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.
• Over on Chris Creamer's Sports Logos site, graphic artist Kristopher Bazen revealed that he helped create the infamous Buffalo Sabres BuffaSlug, publishing a series of concepts that were rejected along the way. Fascinating stuff for gear heads, or fans of Donald Trump's hair. [s/t Scotty Wazz]
• Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis doesn't want to sound like a whiner when whining about officiating at the GMs meeting. [Province]
• Hybrid icing and elimination of the defensive zone hand pass are among the hot topics for the NHL GMs in their Boca Raton meetings. [CP]
• Goaltenders Ilya Bryzgalov of the Philadelphia Flyers and Jaroslav Halak of the St. Louis Blues as well as left-winger Ilya Kovalchuk of the New Jersey Devils were named the NHL's three stars of the week Monday. Don Cherry bemoans this lack of Ontarians. [NHL.com]
• Todd McLellan continues coaching for his job mixing things up for the San Jose Sharks, as Patrick Marleau has been shifted to the middle of Ryane Clowe and Daniel Winnik, and Joe Thornton centers Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski. [Working the Corners]
• Why Sidney Crosby should only be a power-play specialist upon his return to the Pittsburgh Penguins' lineup. [Fischler Report]
• The Detroit Red Wings are about to get Jimmy Howard back for their West Coast swing. [Freep]
• Injured forward Dan Carcillo and the Chicago Blackhawks have agreed on a 2-year extension worth a reported $825,000 per season. Which is perfect money for the team, and makes this potential headache (Shanahan has him on speed dial) more palatable. [Sun Times]
• Razor advocates for the end of morning skates among his 10 changes to the NHL: "Originally adopted to get players out of bed and perhaps curb late night extra-curricular activity the night before games, its unnecessary nowadays — it's a much different time. Adapt. Abolish. It's now merely a wooby blanket for coaches and some players, and a colossal time waste for everyone else. Not to mention an unnecessary added workload for the athletes." [Razor]
• "History Will Be Made" is … history. The NHL will have a new ad campaign for the Stanley Cup Playoffs called "Because It's the Cup", which will "attract non-hockey fans by 'socializing the Stanley Cup playoffs.'" Please don't be a bunch of pretty people in jerseys they don't own talking to the camera inside of random bars. [Puck The Media]
• After 43 games, the Penticton Vees have finally been defeated. [Buzzing The Net]
• Here's an interesting nugget: "The International Ice Hockey Federation says it won its case against Swiss club Bern that sought million-dollar damages after a European competition was canceled in 2009." This stems from the collapse of the Champions Hockey League reboot. [AP]
• The Tampa Bay Lightning announce some interesting ticket news: "Per game price decreases of nearly 1,500 promenade (lower) level seats, more than 5,000 seats priced at $18 or less per game on a full season basis and an average per game price increase of just 1% overall." [Bolts]
• Ellen Etchingham on hockey and war: "Sometimes I go to games, OHL games, AHL games, and often at these games they honor servicemen. At some point during a commercial break, they'll flash a picture of some khaki-clad man on the screen and rattle off the list of places he's worked like a laundry list of the world's still-bleeding wounds: Libya, Haiti, Afghanistan. Evacuation, relief effort, peacekeeping mission. I know people who have varying views on these honors- some see it as a noble tribute to men who fight valiantly to defend their principles, others as propaganda dressing up horrible global injustices in the finery of valor and honor. I have some friends who would never consider staying seated during such a tribute and others who feel they cannot in good conscience stand up for one." [Backhand Shelf]
• Can the New York Rangers power play become lethal? [Blueshirt Banter]
• BREAKING: As of 3 p.m. ET, Colorado Avalanche forward Matt Duchene has not found his driver's license. [All Things Avs]
• Update on Justin Schultz and the Anaheim Ducks: According to Andy Baggot, "Rumor that Justin Schultz would sign with Ducks and make NHL debut Monday in Denver unfounded. He returned to Madison with UW teammates." [Ducks Blog]
• Gustav Nyquist will head to his fifth city in five days when he rejoins the Wings in southern California Monday afternoon. [Red Wings]
• The ratings for the Penguins and Bruins were the lowest on NBC since March 20, 2011. [PTM]
• Free-agent-to-be Alex Semin and the Washington Capitals have had no substantial contract talks as of yet. There's a shot Semin could leave. [Capitals Insider]
• Jaden Schwartz has been signed by the St. Louis Blues; as Jeremy Rutherford notes, this might be mean good things as far as Alex Steen's return from a concussion. [Blues]
• The folks at Pension Plan Puppets are organizing a fan-made "If You Can Play, You Can Play" video. [PPP]
• We can get behind the Fry Ref meme. [Quick Meme]
• Finally, here's Brendan Shanahan on the GM meetings and what he's trying to get across to them before the playoffs arrive.