from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal,

*Scotty Bowman says teams shouldn’t be allowed to ice the puck on penalty kills, and I’m all for that. “I know it would cause a stoppage but the puck would keep coming back into the (defending) end zone for a faceoff and players couldn’t change. Why should teams get an advantage by icing the puck when they get a penalty? The league’s looking for more goals, aren’t they? Coming out of the lockout there were a lot of 5-4 and 6-5 games, now, there’s a lot of 3-2s.”

*Teams will be banging down the doors at the trade deadline to get Flyers defenceman Mark Streit, who is 38 in December, with his contract up. He would be a great No. 4 in Chicago if they can swing the salary cap room.

*It didn’t take the Canadiens long to start sitting Alex Semin. He was a healthy scratch four times in their first 14 games, just one goal in 10 games. He cost them $2 million and is getting another bundle in a buyout from Carolina. “We paid him $14 million to go away,” said Hurricanes president Don Waddell.

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