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.
• Nate Thompson of the Tampa Bay Lightning has the makings of a Movember epic.
• The Los Angeles Kings' effort against the San Jose Sharks was awful. Not 'Drew Doughty Mustache' awful, but still awful. [The Royal Half]
• Pittsburgh Penguins draft pick Tomas Kuhnhackl was suspended 20 games for his head shot hit on Ryan Murphy of the Kitchener Rangers Friday night, a hit that left Murphy concussed and knocked out of the Super Series against the Russians next week. [Toronto Star; see the hit on Buzzing The Net]
• No Todd Bertuzzi or Patrick Eaves for the Detroit Red Wings against the Colorado Avalanche, so Fabian Brunnstrom gets another chance in the lineup. [MLive]
• The Chicago Blackhawks are allowing too many easy goals. [Sun Times]
• Luckily, Duncan Keith is going to be back in their lineup against Ken Hitchcock and the St. Louis Blues. Also playing will be someone named Rostislav Olesz, who apparently is under contract for Chicago. [Tribune]
• Rick Nash on the Columbus Blue Jackets' struggles: "Sometimes you want to walk off the ice and smash your stick and throw Gatorade bottles, take out your anger. That helps for some people." [Dispatch]
• Good piece on Manny Malhotra, who hasn't looked like Manny Malhotra lately. [Vancouver Sun]
• Kerry Fraser explains an odd rule: Refusing to play the puck. [TSN]
• Ilya Kovalchuk is out for the New Jersey Devils' game against the Carolina Hurricanes. We're sure this has nothing to do with being healthy for their home and home against the Washington Capitals this weekend. Nope. Nada. Not a thing. [Fire & Ice]
• Oooof: "Panthers top prospect Jonathan Huberdeau sustained a broken foot during Monday's morning skate in preparation for a Subway Series game pitting Team QMJHL and Russia." [Sun Sentinel]
• Sidney Crosby could be back for the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday, so of course it's time to bring up Crosby's concussion with David Steckel, seeing as how he's never been asked about it before. Wait, what do you mean this horse has no pulse, doctor?! [Sportsnet]
• Great stuff from the Puck Buddys with Patrick Burke on gays in hockey, including when the first NHL player comes out: "You need one guy to be the first [and] it's a domino effect," Burke says. "Everyone's afraid of being the first because all your worst case scenarios are still possible. And then you get the first guy who does it and he doesn't get booed in every city he goes to and he doesn't get cut and his teammates don't give a [crap] and everyone else goes 'Oh, okay.'" [Puck Buddys]
• The Minnesota Wild will honor Derek Boogaard at a Nov. 27 ceremony, with Boogaard's parents Joanne and Len, siblings Aaron, Krysten, Ryan and Chris and grandparents Peter and Nancy scheduled to be in attendance when the team shows a tribute video during the ceremony. [Wild]
• Daniel Alfredsson continues to work his way back for the Ottawa Senators. [QMI]
• Can you spare some flair for Nik Kulemin? [Traikos]
• Nice bit of viral marketing for the Phoenix Coyotes as BizNasty hits the streets. Get lost in Taylor Pyatt's eyes…
• Stu Hackel on Ken Hitchcock's hiring by the St. Louis Blues: "You need to finish with around 95 points to qualify and St. Louis not only wasn't on that pace, Armstrong and Davidson obviously thought the Blues were heading for the golf course in April. They watched prized youngsters like Patrik Berglund stagnate, noticed the poor special teams play (last on the power play, 27th on the penalty kill), looked at their team's weird schedule (one of many in the NHL), saw they were about to begin a five-game homestand and figured now was the time to make the move." [SI]
• Chris Kerber on the Blues under Hitch: "It's up to Halak to rediscover the game that was good enough to win two game sevens on the road en route to leading Montreal to the Conference Finals. Patrik Berglund needs to become every night the puck-eating offensive-minded top-line center he has shown he can be. Chris Stewart needs to be the hardest player to play against in front of the net and start piling up some goals. Alex Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk will need to become the anchors on a blue line that will need to help the team offensively. And the team as a whole will need to play the 200-foot game Hitchcock will demand." [CBS]
• Martini Hockey with a Jackets-centric take on Hitch: "For Hitch... let's face it... this guy was not meant to be a 'consultant' or whatever the hell he was doing here in Columbus. Ken Hitchcock doesn't belong in an office... he belongs behind the bench. Obviously, it's good for the Blues, too. Hitch will help ignite veterans like Jason Arnott and Jamie Langenbrunner, and push them to lead the younger guys as well. The Blues are a good, physical and tough team. Having Hitch makes them instantly tougher. And better." [Martini Hockey]
• Joe Thornton's Jumbo-sized offense. [The Hockey Writers]
• Bruce Boudreau likes the way Alex Semin is trending, which we believe is somewhere between #WeHeartBieber and #NHLMovieTitles. [Capitals Insider]
• Nice piece on the underrated leadership of Jerred Smithson of the Nashville Predators. [Tennessean]
• Via Bourne: "Only one team in the NHL has averaged less than one shot per power play — the Toronto Maple Leafs." [Backhand Shelf]
• STAT NERD ALERT: Check out On Goal Analysis and their "Scoring Rhythm" tracking. [OGA]
• The Dallas Stars are doing a lot of cool behind the scenes work during their road trip this week, including Loui Eriksson smiling politely as your humble editor babbles. [Stars]
• Finally, you had us at DRUNK HOCKEY, but you romanced us with the Benny Hill theme anyway.