Puck Headlines: Kovalchuk, Pronger and the trading block

Here are your Morning 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.

• ESPN's Scott Burnside lists the "most tradable" players as we begin the sprint to the deadline. He includes Ilya Kovalchuk of the Atlanta Thrashers on the list, and then floats the idea of him getting traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins to play with Sidney Crosby. If Don Waddell followed the Hossa deal with a Kovalchuk trade to Pittsburgh, there's zero chance Mario doesn't have some incriminating photos involving farm animals. [ESPN]

• One player not on Burnside's list: Chris Pronger. But the defenseman says he's aware that if his play, and that of the Anaheim Ducks, doesn't pick up, then he can easily be on the trading block with one year left on his contract. At least that's what his wife told him. [OC Register]

Chris Neil, Filip Kuba and Dean McAmmond are UFAs this summer for the Ottawa Senators. So while Bryan Murray says that he's not blowing up the team to save the season, he also says he's constantly looking to see what the value coming back would be for these dudes. Does the pitch for Kuba begin, "Sorry to hear you didn't get Tomas Kaberle, but ..."? [Ottawa Sun]

• Wayne Scanlon of the Ottawa Citizen believes the quasi-suspensions of Detroit Red Wings Pavel Datsyuk and Nicklas Lidstrom for ditching their all-star game marketing duties has harmed "the integrity of the regular season." Yes, we can all agree that if any of the 29 teams not located in Detroit win the Stanley Cup this season, their names should end with an asterisk ... all because the Red Wings don't have two players for one of 82 games. Uh-huh. [Ottawa Citizen]

• Lidstrom tells a Swedish newspaper that he's disappointed by the League's decision and that he had to remain in Detroit for treatment all weekend because he's run out of cortisone injections and because, evidently, there are no physicians in the greater Montreal area or working for the NHL during the all-star break. [Snapshots]

• The NHL All-Star Game draws a 0.8 rating on Versus, which ranked behind six X-Games events on ABC/ESPN according to USA Today. As Barry Horn writes: "The 12-11 shootout final has to be the highest score-to-ratings-point ratio in sports history." [Sports Media Blog]

Claude Lemieux returns to Colorado as a member of the San Jose Sharks tonight. A good look at his comeback from being a 250-pound fatty, and his money quote from a Conn Smythe winner: "I'm not here just to say I played in one or two games. I'm playing on the team with the best record in the NHL, and I want to help this team any way I can to get its first Stanley Cup." [Denver Post]

Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Mike Commodore says that Red Wings Coach Mike Babcock "was without a doubt an obstacle in my career," and that he still uses him for motivation after he was shipped from Anaheim to Carolina Calgary as a troubled young player. Said Babcock: "Mike always has had a great attitude and an infectious personality." [Dispatch]

• With the team ready for a monstrous eight-game road trip, the Chicago Blackhawks are hoping the all-star game will have gotten Patrick Kane out of his goal-scoring slump. [Chicago Tribune]

• An in-depth look at the Phoenix Coyotes' marketing and attendance challenges in Glendale, and how they could factor into relocation. [Puck Money]

• You know, we're just not sure these Montreal Canadiens retro jerseys from 99-100 B.C. season are going to sell. [AP]

• Can the Tampa Bay Lightning make the playoffs? "Tampa Bay, 12th with 42 points, would have to go 22-13 in its final 35 games to reach 86. And that doesn't even take into consideration what the team between Tampa Bay and Carolina are doing, which means the Lightning might have to do even better." [Lightning Strikes]

• Some photos of Mike Comrie. Many more of Hilary Duff in a bikini. [The Superficial, H/T Curl]

• Was anyone else aware that Nathan Horton's wife was a Playboy model? [Litter Box Cats]

• A great suggestion for Doug Gilmour Night for the Toronto Maple Leafs: Inviting "Minnesota Wild general manager Doug Risebrough to help hoist the banner honouring No. 93," since he's the guy who traded him from the Calgary Flames for a package centered around Gary Leeman. [Sun Media]

• Attempting to pick the all-decade team's defensemen; would Dion Phaneuf or Zdeno Chara round out the field? [Cycle Like the Sedins]

• The AHL plans to take its cue from the NHL as far as fighting goes. From AHL President Dave Andrews: "There is no way you can say fighting has to be part of hockey. There are all sorts of great hockey games that don't have fights in them. I listened to the players in this debate and I haven't heard any take the position we should eliminate fighting from the game, even the skilled guys." [Globe & Mail]

• Finally, and speaking of NHL fighting, video of Garrett Klotz lapsing into convulsions during a fight for the Philadelphia Phantoms hit YouTube, and The 700 Level posted some coverage of it that shows the seizure, but here's the fight from YouTuber phantomsfan; with no sound and a rather scary scene near the bench:

Contact Us