Puck Headlines: NHL beats NBA in battle of all-star gear

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.

• Over on Ball Don't Lie earlier this week, Skeets had these images of the NBA's all-star jerseys for this season. Ladies and gents, chalk up another victory for hockey over our arena brethren, if only because this year's NHL All-Star Game jerseys don't have the weird temperature-gauge looking thing under the arms. [via First Cuts]

Sidney Crosby is banged up, but the Pittsburgh Penguins star will in fact play in the NHL All-Star Game. [CBC]

• The NHL reports that "corporate sponsorship of the NHL All-Star Weekend on Jan. 24-25 in Montreal has topped $10 million." And that's why you keep the Winter Classic and the all-star game separate, people. [Mediapost]

• The Nashville Predators ownership is "considering putting their own money to work to purchase enough tickets to make sure the Predators reach the NHL's revenue sharing targets." The Forechecker writes that this sort of thing is allowed by the NHL, even if it makes the Predators look one missed payment away from Balsillieville. [On the Forecheck]

• A look at how the NHLPA is pushing the idea of partnership with the NHL during this time of economic strife, and some straight talk in the landscape: "So the CBA will remain shut. And barring an epic ecomonic miracle, revenues will fall; player salaries will be siphoned away; and a franchise or two could conceivably fail. As one hockey man put it Wednesday, 'of all the sports that will be hurt by this, we'd be at the top of the list.' Labour peace, sure. Peace? Not so much." [National Post]

An ad on Craigslist seeks hockey-looking dudes for a Molson commercial, including "should not be studly hot guys" and "primal looking guys ... thinking caveman type." Soliciting men of a certain body type for on-camera work with the promise of booze; how are newspapers supposed to compete with that again? [Kurtenblog]

• George James Malik finds an article from Sweden about the Detroit Red Wings' negotiation with Henrik Zetterberg that reports the two sides are close to a massive 10-year contract worth about $7.1 million per season. [Snapshots]

• Speaking of massive contracts, Wayne Fish believes that the Philadelphia Flyers have too much invested in Danny Briere not to shut him down for the season. [Philly Burbs]

• Interesting blog from Jim Boone, co-founder of the NHL Fan Association, with some intriguing ideas and harsh assessments: "Generally speaking, the televised NHL product in the U.S. is garbage and most sports news shows barely mention daily NHL results. Access to games also continues to be a problem for many fans." [THN]

• Since Alexander Ovechkin wasn't voted into the all-star game as a starter, Washington Capitals fans have a moment for redemption during the "trick shot" breakaway challenge skills competition. [The Red Skate]

• Your moment of puck Zen, from the ZSC Lions Zurich game in the IIHF Champions Hockey League final game against Metallurg Magnitogorsk. [Getty]

• Wait, wasn't Mats Sundin supposed to fix this stuff? "The Vancouver Canucks need about 20 wins in their final 34 games to secure a playoff berth. Even that may not be enough to avoid a gloomy spring in Canuckistan." [Sun Media]

Anaheim Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle talks about pulling Jean-Sebastien Giguere against the Islanders to give his team a "jolt." [Ducks Blog]

• The long road back from injury to respectability for Sheldon Souray. [Sun Media]

• Now that the St. Louis Blues don't suck for a minute, Brad Lee would like to postpone the all-star break. [St. Louis Game Time]

• Puck Daddy reader The Great One found this link from December, but it was new to us: The 10 Worst Plays Of The Past 10 Years. Because it's been a while since we watched that Patrik Stefan play. [Here Come the Bruins]

• That the hate flow through your body, Colorado Avalanche fans. [Denver Post]

• Finally, Riley Cote vs. Eric Boulton last night. See if you can figure out who won.

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