Leafs want to get rid of McCabe

From Mark Zwolinski of the Toronto Star:

Bryan McCabe is all but done as a Maple Leaf.

The only question remaining is the method by which the organization will cut ties with the veteran defenceman.

The Leafs have been working for almost a month on convincing McCabe to soften his stance on the no-trade, no-movement clause in his contract – with no success.

Read the entire article here.

I don't know why the Leafs are so adament about getting rid of McCabe so soon. Sure he has a massive contract, but he is still a very productive NHL defenseman; with a good season he can up his trade value. The team should continue to look at trade options, but a buyout should not be an option (which as of now it isn't). McCabe will eventually get sick of the media attention and losing and want out.

NHL Morning Papers: Special Pre-Draft Edition

Here are the morning papers from the Northeast Division:

• Sabres GM Darcy Regier is looking to move up in the draft, writes John Vogl.
• The Bruins have a couple of names that they are hoping are available at 16. Meanwhile, apparently Cam Neely enjoys the draft process.
• Bryan McCabe won't waive his no-trade clause and the Leafs won't buy him out, so it looks like he'll be in Toronto. Want advice on how to turnaround the Leafs? Listen to Don Cherry. The Leafs acquired Toronto native Jamal Mayers last night.
• The Habs could look to deal their first-rounder for an accomplished forward, writes Pat Hickey.
• Bryan Murray denies that a trade involving Jason Spezza is in the works. Here are some other tidbits involving the Senators, courtesy of Don Brennan.

NHL Morning Papers: Playoff Teams (Tuesday Edition)

Here are the morning papers for the Western Conference playoff matchups:

Detroit versus Nashville:

• The Wings have a number of injuries heading into their first round series with the Predators. According to USA Today, the Red Wings are heading into the playoffs with two of the top six clutch performers in the NHL.
• For the Predators, goaltending will be the key to any upset, writes John Glennon. It looks like David Legwand is not as far away from returning as once believed.

San Jose versus Calgary:

• The Sharks players are past the point of caring whether they are playing against some of their ex-teammates on the Flames. Hockey analysts across the continent like the Sharks to make a long run.
• George Johnson of the Calgary Herald has a feeling the Flames would have much preferred a series against the Wild instead of the Sharks. The Flames will need Robyn Regehr and Cory Sarich to shutdown big Joe Thornton. If Calgary wants to pull off the upset, the Flames will need Miikka Kiprusoff to be their best player, writes Randy Sportak.

Minnesota versus Colorado:

• The Wild's road to the second round got a lot tougher last night with word that Nick Schultz will miss the first round after undergoing an appendectomy. With Schultz's injury, shutting down Colorado's big forward lines will be that much harder. Here is some video of the Wild preparing for Game 1.
• Adam Foote and Ruslan Salei have made a huge difference for the Avalanche on the defensive end. Coach Joel Quenville would like more scoring from his third line.

Anaheim versus Dallas:

• Ducks coach Randy Carlyle is never satisfied, writes Eric Stephens of the L.A. Times. Doug Weight may see himself on the outside looking in of the Ducks lineup.
• The Stars are hoping Steve Ott agitates as many Ducks as he can, writes Mike Heika.

Here are the morning papers for the Eastern Conference playoff matchups:

Montreal versus Boston:

• Saku Koivu will be out until next week at the earliest, writes Pat Hickey. Hickey also provides an examination of the Habs and Bruins in all aspects of the game. Here is a Montreal Gazette playoff pool tips article.
• Patrice Bergeron may return to the Bruins lineup for Game 2. Bergeron isn't the only Bruins star forward who plans on returning to the lineup, as Marc Savard wants to be back for Game 1.

Pittsburgh versus Ottawa:

• Marian Hossa is not thinking about past playoff failures and is looking to make a long playoff run with the Penguins, writes Shelly Anderson. Bryan Murray believes the Penguins tanked to face his Senators.
• The Senators are certainly not feared by the Penguins, writes Bruce Garrioch. "We've gotten a bad (reputation) here the last little while and everybody ousting us in the first round and not giving us much of a chance," said Senators star Jason Spezza. Meanwhile, the Senators are going to need Cristoph Schubert to be a physical force in this first round series.

Washington versus Philadelphia:

• If the Capitals are going to make a playoff run, they will need to see the same goaltending from Cristobal Huet as they did at season's end.
• Flyers forward Daniel Briere says he will be in the lineup for Game 1 on Friday. With the Flyers opposing Alexander Ovechkin, this series will be the feature national series in the United States.

New Jersey versus New York Rangers:

• Martin Brodeur is ready for the usual harassment he will get from Rangers fans. Dainius Zubrus will be matched up all series against Jaromir Jagr.
• Larry Brooks speaks to the importance of a productive Sean Avery in the playoffs. Jaromir Jagr is ready to get the playoffs underway.

The non-playoff team morning papers are soon to follow...

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.

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

News You Can Use Late in the Day

1. Darryl Katz has made another offer to buy the Edmonton Oilers, and it looks like this one will be accepted.
2. The NHL and the IIHF have re-opened the transfer agreement.
3. Angelo Esposito and Leland Irving highlight today's cuts for Team Canada.
4. Mike Richards has signed a 12 year deal with the Flyers.
5. Teppo Numminen has resumed skating.
6. Water cooler notes.
7. Darren Dreger tells us the Curtis Joseph will be playing in the Spengler Cup.
8. Northeastern has been surprising people in the NCAA.
9. The AHL report.
10. Crashing the Net gives us 15 players to watch at the upcoming World Juniors.
11. Steven Stamkos says he is willing to do anything to help Canada win.
12. INCH's Hobey Baker tracker.
13. Fanhouse discusses the Scott Walker incident.
14. Stan Fischler details a heated exchange between Aaron Asham and Brent Sutter.
15. Fans aren't the only ones who don't like defensive hockey.
16. Bryan McCabe's offense has dried up, but so have the boos.
17. Jason Jaffray and Mason Raymond each scored their first NHL goals last night.
18. A Martin Havlat for Erik Cole trade was nearly a done deal, pre-lockout.
19. Rand Simon writes that younger players are getting signed sooner and to bigger deals in the wake of the Dustin Penner offer sheet.
20. Wednesday's WHL highlights.
21. This week's installment featuring Roseau, MN, courtesy of the Hockey News.
22. The Gagner-Nilsson-Pisani line is clicking in Edmonton.
23. The Montreal Canadiens have reunited the Kostitsyn brothers.
24. A video of life living with Tom Gilbert, Sam Gagner and Andrew Cogliano.
25. Here are the Top 20 WHL prospects for the 2008 draft.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Kyle Kosior

NHL Morning Papers (Sunday Edition)

Here are the Eastern Conference morning papers:

• Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun says John Ferguson Jr.'s days as Leafs' GM are numbered.
• You can find Bruce Garrioch's Sunday rumors column here.
• Although his overall numbers aren't overly impressive, Thrashers' goalie Johan Hedberg has turned his game up a notch as of late.
• "This is a game of mistakes, but when you have 4-5 huge mistakes in a game, you’re not going to win," said Bruins' winger Glen Murray after the Bruins were defeated 7-4 by the Habs on Saturday night. Bruins' coach Claude Julien and Habs' coach Guy Carbonneau were going at it late in last night's game. Aaron Ward returned to the Bruins' lineup last night after missing a couple games due to a concussion. Here is Kevin Paul Dupont's usual Sunday morning notes column in the Boston Globe.
• Bucky Gleason of the Buffalo News says he expects Brett Hull to turn the Stars around.
• The Hurricanes just held on for a 2-1 victory over the Panthers on Saturday, in what was Glen Wesley's 1400th game in the NHL.
• The Panthers were unable to score on a number of late 5-on-3 chances that would have sent the game to an extra frame. Amid speculation that he may be on the trading block, Panthers' forward Olli Jokinen has become a bit frustrated with all the rumors. George Richards of the Miami Herald has an interesting take on all the Jokinen rumors.
• Jack Todd of the Montreal Gazette commends Steve Begin on his mastery of the pest role. Here are some notes from around the NHL courtesy of legendary Gazette writer Red Fisher.
• It took him four tries but Martin Brodeur finally got that elusive 500th career victory last night in his team's 6-2 win over Philadelphia. As Rich Chere of the Newark Star-Ledger explains, if you think Brent Sutter has become discouraged by his team's play, then you don't know Brent Sutter.
• If you picked one player to score the overtime winner between the Rangers and Penguins, Jason Strudwick would have been your last choice writes John Dellapina of the NY Daily News. Larry Brooks of the NY Post is critical of Brent Sutter's "calling out" tactics in his Sunday Slap Shots column. (Writer's note: What's wrong with Sutter calling out his veterans whose performances are making them vastly overpaid? All Sutter wants is consistent hard work and production. His expectations are not unreasonable, and it will benefit Jersey in the long haul to no longer have the inmates running the asylum.)
• Greg Logan of Newsday says that Josef Vasicek has been a very pleasant surprise for the Islanders so far this season. Logan also has an interesting piece on the leadership that Bill Guerin has added to the Islanders both on and off the ice.
• Last night's embarrassing 3-0 loss to the Maple Leafs was the first loss on the road for the Senators. Ray Emery says he if he were the coach he'd be sticking with Martin Gerber too right now.
• It wasn't one of the Flyers best games last night, as they lacked solid performances in all aspects of the game.
• The Penguins couldn't capitalize on their two-goal lead and ended up losing to the division-leading Rangers in overtime. The Penguins better turn it around soon if they wish to duplicate last season's point total writes Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
• The Lightning defensemen have been responsible for a lot of the team's offense, and coach John Tortorella says that is partly due to the added responsibility of Lightning players (both forwards and defensemen) to play the other side of the puck.
• It has been a long time since somebody shutout the Senators, and that made Vesa Toskala's performance an even bigger story on Saturday night after the Leafs handled the Senators 3-0 on home-ice. "Bryan McCabe was a horse out there," said an impressed Mats Sundin after last night's shutout.

Here are the Western Conference morning papers:

• Last night's shootout victory over the rival Sharks made it four wins in a row for the now-streaking Ducks writes Dan Wood of the Orange County Register.
• It took the Flames a while, but they finally cracked the Garon Code and defeated the struggling (or maybe just plain bad) Oilers 3-1 at Rexall Place. Owen Nolan is hoping to build on his one goal and one assist performance from last night and turn his game up to another level.
• The Blackhawks just flat-out own the Red Wings this season after defeating them for a fourth straight time on Saturday night. Meanwhile, the Hawks youngsters have played so well that they are now being matched up against opposing team's top checking lines and top defensemen.
• Terry Frei of the Denver Post gives you his take on a number of current NHL issues in this morning's paper.
• The Blue Jackets have to make sure their penalty killing is in top form tonight as they face the Red Wings. Here are the Jackets' projected lines for tonight's contest.
• Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News says the Stars' number one goal is to wins the fans back.
• The Red Wings were playing in front of their first home sell-out of the season, but the fans took to booing after watching the Wings give up three short-handed markers and lose to the Hawks for the fourth time this season. "I don't have any explanation -- I don't know what to say about it. It was same situation in St. Louis and today it was a similar situation -- not too many saves; however, they score four goals on 15 shots, whatever. Very disappointed," said Wings' netminder Dominik Hasek after last night's performance.
• The Oilers could only muster 16 shots on Miikka Kiprusoff last night and were defeated by the Flames 3-1 on home-ice. (Writer's note: You will read this column and come across the many reasons why the Oilers' players believe they can't score. Unfortunately, the main reason is because they just aren't a talented enough team to generate consistent offensive opportunities). As John MacKinnon of the Edmonton Journal explains, the Flames have been lacking consistent goaltending all season, but when you only get eight shots on goal through two periods, that goaltending doesn't even become an issue. In other Oilers related news, Derek Van Diest of the Edmonton Sun provides readers with the story of Liam Reddox.
• The Kings faced Ilya Brygalov yesterday afternoon and they were shutout by the newest Coyote 1-0.
• Mikko Koivu will be lost to the Wild lineup for one week and maybe more after taking an inexplicable two-hand slash to the leg on Friday night.
• The Predators were not unhappy with the way they played last night, they just couldn't capitalize on their scoring chances and ended up losing to the Blues 3-2 in a shootout. "It was nice to get one point tonight, but we should have had two," said Predators' defenseman Shea Weber who returned from injury last night.
• The Coyotes responded well to their closed-door meeting on Thursday night with a solid, hard-working performance that led to a 1-0 victory over the Kings.
• It as a playoff atmosphere last night in the Shark Tank as the Ducks defeated San Jose in a shootout 2-1 write David Pollak of the San Jose Mercury News.
• The Blues were very impressed with the play of Hannu Toivonen on Saturday, as the youngster turned aside 35 of the 37 shots he faced.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.

Jiri Tlusty Situation

While it pains me to even write about this beyond ridiculous situation, I may as well provide my take on the Jiri Tlusty "situation." If you have been living under a rock (or anywhere outside of Canada), you probably haven't heard about the naked pictures of Leafs' rookie Jiri Tlusty making their way through the Toronto news media. First off, you are probably wondering who Jiri Tlusty is, and for that, I don't blame you. For your information, Tlusty is a Toronto Maple Leafs rookie winger. You know, those Toronto Maple Leafs that consistently produce average players, average results and way above-average net profits. Well, when Tlusty was young and naive (aka last year), he sent naked photos of himself to a girl. That girl, whomever she is, decided to send the pictures to a Canadian gossip website and soon the pictures were all over the internet. There has been so much fuss about this story that Tlusty had to be ushered out of the Air Canada Centre yesterday to avoid the throngs of Canadian media wanting to report on the story.

The Toronto media needs to find something worthwhile to report on. No one cares that a kid took naked pictures of himself and sent them to a girl. That is not news. Not only do most fans not want to hear about that the first time, but they don't want to be hit over the head with this useless story. The fact of the matter is that--No One Cares! This is the one time in my life I'd actually rather hear about Bryan McCabe's defensive struggles for the fourteenth hundred time.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.

Morning Musings

Here are the national mornings papers:

• With the whole Rick Tocchet issue coming to a close yesterday, Eric Duhatschek says that Gary Bettman has avoided a nightmare.
• Stephen Brunt of the Globe & Mail believes Rick Tocchet did the NHL a favor by pleading out and not taking his case to court.
• Kevin Allen of USA Today believes that Don Waddell may be the best choice to coach the Thrashers.

Here are the Eastern Conference morning papers:

• The Thrashers had a furious third period rally but their play in the first two periods put them in too deep of a hole and they were defeated by Ottawa 6-4. While all the talk surrounding the Thrashers concerns Marian Hossa's contract coming up on free agency, no one is talking about captain Bobby Holik also hitting free agency this summer.
• Claude Julien wants the Bruins to play to win, not to play not to lose and that strategy paid off last night in the Bruins 4-3 overtime victory over Buffalo. With Patrice Bergeron out of the lineup, the Bruins are attempting to replace their best all-around player by committee.
• Ryan Miller was outplayed by Tim Thomas and the Sabres were defeated by the Bruins in Boston 4-3.
• The NHL will be reviewing a couple of diving calls that went against the Hurricanes in their game Wednesday at Florida writes Lorenzo Perez.
• Olli Jokinen isn't sure why he plays better at home than on the road but the Panthers need him to make sure he brings his game up a notch away from home as they have the majority of their games on the road in November. In other Panthers' news, Richard Zednik is looking more like his former self writes Mike Phillips of the Miami Herald.
• The Habs had a dominating effort last night over the Flyers defeating them 5-2 writes Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette. After seeing the Flyers resort to violent play late in last night's contest, Hickey wonders if the team's recent violent acts are maybe a product of the way they always play.
• The Devils have been very happy with the play of rookie David Clarkson writes Rich Chere of the Newark Star-Ledger. Mark Everson of the NY Post wonders if Brent Sutter's attempts to motivate his star forward Patrik Elias may turn out to be quite risky.
• The Capitals were snakebitten in New York last night, but all the credit has to go to Henrik Lundqvist who was brilliant in shutting out the Caps 2-0.
• The Rangers have played shutdown defensive hockey pretty much all season now points out John Dellapina in this morning's NY Daily News. Larry Brooks of the NY Post thinks everyone is foolish if they try and decide who the leader of the Rangers is and leave Lundqvist out of the equation.
• The Senators completely dominated the Thrashers for the first two periods and hung on to win 6-4 on the back of Daniel Alfredsson's four point night. Bruch Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun believes whomever loses out on the Peter Forsberg sweepstakes will make an attempt to obtain Marian Hossa from the Thrashers.
• Ed Moran of the Philadelphia Inquirer has the details of a recent meeting between Flyers' GM Paul Holmgren and Peter Forsberg.
• The Penguins blew a 2-0 lead on the road last night in Colorado, falling to the Avalanche 3-2. Former Penguins' defenseman Paul Coffey has been voted into the team's Hall of Fame.
• Ruslan Fedotenko made his former squad regret letting him leave via free agency as he had one of the four tallies in the Islanders' 4-0 victory over the Lightning.
• With Bryan McCabe on the shelf, the Leafs' have made Nik Antropov one of their alternate captains. Both Kyle Wellwood and Mark Bell will accompany the Leafs on their upcoming road trip. Mike Zeisberger of the Toronto Sun is reporting that the Leafs looks like they will finally be getting the go-ahead to build their new practice rink.

The Western Conference morning papers are soon to follow...

• Last night's 3-0 loss to the Predators marks the first time the Canucks have been three games under .500 since the 2001/02 season writes Brad Zeimer of the Vancouver Sun. Not only did the Canucks lose the game but they lost both Sami Salo and Kevin Bieksa to injuries.
• Derek Boogard only served the motivate the Blues last night as they defeated the Wild 3-2 in St. Paul. Brad Boyes is continuing his terrific play for the Blues and is showing no signs of letting up. It looks like rookie defenseman Erik Johnson will be ready to return to the St. Louis lineup this weekend.
• It has not taken Sharks' rookie Devon Setoguchi long to make an impact for the Sharks up front.
• Jim Gintonio of the Arizona Republic has the details behind Rick Tocchet's eligibilty to return from league suspension.
• Predators' netminder Dan Ellis shutout the Canucks 3-0 last night and looks to be making a hard charge after Chris Mason's job.
• Jacques Lemaire said the top line of Koivu-Gaborik-Demitra was the team's best by a country mile in their 3-2 loss to the Blues; however, the rest of the team can play a lot better. According to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune, expect rookie James Sheppard to see his ice-time increase.
• Kyle Calder will be out of the Kings lineup indefinitely with a fractured thumb.
• The Oilers' brass is talking about Fernando Pisani's return in weeks and months as opposed to if he'll come back at all writes Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Sun. In other Oilers' news, Robert Nilsson is going to try his best to stay up with the big-club this go-around. Defenseman Matt Greene will be out of the lineup for three months but says the injury could have been a lot worse.
• The Wings swept through their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 record, marking the first time they have done that since the Atlanta Flames moved to Calgary. Wings' forward Johan Franzen is okay after taking a shot to the head from teammate Brett Lebda.
• In Dallas, Dave Tippett is challenging Dallas' stars to be better writes J.J. Taylor of the Dallas Morning News.
• The Blue Jackets were defeated by the Ducks in arguably the most physical hockey game played in the 2007/08 season.
• The Chicago Tribune's Chris Kuc gets the inside look at the mundane non-hockey life of rooke Patrick Kane.
• The return of Mathieu Schneider not only solidified the Ducks defense, but also gave them the shootout victory as Schneider was the lone player from either side to convert his shootout attempt.
• Jarome Iginla thinks the Flames "over-respected" the Wings last night in his team's 4-1 loss. "We tried to beat the Detroit Red Wings by playing like the Red Wings," said Flames' defenseman Robyn Regehr.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.

Late Night Recap: Marty "BEAST of the night" Biron

This one goes out to all the insomniacs out there

• Chris Campoli churned out 4 assists, Bill Guerin made it rain hats and Bryan Berard had a goal and an assist playing like he had two fully functional eyes. The Islanders defeat the Capitals 5 - 4
• The Boston Bruins were able to hold the Lecavalier, St. Louis, Prospal line to zero points. Marco Sturm chipped in with two goals and Patrice Bergeron had two assists. Bruins 4 Lightning 1
• Atlanta responds to Bob Hartley's firing by pumping out 5 goals vs the Rangers. Marian Hossa had two points for the Thrashers. Kari Lehtonen left mid game with a groin. Thrashers 5, Rangers 3
• In tonights episode of The Office, Jim and Pam stay a night at Dwights beet farm. Dwight tries to get over Angela, and Michael is out of money. It might just be me but the new season of The Office hasn't impressed me much.
• Back to hockey: Marty "BEAST of the night" Biron records his 2nd straight shutout, stopping 38 shots from the Devils. 38 shots from the Devils, that must be a franchise record. Flyers 4 Devils 0
• In All-Star Randy Robitaille's Sens debut, Nick Foglino scored his first NHL goal. The Sens over the Canadiens 4-3. The media took overhyping to a new level when the Senators signed Randy Robitaille signing. It really wasn't news at all.
  
• Nik Antropov scored with 27 seconds left and Bryan McCabe responded to unnecessary criticism by scoring a goal. The Leafs knock off the Panthers 3-2. If Bryan McCabe wasn't obviously overpaid, would people boo him? The guy never deserved the money in the first place, Leafs fans should be booing JFJ not McCabe. Was he supposed to decline that fat contract because he didn't think he deserved it? Give Bryan McCabe a break.
• Daymond Langkow scores his 500th NHL point as Calgary gets the lead and is able to keep it this time in a 4 - 3 win over Los Angeles.
• Oilers 4 Phoenix 2. These teams are both awful. Oh yeah, Raffi Torres scored 2 goals.
• Chris Osgood gets his 3rd win of the year for Detroit and Henrik Zetterberg nets two points. The Detroit Red Wings spear the San Jose Sharks 4 - 2.

Tomorrow's Games (all times Eastern)
7:30pm: CLB@BUF, CAR@PIT
8:30pm: COL@CHI
10:00pm: LA@VAN

Morning Musings: The Bryan McCabe situation

On Monday, Leafs' defenseman Bryan McCabe accidentally shot the puck in his own net at the end of overtime versus the Buffalo Sabres. The next day, the outcry from Leafs' fans was overwhelming. People were, and still are, calling for McCabe to be traded, saying he was the most overpaid defenseman in the league and just plain bashing the offensive rearguard. The question I have for Leaf fans is, why? Why boo McCabe when he plays at home? I just don't get it. The word fan is derived from the word fanatic and Leaf fans are fanatic about their team; more importantly fans are presumably fanatic about wanting their team to win. If they want their team to win then what is the purpose in bashing/booing Bryan McCabe? I never understand why fans do this. When you boo a player, it only affects his confidence in a negative way, thereby hurting the player's production which results in less wins for your favorite team. If the Leafs fans were as knowledgeable as they claim to be, they would support McCabe and give the rearguard some confidence; this most likely result in better production from the gritty defenseman and therefore more wins for the organization.

On to the morning papers:

• Craig Custance of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the details of Bob Hartley's firing. While, Jeff Schultz of the AJC thinks that Don Waddell should have been the one fired. Here is a list of possible coaching replacements provided by the paper.
• Petteri Wirtanen scored the winning goal as the Anaheim Ducks defeated the Nashville Predators 3-1 on Wednesday night.
• The Predators played a lot better last night than they had their three games before, nonetheless, it wasn't enough to beat the Ducks; John Glennon of the Tennessean has the details. David Legwand has been creating scoring chances with his linemates but has been having trouble making those chances count.
• As Kevin Paul Dupont writes in this morning's Boston Globe, the Bruins finally get the opportunity to impress their fans at tonight's home opener. Since leaving the Boston Garden, the Bruins haven't been that successful at defending home-ice and coach Claude Julien says that has to change. In other Bruins' news, coach Julien wants the Boston media to get off Manny Fernandez's back.
• Coach Denis Savard has set 28 wins as his goal for home-ice wins this season, unfortunately for Savard last night's 3-1 loss to St. Louis won't help contribute to lessening that number. Star forward Martin Havlat has decided to undergo rehabilitation instead of surgery and is expected to be out of the lineup for 4-6 weeks. Ed Sherman of the Chicago Tribune opines that the Blackhawks missed out on an opportunity to gain some fans by blacking out last night's home-game with little, if any, competition on television.
• Both Avalanche goaltenders are happy to have full-time goalie coach Jeff Hackett around to correct their mistakes.
• The Blue Jackets couldn't close the deal last night at home versus Dallas writes Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch. Fredrik Norrena knew was shootout move Jussi Jokinen was going to use, yet Jokinen somehow still scored on the netminder. Meanwhile, Michael Arace of the Dispatch believes that with the youth of the Blue Jackets, coach Ken Hitchock can't rely on his old methods.
• If not for the their goaltender Mike Smith, the Stars would never have made it to the shootout in the first place writes Mike Heika in the Dallas Morning News.
• Chris Osgood will be starting tonight for the Red Wings versus the Sharks and no, Dominik Hasek is not injured.
• The Oilers will be without off-season acquisition Sheldon Souray for up to a month with a shoulder injury. With Souray lost to injury, this is starting to look a lot like last March writes Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Sun.
• Panthers' rookie Cory Murphy can't wait to play an NHL game in his hometown of Ottawa for the first tieme this Saturday. Olli Jokinen is the Panthers' ironman with 300 consecutive games played writes Steve Gorten of the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
• As Lisa Dillman of the L.A. Times explains, Marc Crawford is still behind Rob Blake even though he has struggled to begin the season.
• While the Wild had a successful road trip, Michael Russo of the Star Tribune says they need to get more disciplined if they hope to continue their success.
• Habs' Coach Guy Carbonneau obviously has some confidence in goaltender Carey Price as he is starting the rookie against the defending Eastern Conference champion Senators tonight. Carbonneau was also busy yesterday diffusing a number of team controversies writes Pat Hickey in this morning's Montreal Gazette. Meanwhile, youngster Maxim Lapierre doesn't intend on sulking in the AHL after being sent down last week.
• The Devils defeated the Penguins last night by outscoring instead of out-defending them writes Mark Everson of the NY Post. Petr Sykora is wondering why his former linemate Patrik Elias didn't even tell him he got married.
• The Penguins received another lackluster effort from goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury writes Dave Molinari of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
• The Rangers play in Atlanta today and are wary of a team that is looking for their first win and has a new coach behind the bench. Marek Malik may be a healthy scratch for the Rangers tonight writes John Dellapina of the NY Daily News.
• Islanders' coach Ted Nolan is not big fan of changing up his lines but will do it when necessary.
• Martin Gerber has been "the club's best player" says captain Daniel Alfredsson and will be in between the pipes tonight with Ray Emery backing him up versus the Habs. Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen is wondering if it is Gerber's job to lose.
• The Devils are still the Devils, and thus, the Flyers won't be taking any game against them lightly writes Ed Moran of the Philadelpihia Inquirer. Martin Biron has been a calm and steady influence on the Flyers so far this season writes Moran's colleague Tim Panaccio.
• Coyotes' coach Wayne Gretzky is not as hard on his team's youngsters as Glen Sather was on him in Edmonton.
• The Sharks aren't focusing on last season's playoff loss to the Red Wings going into tonight's game against Mike Babcock and friends.
• Andy Murray's powerplay line switch helped the Blues win 3-1 over Chicago on Wednesday night.
• The aforementioned Bryan McCabe puts his gaffe into perspective for the Leafs' media. McCabe knows booing is part of the game and think he is lucky to compared to a defenseman of Larry Murphy's stature.
• Kevin Bieksa looks to be hurt, but he is a tough cookie and sure won't admit it.

For Illegal Curve, I'm Richard Pollock.