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.
• Meet "Mishka," the 2013 IIHF U20 world champions mascot and the Russian word for pedo-bear …er, teddy bear. [IIHF]
"The Rangers and Boston College junior Chris Kreider, the 19th overall pick in the 2009 draft, have agreed to terms on an entry-level contract, the Record has confirmed. Kreider will join the Rangers for practice tomorrow. By doing so, he'll automatically burn up the first year of his three-year entry deal regardless of whether he plays in the playoffs." [Rangers Rants]
• St. Louis Blues goalie Brian Elliott is out with an upper-body injury that Ken Hitchcock said makes him "day to day." Said Hitch: "We've been nursing it for a week or so. He got a lot of work in the first 45 minutes ... It's more maintenance. It's not a big deal. We knew how long this day was going to be and we just felt like, 'Man, why cool a guy down?'" [STLToday.com]
• No Daniel Sedin at Vancouver Canucks practice today, which calls into question whether he'll play in Game 1 or whether he's just wearing Henrik's kit to throw off everyone. [Vancouver Sun]
• Roberto Luongo's meta tweeting spree continues. [PITB]
• Attention New Jersey Devils fans: DUCK! "The City of Newark has reduced its police presence at The Rock in the latest in the fight between Booker and Vanderbeek. Turns out the city has paid $10.8 million on police protection at the Prudential Center since 2007." [NJ.com]
• Your odds for the 2012 NHL Draft Lottery, which will be held at 8 p.m. and feature a live blog via your pals at Puck Daddy. [NHL]
• The Leafs made the world safe for Jay Feaster and Brent Sutter to apologize for the Calgary Flames missing the playoffs. [Flames]
• Congrats to Tim Peel for being a playoff ref, and to Steve Miller for the chance to "misplace" more series winning pucks. Better luck next year, Stephan Auger. [NHL]
• Does regular-season success mean anything in the postseason? Via Fancy Stats Greenberg: "Since the lockout, teams that have a better head-to-head regular season record over their first-round playoff opponents (measured here as win percentage) have won 77 percent of those series — quite a hefty margin." [WaPo]
• What if the Stanley Cup Final is the Bruins and the Red Wings? [What If Sports]
• Why Jack Edwards is likely smiling today. [Puck The Media]
• The Top 10 hits of 2011-12. Kronwall'd! [Backhand Shelf]
• Uh-oh: Brad Richardson is out with an appendectomy and Andrei Loktionov has been recalled from Manchester for the Los Angeles Kings. [Mayor's Manor]
• Tomas Vokoun seems a ways away for the Washington Capitals, but Michel Neuvirth is slowly working his way back. [Capitals Watch]
• Contract discussions are expected to resume between P.A. Parenteau and the New York Islanders, his agent confirmed to ESPNNewYork.com. [ESPN]
• Nyjer Morgan aka "Tony Plush" Practices with San Jose Sharks in this Episode of Ice Bucket. [YT]
• Cool stuff about the NCAA influence on the Stanley Cup Playoff teams: This will mark the 35th straight year a former college player has his name etched on the Stanley Cup — that's already assured no matter who wins." [CHI]
• Five Burning Questions and the Red Wings vs. Predators, including: Do the Wings win this series, or are they destined to be the first speed bump on the Predators' road to a long playoff run? [Winging It]
• "#Canes Jeremy Welsh will be the answer to a trivia question some day. Technically, his cap hit is $17,945,000, highest in #NHL history." [Canes Country]
• Count Wired magazine among the pro fighting crowd. [Wired, via Ethan Vyce]
• The Tampa Bay Lightning talk about what needs to happen to succeed next season. Something something goalie that doesn't suck something? [Lightning Strikes]
• Finally, via Kukla, it's the Henrik Lundqvist Sports Illustrated cover shoot and swwwwwwwooooonnnn.