Here are your 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.
• Kevin Allen offers the 20 biggest issues for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings heading into tonight's Game 7, including this one for the Wings: "Although Marian Hossa hasn't scored in the series, he has played better at home than in Pittsburgh. He has been strong on the puck and looked more dangerous. This could be his time." [USA TODAY]
• Mike Chen makes the case that if the Red Wings win, the Conn Smythe goes to Chris Osgood; and if the Penguins win, it shouldn't automatically go to Evgeni Malkin. [Chen]
• The NHL and Jim Balsillie play the waiting game for a court decision. [Sun Media]
• Five For Howling, a Coyotes blog, takes a look at the bankruptcy court case and attempt to predict what the judge will rule. [Five For Howling]
• The Buffalo Sabres can handle a new team in Hamilton; the question asked is whether Hamilton can handle a new team in Hamilton. [Die By the Blade]
SportsWrap
The top sports headlines of the day
• Strike Two: Joe Nieuwendyk didn't ask any of the Dallas Stars players what they thought of Marc Crawford before hiring him as head coach. Mike Modano, Brendan Morrow ... nah, why would you ask those guys about what's right for the locker room. [Stars Blog]
• Great stuff from Fire & Ice on the New Jersey Devils and Minnesota Wild coaching vacancies. Peter Laviolette has interviewed with the Wild, though Todd Richards remains the frontrunner. As for Jacques Lemaire and the Devils, he tells the Star Tribun: "I can't talk about that. There's nothing done yet. There's nothing that I can talk about right now." It's a trap! ... again? [Fire & Ice]
• A Toronto financial planner claims that "the Coyotes rank 29th out of 30 NHL teams - ahead of only the St. Louis Blues - in market viability." Wait ... the Blues? Seriously? [CP]
• Jiri Hudler and Mikael Samuelsson of the Red Wings aren't thinking too much about their future even though tonight could be their final night in red and white. Unless they, like, sign with the half dozen other teams that wear red and white. [Snapshots]
• Taking a look at Ruslan Fedotenko of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who knows a thing or two about Game 7 heroics. [Pensburgh]
• Columnist John Gonzalez on Ray Emery and the Philadelphia Flyers: "Forget about how talented he is as a goaltender and whether he makes the Flyers better. Ignore, for a moment, his discounted salary and the reality that the Flyers will save some money by going with him instead of Marty Biron. The larger issue has less to do with what happens between the pipes and more to do with what happens between Emery's ears." [Philly.com]
• Interesting little study about Internet searches and the Stanley Cup Final: "Even given the [immense] popularity of basketball, people have searched for Red Wings-related articles more often than the Orlando Magic or LA Lakers over the last seven days." [Snapshots]
• Uh, the hell:
• From Friend of Puck Daddy Dynamo 26:
Went to the Eddie Vedder show in Philly last night (well, Upper Darby, but who's counting?) and found this....thing in the lobby. As a Flyers fan, I don't want to see the Pens win, but I sure as hell don't want to see the Wings win, either. I imagine most other Flyers fans feel the same way, which begs the question what the hell was this thing doing there? Not to mention, wtf is it?
• Dany Heatley is due a $4 million bonus from the Ottawa Senators if he isn't traded before July 1. Heater really put the screws to the Sens with that trade demand, didn't he? [Malkin To The Kings]
• Curl has some SUPER CRAZY IMPORTANT INFORMATION on NHL Draft tickets. [PPP]
• Just when Colorado Avalanche fans didn't have enough reasons to loathe Darcy Tucker, it would appear that his contract will cost them fan favorite Ian Laperriere. [Avs Talk]
• Rick Tocchet needs a wing man with the Tampa Bay Lightning. [Joe Bolts Fan]
• Busted Coverage with an exposé of a hockey Internet sensation we honestly hadn't heard of before. But she has, uh, assets. [Busted Coverage, NSFW photos]
• Finally, Benson sends over this commercial homage before Game 7. Nicely done as usual:
