Here are your Morning (sorta) 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.
• Our buddy Dave Pagnotta broke this news during the Rumors Chat on Wednesday, and now HockeyFights.com has the details: "The Arizona Sundogs have announced that four-time Stanley Cup Champion and former Conn Smythe Trophy winner Claude Lemieux has joined the Club for formal on-ice workouts." Wow ... is there actually a market for ancient agitators who look uncomfortably like Jame Gumb?
• At least Claude's mouth is in mid-season form, talking to the New York Post about competing for a "best agitator award" with the Dallas Stars' Sean Avery: "I would probably beat Sean for that award because I was able to stick it up teams' butts by scoring big goals in big games after I'd gotten under their skin in other ways. Offensively I did more than Sean does." [NY Post]
• Ulf Samuelsson has a blog. A blog that really, really could have a better name than "Ulf Samuelsson's Blog." [THN]
• Are the Buffalo Sabres the best story in hockey right now? Quite the win last night. [Die by the Blade]
• Nikolai Zherdev returns to Columbus tonight with the New York Rangers, skating on a line with Chris Drury and Markus Naslund. How will the Columbus Blue Jackets fans react? [Blue Notes]
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• Our new friend Mike Commodore evidently got an earful from the NHL about that Facebook photo. You know, another League might be smart enough to embrace a good-natured controversy and profit from it. Like with a "Half-naked Mike Commodore Covers Himself with World Currency" calendar. [The Province]
• Detroit Red Wings winger Marian Hossa will face the Atlanta Thrashers tonight in Detroit. Ben Wright calls him out for avoiding the Thrash in the preseason. [Blueland Blog]
• The Tampa Bay Lightning will welcome Marek Malik to the defense this weekend, and Matt Pettinger could play his first game for the Bolts as well. [Tampa Tribune]
• Saturday night shouldn't be too insane in Philly, what with Philadelphia Flyers/New Jersey Devils, Game 3 of the World Series and a Celtic Thunder dance troupe at the Wachovia Spectrum all happening within spitting distance of each other in the same sports complex. [Philly.com]
• This Jamie Sabau photograph of Sidney Crosby from the Pittsburgh Penguins' win over Carolina last night is just iconic:
• Mark Messier's son is released by his ECHL team. We ain't Lyon. [New York Rangers Blog]
• The latest KHL transfer controversy: Former Pittsburgh Penguins and Phoenix Coyotes winger Matt Murley signed with Amur Khabarovsk, and the IIHF believes the did not have the required paperwork to start playing. Murley left the Carolina Hurricanes' AHL affiliate in Albany. [NHL]
• The Winter Classic jerseys for the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings will be revealed this weekend during their Saturday night showdown. [Kuklas]
• Martin Gerber should be very, very afraid of losing his starting job with the Ottawa Senators. [Sun Media]
• Mats Sundin would still like to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs. What, so Ron Wilson can bench him to make a point? [Globe & Mail]
• Finally, a scrap from the OHL between Nick Palmieri of the Erie Otters and the Niagara Ice Dogs' Jay Gilbert, who hangs tough in this fight.
