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.
• Michael Russo drops a bombshell for Minnesota Wild fans: "According to an NHL team executive, Wild General Manager Doug Risebrough has been actively shopping Gaborik around the league and over the weekend offered Gaborik to his team in a trade." He goes on to report that Risebrough has had talks with the Montreal Canadiens and the Los Angeles Kings about moving Marian Gaborik, since re-signing the pending free agent has proven difficult. At what point will Wild fans begin to boo Gaborik at home? [Star Tribune]
• So, in summary: Peter Budaj may have saved his job with the Colorado Avalanche because Jason LaBarbera sucked worse last night for the Los Angeles Kings. [Denver Post]
• LCS Hockey recasts the A-Team with NHL players. Vincent Lecavalier over Jeremy Roenick for Face? C'mon! Or maybe Roenick's more the Hannibal type ... [LCS]
• Alexander Ovechkin hits the road, and the Calgary Flames defenseman claim to be ready for him -- including Dion Phaneuf, who said "He's got me, and I've got him." Aw, so cute. [Sun Media]
• Meanwhile, Eric Duhatschek gets the Washington Capitals star talking about everything from Alexei Cherepanov to Sean Avery to his penchant for visiting hockey message boards. Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do to find your Temple of Poetry. [Globe & Mail]
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• Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby is named No. 45 on AskMen.com's "Top 49 Most Influential Men" list. Perhaps the only time you'll see Sidney on the same list as Steve Jobs, Michael Phelps, Batman and Iron Man. Well, besides AskMen.com's "Top 49 Men Who've Never Won the Stanley Cup." [NHL]
• Forget bloggers; is it time for NHL teams to restrict access to "radio personalities masquerading as credentialed sports columnists" after Mark Madden suggested the Penguins headhunt Ovechkin? [On Frozen Blog]
• Mike Chen checks in on that whole Edmonton Oilers v. bloggers thing, and manages to work in a Star Wars reference. We'll have more on that controversy this afternoon. [Chen]
• You know the five-second rule for food on the floor. Henrik Zetterberg reveals the "five-day rule," in which NHL players go bad if they're off the ice for that long with an injury. [Snapshots]
• An interesting look at one of the NHL's greatest exceptions to the "enforcer" mentality: The Detroit Red Wings, who have a ton of skill players but are way behind League averages for fighting. [Detroit News]
• Some brilliant math over on Battle of California regarding the Anaheim Ducks' struggling trio of Ryan Getzlaf, Chris Kunitz and Corey Perry. "Using some ridiculous pro-rating math, thus far it's looking like the Ducks will pay some $68.15 million for this trio of forwards to score a combined 0 goals and 137 assists in 1,148 games played." [BoC]
• A good summary of the Boston Bruins' opening night, which came on the same night as a New England Patriots' Monday Night Football appearance. Someone seriously dropped the ball here, and the blame is shared by the B's and the NHL. [Boston Globe]
• The New Jersey Devils are preparing themselves for the Dallas Stars and Hurricane Avery. [Fire and Ice]
• Finally, Avery may have had a rather uncomfortable moment with MSG's John Giannone during his return to the New York Rangers and MSG; made a rather funny joke at the expense of the New York media; and chats here with Stan Fischler:
