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.
• Here's Donna Karan CEO Mark Weber, Rangers' Brandon Dubinsky and swwwwwwwoooooonnnnn at the DKNY Men Fall 2012 fashion presentation. [Getty]
• The Boston media peppers Tim Thomas about his latest Facebook missive. "This is my job. Facebook is my personal life. That's why. If you guys don't understand the difference between an individual and it having nothing to do with a job and an athlete and his personal life then I think there's a problem. I don't think that when you become an athlete that you sign away your right to be an individual,'' Thomas said, "and to have your own views and to be able to post them on Facebook, if you like." [Bruins Blog]
• Sounds like Henrik Sedin's non-broken ankle will be in good enough shape to continue his ironman streak. [Vancouver Sun]
• In less encouraging injured Swede news, Nicklas Backstrom of the Washington Capitals says: "I don't know when I will be able to play again, but I hope I will be ready for the playoffs." [Japers' Rink]
• Will Winnipeg get the Heritage Classic? They'll have to wait to 2014. [NY Times]
• No less an authority than The Conference Board of Canada believes "Canada could sustain a maximum of nine NHL franchises—a conclusion based on our analysis of the market conditions required to support an NHL-level professional hockey team today. And while Winnipeg, Hamilton, and Québec City do appear to be viable locations for NHL franchises, they are all at the lower limit. These markets have only the minimum market size and income, and a relatively small number of corporate head offices. They would need the Canadian dollar to remain strong. As well, these smaller markets will always be more exposed than their larger competitors to any negative shocks to the national economy or to their community." [Conference Board]
• The latest on Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard: Tuesday against Dallas is the soonest he's likely to return from his broken pinkie. Said Ken Holland: "It's a four-to-six week injury to heal, the longer we can wait the less risk you take." [MLive]
• Ryan Malone could be back for the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. Hey, just in time for the trade deadline! [Lightning Strikes]
• Stu Hackel of Sports Illustrated vs. perhaps the greatest stats blogger in hockey. [Arctic Ice Hockey, here and here]
• Scott Hartnell on Chris Pronger's visit to the locker room: "For me to see him, well, there's still a Chris Pronger in this world. I had not seen him in a month and a half probably. See him and chat with him a little bit. I didn't really want to ask him how he was doing." [CSN Philly]
• Adam Proteau offers part one of an "amnesty clause" list of CBA buyouts. Among them, Eric Staal. [THN]
• From Joffrey Lupul to Mike Babcock, five reasons to be excited about Maple Leafs-Red Wings HBO 24/7 The Road To The NHL Winter Classic. [Backhand Shelf]
• Darryl Sutter on Andrei Loktionov: "The perception was that he wasn't good defensively or that he didn't compete in his own zone. Quite honestly, I've seen zero of that. The only time he has problems — and it's just a drift-back — is, instead of turning and going, it's bringing it back and going into the formations that he was used to playing when he was a kid." [LA Kings Insider]
• Martin St. Louis returns to the scene of his nasty eye injury, MSG. Said Guy Boucher: "I didn't really think of hockey. I didn't know what was going on with his eye. I was hearing all kinds of different versions. I was just thinking of the man. He's a good person and he's got a life outside hockey. That's a lot more important for me than it is to come back fast. After that, when we found out it was getting better, you want him back. But it was always about him feeling it, not about us pushing for him to come back." [Lozo]
• Merry early Christmas, Tomas Vincour: You get to play on a line with Jamie Benn and see time on the Dallas Stars power play. [Stars Blog]
• Rudy Kelly, not a fan of our coach's challenges soap box rant. [Battle of Cali]
• If you needed to know how incredible Olli Jokinen's played, now there's focus on how much it'll cost to re-sign him. [Matchsticks and Gasoline]
• From Conrad: "It's Chris Phillips' 1000th game! Huge, huge news around the league, I'm sure ." [Welcome To Your Karlsson Years]
• "The 10 Reasons Why the Tampa Bay Lightning are Better than the Florida Panthers." [THW]
• Finally, if you just can't get enough to Lucic pummeling Kaleta, here you go: