WINNIPEG -- The Tampa Bay Lightning are on a 7-3-0 roll, but coach Guy Boucher is not easily impressed.

Saturday night's 3-0 loss to the St. Louis Blues left Boucher in an irritated mood on Sunday, so he kept his club off the ice for self-assessment. Tampa Bay's 3-5-2 road record and the Lightning's inability to respond until late in the game against the Blues frustrated Boucher.

"I think probably because it toned me down," Boucher replied when asked why the Lightning did not skate on Sunday. "I kind of protected the players, but it still came out today.

"We have high standards for ourselves," he continued. "Even though we're missing players, we still have the same standards and expectations, and it's important that we respect the process. We don't respect the process on the road and we have to understand."

Defenseman Victor Hedman has not played Tampa Bay's previous three games because of an upper-body injury. Boucher indicated that Hedman's status for tonight's game will be a game-time decision, but it is expected that he will play. Hedman's absence has been a significant blow for a blue line that has been without Mattias Ohlund all season.

The Lightning will also be without left wing Ryan Malone, who will miss his third game with an upper-body injury.

Here is the projected lineup for Tampa Bay tonight:

LIGHTNING
Nate Thompson - Steven Stamkos - Martin St. Louis
Tom Pyatt - Vincent Lecavalier - Teddy Purcell
Brett Connolly - Dominic Moore - Adam Hall
Ryan Shannon - Blair Jones - Steve Downie

Victor Hedman - Eric Brewer
Pavel Kubina - Marc-Andre Bergeron
Brett Clark - Bruno Gervais

Dwayne Roloson will return to the net for the Lightning, with Mathieu Garon backing up.

TORONTO -- When someone from the Hockey Hall of Fame called Ed Belfour to tell him he would be part of the Class of 2011, he didn’t answer because he was asleep.

Belfour was taking an afternoon nap, because he had a men's league game in Frisco, Texas, that night.

"I still wish I was playing. That is my release to get back into the game and still be involved," Belfour said. "I play sometimes two or three times a week in a men's league, and I play on two, three different teams. I really enjoy it and I love the game. It is a little different playing out because I don't have to warm up as much."

He doesn't play in net, but Belfour continues to play the sport he loves. Joe Nieuwenduyk also plays, but not quite as regularly as Belfour. Other Class of 2011 members Doug Gilmour and Mark Howe have not been playing hockey of late, but they were all on the ice Sunday at Air Canada Centre for the Legends of Hockey game.

Howe is a scout for the Detroit Red Wings, so he's in hockey rinks all the time. He just hadn't been skating in them.

"Very little because of my back," Howe said. "When we played yesterday and up until two weeks ago, I had not skated in five-and-a-years. My youngest son Nolan works out of a rink near Princeton, N.J., so I went over there and skated with him for three days just so I could hopefully get around the rink a little more.

"I wish I could skate more. I still have fun, but a lot of times it is the aches and the pains and when your feet and your legs start going numb on you, it is time to call it quits."

That said, Howe is going to pull on a sweater again soon. He played 10 seasons for the Philadelphia Flyers, and he will be on the ice against the New York Rangers in early January at Citizens Bank Park.

"I'm going to try and gut it out in the Winter Classic alumni game, and I'll pay for it dearly but I'm looking forward to it," Howe said. "I think the fun of that will overtake the pain and agony that I'm probably going to have for a month after."

Gilmour also hasn't played much hockey recently, but he is the general manager of the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League.

"That was my first game in two years, and believe me I could tell," Gilmour said.

Nieuwendyk is the GM of the Dallas Stars, and still plays every now and then with some of his former teammates and other former players from the organization.

"I do [play] -- we've kind of formed a little bit of an alumni out in Dallas now, which I think is important for the long-term growth of the game in Dallas," Nieuwendyk said. "Now we have Mike Modano coming back to us, which is going to be huge. We get together once in a while and lace 'em up and it is fun."

BROSSARD, Que. -- Montreal Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov took another step toward an eventual return from knee surgery when he practiced with his teammates for the first time Monday morning.

Markov did not speak to reporters afterwards, but his presence at the morning skate was a big lift for his Canadiens teammates.

"It was nice to see him on the ice," defenseman P.K. Subban said. "He's a big part of our team."

Markov spent 60 minutes on the ice with his teammates skating in a non-contact jersey. He spent another 20 minutes skating on his own with the Canadiens' assistant coaches.

"We haven't established a timeline for his return but it's encouraging to see him skating with the team," coach Jacques Martin said. "We'll see if he skates tomorrow."

However, as far as the Canadiens' game tonight against the Buffalo Sabres is concerned, an important member of the Montreal defense will be absent as Hal Gill was ruled out with an illness.

Rookie Alexei Emelin will take Gill's spot next to Raphael Diaz on what becomes an extremely young Canadiens defense. After veterans Jaroslav Spacek and Josh Gorges, the combined experience of the other four Canadiens defensemen -- Subban, Emelin, Diaz and Yannick Weber -- is only 184 games.

"We'll need to keep things simple and play well away from the puck," Martin said.

Aside from the loss of Gill, the Canadiens will make no lineup changes from the group that won 2-1 in overtime in Nashville on Saturday night, meaning Scott Gomez will remain on a wing on the fourth line with Petteri Nokelainen.

WINNIPEG -- Subpar play on the ice means the Winnipeg Jets are beginning to shuffle their roster, starting with tonight's contest with the Tampa Bay Lightning at the MTS Centre.

The Jets are 0-3-2 in their past five games, their latest a 2-1 defeat coming on Saturday night at Columbus against the 30th-ranked Blue Jackets. That loss followed a 4-0 shutout by the Florida Panthers in Winnipeg last Thursday.

"We need a good game from a standpoint of work, discipline, details and energy," coach Claude Noel said.

In response to the recent poor play, the Jets recalled left wing Jason Jaffray from St. John's of the American League on Sunday. Jaffray had 7 goals and 12 points in 15 games with St. John's and recorded a hat trick with the IceCaps on Saturday night, earning himself the recall.

"He is a really solid AHL player who has really good character," said Noel, who had Jaffray as an AHL player last season. "He is a really sincere player. I don't want him to be more than what he is."

Jaffray's arrival has spelled the end of the Jets' top forward line of Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler that has combined for just six goals over the club's first 17 games.

"I'm just trying to get some things going," Noel said. "We're just trying to juggle around to jar some things. It's probably time."

The Jets also swapped young defenseman, re-assigning Paul Postma to the IceCaps and recalling Arturs Kulda.

Winnipeg enters a busy stretch back on home ice, where the Jets will play eight of their 11 next games. However, a difficult week looms with the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers following the Lightning.

Noel downplayed the recent buzz about Tampa Bay's 1-3-1 system, stressing the need to avoid carrying the puck and turning over the puck against the Lightning's quick counterstrike.

"It's just a different system," Noel said. "They do a good job."

Back on Oct. 29, the Jets assembled one of their finest performances this season, dropping a 1-0 decision to the Lightning at the St. Pete Times Forum.

"It should give us confidence," Noel said of that game. "It showed we can play well and play for 60 minutes."

Here is the projected lineup for Winnipeg tonight:

JETS
Andrew Ladd - Nik Antropov - Kyle Wellwood
Alexander Burmistrov - Bryan Little - Evander Kane
Tanner Glass - Jim Slater - Chris Thorburn
Jason Jaffray - Tim Stapleton - Blake Wheeler

Mark Stuart - Dustin Byfuglien
Johnny Oduya - Zach Bogosian
Arturs Kulda - Mark Flood

Ondrej Pavelec will start for the Jets, with Chris Mason serving as backup.

WILMINGTON, Mass. -- In defending the actions of his player Monday after practice at Ristuccia Arena, Bruins coach Claude Julien not only spoke to Milan Lucic's intentions but also a past incident that should shed a little more light on what went on when Lucic and Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller collided Saturday night.

Lucic was scheduled to have a 1 p.m. phone hearing with NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan on Monday.

"I saw the same thing [as Lucic explained]," Julien said. "It certainly wasn't our plan to run him over and for what it's worth, Looch has done the same thing to one of our coaches [assistant Geoff Ward] last year. He buries his head when he chases the puck, by the time he lifts it up, somebody's there. Last year was a coach, this year was Miller."

The Lucic-Miller collision occurred in the first period of the Bruins' 6-2 win against the Sabres after Lucic blocked a shot at the Boston blue line. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound forward lost the puck and was trying to catch up to it when the contact, which knocked Miller's mask off, happened.

"At first, I was skating as hard as I could after the puck and I looked up and he was still in his net. And when I looked down at the puck, I was continuing on and the next thing I look up and he's coming out full speed at me," Lucic said. "Obviously it was a hard collision and I did everything I could just to brace myself. Like he said, I have 50 pounds on him. So that's probably why he might've got the worst of it. Even if you look at the video, I was cringing after the play, too, because I was winded, because it was such a hard collision. He got a good piece of me as well and that's pretty much it."

Miller not only finished that period, but also played in the second. After the game Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said Miller had a sore neck, but Sunday the team revealed the goaltender was suffering from a concussion.

"If you look at it, I've looked at the hit 100 times because he said that he got a concussion. I've looked at it and his shoulder hit my chest, so there was no hit to his head," said Lucic. "His helmet came flying off, but his head didn’t hit the ice. Later on in that period, one of their guys lifted [Tyler Seguin's] stick and threw him into the net as well. So who knows what it was? But I mean it's obviously unfortunate that he got hurt on the play."

Lucic said he was surprised that Miller was able to continue in the game if his collision was the one that caused the concussion.

"With the new protocol and the concussion stuff, I know the last three NHLPA meetings that I've been part of, they've clarified about concussions and head injuries, the main thing that they talked about is there's no such thing as getting your bell rung or seeing stars anymore," said Lucic. "That's considered a concussion. And if you're in that position, you have to do whatever you can to take yourself out of play. And obviously, Ryan plays a big part in the NHLPA and what he does, and I respect him what he does there. That's pretty much it."

 After the game, Miller directed some expletive-filled comments toward Lucic through a brief media scrum. Lucic was taking a "sticks and stones" approach to those words.

"Obviously he felt like he needed to stick around and say what he said," said Lucic. "For me, (in) one ear and out the other, I just move on and focus on what I need to do to continue helping this team be successful."

Lucic is currently second on the Bruins with 14 points and 8 goals. His past discipline history includes a fine for a punch in a scrum last December and a one-game suspension for a hit after the whistle during the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoff series with Montreal.

Julien, who stressed that he didn't want to talk about any League decision that hadn't been made yet, still pointed out that there have been similar incidents in the past that didn't result in bans.

"You've seen it before. Guys run over goaltenders," said the coach. "At one point, [Carey] Price [had that happen] in Montreal, stuff like that. You’ve seen collisions. [Montreal's] Brian Gionta on Toronto's goaltender [James Reimer], he's not that far out but he's out of his crease and he's coming across.

"I mean there shouldn't be game plans to run goaltenders over. I'm all for that. To say you put traffic in front of him is one thing. To run him over, I disagree with that. So again, it just kind of reinforces that it certainly wasn't meant to happen that way."

The slumping Anaheim Ducks claimed Niklas Hagman off re-entry waivers from the Calgary Flames on Monday.

The move means the Ducks are only responsible for half of Hagman's $3 million salary with the Flames paying the other half.

The Flames sent Hagman to Abbotsford of the AHL on Thursday after the 31-year-old winger had just 1 goal and 3 assists in 8 games. But Hagman was subject to re-entry waivers when the Flames tried to recall him over the weekend, allowing the Ducks to swoop in and grab him at half price.

The Ducks have lost 10 of 12 and could use Hagman on the team's second line with Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu. The three Finns working together could give the team some scoring depth it's sorely lacking right now.

Hagman scored at least 20 goals per season from 2007-10.

Here are how the lineups are projected to look tonight when the Carolina Hurricanes face the Philadelphia Flyers at the RBC Center:

FLYERS
Scott Hartnell - Claude Giroux - Jaromir Jagr
James van Riemsdyk - Danny Briere - Wayne Simmonds
Matt Read - Maxime Talbot - Jakub Voracek
Zac Rinaldo - Sean Couturier - Harrison Zolnierczyk

Chris Pronger - Matt Carle
Braydon Coburn - Kimmo Timonen
Andreas Lilja - Andrej Meszaros

Sergei Bobrovsky
Ilya Bryzgalov

HURRICANES
Eric Staal - Brandon Sutter - Chad LaRose
Justin Skinner - Jussi Jokinen - Tuomo Ruutu
Alexei Ponikarovsky - Tim Brent - Patrick Dwyer
Jiri Tlusty - Zac Dalpe - Zach Boychuk

Jay Harrison - Tim Gleason
Bryan Allen - Jamie McBain
Derek Joslin - Tomas Kaberle

Cam Ward
Brian Boucher

In this week's 'Making of a Royal' blog, assistant coach Steve Webb discusses the team's play in the Bauer International Invite in Chicago, Ill. After earning victories over the Toronto Eagles (Ont.), Ice Jets Academy (Tex.), Detroit Warriors (Mich.), Indiana Ice and Team Wisconsin, the Royals suffered a 2-1 shootout loss to Detroit Honey Baked (Mich.) in the tournament semifinal round. Webb also talks about the process that's required to becoming a 'great' player.

Our recent tournament in Chicago went well. We went in there and showed what we had. Our games on Sunday [Nov. 6] were our best games against Wisconsin and Honey Baked. You always want to leave on a high note, so I was very impressed with the way our team prepared for the final two games and came out and actually executed all day long.

After deciding against choosing a replacement for the retired Adam Foote to start the season, the Colorado Avalanche named Milan Hejduk the third captain in the team's history  Monday.

The 35-year-old Hejduk and Paul Stastny had been serving as alternate captains. Hejduk will wear the "C" for the first time Tuesday when the Avalanche face the Pittsburgh Penguins.
 
"Milan is a player who leads by example both on and off the ice," Avalanche coach Joe Sacco said. "He is a product of this organization and won a Stanley Cup with this franchise. He is well-respected among his teammates and we feel he deserves this opportunity and responsibility."
 
Hejduk, who has served as one of the permanent alternate captains since 2008-09, joins Joe Sakic and Adam Foote as the only captains the Avalanche have ever had. Overall, Hejduk is just the 10th captain in the franchise's 32-year history. The Usti-nad Labem, Czech Republic native joins Peter Stastny as the only European-born captains in franchise history.
 
"I'm honored to be named Avalanche captain," Hejduk said. "From my rookie season here in Colorado, I have always felt a great sense of pride wearing this sweater and being a part of this organization. I am looking forward to this added responsibility."
 
Hejduk, who won a Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2001, ranks third in franchise history in games (927), is fourth in goals (364) and points (769), and fifth in assists (405). He is the franchise's all-time leader in regular-season overtime goals with 9 and his 59 career game-winning tallies rank second behind only Sakic (86). Hejduk sits third in franchise history with 136 power-play goals.

The Florida Panthers are now the only NHL team without a captain.