Spotlighting the key games in NHL action, news and views as well as general frivolity. Make sure to stop back here for the nightly Three Stars when the games are finished.

Via John Fantana of Raw Charge, Boston Bruins' chairman and CEO Jeremy Jacobs used his 24 hours with the Stanley Cup to bring it to NASA's Kennedy Space Center Thursday afternoon. Here's a photo of the Cup in the cockpit of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. See more photos at Throw the Flag.

Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins at New York Rangers, 7 p.m. EST

The Penguins have won three straight, but they'll likely still be receptive to the substantial boost Kris Letang's return can give them. Letang has missed two months with a concussion, but looks to be ready for action Thursday, which should be helpful against a Rangers team to whom the Penguins have lost four straight. All that said, the Rangers will likely spend more time keeping an eye on Evgeni Malkin, who has 28 points in his last 17 games to jump into a tie for first in league scoring and finally justify my decision to select him first overall in a fantasy draft.

Preview: Ottawa Senators at San Jose Sharks, 10:30 p.m. EST

In recent history, matchups between the Sharks and the Senators have been fairly easy to predict, what with the Sharks being good and the Senators being bad and all that. But such is no longer the case. While the Senators have lost 5 straight to the Sharks, that's about the only negative streak associated with them these days: they're 12-2-2 in their last 16 and they've earned a point in 10 straight road games, one off a franchise record. Also, here's an unexpected tidbit: the two teams have the same number of wins, with 26.

Preview: Calgary Flames at Los Angeles Kings, 10:30 p.m. EST

As if the Kings, who have just one regulation loss since Darryl Sutter took over 14 games ago, need any more good fortune, the Flames roll into town Thursday night. Calgary is currently riding a six-game road losing streak, their longest since 2007.

Evening Reading

• Scott Arniel on being fired from the Columbus Blue Jackets: "I'm smart enough to look around the league and notice that six guys, all of whom are probably more qualified than I am, got the same message already this season," Arniel said. "But it has been over a week now and it still bothers me, still gnaws at me. I hate to leave unfinished business. And look: I've been a coach for 13 years; I didn't get stupid in three months." [Blue Jackets Xtra]

• Best hockey-related lede of the day: "Happiness is a warm puppy — especially if his name is Raider and he's recently been rescued from the freezing cold by three Saskatchewan hockey players." [CBC]

• Michael Farber on the risk of signing goalies long-term. [SI]

• Dennis Veteri, the 32-year-old bricklayer charged with assaulting New York Rangers fan Neal Auricchio, has seen his bail quadrupled from $100,000 to $400,000 after the assistant district attorney brought up his history of drug and assault charges, including four assault convictions. [Reuters]

• Since Canuck fans will flip no matter what Zdeno Chara does at the All-Star draft, here's a look at their projected outrage levels for every scenario. [PITB]

Puck Buddy Comment of the Day: Mustache of Kes, on the worst part of Taylor Hall's horrific facial injuries:

Poor kid.. and he's doesn't even get a cool story to go with the scar.

"Grandpa - did you get that scar playing hockey? Was it during a huge fight?" "No Jimmy - it was during warm up"

Yeah, that's a crap story.

Bold prediction: Maybe it's not all that bold since the Kings win pretty much all their games 2-1 and they've won their last 3 home dates versus the Flames by that same score, but I'm saying 2-1 Kings.

Evgeny Kuznetsov is going to be a star before he even plays a single game with the Washington Capitals. His exploits at World Juniors — from his scoring to his offending stodgy critics — are one facet of it. The growing collection of YouTube gold he's mining is another.

For example, this goal scored by Kuznetsov with the KHL's Traktor Chelyabinsk of against SKA this week that led to an understated and timid celebration. Oh, wait, no, check that, he pretended to row a kayak at center ice:

Ah, the hockey kayak. Not as impressive as the soccer canoe, but no less impetuous.

Russian Machine Never Breaks has a rundown of recent exploits by Kuznetsov in Russia, including two fans who gave him a fedora inscribed with "Two-time hat-trick master of 2012 WJC." Fancy! RMNB's Ian Oland also notes that Kuznetsov used to celebrate with fans with the "kayak" after Traktor games last season.

s/t @whatnojagr

"... the other, warped / in the shape of a man, moves beyond the pale / bigger than any man, an unnatural birth /called Grendel Zdeno Chara by country people / in former days."

No. 1 Star: Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators

Rinne was unbeatable, stopping all 38 shots the Columbus Blue Jackets directed his way to stake the Predators to a 3-o win. Martin Erat led the offensive charge, scoring a goal and setting up another in the second period. In further bad news for the Jackets (as if they needed any more this year), they announced before the game that defenceman Radek Martinek would miss the rest of the season with a concussion, and that they had signed Brett Lebda to replace him.

No. 2 Star: Joffrey Lupul, Toronto Maple Leafs

Great game for Lupul, who picked up 3 assists as the Leafs beat up on the Minnesota Wild, 4-1. The Wild have two wins in their last 15 games, and they were never even close in this one, falling behind less than a minute in and only registering 21 shots throughout the game. On the plus side, they ruined Jonas Gustavsson's shutout bid in the final minutes.

No. 3 Star: Gregory Campbell, Boston Bruins

Campbell dropped the gloves with rookie centre Brad Mills in the first period of the Bruins' 4-1 win over the New Jersey Devils. Then he sparked a third period comeback, assisting on the game-tying goal three minutes in and scoring the third of four Boston goals in the final twenty for the Gordie Howe hat trick.

Honourable mention: Evgeni Nabokov made 40 saves and John Tavares picked up two assists as the New York Islanders took down the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1. Tavares's first assist was pretty:

... That said, the pass of the night goes to Marian Gaborik for this sick feed to Carl Hagelin:

Shame that it was the Rangers' only goal in their 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Evgeni Malkin scored the final two goals for Pittsburgh. He's now scored 6 of their last 8.... Nikolai Khabibulin made 38 saves, but he was the only member of the Edmonton Oilers that seemed interested in their contest with the St. Louis Blues. The Oil only mustered 15 shots and wound up falling 1-0. Jaroslav Halak picked up the shutout and Alex Pietrangelo scored the game-winner with 5 minutes to go in the third... The Winnipeg Jets got two-point performances from Nick Antropov, Kyle Wellwood and Andrew Ladd in their 4-1 win over the struggling Buffalo Sabres. Antropov's goal was the pretty. Watch the footwork:

... Todd Bertuzzi scored the shootout winner in the Detroit Red Wings' 3-2 victory of the Phoenix Coyotes... Colin Greening scored twice in the Ottawa Senators' 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks... Surprise, surprise, the LA Kings game went to a shootout. They lost, 2-1 to the Calgary Flames after Michael Cammalleri's shootout goal. This means it's time to flip their exceedingly flippable 8-1-6 record under Darryl Sutter to the negative side. Had they won, I'd say they only have one regulation loss in 15 games. But they lost, so they've only won 8 of 15.

Did you know? Under Claude Julien, the Boston Bruins are 173-5-12 when they open up a two-goal lead. Which is decent.

Dishonourable mention: Me, for forgetting to spell "honourable" and "dishonourable" with U's the last time I wrote 3 Stars... Minus-3 for both Claude Giroux and Jaromir Jagr in the Flyers' loss to the Isles.... The Coyotes were called for too many men on the ice three times versus the Red Wings... And finally, Jonas Gustavsson really should have recorded the shutout. I'm not sure who's more to blame here: him, for allowing the sharp-angle goal, or Cody Franson, for uh, taking himself out of the play:

Trending Topics is a column that looks at the week in hockey, occasionally according to Twitter. If you're only going to comment to say how stupid Twitter is, why not just go have a good cry for the slow, sad death of your dear internet instead?

Buffalo Sabres fans aren't happy, and understandably so.

The last time their team won a game away from home, most people were still putting up their Christmas trees, and they've taken just 14 points from 22 games since the start of December. They're conceding goals like their lives depend upon it (19 in the last four games) and have had no luck at all finding someone not named Thomas Vanek or Jason Pominville to put the puck in the back of the net.

They're a Hindenburg-level disaster this season, after the organization and fans spent a whole summer fixated on what they were duped into believing would be a earnest, deep run into the Stanley Cup playoffs. The excitement built around that team, which was good but not great the last two seasons, and flamed out in the first round of both of those playoffs, was really quite something.

So to see them sitting 11th in the East, just three points ahead of dead last, has all involved crushingly disappointed.

People have blamed the players, blamed the coach, blamed the general manager. All of that is relatively fair. But one person who has seemed bulletproof in all this, even as he did everything in his power to become a face of the franchise and win over a bemused fanbase, is Terry Pegula.

Pegula swept into the owner's box last year like any long-time NHL fan who had billions of dollars in his bank accounts who just bought his hometown team would: he immediately started behaving like the stereotypically nouveau-riche.

"We're gonna win the Stanley Cup. Then, you know what, we're gonna win it again," he told a Buffalo television station soon after buying the team.

And Buffalo fans, who had long suffered under penny-pinching Tom Gosliano, gibbered with excitement. Finally, a real owner who promised to put real funds into the team and saw it as an expensive toy rather than a money-making proposition ("We'll put the pedal to the metal as capably as we can," he said that same month. "I don't know if it's wise to spend to the cap every year. But we're not in this to save money, that's for sure."). It was almost too much to handle.

And it also looked like that could become a reality when the Sabres stormed out of the gate and won 12 of their first 19. The fans were really quite pleased with themselves.

But one part of that last Pegula quote at least approached the right idea. If the Rangers taught us nothing else prior to the lockout, it's that having the ability to spend money indiscriminately does not mean that you should. This, however, did not prevent Darcy Regier going on a gauche spending spree, like a small child who found a $50 bill on the ground outside a candy store.

At the time, the signings of Christian Ehrhoff (because of term) and especially Ville Leino (because of both term and money, but especially money) seemed like spending for the sake of doing so, a sort of declaration to the rest of the NHL's upcoming free agents that the purse strings were once again open in Buffalo, and to an almost ludicrous degree.

Hard to blame Pegula for wanting to invest in a winner (and good on him for letting the hockey guys do their jobs), but those two signings were unnecessarily splashy, and while Ehrhoff's was certainly one that good have theoretically improved the team, particularly on the power play, Leino's absolutely was not. At least, not at that price point. But these were Name Players, the type Buffalo had long seen leave town without so much as saying good bye, could finally be had, and Regier snatched them up greedily without regard for the consequences.

But then the team started playing badly. And still, as recently as a few weeks ago, Pegula was holding court with the media, blaming the spate of injuries suffered by the Sabres as the reasons for their struggles, rather than the more obvious reasons that this was a team fundamentally broken in its construction and not necessarily playing for each other (witness the whole Ryan Miller flap).

These days, the guy who was once so readily available to any media member whose ear he could bend about the great things his Buffalo Sabres could do now that they had some financial backing is more reluctant to do so. After the Sabres were crushed by Detroit earlier this week, Pegula visited the team's dressing room but was not made available to the media.

Hopefully this promised run at a Stanley Cup (and another next season, don't forget), aborted months before it was to have begun, taught Pegula, and Sabres fans, a few lessons about and what wild promises, unchecked expectations and frenzied spending really gets you in a salary cap world: long, uncomfortable Januaries with more questions than answers, and three more road dates coming up in which the team can embarrass itself further.

So the Sabres beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

But there's always next year, right?

Brian Burke and the Tweeters that probably annoy him

Brian Burke has a shockingly good Twitter account, which I guess you'd probably expect, given his standard personality. As you'd further expect, he's also not shy about voicing his opinion.

In answer to Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf being voted as the most overrated player in the league, he tweeted, "Dion overrated? Are you kidding! Players who voted in this poll can meet w/Dion in Ottawa at the All-Star Game, where he's a starter!"

But far more frequently, he invites questions from fans and regularly answers dozens a day. Of course, giving his 76,000 or so followers an open invitation to ask him questions opens him up to a lot of armchair GMs who are not happy the Leafs are so low in the standings.

Fortunately, you don't have to cull through Burke's thousands of replies to find the real gems, because a new twitter account called AskBrianBurke collects the best ones.

Some choice examples from yesterday alone:

"Going after a top NHL goalie? How bout Ryan Miller?."

"get Rick Nash and all the bandwagon jumpers will come back"

"a lifetime without a cup and 7 year playoff drought is the greatest pain imaginable, please get a starting big centre. i beg!"

And the best, "You've over-hauled the team. Still we are not where we should be. Fire Wilson. Make A Major Deal. You have until Fed 27th."

With the trade deadline right around the corner, it's a pretty safe assumption that these type of Tweet will become even more common as we get closer to the end of Fedruary.

Pearls of Biz-dom

We all know that there isn't a better Twitter account out there than that of Paul Bissonnette. So why not find his best bit of advice on love, life and lappers from the last week?

BizNasty on shocking developments: "A 7 foot college athlete slam dunking a basketball was the top play on SportsCenter again this morning is case anyone missed it."

If you've got something for Trending Topics, holla at Lambert on Twitter or via e-mail. He'll even credit you so you get a thousand followers in one day and you'll become the most popular person on the Internet! You can also visit his blog if you're so inclined.

The rehabilitation of Matt Cooke from reckless hockey hooligan to upstanding citizen in the NHL has been well-documented, with ESPN and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review the latest to pen "Injurious thugs can change!" soliloquies.

But much like the Ottawa Senators' record, everyone is waiting for Cooke's reputation to regress back to its expected norms; looking for that "same old Matt Cooke" moment when he plays on the edge.

(We're guilty of that ourselves.)

On Thursday night against the New York Rangers, word began to spread (mostly through Darren Dreger of TSN) that Cooke slew-footed Brad Richards.

Via Seth Rorabaugh at Empty Netters, the alleged slewing:

We have to imagine the attention this has been given is somehow linked to National Penguin Awareness Day.

Did Cooke use "his leg or foot to knock or kick an opponent's feet from under him," as the rule states? Was Richards already falling by the time Cooke went Cobra Kai and swept the leg?

Doesn't matter: Dreger later reported that "Matt Cooke won't face discipline for play on Richards. Should have been a penalty but doesn't qualify as a traditional slew foot."

That answered, the real question: Does Matt Cooke still deserve this level of scrutiny?

Yes, he has a rap sheet longer than Michael Fassbender's body of work. Indeed, he was the catalyst for NHL changes to its own rulebook (Rule 48) and its supplemental discipline process.

But he's also the guy that has 14 penalty minutes in 46 games, with seven minor penalties. That's after 129 PIM in 67 games last season, with 37 minors and five majors.

Outside of Brad Marchand and PK Subban, would this trip on Richards led to scrutiny of many other NHL players? Probably not. Is over half of season of clean play enough to give Cooke the benefit of the doubt? We'd say yes, but we'd also acknowledge that the majority of hockey fans are never going to believe his rehabilitation is real.

Which is why there's only one thing that will validate that the tiger changed his stripes: The Lady Byng Trophy.

It won't be easy. Mainly because he's Matt Cooke. But just like a coach gets more credit for turning around a crap-tastic team in the Jack Adams race, Cooke should get extra credit for going from scurrilous bastard to former scurrilous bastard in the span of a year. Honestly, it's one of the most dramatic bits of image rehab the League's ever seen.

So, with that:

COOKE THE BYNG.

Who's with us? (Provided there isn't, you know a relapse.)

U.S. federal immigration officials allege that Ivan Pravilov, a Ukrainian hockey coach, committed sexual acts with "a boy attending hockey clinics with him in the United States." He's been detained pending a court hearing on Friday in Philadelphia.

From the AP:

According to court documents, a 14-year-old boy told investigators he had sexual contact with Pravilov at an apartment in Philadelphia on Jan. 3. A second teen gave an identical account, according to the criminal complaint. Pravilov was charged with transporting a minor to engage in sexual activity because he allegedly transported the boy from the home of a host family in Wilmington, Del.

The allegations made the hockey world recoil, having just relived the deplorable history of Graham James's abuses as a youth hockey coach during his criminal prosecution last month.

They were also a shock to Dainius Zubrus of the New Jersey Devils, who was a student of Pravilov's in Ukraine from 1990-96. From the Newark Star-Ledger:

"I know the man real well," Zubrus told The Star-Ledger today. "I still keep in touch with him. It's disappointing. Obviously I never thought in my head he'd ever be accused of something like that. But there is a lot of stuff going on back in the Ukraine. He has a lot of enemies there. I'm sure the truth will come out."

One such enemy: Maxim Starchenko, a player whom Pravilov coached and worked with from 1986-1996 with Druzhba-78. His book detailing Pravilov's abuse, "Behind the Iron Curtain: Tears in the Perfect Hockey 'GULAG'" was released last month. It pulls no punches in alleging seriously twisted acts by the coach.

From Amazon.com:

The book is about Maxim Starchenko's experience on Druzhba-78 between 1986 and 1996. The story graphically describes the cruelty and inhumanity of the team's only coach, Ivan Pravilov. He abused and constantly reprimanded his players for his own entertainment and personal satisfaction.

The book describes the author's constant struggle for survival and eventual road to recovery. Maxim faced adversity on two fronts, with his coach and his misunderstanding parents, doubling the burden. The author hopes his book will encourage other former players to step forward and make Ivan Pravilov accountable for his actions. More so, it raises an important question of why this monster continues to instruct children and live comfortably in the United States.

Excerpts from the book are available online via Google Books. A cursory search for Pravilov's name turned up this tale that's just chilling (and not for the squeamish):

"Behind the Iron Curtain: Tears in the Perfect Hockey 'GULAG'" is available on Amazon.com and other booksellers.

We'll update when news of Pravilov's hearing becomes available.