Morning Musings: Exhibition Overload

After watching TSN and Sportsnet on Thursday night, I began to wonder whether the NHL was already in the middle of the regular season. Not only are there pre-game reports (held live at the arena no less) previewing meaningless exhibition contests, but in the evening, the highlights are looped so that the highlights from these games are shown twice in a one hour show. Does anybody else consider this to be overkill? How can TSN justify showing exhibition highlights of a Sens/Capitals game when there are four tremendous division/wild card races taking place in Major League Baseball? The increased television exposure of every training camp/pre-season moment is unnecessary.

Additionally, why are you showing us who the exhibition scoring leaders are? Exhibition scoring leaders rarely tear it up when the games actually matter. If TSN and Sportsnet cut the exhibition highlights, or at least, showed them after meaningful games in other sports have been highlighted, I would be one happy fan.

On to the morning papers:

• Mike Brehm profiles Martin Brodeur in this morning's USA Today.
• Vesa Toskala was not sharp in his debut writes Dave Shoalts of the Globe & Mail.
• Kyle Wellwood was scratched from last night's contest because of a minor groin injury, however, coach Paul Maurice is not overly concerned.
• Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star wonders why Wayne Gretzky won't talk about the Rick Tocchet issue with the press. (Writer's note: Why does Gretzky have to answer questions on this topic?)
• Jannik Hansen will be out of the Canucks' lineup 4-6 weeks with a broken thumb.
• Luc Bourdon is being outplayed by a number of other Canuck defenders who are vying for a spot on the Vancouver blueline writes Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Province.
• Taking his family's needs into account, Glen Metropolit is hoping a decision on his future is made sooner rather than later at Bruins' camp.
• While Manny Fernandez had a fairly positive debut, the Bruins were defeated by the Devils 3-0 on Thursday night.
• Dennis Wideman possesses plenty of skill but the key to his development may be his decision-making ability; Stephen Harris has the story in this morning's Boston Herald.
• John Vogl of the Buffalo News reports that Teppo Numminen had successful heart surgery and is now resting comfortably.
• In less serious news out of Buffalo, coach Lindy Ruff is experimenting with splitting up his top defensive pairing of Tallinder and Lydman and putting each with a more offensive defenseman.
• As Michael Russo of the Star Tribune explains, Wild prospect James Sheppard made some positive plays in his NHL exhibition debut but also made a big mistake which left Jacques Lemaire fuming.
• Marian Gaborik is wondering who is going to be centering the top line in Minnesota this season.
• Losing a significant amount of scoring this off-season, the pressure is on the big guns in Nashville to carry the scoring load writes John Glennon of the Tennessean. The team's defensemen are also going to try and do their part to make up for the lost offense.
• Wings' coach Mike Babcock says the seating arrangement in the team's locker room is not by accident.
• Colby Armstrong made a point of thanking the fans of Pittburgh for their support. While defenseman Kris Letang was 'sent down' to the secondary group at training camp.
• Mike Richards will be used as the checking line center in Philadelphia this season.
• Sami Kapanen had an adventerous return to Philadelphia because of visa problems.
• The Capitals were defeated by the Senators 5-4 on Thursday night in Ottawa.
• When Andy Murray arrived in St. Louis last season, Eric Brewer took his game up a couple notches. As Jeremy Rutherford writes, Murray wants to see Brewer take his game up another notch by becoming a little more offensive minded.
• There may be a numbers crunch on the blue line in Anaheim but Joe Dipenta can be sure he has one important supporter in Randy Carlyle.
• Jean Lefebvre of the Calgary Herald details the battle for the final forward roster spot on the Flames and the competition is heated.
• Randy Sportak of the Calgary Sun has the story of David Moss and his off-season training program in Russia this summer.
• Lorenzo Perez takes a closer look at Glen Wesley, the elder statesman on the Canes' blueline, in this morning's News Observer.
• Jonathan Toews is lucky he only has a small crack in his index finger and not a broken hand writes Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune.
• A couple of pleasant surprises at Avs' camp are making the roster decisions that much more difficult for coach Joel Quenville.
• Joel Bouchard had an epiphany while he was laying sick in a hospital bed with a serious infection; now he is back healthy, and is attempting to crack the Blue Jackets' defense. (Writer's note: It is hard not to like Bouchard after reading this article. Lets hope he makes the Columbus defense.)
• The Stars have one of the top backup goalies in the entire NHL and as Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News points out, a good backup may mean the difference between just making the playoffs and finishing on the outside.
• Sheldon Souray's bomb from the point definitely impressed coach Craig MacTavish on Thursday night. (Writer's note: Oilers' fans are probably more concerned with his pinch at the blueline with 10 seconds remaining that led to the winning goal. But guys, it is only pre-season!)
• Rostislav Olesz will be looking for his own shot more this season writes Steve Gorten of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
• Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette has a neat story on the rising Canadian dollar and its effect on various members of the Habs' organization.
• Doctors are still unsure about whether Colin White incurred damage to his eye and the tough defenseman is understandably worried.
• The makeup of the Habs' lineup is beginning to become clear writes Pat Hickey. (Writer's note: More importantly, the practice referred to in the article was played at the Martin Lapointe Arena. Martin Lapointe has an arena??????? I hope it was given to him before he signed with Boston...)
• As Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reports, the Senators sent down 13 players to their AHL affiliate on Thursday.
• Brian McGrattan is concerned about the new RBK jerseys writes Chris Stevenson of the Ottawa Sun.
• As Greg Logan explains in this morning's New York Newsday, both the Islanders and Andy Sutton are happy to have each other.
• Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen reports that Mike Fisher is almost ready for game action.
• Injuries are starting to pile up at Lightning camp.
• The battle for the backup goalie position in San Jose will not be decided solely on play in a couple of pre-season games writes David Pollak in this morning's San Jose Mercury News.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock