Patrice Bergeron progressing well

From Fluto Shinwaza of the Boston Globe:

Bergeron has been symptom-free all summer and has been working out six times a week, mimicking the workouts he has gone through during previous offseasons.

"It does feel like routine," Bergeron said. "I've been working out like this every summer since I've been playing pro. The only thing that's different is that I started a little bit earlier."

The Bruins are hoping a healthy Bergeron can play behind Marc Savard as the No. 2 center, serving as a two-way pivot (possible linemates include Marco Sturm and Chuck Kobasew) who can produce offense and skate against top opposing forwards.

Read the entire article here.

This is great news for Bruins fans and hockey fans anywhere for that matter. Bergeron is a tremendously talented player that will help the Bruins in all aspects of the game, so long as he can stay concussion free.

NHL Morning Papers: The Non-Conference Finals Teams

Here are the Eastern Conference morning papers for the teams that are not currently participating in the playoffs:

Southeast Division:

• Former Thrasher Scott Mellanby has been hired by the Canucks, writes Craig Custance.

Atlantic Division:

• Katie Strang of Newsday previews the Islanders' draft strategy.

Northeast Division:

• Hal Gill is happy with his new team in Pittsburgh, writes Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star. It appears the Leafs are going to offer their assistant GM post to Dave Nonis. Apparently the Leafs are not the only team talking to Nonis about a front-office position.
• In Ottawa, Bryan Murray wants to have his new head coach in place by the entry draft.
• Chuck Kobasew is extremely happy in Boston, writes Fluto Shinwaza.

Here are the Western Conference morning papers for the teams that are not currently participating in the playoffs:

Northwest Division:

• The Oilers have signed prospect Bryan Pitton to an entry-level contract.
• Markus Naslund is an impending UFA, however, he is still keeping a watchful eye on the Canucks and their organizational decisions. In management news, Scott Mellanby is the newest member of Canucks management.
• New Wild owner Craig Leipold is not worried about Doug Risebrough leaving Minnesota.

Central Division:

• The Predators and Martin Erat have re-arranged their seven year contract to conform to NHL rules.
• The Blues have a great young core moving forward, writes Jeremy Rutherford. Meantime, Dave Nonis is being courted by Blues management.

Pacific Division:

• Here is an interview with Kings forward Matt Moulson.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.

Email any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions to illegalcurve@gmail.com

NHL Morning Papers: The Non-Conference Finals Teams

Here are the Eastern Conference morning papers for the teams that are not currently participating in the playoffs:

Southeast Division:

• Craig Custance of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution thinks Ron Wilson may be a leading candidate for the Thrashers head coaching job.
• Hurricanes defenseman Tim Gleason was injured during the World Hockey Championships, but the injury is not believed to be serious.

Atlantic Division:

• No morning papers for the Atlantic Division.

Northeast Division:

• The Bruins re-signed Chuck Kobasew to a 3 year contract on Tuesday and Fluto Shinwaza of the Boston Globe has the details.
• According to Allen Panzeri of the Ottawa Citizen, the Senators have not contacted Craig Hartsburg about their open head coaching position.
• You can cross Wayne Gretzky's name off the list of people interested in running the Maple Leafs. Meanwhile, the Leafs did meet with Dave Nonis yesterday about their vacant GM position.

Here are the Western Conference morning papers for the teams that are not currently participating in the playoffs:

Northwest Division:

• The Avalanche have signed 2007 second-round pick T.J. Galiardi to an entry-level contract.

Central Division:

• Pascal Leclaire has played well for Canada at the World Hockey Championships, writes Tom Reed.
• Former UND Fighting Sioux winger T.J. Oshie is now a member of the St. Louis Blues.
• In Nashville, Steve Sullivan continues his rehabilitation from a serious back injury.

Pacific Division:

• Pat Burns should be the man for the Sharks head coaching gig, writes Tim Kawakami. Regardless of who Kawakami wants for the job, the search begins today.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.

Email any thoughts, ideas or suggestions to illegalcurve@gmail.com

Fantasy Watch: Scouring the Waiver Wire

D Braydon Coburn, Philadelphia Flyers
Coburn didn't make much noise throughout the first half of the season, but managed to head into the all-star break riding a four game point streak. The former Atlanta Thrasher currently has 22 points on the year, making him Philly's second leading scorer on defense. Receiving time on the power-play, Coburn has made the most of his opportunity notching three pp assists in January. Entering the second half of the season, Coburn will be looking to extended his point streak and play a larger role in Philadelphia's offense.
Fantasy Take: Coburn has been very inconsistent all year but has heated up over the the last four games and may be worth a flier for those in need of a lower-end option at defense.

F Chuck Kobasew, Boston Bruins
In his first full year with Boston Kobasew is off to his best start as a pro, scoring 17 goals and 26 points in 49 games. The forward has benefited from playing with all-star centerman Marc Savard and is giving the Bruins a capable goal scorer they so desperately need. Leading the team with 17 goals, Kobasew has also been productive on the powerplay, scoring five pp goals to go along with four assists. Look for Kobasew to break his previous career high in points and goals in the next few weeks.
Fantasy Take: Kobasew has been a shaky play but is currently heating up, scoring five points in his last four games. Before making a claim for the forward, watch how he performs post all-star break to see if he can continue to be a regular on the score sheet.

F Martin Gelinas, Nashville Predators
Gelinas has come alive this January, scoring half of his points in this month alone. Appearing in 44 games for the Preds, Gelinas has totaled eight goals and 18 points on the year. Enjoying his best game of the season earlier this week, Gelinas scored two goals and added one assist while playing over 16 minutes. Although Gelinas had a rough season up until January, the forward has shown that he can still score in this league and may even be a decent fantasy option in deeper leagues.
Fantasy Take: Gelinas enjoyed a great month, scoring three goals and six assists. Keep an eye on him post all-star break to see if he continues with this pace, or returns to scoreless ways.

D Ryan Suter, Nasville Predators
Suter has been Nashville's second most productive defenseman, scoring five goals and 21 points. He is currently riding a four game point streak, scoring four points during that span while averaging around 15 minutes of ice time. Although he has failed to pick up power-play points (Suter has only two pp assists this month), the defenseman is still young and continuing to progress as a player. Increasing his point total in each of the first two seasons, Suter is a lock to surpass his 24 points he put up last year and could finish with around 35+ points if he continues to play well.
Fantasy Take: Although Suter may not help your fantasy team this year, he is a good defenseman to look at in keeper leagues. In only his third year in the league, Suter continues to improve as a player and will only get better as the years go on.


For Illegal Curve, I'm Jonny Remis

NHL Morning Papers

Here are the Eastern Conference morning papers:

The Capitals have lost eight of their past ten games, which means that their upcoming three-game road trip may be critical in determining the direction of their season writes Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post.

Vesa Toskala has started six straight games and has quietly become the number one goalie in Toronto. While Mats Sundin and Jason Blake have developed great chemistry at even strength play, Paul Maurice has split them up on the powerplay.

Lightning defenseman Dan Boyle is set to have a MRI on his wrist after he experienced some discomfort during the team's last game versus Atlanta.

If the Penguins want to improve on their .500 record, they need to play better during even strength play. While their even strength play has been unimpressive, at least the team is improving in the face-off circle.

Ed Moran of the Philadelphia Inquirer thinks it is still too early to be able to predict what this year's version of the Flyers is capable of. Moran's colleague Tim Panaccio is reporting that Simon Gagne will return from injury tonight versus the Rangers.

The Senators defeated the Bruins 2-1 in a shootout yesterday afternoon, however, no one was actually in the TD Banknorth Garden to watch the game. The Sens didn't play their best game but still managed to pull out the victory writes Chris Stevenson of the Ottawa Sun. Don't expect Senators' center Jason Spezza to be in the lineup tomorrow night versus the Leafs as his groin is not yet back to 100%.

Mark Hermmann of Newsday tells readers that the eye injury Rick DiPietro sustained on Saturday was not serious and the goaltender may be able to play tomorrow against the Rangers.

Rangers' rookie Brandon Dubinsky did a solid job centering Jaromir Jagr on Saturday night and may play alongside the superstar once again tonight. With the way Henrik Lundqvist has played this season, the Rangers may not need to score as much as they originally thought.

Devils' backup goaltender Kevin Weekes is excited about the prospect of attracting new fans to the Devils' new arena in Newark. Coach Brent Sutter wants his players to forget the team's record and start fresh writes Rich Chere of the Newark Star-Ledger.

Habs' coach Guy Carbonneau has not said whether struggling winger Michael Ryder will even dress for tonight's game versus the Sabres. It looks like Francis Bouillon will dress tonight in his first action since injuring his shoulder a week ago.

Panthers' netminder Tomas Vokoun says his team is not going to win a lot of games playing the type of inconsistent hockey they have so far this season.

Hurricanes' forward Scott Walker remains in excruciating pain and the team has no idea when he will be able to return to the lineup writes Lorenzo Perez of the News Observer.

The Sabres haven't played their best hockey this season so with nine straight intra-division games, now is the time for them to make their move writes Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News.

Fluto Shinwaza of the Boston Globe says the Bruins' didn't lose yesterday's game in the shootout, but rather they lost the game after giving up a short-handed goal in the third period. In some encouraging Bruins' news, winger Chuck Kobasew has started to find the back of the net writes Rich Thompson of the Boston Herald.

Here are the Western Conference morning papers:

• It has taken newcomer Adrian Aucoin some time to adjust to his new surroundings but he has been steadily improving writes Randy Sportak of the Calgary Sun. In order to become a team in the upper-echelon of the NHL, the Flames need to improve their overall special teams play.
• The Blackhawks followed up an impressive victory over the Blues on Saturday night with an awful 5-2 loss to the Predators last night. Meanwhile, veteran center Yanic Perreault is becoming more comfortable in his new role as the third line checking center/face-off specialist.
• Don't look now but it appears that Jose Theodore may be stealing the Avalance starting goaltending position from Peter Budaj, as the veteran will start between the pipes for the Avs tonight as they host the Flames.
• Pascal Leclaire is on pace for the most insane statistical goaltending season of all-time as he recorded his fifth shutout last night versus the Blues in a 3-0 victory. If you are a Blue Jackets opponent, just about the last thing you want to do is allow them to score the first goal. The Blue Jackets organization has been very pleased with the play of Nikolai Zherdev this season writes Bob Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch. (Writer's note: Edmonton fans will want to check out the Zherdev article to see who they could have had him for in a trade last season)
• No one is without blame for the Stars' slow start writes Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News.
• Daniel Cleary may not be scoring, but he is helping the Wings in a number of other ways writes Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press. In other Wings' news, Johan Franzen has been promoted to the team's second line.
• Dustin Penner has not lived up to expectations writes Jim Matheson in this morning's Edmonton Journal. To put the Oilers' injuries into perspective, veteran defenseman Steve Staios has played more NHL games than the other five starting Oilers' defensemen combined.
• The Kings have sent Matt Mouloson back to the AHL.
• According to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune, it appears veteran Wild center Wes Walz is contemplating retirement.
• Predators' netminder Chris Mason isn't giving up his job that easily, as the Alberta native was victorious last night over the Blackhawks 5-2.
• The Blues have been defeated twice by the Blue Jackets this season, both by the score of 3-0.
• As Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Sun tells readers that Kevin Bieksa will be out for a long time (probably over two months) but that his Achilles tendon was damaged as part of his injury. With all of their defensive injuries, the Canucks are relying on their youngsters to step up and fill the void writes Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province.
  

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.