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.
• Your Great Aunt took in the Kings and Stars game in LA last night.
• Interesting bit from Scott Burnside of ESPN today: To have the 2013 Winter Classic as a dual-site event, with the big game at Michigan Stadium and other events (Great Lakes Invitational, alumni game) at Comerica Park in Detroit. And here are your bags of money, Mr. Illitch … [ESPN]
• The Classic in Detroit is not without its cynical reactions. [WCHB]
• Steve Staios flattened Max Talbot with a hit yesterday. Why didn't the Flyers respond to that? [Broad Street Hockey]
• The Boston Bruins didn't push for any supplemental discipline on PK Subban for his head-shot on David Krejci; the NHL will not give him any, apparently. [Bruins Blog]
• Brenden Morrow nearly ended Anze Kopitar with a hit last night, too. But he was "walking and talking" fine today, saying: "Feeling good. Nothing special to say, really. It was just precautionary reasons last night. I'm sure you guys know, even better than I do, what it takes after you get hit like that, what you've got to do (with) the quiet room and stuff. But I'm feeling good this morning, and that's about it." [LA Kings Insider]
• Montreal Canadiens forward Mathieu Darche on Rene Bourque: "Management didn't just go out and get him because he's big." Might wanna listen to your GM's press conference, sir. [Canadiens]
• Speaking of which: Fire Gauthier! [Cotsonika]
• It's Friday the 13th. Here's a cool post on hockey superstitions. Don't Step On The Logo, You Bastards! [Mile High Hockey]
• Sniffing out a James van Riemsdyk for Luke Schenn trade. [Frequent Flyers]
• There's a high-school hazing controversy in Michigan, as it seems the time-honored tradition of watching players "dressed in women's underwear, including bras, panties and girdles while walking around a bar across the street from their Marquette hotel" is now frowned upon. [Livingston Daily, s/t Jason Whitten]
• BREAKING: The Tampa Bay Lightning have goaltending issues. [Lightning]
• Terry Pegula says the Buffalo Sabres struggles are due to injuries: "I have to believe we're a better hockey team than we were last year. We just didn't have this massive, catastrophic injury problem. Put yourself in anybody's place in the organization. How do you evaluate what's going on?" He did know he was buying the Buffalo Sabres, right? [Buffalo News]
• We're starting to think Ottawa won the Turris trade. [Coyotes]
• Mike Green will have plenty of time alone with his wonky groin. [Capitals Insider]
• The Minnesota Wild place Colton Gillies on waivers in an effort to rid themselves of yet another draft mistake. [Hockey Wilderness]
• The New Jersey Devils are nearing financial calamity: "Vanderbeek is running out of options. He can't tap the franchise for the money because, when including Prudential Center revenue, the team could be staring at up to a $20 million loss this season." [NY Post]
• Jeff Skinner is nearly back for the Carolina Hurricanes. [AP]
• Brandon Dubinsky will be a game-time decision on Saturday vs. the Leafs. [NYDN]
• Scott Reynolds' take on the Mike Cammalleri trade: "I don't think that there's a huge difference between Cammalleri and Bourque today. Neither guy has been a positive driver in the possession metrics over the last season and a half, but both have been seeing decent competition in top nine minutes at even strength, and significant time on the power play, which has helped them to amass some points. The question for me is which guy is a better bet going forward, and I'd be betting on Cammalleri for sure" [Copper and Blue]
• Bruce Peter on the trade: "I will say this: it does not look like a full scale rebuild at this point. If that were the case, I think the team would have to put Carey Price on the trading block to the highest bidder. Gauthier has acquired players like Kaberle and now Rene Bourque who had longer term deals than the players he moved out. Still, I can't support this attitude. I can't cheer on my team to lose. I'm not going to hold out for the occasional flourish of victory like the Winnipeg game last week. My objective as a fan is for a winning season. If the people in the organization don't want that, then I don't see the point in my continued support." [Eyes On The Prize]
• Interesting take from Dennis Kane: "And take away numbers and past and present performances, I'll just come clean here. I never liked Cammalleri's game from the beginning, even when he was producing. All I could see out there was a guy with talent who also played a soft game, who roamed the edges looking to be set up, who didn't like to get his nose dirty, and whose shoulder pads were too big for his body." [Dennis Kane]
• Tapeleg reviews "Goon": "And it deserves your time, attention and money much more than the latest Michael Bay blockbuster. There are plenty of people willing to go to Transformers 10: Turn On Your Headlights. Goon is a movie for us. It was made by hockey fans, and you can tell. See it before you decide what it really is." [Jerseys and Hockey Love]
• Finally, this hit by Scott Fletcher of the Everblades on Mike Embach could be one of the best of the year. Said Fletcher of the hit:
"I saw my defense partner and I've always told him, 'I've always thrown big hits in the neutral zone so if you see him coming across fill the void in the back end.'" I saw two guys and he was cutting across and it's almost like his partner kinda blindsided him a little bit and I just came out of nowhere and caught him. It was a good clean hit. I don't ever want to hurt anyone, I always want to play the game hard and play it the right way. I hope he's OK and there's no concussion or anything like that because I'm not that type of player, I'm not a dirty guy so I just hope he bounces back." [Naples News]
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