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.
• Pat Leonard with a CBA talks update, as today's chat centered around expanding the NHL's drug testing timetable. [NYDN]
• Evander Kane signs with Dinamo Misnk, becoming the first Canadian player to ink a deal with a KHL during the lockout. [HC Dinamo]
• New York Islanders center John Tavares signed a contract with Swiss club Bern. [Y!]
• Very salient point from Dellow on collusion charges: "There's good reason to think that, collusion or not, the pay difference between UFA/RFA players is now pretty minimal, with RFA players actually making more in some cases than comparable UFA players. All of which is to say, I can't see how any of this leads anywhere. It'd be fraught with problems and, by virtue of linkage, a dollar more for one player is a dollar less than the whole." [mc79hockey]
• Tapeleg on the Jimmy Devellano fine: "I find it highly amusing that a person who has enough money to survive a $250,000 fine is not allowed to speak his mind, in a country where the first amendment allows a person to say whatever they want. In fact, I would love to see this kind of thing challenged in a court of law. How is it acceptable to censor a person for comments they make that aren't harmful to others in a society that protects free speech?" [Jerseys and Hockey Love]
• Ken Campbell on the continued sad saga of the Phoenix Coyotes: "With the City of Glendale apparently unwilling to give the Coyotes any more short-term lifelines, the fate of the team is uncertain. If the season is truncated because of the lockout, perhaps the league might be willing to operate for one more year in the desert because the losses will be less than they would be for an entire season. According to a source, the prospect of suspending the franchise until it can be sold and moved is a possibility." [THN]
• FOX Sports News Analyst Rick Horrow on the lockout hitting sponsors hard, too. [FOX Sports]
• Cam Charron wonders if there should be a "Sidney Crosby Exception" under the salary cap: "My suggestion would be that a certain percentage of a player's salary doesn't count against the salary cap provided the player was drafted by the organization and into his UFA years. A $6M player, for instance, only has a $4.5M salary cap hit, or somewhere in thereabouts." [Backhand Shelf]
• The Hat discusses the St. Louis Blues, minus John Davidson: "Will St. Louis be the same without Davidson? Presumably, for a while, they'll manage just fine. The hockey operations department remains strong. You'd have to think that the Blues' best young players - defencemen Alex Pietrangelo, Kevin Shattenkirk; forwards T. J. Oshie and David Perron - have some upside and thus can still get better." [Globe & Mail]
• Zac Rinaldo's looking to improve his offensive game down in the AHL during the lockout. [Philly.com]
• The day's saddest hockey news: Former Phoenix Coyotes Coach Bob Francis is "fighting for quality of life" after facing a number of physical and personal issues. [AZ Central]
• Along with being an offensive prospect that somehow can't crack the Toronto Maple Leafs' lineup, Nazem Kadri is now perhaps the only player to have trained with Gary Roberts and gotten fatter. [Leafs Nation]
• Nail Yakupov's dad speaks out on KHL/Hockey Canada mess, doesn't really get contracts: "My son will not go to Sarnia. Even if he is (disqualified from the KHL), he will continue training in Nizhnekamsk. And I will certainly announce the last names of those who misinformed us so badly, but a little later. At this time (Igor) Larionov is Nail's agent. What happens in the future, I don't know yet… I don't have anything more to say at this time. This is a very unpleasant situation." [Buzzing The Net]
• The Vancouver Canucks will win the Stanley Cup when … [Pass It To Bulis]
• NHL 13: Ignoring the Lockout with EASHL. [Operation Sports]
• Finally, here's a look at the auditions for the Blue Crew, the St. Louis Blues' in-game entertainment team. For a season that probably won't happen. Good luck!
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