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.
• Via reader 'hb' comes this odd image of what he calls "Hobovechkin": "Long time reader, first time writer from Ottawa living in Vancouver. I walk past this homeless guy every morning on my way to work and he's always sporting an Alex Ovechkin jersey. I snapped a picture of him sleeping on his cart, unfortunately the name is obscured by his hood, but the 8 is still clearly visible." (By the way, this may be Paul Bissonnette's favorite Puck Daddy news item of all time.)
• It's official: Boston Bruins announce Marc Savard is done for the 2010-11 regular season. [Bruins]
• Marty Biron gets his second straight start for the New York Rangers against the Wings tonight, while Henrik Lundqvist comes to terms with this alien notion of "rest." [NYDN]
• Pavel Datsyuk is back tonight against the Rangers. Get your dirty hands off his dream. (References like this separate the Puck Daddy veterans from our newer friends.) [Red Wings]
• Talking hockey with Alice Cooper. There are worse jobs in the world. [Examiner]
• Phil Kessel clears it all up for us: When he said "it might not be working out here" on Sunday, he wasn't talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs ... he was talking about the line he's playing on in practice. Of course! Said Kessel: "Obviously I love Toronto, I want to be here. I love the city, I love the fans, I love the team. The guys are great here. I don't want any trade or anything like that. I want to be here for a very long time. I love it here. Obviously I'm frustrated. The way it's going right now, we're not winning, I need to be better out there. I've had opportunities, I need to score, so obviously I'm frustrated, right? But in no sense did I ever mean I wanted a trade." [Globe & Mail and Toronto Star]
• From Leafs blogger Chemmy: "First and foremost it's important to remember that Phil Kessel is an awkward guy who's a terrible public speaker. He says dumb things constantly without appreciating the subtlety of his words." [The Leafs Nation]
Penguins Coach Dan Bylsma on Sidney Crosby's recovery: "The schedule with Sidney, we thought he would return sometime this week. There wasn’t a definite date or definite day. ... Right now, I haven’t had a lot of contact. He’s in contact with our trainer just to let him know how he’s feeling and so forth. There really isn’t a timeframe, as far as we’re concerned at this point, of getting him back into town." [AP]
• The haves and the have-nots in local NHL ratings. Congrats to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Chicago Blackhawks and Buffalo Sabres. The Florida Panthers and Atlanta Thrashers ... well, maybe everyone's just listening to the radio, right? [Puck The Media]
• Right wings Johan Franzen of the Detroit Red Wings, Mikael
Samuelsson of the Vancouver Canucks and Corey Perry of the Anaheim Ducks have
been named the NHL's 'Three Stars' for the week ending Feb. 6. The Moose The Mule led
all goal-scorers last week with five goals ... that he scored in one game. [NHL]
• Another third-period failure for the Chicago Blackhawks. [Hockey Independent]
• Corey Crawford gets the nod for the Chicago Blackhawks tonight at the Calgary Flames, his first start in two weeks. [Sun Times]
• Rory Boylen of The Hockey News writes some stats-based stuff now and again. So it's either an honor or a horror that the guru from Behind the Net had called him out. [BTN]
• Looking at the Colorado Avalanche's chances at making the Western Conference playoffs. [Mile High Hockey]
• Wait, hold the phone ... the Florida Panthers get scoring chances? [Litter Box Cats]
• "Vancouver Canucks President and General Manager Mike Gillis announced today that the re-assignment of Lee Sweatt has been voided due to a foot injury suffered by the defenceman." All we read was "Foot Sweatt." [Canucks]
• At the risk of running two Washington Capitals images in the same headlines post, this one is just too good to pass up. [Getty]
• HOTH's worst hockey cards of all-time continues with a painted Wayne Gretzky. [HOTH]
• Pierre LeBrun with a blog full of rumor goodness, from Kris Versteeg to Sheldon Souray to the asking price for Dustin Penner and Ales Hemsky. [ESPN]
• The Washington Capitals are giving Mike Green a day off in the hope that the puck-to-the-ear he suffered on Sunday doesn't lead to a prolonged absence. [Capitals Insider]
• Tyler Dellow's Orwellian take on Edmonton Oilers management. [mc79hockey]
• Finally, via reader Vesku (from the land of snow and ice), here is Jokerit and HIFK playing in Helsinki's Olympic Stadium for 36,000 people, a record for a hockey game in Scandinavia. Detroit Red Wings prospect Teemu Pulkkinen scored twice for Jokerit and Minnesota Wild prospect Mikael Granlund does the same for HIFK (including the game winner). Former NHL veteran Ville Peltonen scores and adds two assists for HIFK.