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.
• We've had Maggie the Monkey picking playoff games. We've had an octopus picking World Cup soccer matches. Now? "Magdalena, two-headed and five-legged tortoise, passes two figures in a toy ice hockey game in Zilina, Slovakia, Wednesday, April 6, 2011. Magdalena will predict the winners of matches during the Ice Hockey World Championship to take place in Bratislava and Kosice, Slovakia, April 29 to May 15. The tortoise was born with two heads, one head is named Magda, the other one Lena." Perhaps the most famous mutant turtle associated with hockey since Claude Lemieux. [AP]
• Mike Green is expected back for the Washington Capitals on Saturday in Florida, before disappearing again beginning next week. [Capitals Insider]
• The Boston Red Sox want to use Fenway as a venue for outdoor hockey again, most likely with local college teams. [AP]
• A very strange thing happened today, as if a chip went off in the brains if half the hockey media and they simultaneously began writing their "Watch Out for the San Jose Sharks" stories. From The Hockey Writers: "Needless to say, any team can potentially come out of this talent-rich conference, but with their hot play as of late, the Sharks have to be considered one of the most dangerous squads in the field. If they can continue to do what has made them successful up until this point, the Stanley Cup might just find its way into Shark-infested waters come the middle of June." [THW]
• LeBrun: "Whatever the reason, you just don't hear that many people talking about the Sharks' Stanley Cup chances. Perhaps all the better for San Jose." [ESPN]
• Custance: "San Jose was known as the underachiever and the players had to deal with that stigma. Last year's advance to the Western Conference finals changed that. Now the Sharks have a successful run on which to build. Factor in goalie Antti Niemi and former Stanley Cup winner Dan Boyle and there's a wealth of valuable experience in that dressing room." [Sporting News]
• Patrick Sharp is skating again for the Chicago Blackhawks, looking to fulfill the diagnosis of "back before the playoffs" that was given to him when he injured his knee. [NHL.com]
• Sometimes blogs make us proud to be a blog. This is one of those times. [Flyers Goal Scored By …]
• Bodog actually has odds on whether Marty Turco will be fined by the NHL for his wager with a fan during the Chicago Blackhawks' game at the Montreal Canadiens last night. Yes: minus-140. No: Even.
• The NHL's Bill Daly to The Sporting News, on the Turco wagering incident: "We are following up to understand the circumstances, but no, I would not term it a formal investigation." Huzzah! [TSN]
• Cory Clouston, glutton for punishment. [QMI]
• Eugene Melnyk says he's made a decision on Clouston and Bryan Murray, but that the Ottawa Senators also "got rid of all the bad guys." Chris Campoli and Brian Elliott, evildoers. [Sun]
• In which the Sedin Twins continue their assault on NHL history. [Globe & Mail]
• Rudy Kelly offers the Kyle Clifford Fight Index for the Los Angeles Kings. [BoC]
• Is there a chance Justin Williams could return for the Kings in the first round of the playoffs? Mayhaps. [LA Kings Insider]
• For every positive notion about the Toronto Maple Leafs, there must be a counter-notion of concern. Like, for example: "The Leafs are carrying Jeff Finger's $3.5-million salary, but not if they keep him with the Marlies all year again. Darcy Tucker's buyout runs until 2013-14 at $1 million a season." [Sun]
• "If there's one thing we've known about P.K Subban since the day he entered into the Montreal Canadiens organization, it's that he has a flare for the dramatic." [Engels Angle]
• The Crowdsourced NHL Awards: Filling the void of the writers' boycott. [Dark Blue Jacket]
• The Pittsburgh Penguins get aggressive about pimping Marc-Andre Fleury for the Hart Trophy, with a video presentation and a collection of quotes from pundits. OK, pundits and Mark Madden.
• Larry Brooks makes the case, within the context of the Ryan Callahan injury, that teams who block more shots aren't always the most successful teams in the NHL: "There is, though, statistical evidence that a huge total of blocked shots is not endemic to success, for three of the five team leaders in that category -- with the Islanders first -- are out of the playoffs while Presidents' Trophy winner Vancouver is 25th overall in that category and the gold-standard Red Wings rank 29th. The Blackhawks were 17th last year before winning the Cup. The Red Wings were 30th. And the Panthers, Islanders and Oilers -- three of the league's worst teams, ranked 1-2-4, respectively. What this tells you is that it helps to have the puck." [NY Post]
• "The Sabres could get one of their top defensemen back during the first round of the playoffs, with doctors determining that Jordan Leopold does not need surgery to repair the broken hand he suffered March 25." [Sabres Edge]
• Kudos to Steve Yzerman for attempting to get the puck rolling on visors for all NHL players, as he'll ask Lightning players who do not wear visors to consider adding them for 2011-12. [Lightning Strikes]
• The National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) and the Heart and Stroke Foundation (HSF) have joined together to launch the NHLPA Beard-a-thon, an exciting charitable initiative that will help the Foundation in purchasing Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) for local hockey arenas and communities across Canada. Hockey fans everywhere can log-on to www.beardathon.ca or www.nhlpa.com for more information on the NHLPA Beard-a-thon.
• Finally, the camera holes have attempted to swallow up another Maple Leafs' extremities. After Darryl Boyce's nose was maimed, here's Joey Crabb barely escaping with his arm (s/t Crash The Crease)