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Saturday, 11.21.2009 / 1:05 AM / Game Previews
NHL.com
From West to East and back to the West, Saturday is a full day for NHL fans, with 13 games from coast to coast to coast.

The action starts in the afternoon when the Calgary Flames and Los Angeles Kings face off at the Staples Center (4 p.m. ET). The Flames hope a trip to Southern California will help wash away the taste of a 7-1 home rout by Chicago on Thursday, while the Kings are coming off a 3-2 home loss to Philadelphia on Wednesday.

After the afternoon appetizer, things heat up with six games at 7 p.m. ET.

After losing to Montreal on Friday night, the Washington Capitals head for Toronto and a date with the struggling Maple Leafs (CBC, NHL Network-U.S.). Toronto has dropped five in a row, the latest a 6-5 shootout loss at Carolina on Thursday in which they blew a 3-0 lead and allowed the tying goal with 2.9 seconds left in regulation.
Saturday, 11.21.2009 / 1:00 AM / Quarterly Report
By Dan Rosen  - NHL.com Staff Writer
Hold all of your questions, please. In fact, stop the presses.

Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman wouldn't normally be ready to give a complete evaluation of his team after 20 games anyway, but he is reserving any and all judgment until Marian Hossa not only makes his Hawks' debut, but makes an impact in the lineup.

Only then will Bowman, the first-year GM with the famous last name, realize exactly what kind of a team he has inherited from Dale Tallon.
Hossa, who had offseason shoulder surgery, should be in the lineup soon, maybe even next week in California. He could skate on a line with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.

"You're starting to see it now, guys getting into their rhythm, but we have one guy coming back and ice time will get moved around so we need to see how that plays out," Bowman told NHL.com. "It's a necessary step for us to assess how it is with Hossa."
Saturday, 11.21.2009 / 1:00 AM / Quarterly Report
By Mike G. Morreale  - NHL.com Staff Writer
Every so often, the Tampa Bay Lightning are reminded of the growing pains associated with a team looking to re-establish itself as a Stanley Cup contender.

It was only five seasons ago the club celebrated its first Stanley Cup. But back-to-back opening-round playoff ousters followed by consecutive fifth-place finishes in the Southeast Division have sent the organization back to the drawing board.

General Manager Brian Lawton admits there's been a lot to like about this season's club. In fact, he's having more fun now than last season, his first on the job, when Tampa Bay finished with the second-fewest points in the League (66).

"The thing I've enjoyed most is the commitment of the players," Lawton told NHL.com. "I wasn't crazy about our group last year and that eventually seemed to manifest itself on the ice in wins and losses.
Free Shipping in November
Friday, 11.20.2009 / 5:00 PM / Off the Wall
By Evan Weiner  - NHL.com Correspondent

"The great thing about the scouting industry and different cities, towns, you end up finding the little local places, the little local eateries that people never hear about and people will go there and the guys (fellow scouts) will go there because there is more of that family relationship." -- Pete Mahovlich

One of the most overlooked front office jobs in hockey is that of a scout. The scout provides preliminary information on players, and his reports are the first to be analyzed by the personnel people.
 
There are different types of scouts. One might specialize in watching junior players and try to project what a 16- or 17-year old might become by the time he is 22, 23 or 24 years old. Other scouts, like Pete Mahovlich, ride around sections of North America looking at minor-league talent or taking in NHL games to evaluate players.
 
Mahovlich, now a pro scout for the Atlanta Thrashers, has been scouting talent for a long time after a very successful NHL career.

Friday, 11.20.2009 / 4:19 PM / 2010 NHL Entry Draft
By Mike G. Morreale  - NHL.com Staff Writer
Did you really expect Kurt Kleinendorst to spend the previous nine seasons with the New Jersey Devils' organization and not know the value of defense?

Kleinendorst, in his first season as coach of the U.S. National Team Development Program Under-18 Team, not only spent the last three seasons as coach for the Devils' American Hockey League affiliate in Lowell, but as New Jersey's assistant coach in 2000-01.

It's no wonder five of the top seven players on NHL Central Scouting's preliminary ranking for United States Hockey League players happen to be defensemen playing for Kleinendorst -- No. 1 Derek Forbort, No. 3 Stephen Johns, No. 4 Justin Faulk, No. 5 Jarred Tinordi and No. 7 Jonathon Merrill. This year, the USNTDP is ranked alongside USHL players; the team is playing a mix of college, USHL and international competition.
Friday, 11.20.2009 / 3:30 PM / Fantasy Games
By Rocky Bonanno  - NHL.com Staff Writer
Fantasy Forecast for Friday, November 20

The best fantasy coverage on the net isn't taking weekends off anymore. Every Saturday, Matt Cubeta will provide a comprehensive recap of the night's action from a fantasy perspective, highlighting the top performers and providing news and notes to guide your entry. Check out Matt's report Saturday.

THURSDAY'S ROUNDUP:


The countdown to Marian Hossa's Blackhawks debut is less than a week away, according to the Chicago Tribune -- the target date is Nov. 25 at San Jose. "There are going to be a lot of options for a coach to have," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "He's going to get a lot of ice time. We're looking forward to him being useful in a lot of ways." At Wednesday's practice, Hossa participated in line drills with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. "I still don't know who he's going to play with, but I think everybody's hoping they're going to be on that line," Quenneville said.
Friday, 11.20.2009 / 3:25 PM / Quarterly Report
NHL.com
NEW YORK -- Fewer than five months after hearing their names called as first-round selections at the National Hockey League Entry Draft, John Tavares of the New York Islanders, Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Matt Duchene of the Colorado Avalanche and Evander Kane of the Atlanta Thrashers have helped key turnaround performances by their teams in the first quarter of the NHL season.

As the 1,230-game schedule passes the quarter mark with tonight's games, seven clubs that did not qualify for the 2008-09 Stanley Cup Playoffs currently hold a top-eight Conference position – four in the Western Conference (#2 Colorado, #4 Los Angeles, #7 Phoenix and #8 Dallas) and three in the East (#3 Buffalo, #6 Ottawa and #7 Tampa Bay). The Islanders and Thrashers are a whisker behind the Eastern pack through a first quarter-season that saw outstanding individual and team performances along with stunning last-minute, game-changing dramatics. 
Friday, 11.20.2009 / 12:33 PM / Ice Age
By Phil Coffey  - NHL.com Sr. Editorial Director
Here we are at the end of November. Where does the time go? Already a quarter of the 2009-10 season is in the books -- give or take a game here or there.

But even with the season still relatively in its infancy, there still are plenty of questions, so let's get to the answers now.

1. How come there have been no coaching changes? -- A number of teams made their changes over the summer, and some teams that have gotten off to disappointing starts, like Carolina and St. Louis, are coming off playoff seasons, so there hasn't been as much impetus to make a move. With this being an Olympic year, the guess is any changes will come prior to the Winter Games, so teams can hit the ice hard for the sprint to the playoffs in February.

2. Pick one -- Chris Pronger or Dany Heatley? -- No disrespect to Heatley, but I build from the goal out, so I'll take Pronger, who as legendary Scottish announcer Hamish MacPherson once described Cam Neely, is "a beast of a man." Any time you can add a proven defenseman who is playing over 26 minutes per game, you do it.
Friday, 11.20.2009 / 12:00 PM / Columns
By Larry Wigge  - NHL.com Columnist

"You want to build a foundation, a model of consistency, a way of playing that makes you hard to beat in April, May and June." -- Joe Thornton

At first blush, we can't see the forest from the trees when looking at the San Jose Sharks.

* Joe Thornton's still putting up points.
* Even though Patrick Marleau is no longer captain, he's more of a leader now than before.
* Dan Boyle, the new captain, is still the straw that stirs the drink in San Jose.
* And Evgeni Nabokov continues to stops nearly everything.

But GM Doug Wilson's makeover of the Sharks roster is more than just trading key second-tier scorers Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek to Ottawa for Dany Heatley.

Friday, 11.20.2009 / 11:24 AM / 2010 NHL Entry Draft
By Adam Kimelman  - NHL.com Staff Writer

"He's got good size, doesn't beat himself, his positioning is very good, great butterfly style -- a blocking-style goalie. Good quickness in recovery, but he's not all over the place. He'll make the saves." -- Central Scouting's Al Jensen on Jack Campbell

Jack Campbell is a goaltender, and no one is going to talk him into playing a different position.

"I actually got talked out of playing goalie by one of my coaches, my uncle and my dad, but I just stormed out of the meeting and said I was going to be a goalie and I'm glad I did," Campbell told NHL.com. He was 7-years-old at the time.

"I just always wanted to be a goalie," he said. "I played out a few years, but my passion was always stopping pucks."

It seems like he's made the right call, as it's earned him a spot with the U.S. National Team Development Program, a gold medal at last spring's World Under-18 Championship, and probably a spot on the U.S. team for the 2010 World Junior Championship.






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