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.
• Interesting piece by Michael Rosenberg of the Freep, who analyzes how Marian Hossa of the Detroit Red Wings has been pressing like a dry cleaner for the entirety of the Stanley Cup Finals, no matter how many times Mike Babcock wants to deny it. [Freep]
• Tickets for Game 7 are available on the secondary market; lowest price at one Detroit site is $500 apiece for Row 25 of the upper level (non-obstructed view) seats. [Kukla]
• The top 10 Game 7s in Stanley Cup Finals history. Wait, the Rangers won in 1994? Funny, don't recall that ... [THN]
• Dany Healtey's agent says Heater is done with the Ottawa Senators. [Herald]
• Sean Avery will be "a field reporter at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival starting Thursday for FUSE TV," according to Steve Zipay of Newsday. No word if he'll be positioned near the sloppy second stage ... [Blue Notes]
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• The bidding for the Montreal Canadiens could start at $400 million. Celine Dion picks up phone to call James Cameron about the possibility of "Titanic 2" needing "No, Seriously, My Heart Still Goes On." [Globe & Mail]
• "Slap Shot" is named one of the top 10 movies that didn't need chicks. We've got two reasons why this is incorrect, and they're called Melinda Dillon. [Cinema Blend via Sager]
• Christine Brennan of USA Today writes a fantastic column about why casual sports fans should be watching the Stanley Cup playoffs ... if this were 2006. Everyone knows you can see the puck better with HDTV; everyone knows the game is fast; everyone knows Game 7s are killer. But no one knows anything more about the Penguins or the Red Wings after reading your piece because, like most other general sports columnists in the MSM, you didn't write about the sport. And that's one reason why you have to keep writing the same "when will the NHL be loved" piece annually. [USA Today]
• Great stuff by Mike Heika, getting former Dallas Stars coach Dave Tippett on the horn for an exit interview. You get the sense this guy's not going to be out of a gig for too long. [Dallas Stars Blog]
• Mirtle lists a brief history of relocation fees and draws a comparison between Hamilton/Toronto and Baltimore/D.C. that's pretty interesting when you take into account sinister ownership, high payrolls/low results and sense of entitlement. [From the Rink]
• Kevin Allen of USA Today wonders about the goalie carousel in the offseason: "Chicago's Nikolai Khabibulin, Edmonton's Dwayne Roloson, Toronto's Martin Gerber, Boston's Manny Fernandez and Philadelphia's Marty Biron and Antero Niittymaki are unrestricted free agents and Anaheim presumably would like to move Jean-Sebastien Giguere." Not to mention Jose Theodore in Washington and other dudes like Scott Clemmensen looking for a shot. [USA TODAY]
• Really nice coverage of the Phoenix Coyotes/NHL/Jim Balsillie issue from The View: "In an exchange yesterday, the judge asked Salerno to explain how the proposed buyer, Balsillie, could request the team to be relocated to Hamilton when one of the articles of the bankruptcy code clearly states that a buyer 'assign and assume' all contracts, and that the Coyotes have contracts to play in Glendale and honor the bylaws of the NHL. That question, as you can imagine, went unanswered." [View from 111]
• Dan Boyle of the San Jose Sharks blogs about fighting. [Boyle]
• Did you know Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings and Puck Daddy hockey deity Milan Lucic of the Boston Bruins are official ambassadors of Dr. Pepper's Venom Energy Drink? If Datsyuk wins the Cup, looks into the camera and attributes the victory to "Mojave Rattler Venom," YouTube would blow up like an M80 under a cupcake. [Dr. Pepper, via Snapshots]
• Japers gives a postseason analysis for Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, and there's a spirited discussion about what he does or doesn't need to improve on. And yet no category for pre-planned goal celebrations ... [Japers Rink]
• Damien Cox of the Toronto Star takes a sledgehammer to the Globe & Mail's media critic for Nicklas Lidstrom injury rant: "Seems you might need to read all the media reports out there - or actually attend the sporting event in question - before calling others in the business hacks." [Cox]
• The AHL Toronto Marlies will be playing exhibition games in Scotland against AHL rival Hamilton Bulldogs, the Belfast Giants from Northern Ireland and the hometown Edinburgh Capitals. We hereby endorse the idea of an all-kilt game. [Sun Media]
• The Columbus Blue Jackets have narrowed their NHL goaltending coach to Dave Rook of the London Knights. Rook ... Knights ... eh, he's just another pawn. [Sun Media]
• ESPN will attempt to rival the SI Swimsuit Issue with "The Body Issue," in which athletes would pose in the buff. Darren Rovell doesn't list a hockey player among his suspects for the issue; who do you think would be up for it or make the cut? [CNBC]
• The Pens Universe Game 7 banner is pretty epic. [PU]
• Finally, who doesn't love a referee FAIL? (H/T Brian K.)
