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.
• Mirtle thinks Roberto Luongo can be Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke's saviour: "Because he can contribute for another few years at a high level, however, Luongo should be Burke's top target. Toronto likely isn't the goaltender's first (or second) choice, so it will take a bit of a pitch to get him to fully buy in, but there is a relationship there with both Leafs senior VP Dave Nonis and goalie coach Francois Allaire." [Mirtle]
• Joel Ward speaks with USA Today about the racial garbage on Twitter after Game 7: "It doesn't faze me at all. We won, and we are moving on. … People are going to say what they want to say." He also said Jeff Halpern showed him the Tweets on the team plane and apologized that Ward had to see them. [USA TODAY]
• Hear Ward over on the Backhand Shelf podcast. [BS]
• Wayne Simmonds of the Philadelphia Flyers said: "It's the Internet. They can say whatever they want, and they don't have to show their faces. It's disgusting. Things like that have happened to me before. It's not something you want to happen, but it's sad in this day and age that it continues to happen." [Philly.com]
• Ryan Callahan is ready for Game 7 against the Ottawa Senators. [NYDN]
• Did Daniel Alfredsson return from his concussion too quickly? [G&M]
• Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas said "they" instead of "we" in postgame comments, fueling the idea that he's on the way out. [Joe Haggerty]
• Frustrating news: "One week after he left Sister Kenny Institute, high school hockey player Jack Jablonski is once again being hospitalized." [CBS, via LiquorPugs]
• Our favorite thing of the day: Fox Sports Arizona reporter Todd Walsh celebrates the end of the Phoenix Coyotes' quest to reach the second round of the playoffs, framing it around former defenseman Gerald Diduck: "He was spent. There wasn't a tooth in his mouth that I could see. His jet black hair soaked. The sockets of his eyes were red from crying, and he wasn't alone. It was an epic loss in an epic series, and the rubble of that loss was strewn about the Valley for more than a decade." [FS Arizona]
• The St. Louis Blues are setting ratings records. [Puck The Media]
• The Capitals set a CSN Mid-Atlantic ratings record for Game 7. [DC Sports Bog]
• Bob McKenzie of TSN on the Washington Capitals' victory: "This is the way Dale Hunter wanted it and he got some buy-in. In the last month of the season, a lot of people wouldn't have given the Capitals a chance to do this. Somewhere between the hiring of Hunter and now, they started buying into what he was doing and it was more of a grinding game and less Ovechkin and less Backstrom. Not that they weren't factors, but the plumbers led the way." [TSN]
• Or perhaps the Capitals won despite their coaching. [TPSH]
• Rich Hammond on the Curse of the 30-Goal Scorer: "This season, a total of 30 players scored at least 30 goals. Depending on how today's two Game 7s go, there could be as few as four 30 goals-scorers in the second round. In the West, it's even more stark. In the regular season, 12 players scored at least 30 goals. Six of them (Corey Perry, Michael Ryder, Jordan Eberle, Jarome Iginla, Bobby Ryan and Rick Nash) missed the playoffs entirely. Five more (Patrick Sharp, Logan Couture, Daniel Sedin, Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski) were eliminated in the first round. Phoenix's Radim Vrbata is the only 30-goal scorer on any of the four remaining Western Conference playoff teams." [LA Kings Insider]
• Jeff Riger of CBS Detroit on the future of Tomas Holmstrom with the Detroit Red Wings: But, when it's all said and done Homer wants to be in Detroit and if he doesn't play for the Wings next season, well then he will just retire instead of playing for another team. 'No, I don't think so' said Holmstrom. 'I've been in Detroit all my career and it's here that I want to retire for sure.'" [CBS Detroit, via Malik]
• "Nine Years On, Was Thomas Vanek Proper Choice For Buffalo Sabres?" [Polished Puck Press]
• Allan Muir on the special teams for the Florida Panthers vs. the New Jersey Devils: "There should be a couple of changes to Florida's lineup. Most critical: Jason Garrison, who missed the previous three contests, will reportedly be a game-time decision. Unless the mysterious lower-body injury that sent him to the sidelines involved the actual disappearance of both legs, expect him to report for duty...and expect him to be an impact player. Virtually unknown outside of south Florida, Garrison finished third among all blueliners with 16 goals during the regular season. A team-leading nine of those bombs came with the extra man. Adding his big shot and sharp decision-making to the power play could tilt the game in favor of the Panthers, who lit up New Jersey's vaunted penalty kill in the early going, but went just 1-for-14 with Garrison in the press box." [SI]
• "5 Things I Learned Reading Puck Daddy Eulogy Comments." Some NSFW language. [BoC]
• Finally, here's Al Trautwig with a pretty cool series on NHL.com about certain moments in playoff history. Including … illegal sticks.
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