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.
• Some gorgeous renderings of the Pegula Ice Arena have surfaced on Thank You Terry. [s/t Chris Kaminski]
• Claude Giroux, the NHL's leading scorer, is out with a head injury and will not play against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night. The Flyers haven't used the 'C' word; much like they didn't for Pronger over the course of weeks. Sean Couterier moves up with Jaromir Jagr and Scott Hartnell. [Broad Street Bull]
• Nikita Filatov, who you'll remember was going to be a top six forward for the Ottawa Senators this season, has been loaned to the KHL. Said Bryan Murray: "After a fair amount of discussion with him we had a determination whether to move him back to Binghamton or go over to play in the KHL and his preference was to go home for the balance of the year, so we made an agreement with them to have that happen." Dmitry will have more on this soon. [Senators Extra]
• Washington Capitals defenseman Mike Green is visiting a specialist about his right groin muscle, which has cost him 14 games. Is it the groin muscle that's keeping him out? [Capitals Insider]
• St. Louis Blues forward Vladimir Sobotka left practice on crutches after taking an Alex Steen shot. Ouch. [KMOV]
• An interesting look at how hockey fights begin. Said one player: "I don't talk a lot. My dad always said when I was younger that the guys you are most scared of are the ones who don't talk. I just keep my mouth shut and like to talk with my fists to stick up for teammates." [News Sentinel]
• Graham James pled guilty to sex abuse charges on the seventh anniversary of Sheldon Kennedy being sober. [Kamloops News]
• No Zdeno Chara for Terry Murray's farewell party on Tuesday night. [ESPN Boston]
Terry Murray on being on the firing line: "No, it doesn't make it any more difficult. We're trying to win hockey games." [LA Kings Insider]
• Tweak to the Los Angeles Kings' power play: Slava Voynov joins Drew Doughty on the point. [LA Kings Insider]
• Why fixating on who could be playing for Team Canada is missing the point. [Buzzing The Net]
• Kerry Fraser on the controversial Travis Hamonic ejection vs. Brooks Orpik and the Pittsburgh Penguins last week … and ref apologies: "I would allow the coach to have his say on the issue. My apology would be conducted in a respectful, civil manner in an attempt to move forward and derail any animosity and anger that a coach would be entitled to feel. I would shoulder the burden for my error in hopes that the coach and his players would move forward for the remainder of the game not allow be to be a negative influence on them. In closing, I would ask Jack Capuano to please apologize to Travis Hamonic for me as well." [TSN]
• Claude Noel opted to show just the opening period of the Winnipeg Jets' 7-1 debacle against the Detroit Red Wings: "Players are players... it's different when you're a coach because you kind of live and die with those games. We moved on. I moved on this morning. One of the questions was would I watch the game back and suffer the pain twice. I watched the first period and I liked the first period.... I thought we did some good things. We watched some tape today and reviewed the first period. I didn't go to the second... that was by design." [Winnipeg Free Press]
• Ben Smith goes back to Rockford. [Blackhawks]
• Dougie Hamilton is for real. [CBC]
• Evgeni Nabokov is slowly progressing back from injury so the New York Islanders can trade him. [Islanders]
• Micheal Haley is back in the AHL. [Light House Hockey]
• What's wrong with the Nashville Predators? "They are a below average offensive team, marginally good defense team, and rely heavily on their man between the pipes. Until Pekka Rinne resumes total dominance in-goal, either defensively or offensively the Predators must step up their game. If they don't, they will find themselves watching the playoffs and not being in them." [The Hockey Writers]
• Spector on the Edmonton Oilers' Alex Hemsky watch: "Several factors - Hemsky's health, production, his future plans and those of Oilers management, and the team's position in the standings - will determine if he remains an Oiler beyond the February trade deadline." [THN]
• Marek Zidlicky, Cal Clutterbuck, Josh Harding and Guillaume Latendresse are back at practice for the Minnesota Wild. [Hockey Wilderness]
• Cool piece looking at the Carey Price vs. Zach Parise penalty shot showdown: "Initially when Price indicated that he knew what was coming and Hickey said he had done his homework I had assumed that Parise was prone to a pattern. The problem is if he had a pattern he wouldn't have been seven for eight. The reason he has had so much success is because he has four strong moves and they are all set up with the exact same look." [Habs Eyes on the Prize]
• Calgary Flames right-winger Jarome Iginla was named the NHL's first star of the week Monday after recording six points over three games. Minnesota Wild goalie Matt Hackett earned the second star and Washington Capitals defenceman John Carlson took the third star. [NHL]
• Disturbing on several levels: "A former Burnsville, Minn. area girls' hockey coach plead guilty to sexually assaulting a teenage girl, but will avoid prison due to a brain tumor he suffers from." [My Fox Twin Cities]
• The New York Times on hockey fighting. You'll never guess which agenda this pushes. [NYT]
• Our buddy Joe Yerdon's path to NBC hockey bloggin'. [Salary.com, via Joe Yerdon]
• Finally, in honor of his US Hall of Fame induction, a look back at the career of Chris Chelios, beginning in the Cretaceous period: