- Mike Zeisberger of the Toronto Sun: There is a proposal for a 19,500 seat arena to be built in Markham, Ontario. Bauer chairman Graeme Roustan and real estate mogul Rudy Bratty are looking at building an entertainment/concert venue. The venue could sustain itself without an NHL team. It would be located just north of the 407 and west of Kennedy Road. The NHL doesn’t really want to relocate a team to the Toronto area at the moment. Quebec City would likely get a team first. There is another group that would like to build an arena in Vaughan, near the 407 and Hwy 27.
- Mike Morreale of NHL.com: Devils center Travis Zajac skated by himself yesterday and today and could be 2 weeks away from joining teammates. Lou Lamoriello:
“Travis has been released by the doctors and is in town and skated and will continue to do that for the next week and a half to two weeks,” Lamoriello said. “If everything is on schedule as it has been, he’ll start practicing with the team in two weeks. Everything to this point has been exactly the way the doctors predicted it would be, and it feels good, but he’s certainly not there yet. It’ll take conditioning off and on the ice before he can return to practice.”
- Stephen Whyno via twitter: Capitals forward Joel Ward slept in yesterday, missing a team meeting. He won’t be in the lineup.
- Tom Gulitti via twitter: Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk went for x-rays in Florida on his right leg, “everything was OK” according to Kovalchuk.
- Kevin Paul Dupont via twitter: Jochen Hecht will make his season debut tonight for the Sabres. He’s been out all year with concussion symptoms.
- Katie Strang via twitter: Islanders coach Capuano confirmed that goalie Al Montoya is getting close to returning. Further update should be coming later today.
- Stephen Whyno via twitter: Tomas Vokoun will start in net for the Capitals. Shultz, Semin and Perreault are in. Ward and Erskine are out.
- Tom Gulitti via twitter: Looks like Martin Brodeur will be net for the Devils tonight against the Blue Jackets.
