Here are your Morning 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.
• The Ottawa Senators protest the idea that they are coach killers after killing their third coach in three seasons. It's really easy to give the Senators their share of the blame in the canning of Coach Craig Hartsburg; that said, the team was last in the NHL in scoring. If your team has scored six fewer goals than the Islanders, maybe the coach deserves a little criticism, no? [National Post]
• In case you've attempted to block this news from your mind, Universal Pictures is remaking "Slap Shot." The dude who wrote "21" is penning it, which guarantees a worthless resolution but at least offers the potential for Hockey Spacey. The film now has a director: Dean Parisot. The good news: He directed "Galaxy Quest" and the Shaq episode of "Curb." The bad news: He's directing a remake of "Slap Shot," which is like Dan Brown doing a rewrite of the Old Testament. [Out of Left Field]
• A perfect solution for a season slipping away: Don't cheer for the Colorado Avalanche to tank; cheer for the teams with better draft odds to do better! [Jibblescribbits]
• Adrian Dater asks Avs fans if they'd like to see any of the following traded: Jordan Leopold, John Liles, Brett Clark or Ruslan Salei. He also floats the notion of asking Ryan Smyth to accept a trade back to Edmonton, which is something that probably already has him in tears. [Denver Post]
• Ugliest hockey jerseys ever. [Fan IQ]
Sports
• Thanks to Frank from NJ.com, who offered the chance to be a weekly panelist discussing all things New Jersey Devils. We eagerly await the raucous debate over Jim Korn's place in Devils history. [NJ.com]
• No Brendan Shanahan at the Devils' morning skate. Evidently, there's a "Matlock" marathon on the Hallmark Channel today. [Fire & Ice]
• The Montreal Canadiens try to battle through a slump and one season-altering injury. [CBC Sports]
• In an effort to get his ass in gear, Alexei Kovalev will be reunited with Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn. [Sportsnet]
• Pretty interesting story from the Vancouver Canucks, as defenseman Shane O'Brien thinks the team is preventing him from become Larry Robinson instead of being a knuckle-dragger who's second in the NHL in penalty minutes. "I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to sit here and say all the right things that I'm just happy to be a part of the team. I want to improve as a player and stay in the league as long as I can. You can't do that from the press box." [Canwest]
• But what makes this O'Brien think really intriguing is that he claimed the Canucks told him to fight more. This would be the same franchise accused of giving Todd Bertuzzi the green light for crippling. You can see how that might look; so does GM Mike Gillis, who quickly denied having told anyone they needed to drop the gloves. [Globe & Mail]
• Taking a long, hard look at the New York Islanders' struggles for market share. [Puck Money]
• Another look at how the NHL will fare during the recession. Not for nothing, but an associate professor at the University of Alberta knows roughly jack and squat about the current state of the D.C. hockey market. [Sun Media]
• Condi Rice: Hockey fan. [YouTube]
• Washington Capitals GM George McPhee talks about building a winner and keeping the core of this year's team together. [Homer McFanboy]
• Plenty of Adam Graves love today as the former New York Rangers forward will have his number retired this evening. Patrick Hoffman pens a love letter to Gravey. [Goal Line Report]
• In the New York Times, Brian Leetch delivers one hell of a line about Graves's importance to the Rangers: "We always looked to Mark as our leader, and Mike was our most important player being the goalie, but he was our foundation. He was our heart and soul." [NYT]
• Wait, so now Fabian Brunnstrom is disappointing AHL fans, too? [Stars Blog]
• Florida Panthers Ice Dancer Kelli plays with a baby alligator. (Note: This isn't intended to be a euphemism, just so we're clear. We'd hate to have another post deleted.) [Panthers]
• Finally, PJ Stock "gives out" Mike Milbury's phone number over the air. We called -- it's not in service.
