Kukla's Korner

Crosby Happy With HNIC Appearance

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

12/04/05 at 11:46 AM ET | Comments (0)

from the Calgary Sun,

After all those Saturday nights watching Hockey Night in Canada, Sidney Crosby was finally on the other side. The teenage Penguins phenom made his small screen debut in the national tradition last night, seen by all those wide-eyed youngsters from his hometown. "Showing it in Nova Scotia, it's pretty nice," Crosby said after yesterday's morning skate.

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No Pity For Thornton

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

12/04/05 at 11:32 AM ET | Comments (0)

from Larry Brooks of the NY Post

, Understand this. Jeremy Jacobs spent nearly two full years vilifying, demeaning and degrading NHL players — not simply the NHLPA in the abstract, but the players, themselves — in enthusiastically assuming the role of Gary Bettman's co-pilot for the lockout. Jacobs would have been willing to shut down the league forever, if that's as long as it would have taken to get to 54 percent. And yet, when the lockout ended, players with options to go elsewhere, they went to Boston. The PA could have made a statement. They could have boycotted the Bruins. They could have sent a message to Jacobs. Even in collective bargaining defeat, they could have chosen to stand for something.

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Working The Room

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

12/04/05 at 11:29 AM ET | Comments (0)

from the Toronto Sun,

Ron Wilson couldn't help but take a few jabs at an old buddy on his way out of the Air Canada Centre last night. The San Jose Sharks coach, who was an assistant coach under Pat Quinn in the early 1990s with the Vancouver Canucks, paid Quinn a couple of weird compliments. Wilson figured Quinn got a few favours from referees Dan Marouelli and Dean Warren. "Pat Quinn is like an old lounge singer who works the room, and he does a masterful job here," Wilson said. "I have worked with Pat and I know how he gets on some guys and it is kind of strange. Anyway, we won the game."

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Rebuilding Ths South

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

12/04/05 at 10:59 AM ET | Comments (0)

from the Ottawa Citizen, It's the Deep South, where the NHL lockout was feared to do the most damage -- unless you're the championship Tampa Bay Lightning. Hugh Adami travelled to Nashville, Atlanta, Raleigh and Tampa Bay to assess post-lockout support. more...long, but a good read...

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Bettman Wants Proof

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

12/04/05 at 03:48 AM ET | Comments (0)

via ESPN,

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman wants Dick Pound to back up his claim that as many as one-third of hockey players use performance-enhancing drugs. "We've sent a letter to Mr. Pound demanding to know on what he based his inflammatory statements," Bettman told the Toronto Sun on Saturday. "Everything he says is anecdotal. We deserve specifics, not hearsay and innuendoes. Dick Pound insulted our players with his accusations. "It wasn't fair, appropriate or right," he said.

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Recovering Ref

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

12/04/05 at 03:22 AM ET | Comments (0)

from the Palm Beach Post,

Van Massenhoven walked to the Panthers training room. Al DiSimone, director of the Panthers medical team, summoned specialists Lee Mandel and Paul Tartell, experts in facial reconstruction. "They were looking at my face and I could hear some gasps," Van Massenhoven said. "I hadn't seen my face at that point, but it didn't sound too good." By midnight, CAT scans had been done at Westside Regional Medical Center and exams revealed both orbital bones below the eye were broken, the nose had been shattered and, as he put it, "the area between my eyes was demolished." Two layers of bone and fatty tissue separating them had caved in, and one of the bones from his nose protruded back millimeters from his brain. "I was told if it had been a woman or smaller man, they would be dead," Van Massenhoven said.

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Change The Culture In Pittsburgh

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

12/04/05 at 03:16 AM ET | Comments (0)

from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,

Many point to coach Eddie Olczyk as the main reason for the team's 7-14-6 start. That is too simplistic. That is settling for the lowest common denominator. It's not the coach. It's the culture, which produced the coach and has failed to support him. The culture - long ago fashioned by Mario Lemieux and Craig Patrick -- values individuality and creativity and an extremely loose locker-room atmosphere. It assumes players' professionalism. It undervalues structure, discipline and attention to detail. Lemieux is the captain. He also is the CEO, which means he controls the corporate climate. Does anyone have the nerve to tell him when it's time to turn up the heat on the GM?

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Dirty Little Secret

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

12/03/05 at 10:26 PM ET | Comments (0)

from the NY Times (Sunday edition),

Flyers right wing Mike Knuble said his linemate Simon Gagné was "kind of like a dirty little secret in Philadelphia" before the season. But before Gagné scored two goals last Tuesday to lead the Flyers to a 4-3 road victory over the Islanders, Knuble said Gagné was not such a secret anymore. With a league-leading 23 goals in 24 games before last night's game, Gagné could become the sixth N.H.L. player to score 50 goals in his team's first 50 games.

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Player Movement

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

12/03/05 at 05:46 PM ET | Comments (0)

-St. Louis Blues Senior Vice President & General Manager Larry Pleau today announced the club has claimed defenseman Kevin Dallman off waivers from the Boston Bruins. The Blues have also placed defenseman Christian Backman on the injured reserve list with a fractured left foot. He sustained the injury toward the end of the third period in Thursday ' s win over Columbus while blocking a shot and is expected to be out at least 3-4 weeks. -The Detroit Red Wings on Saturday called up Jiri Hudler from the team's American Hockey League Affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins, Red Wings General Manager Ken Holland said. The 21-year-old Hudler is a native of Czech Republic. The 5-foot-10-inch, 180-pound, left-handed forward leads the Griffins and is second in the AHL in scoring with 32 points in 21 games.

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Chara Looking At Suspension

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

12/03/05 at 02:02 PM ET | Comments (0)

via TSN,

Zdeno Chara's fight on Friday with Tim Gleason of the Los Angeles Kings will cost the Senators' defenceman a suspension and his coach Bryan Murray a fine. Chara was given an instigating penalty for the fight, which took place with less than four minutes remaining. A new rule added in the off-season says a player who gets an instigating penalty in the final five minutes will get a one-game suspension and the coach of that player will get a $10,000 fine. The NHL has the freedom to go back and review the situation - like they did with Shane Doan and Wayne Gretzky last week - but Chara and Murray's case is considered by the league to be a textbook example of why the rule was put in place.

NHL sources told Sportsnet the automatic one-game suspension Ottawa's Zdeno Chara received for taking an instigator penalty with less than 5 minutes to play Friday night against the Kings stands, so Chara will sit out the Senators next game, while Ottawa coach Bryan Murray gets tagged with a $10,000 fine. It is the NHL's belief that Chara was clearly delivering a "payback" message when he manhandled Los Angeles forward Tim Gleason.

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