Here are your Morning(-ish) 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.
• Woot woot! Secondary assist for Steven Stamkos! Shine up the Calder! Meanwhile, a rather comical practical joke was played on Stamkos by his teammates last night, leaving the suburban Toronto native skating alone in the Air Canada Centre during warm-ups. [Lightning Strikes]
• While hilarity ensued with the Tampa Bay Lightning, the economic downturn hitting the front office of the Florida Panthers is no joke: Sales and communications staff have been laid off. And yet Jacques Martin still has a job ... [On Frozen Pond]
• Adam Mair of the Buffalo Sabres gets a max fine of $2,500 for that locker room hallway incident with the Ottawa Senators this week. Getting Caught From Behind has much more on the incident, and claims Chris Neil is Enemy No. 1 for Buffalo fans. Enemy No. 2? Heartburn. [Getting Caught From Behind]
• Sean Avery strikes a blow for good fashion sense everywhere by slamming the pink men's shirt. "I really think that unless it's an Easter-egg hunt, you should not ever wear a pink shirt." God bless. [Ask Men]
• Anaheim Ducks tough guy and Princeton-educated George Parros offers economic advice: "I'm watching a few stocks right now, a few good companies I feel that are a low point. I'm going to give it a couple months and let things settle down a little bit before I invest in them." [USA Today]
Sports
• We didn't realize there was such interest in the Team USA squad for 2010 until we mentioned it here. Well, Brian Burke tells NHL.com that the team will be grittier and younger. Which means probably no Chris Chelios, because he's certainly one but most certainly not the other. [NHL.com]
• Based on his start, the case will be made for Henrik Lundqvist to win the Vezina Trophy. Based on the start for the New York Rangers, Steve Zipay is making the case for Henrik Lundqvist to win the Hart Trophy, too. [Newsday]
• The "exclusivity rights" for Versus gave the nation a crappy Flyers/Thrashers game and kept the Nashville Predators/Washington Capitals shootout game off television. Which means fans missed out on some Alexander Semin heroics and a scrappy effort by the Preds. (Along with a rather intentional, but uncalled, hit from behind that dazed Mike Green, FYI.) [Forechecker]
• Chris from Icethetics has a good look at minor league third jerseys. He doesn't sound convinced that this is actually a Hartford Wolf Pack alternate sweater, "but people kept sending in pictures, so they can't all be wrong, can they?" If they're right ... ugh. [Icethetics]
• Criticizing the NHL for its performance-enhancing drug testing model and how it handles young prospects. [Slam]
• Do the Chicago Blackhawks have embarrassing depth in goaltenders or a really distracting logjam? [Puck Update]
• Melt Your Face Off attempts to resurrect the late, great NHL Closer as a daily feature. We heartily endorse this idea, and the future use of Gary Gnu jokes. [MYFO]
• Finally, here's how Versus is pimping the Pittsburgh Penguins/Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup finals rematch:
