Puck Headlines: Life without Heatley; Leafs, NYR roll next year?

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.

• No-Foil Stanley Cup replica contest winners later today. Reminder: Puck Daddy Rumors and Scuttlebutt chat at 1 p.m.!

• Eric McErlain lists three teams who are ready to rise up the standings in 2009-10: The New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs and the St. Louis Blues. At least two of those teams have goaltending. [Sporting News]

• TSN cranks up the hot-stove coverage with a free agent tracker as well as its all-free agent team for unrestricted players. Can't figure out if it's a down year or a potentially strong year for defensemen. [TSN]

• Nice work by Ryan Kennedy of THN: "Bolting a Stanley Cup champ for greener (as in the color of money) pastures is certainly a nice reward for a job well done, but it certainly hasn't helped the on-ice careers of those who have made the leap in the past." Matt Cullen of the Carolina Hurricanes is Patient Zero. [THN]

• NOOOO! Owners of the Iowa Chops, the greatest AHL team ever named after meat, want to relocate out of Des Moines. The loss of the team would be a serious financial blow to the city's arena. [Des Moines Register]

• Don Brennan on what Senators GM Bryan Murray could get for Dany Heatley: "The sky might be the limit, depending on what Murray includes in a trade that includes his big bonus crybaby." [Sun Media]

• Facing a 60-percent season ticket renewal rate, the Ottawa Senators talk about building an off-season marketing campaign without Dany Heatley as a centerpiece. [The Province]

• The 'Jay Boumeester to the Detroit Red Wings' free-agent meme takes off. [Snapshots]

• Forbes: "Gretzky was the Great One on the ice. But as an owner it was clearly Lemieux." [Sports Money]

• A comprehensive list of the many NHL Awards parties in Las Vegas, including tonight when the "Anaheim Ducks will frolic with the bunnies at a private party at the Playboy Club." Finally, the proper venue for George Parros's mustache. [Las Vegas Sun]

• If the New York Islanders, for some reason, take defenseman Victor Hedman over forward John Tavares at No. 1 overall in the draft, all hell is going to break loose on the floor of Bell Centre -- especially for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria. [Bitter Leafs Fan]

• Defending Big D has epic coverage of the Dallas Stars' flirtation with goaltender Jonas Gustavsson, this offseason's Fabian-esque Unicorn at the Circus. [Defending Big D]

• Really nice piece by John McGourty of NHL.com about Canadian prospects and their desire to play in the NCAA: "With the rise in the number of American-born hockey players and a limited number of college scholarships, however, things have changed. While there still are a sizable number of Canadians playing NCAA hockey, the numbers are far fewer." [NHL]

• Red Fischer on the Balsillie/Phoenix Coyotes front, providing the rare Canadian voice to dance on the grave of the bid to relocate the Yotes to Canada: "It's all in the numbers. The Phoenix Coyotes aren't moving to Hamilton. Jim Balsillie's campaign to have the Coyotes relocated to Canada is toast. His Make it Seven campaign now can be called Keep it Six." [Gazette]

• NHL Network announces Stanley Cup Final replay for all-day Saturday; Pittsburgh braces for empty movie theaters and restaurants, higher-than-usual pizza and beer sales for the weekend. [NHL]

• We've said it for years: Guerin blows. [Getty]

• We are honored: The Cycle, inspired by our ‘Malkin To The Kings' moniker for Bruce Garrioch, has officially started the Chris "Shanahan to the Chiefs" Mortensen campaign. [The Cycle]

Rick Nash of the Columbus Blue Jackets. A name we'll be hearing, oh, once or twice this summer. [Columbus Dispatch]

• BeeJays goalie Steve Mason joins the blogosphere. [Jackets]

• The Washington Capitals have re-signed left wing Quintin Laing to a one-year deal. [Capitals]

• Despite being a Washington Capitals blogger, Japers couldn't be happier for the Pittsburgh Penguins. [JP]

• The assault trial about an ECHL "sucker punch" is turning rather nasty. [Canwest]

• Former Dallas Stars Coach Dave Tippett talks about his future and reminds the world that life can be peachy when you've got two years left on your contract. [Dallas Stars Blog]

• The fans raised $17,335 for the Detroit Red Wings Foundation during the 2009 Red Wings Beard-a-thon. Killer. [Red Wings]

Marian Hossa of the Wings defends Sidney Crosby for the post-series handshake flap. [Pensburgh]

• Friend of Puck Daddy Munkcy has a new Philadelphia Flyers blog: A Clockwork Orange (and Black).

• Stathead Nerd Alert! "A Theory on NHL Defenseman Metrics." [Phoenix Pub]

• Finally, and for the ladies (OK, and some gentlemen) in the Puck Daddy readership, the Top 5 Hottest Goalies. (Pussycat Dolls warning!) Two things: 1. Is there a Dimitri Pätzold cult we should be aware of? 2. Finally, a list Dan Cloutier can make that doesn't involve the word "bust."

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