from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,

- Peter Laviolette, fired three games into this season by the Philadelphia Flyers, will likely get interviews for both the vacant Florida Panthers and Nashville Predators’ jobs. The likeliest scenario might be Barry Trotz landing in Florida and Laviolette joining the Preds.

- There was some confusion last week over Paul Holmgren’s future as the Philadelphia Flyers general manager. The Flyers repatriated Ron Hextall last summer from the Kings, with a view that he would be groomed for Holmgren’s spot eventually. Holmgren, however, isn’t ready to step down yet and if Hextall is getting itchy to run his own team, the Flyers will not stand in the way of his interviewing for one of the NHL’s available general manager’s openings.

- Good news for all those Matt Cooke fans out there. The Minnesota bad boy is scheduled to return for Game 4 of the Wild’s second-round series with the Blackhawks, which would mark the end of his seven-game suspension for kneeing the Colorado Avalanche’s Tyson Barrie in the opening round. It means, for starters, that Cooke’s suspension won’t cost him any actual salary. That would have only happened if Minnesota had been eliminated in the first round and his suspension had spilled over until the start of next year. Minnesota was, on balance, the better team in the series, but Colorado didn’t look the same offensively after they lost Barrie.

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