Kovalchuk reactions; Nick Leddy brings Cup to Minnesota; Ryan Miller on TBS (Puck Headlines)
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.
• Today's big winner: the San Jose Sharks.
• Adam Oates on Ilya Kovalchuk's surprise retirement: “It’s sad. He’s a marquee name in our league and a great player. I obviously had a chance to coach him for a couple years, really liked him. It’s sad for the league, it’s one of our good players.” [Washington Post]
• Cam Charron thinks Kovalchuk's retirement is probably for the best. [Backhand Shelf]
• Will Kovalchuk departure signal a mass exodus of Russian players? [Sportsnet]
• And does this departure threaten the NHL in any meaningful way? Yeah, probably not. [The Read Zone]
• Just in case Kovalchuk's decision colours your opinion of all Russians (in which case, you might be a racist) here's a great piece on how Evgeni Malkin negotiated his long-term extension. [TribLive]
• No doubt haunted by the sight of Harvey the Hound's disembodied, waterlogged head, the NHL and NHLPA have donated $100k to Alberta Flood relief. [NHLPA]
• Nick Leddy will be bringing the Stanley Cup to Minnesota, which might be considered trolling considered he was given to the Blackhawks for Cam Barker. Even Mike Russo can't resist: "Nick Leddy, 22, the Wild’s 2009 first-round pick who was once traded to Chicago for some guy, gets his day with the Cup after winning it with the Chicago Blackhawks last month." [Star Tribune]
• Might Donald Fehr return to the MLBPA? [Yahoo!]
• Mike Liambis's junior career ended the night he delivered a nasty, injurious hit. Now he's trying to put that behind him at the Predators' 2013 Development Camp. [The Predatorial]
• 7 bothersome things about the Mighty Ducks, like why would Gordon Bombay, drunk driver, be assigned to shape the minds of a group of young people? [College Humour]
• Super criminal Whitey Bulger was at Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, furthering our evidence that all the bad people were from out of town. [The Awesome Boston]
• Kovalchuk isn't the only big name headed to the KHL. Goodbye, Bobby Sanguinetti. We hardly knew ye. [Ria Novosti]
• Four things to remember about hockey analytics. [Shutdown Line]
• Jonathon Blum signs in Minnesota. [Wild]
• Our new favourite Tumblr is NHL in Pop Culture. [Tumblr]
• A brief review of the 2013 NHL season. [Habs Eyes on the Prize]
• The LA Kings have agreed to a two-year extension with rookie standout Jake Muzzin. [Kings]
• According to the front page of the Edmonton Sun, the Oilers traded for Alex Pietrangelo. That would have been preferable, probably. But that's not what happened. [Awful Announcing]
• And finally, here's Ryan Miller's big star-making turn on "Sullivan and Son":
