Rich Hammond of the LA Kings Insider: The Kings are expected to announce the hiring of new head coach Darryl Sutter sometime today. He’s expected to make his Kings coaching debut on Thursday against the Ducks.
Kevin Allen via twitter: The Canadiens CEO Molson said that the “ability to express himself in both French and English” will be “very” important when they are looking to pick their next head coach.
Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer: Hurricanes forward Tuomo Ruutu will be an UFA at the end of the season, and is trying to ignore the trade rumors. “I just live my life day by day,” he said, smiling again. “I don’t think I’m the only player with my name out there.”
Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal: The Flyers have made plenty of trades with the Hurricanes in the past, so they could target Bryan Allen or Tim Gleason. The Oilers could use a puck moving defenseman. The Oilers could move Ales Hemsky at the deadline if they decide not to re-sign him. They could get a prospect defenseman and a draft pick. Matheson wouldn’t be surprised if the Oilers were looking at Slava Voynov of the Kings.
Dmitry Chesnokov via twitter: Nikita Filatov has signed with CSKA for the remainder of the season. Will play his first game on Thursday.
David Pollak of the San Jose Mercury News: Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle said he’s been playing with a broken foot since Nov. 10th. “My game is skating and I was definitely a step behind for many of those games and a little slower out there. I didn’t have the energy to get into every play,” he said. “It’s a factor. I don’t want to sit here and make excuses.”
Ed Tait of the Winnipeg Free Press: Jets center Bryan Little blocked a shot off his foot on Saturday and his day-to-day. They will see today if he is able to go. Antti Miettinen skated with Tanner Glass and Jim Slater and should get into to his first Jets game.
Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News: Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen has missed 9 games with a groin injury, but is targeting to return after Christmas. “First I have to have a couple more days just with the goalie coach,” Lehtonen said. “Then I need to start skating with the team and have a couple of those days, and then after that, we’ll see when I play. We haven’t talked about any dates, but probably sometime around Christmas.”
Tim Panaccio of CSN Philly: A source has said that Flyers forward Sean Couturier is only sore, and not concussed after taking a Kimmo Timonen shot off the head.
Anthony San Filppo via twitter: Flyers center Claude Giroux practiced without a no contact jersey. San Filippo thinks we’ll be back this week.
Dan Murphy via twitter: Canucks defenseman Aaron Rome will be out 3-4 weeks with a broken thumb.
Tony Ambrogio via twitter: Maple Leafs winger Colby Armstrong is out with a concussion that he suffered on Saturday after a collision with Ryan Kesler.
Brent Wallace via twitter: Senators Milan Michalek is still listed as day-to-day. It is possible that he skates today, but not definite. Ian Mendes via twitter: Filip Kuba and Sergei Gonchar are both expected to play tonight against the Sabres.
Josh Yohe via twitter: Penguins Jordan Staal and Craig Adams are day-to-day but will skate today.
Andrew Gross via twitter: Rangers defenseman Marc Staal on contact drills: “Close, in a few days if everything goes well.”
Katie Strang via twitter: Rangers Steve Eminger is out 8 weeks. Jeff Woywitka is questionable for tonight. Tim Erixon will be recalled as insurance.
David Pagnotta via twitter: There were 15 scouts from 15 teams at the Maple Leafs-Kings game last night.
