- Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News: Tim Connolly will be out at least a week after having reconstructive surgery on his nose. Connolly was hit into the boards on Satruday, he returned to the game with full face shield. Sabres captain Craig Rivet has been a healthy scratch, and Lindy Ruff left the press conference when asked about it.
- Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch: Mathieu Garon has taken over the title of the Columbus Blue Jackets number one goalie. Steve Mason has struggled and is looking to regain his confidence.
“I told Matty (Garon) I don’t know how long this is going to last,” Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel said. “But don’t worry about Vancouver (Thursday’s opponent) until we get done with Calgary. Don’t worry about Chicago (Dec. 26) until we’re done with Vancouver. Just focus on what we need to do. Just focus on beating Calgary tonight.”
- Helene Elliott of the LA Times: Marco Sturm will make his debut with the LA Kings tonight, but he’ll be eased back into action. Sturm will skate on the 4th line with Trevor Lewis and Alexei Ponikarovsky. Brad Richardson will be on the top line with Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown. Justin Williams will be with Jarret Stoll and Ryan Smyth. Kyle Clifford will be with Michal Handzus and Wayne Simmonds. Oscar Moller was returned to Manchester. Jonathan Quick will start in net.
- Bryan Mullen via twitter: Pekka Rinne says he’s ready to return and could start on Wednesday against the Blackhawks if coach Trotz makes the call.
- Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province: There have been preliminary talks between the Canucks and defenseman Christian Ehrhoff. Ehrhoff is making $3.1 million this season, and will be one of four UFA defenseman for the Canucks, Kevin Bieksa, Sami Salo and Andrew Alberts are the others.
“I definitely want to stay, but there are two sides involved in that,” said Ehrhoff. “I stopped thinking about it and just try to do my best to help the team. That’s my main focus right now and everything else isn’t. There’s not much I can do other than play good hockey and try not to get distracted by it.”
- Ron MacGregor of the Globe and Mail: In the past few weeks there may have been several teams who might have considered replacing their coach: New Jersey (John MacLean), Calgary (Brent Sutter), Minnesota (Todd Richards), Toronto (Ron Wilson), Ottawa (Cory Clouston), Washington (Bruce Boudreau), Anaheim (Randy Carlyle) and Buffalo (Lindy Ruff).
- Another waffle tossing incident in Toronto last night. Waffle tossing during play isn’t cool.