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.
• "Ha! Got you! I never said 'Nathan says put your arms up like football goalposts.' Rubes!"
• The National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) announced today that Corey Perry of the Anaheim Ducks, Daniel Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks and Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning have been selected as finalists for the 2010-11 Ted Lindsay Award. The Ted Lindsay Award is presented annually to the "Most Outstanding Player" in the NHL, as voted by fellow members of the NHLPA. More on this in a moment.
• On the Detroit Red Wings' inability to topple the San Jose Sharks: "The Red Wings lost the way they've lost many times to this team, an agonizing riddle they just can't solve." [Detroit News]
• Ken Campbell on the Sharks: "The Red Wings are proud and willing, but the fact is they are depressingly unable against a Sharks team that is bigger, faster, stronger and more equipped to win big games. Wait a minute, did I just write that?" [THN]
• Ex-goon Jim Thomson wants to ban fighting in the NHL to prevent concussions. Keeping in mind, of course, that no one would be talking to Jim Thomson had it not been for fighting. [National Post]
• The Kurtenbloggers on the lack of production from Henrik Sedin: "Henrik Sedin has now gone four games without a point and has just one assist in his last seven games. Please update your wall charts accordingly. Clearly Henrik is hurting. Whether it's his groin, hip or back, we can only speculate. But while playing hurt doesn't excuse his lack of production, not entirely at least, it certainly makes it desirable for the Canucks to finish off the Predators as soon as possible." [KB]
• Boston Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid is progressing back from that sprained neck. The team is optimistic, but you never know when his recovery might hit a wall. [Bruins Blog]
• Yet another plan by the City of Glendale to close the sale of the Phoenix Coyotes: "The new plan could replace the existing $197 million deal Glendale approved to help Hulsizer finance a purchase of the team for between $170 million to $180 million. Sources familiar with the Coyotes plan say it could entail a $50 million bond sale with some kind of assurances to investors from both Glendale and the NHL." Because, you know, so many things have been assured in this process. [Phoenix Business Journal]
• Alex Ovechkin to the NIT? [IIHF]
• The Washington Capitals' many injuries, including news on an Ovechkin knee surgery. [Capitals Insider]
• Howard Bryant is a very insightful columnist, but we find it difficult to consume his "Sidney Crosby's absence from the playoffs and what it means for the NHL" piece when it features a line like this: "When the Capitals' Dave Steckel (now with the Devils) clubbed him in the head from behind, it did not appear to be a vicious hit at the time." Clubbed him? Look at the hit again; what steps could the NHL have taken to have prevented it? Bryant writes a compelling column on hockey violence; using the Steckel hit as a pivot point is, we think, putting the wrong skate forward. [ESPN]
• The Atlantic on the Stanley Cup Playoffs: "Nothing can match the edge-of-your-seat suspense of overtime playoff hockey. The speed of the sport and continuous game action guarantees that a goal can materialize at literally any moment, and the absence of a shootout or other tiebreaking method means the games can go on and on and on until somebody scores." [The Atlantic, via St. Louis Game Time]
• Another good mainstream piece praising the playoffs. [HuffPo]
• Hey, remember Jeff Vinik? The dude who purchased the Tampa Bay Lightning from Koules/Barrie? He's pretty happy: "Nothing shocks me about these guys." [Tampa Tribune]
• Jon Jordan on playoff hero Sean Bergenheim of the Tampa Bay Lightning: "Bergenheim fit with the Lightning from the start and has been a dynamic difference-maker in the playoffs. Only now, with a share of the playoff goal-scoring lead, will a wide array of observers begin to notice. But anyone that's been following this club for some time already knew what kind of an impact Bergenheim has made on this team at important times since his arrival." [Jordan]
• The Morning After for Capitals fans: "Was it the coaching? Was it the system? Was it the players? Was it the captain? Why did the pieces that seemed to be the final ones suddenly make no difference? What makes a group of professional athletes suddenly unable to show the intensity necessary for postseason hockey? What makes them glare menacingly at reporters and pledge constant vigilance off the ice, only to have them step on the ice and roll over? Why does this team, with all the talent and character in the world, become incapable of finding another level when other teams with varying levels of talent can become playoff juggernauts?" [Japers' Rink]
• On Frozen Blog, on Bruce Boudreau: "In the absence of coherent and sustained game plans we saw the Capitals often pursue a highly individualized style of play, with the captain especially susceptible to it. By the bitter end, we saw a band of misled brothers wholly uncertain of what to do against Tampa Bay, how to counteract 'character' game-breakers who rose to the occasion." [OFB]
• 'Chicago Native Son' with more eulogizing of the Capitals.
• Game 3 postmortem for the Detroit Red Wings. [Hockey Independent]
• GM Dale Tallon of the Florida Panthers is known for spending a buck or two on the free agent market; who might he target this summer? [Litter Box Cats]
• Former NHL enforcer Donald Brashear will step into the cage against Martin Trempe at Ringside MMA 11 in Quebec City. [CP]
• Good look at the Conn Smythe candidacy of Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins. [Houses of the Hockey]
• Talking about Ryan Suter with … Gary Suter. [Gazette]
• Hockey Bieber shines at Worlds. [CP]
• Steve Sullivan out, Colin Wilson in for the Nashville Predators in Game 4. It's Wilson's playoff debut. [NHL.com]
• Arguing why the Nashville Predators need to break up their top line of Sergei Kostitsyn, Patric Hornqvist and Mike Fisher. Hey, we know a girl who could write them a great breakup song. [On The Forecheck]
• Looking at Adam Larsson's maturation as a player in Sweden, as he could join the New Jersey Devils' blueline in the draft. [ILWT]
• Finally, backyard hockey with a healthy spoonful of adorable kid stuff:
Backyard Rink 2010/11 - Version 3.0 from Chad Fournier on Vimeo.