ESPN.com – NHL

CALGARY – The Calgary Flames received good news and bad news on the injury front on Wednesday.

The morning after Calgary suffered a humiliating 6-1 setback on home ice to the Edmonton Oilers, forward Curtis Glencross and defenceman Derek Smith suited up to practice with the Flames (28-23-9) after extended absences from the lineup.

Meanwhile, the team announced that defenceman Chris Butler would be out of the lineup for up to three weeks after suffering a laceration on his left thigh during Tuesday night’s game.

While Calgary coach Brent Sutter said that both Glencross and Smith fared well in practice, he couldn’t speculate as to whether either of them would be in the lineup for Thursday’s game at home against the Phoenix Coyotes (30-21-9).

“Both of them looked good,” Sutter said. “It’s practice, but that’s why we did some drills with game-like situations too to see where they’re at. It was good for them to get in there. They’ll have a better feel in the morning if they’re closer.”

Glencross hasn’t played since injuring his knee during a 2-1 shootout loss in San Jose to the Sharks on Jan. 17.

“It’s good to get out there and skate with the guys obviously,” said Glencross, who practised on a line with Olli Jokinen and Jarome Iginla. “I’m excited to get back in here whether it’s tomorrow or the next day or whatever.”

After the injury, Glencross was told he’d be out of the lineup for six-to-eight weeks.

“I’m ahead of schedule right now,” said the 29-year-old forward, who scored 18 goals and added 15 assists through 45 games before suffering the injury.

Smith hasn’t played since suffering a high-ankle sprain during a 3-1 loss in New York to the Islanders on Dec. 29.

“I haven’t had any problems with it,” said Smith following Wednesday’s practice. “I haven’t had any pain. My strength feels good. I may be close to 100 (per cent). It feels pretty good.”

Smith would like nothing more than to return to the lineup to help the Flames in their push towards securing a playoff berth.

“The intensity is higher now with the playoffs just around the corner,” Smith said. “It’s just one of those things. If I get in, I’ve just got to play smart and keep it simple and just try not to do too much until I get my feet wet.”

Meanwhile, Butler will have to suffer the frustration of not being able to play after he needed 30 stitches to close up a gash on his left thigh.

“It’s frustrating,” Butler said. “You never want to be out. You want to play every game, especially this time of the year with the situation we’re in and being a part of that playoff push.”

Butler sustained the injury when he crashed into his own net while trying to prevent an eventual goal by Edmonton forward Ales Hemsky.

“I was kind of out of position so I was diving to reach for the puck there,” he said. “I actually had it on my stick or it felt like I got a piece of it.”

Instead the puck got through to Hemsky, who deposited it into the Calgary net at the same time as goalie Miikka Kiprusoff’s skate cut Butler on his thigh.

“I looked down and saw that my sock was cut open and saw a cut there,” Butler said. “It certainly didn’t feel good, so that’s when I kind of realized something was wrong and that’s when I went off.

“It could have been worse — very little muscle damage and nothing wrong with the tendon.”

The Flames have already lost 267 man games to injury this season. Butler joins forwards David Moss (foot), Lee Stempniak (ankle), Blair Jones (ankle) and Mikael Backlund (upper body) on injured reserve.

“It’s not like we’re going into unchartered waters here,” Sutter said. “We’ve been dealing with it for a long time. It’s something that you wish never happened, but it has and we just have to handle it the right way and make sure attitudes are proper.”

Sutter was pleased to see his players had a positive attitude during practice a day before yet another important game against the Coyotes.

“They understand the situation,” Sutter said. “They know how big every game is and how important every game is. Last night we had a stinker and we just move on past it and get ready for our next one.”

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9.7 seconds was all that separated the Flyers from falling to the 6th seed and the Jets from gaining the third 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference.

And when Wayne Simmonds got that goal, forcing overtime in a 4-4 match, Lavy let loose behind the bench.

It was great to see.

And even better, the Flyers had a gutsy effort to overcome a terrible fourth goal from Ilya Bryzgalov and poor penalty killing once again.

Jaromir Jagr’s 16th career OT marker set a new NHL record and bailed everyone out.

What I really like is that Bryz finally took responsibility of giving up a horrendous goal. In this case, the fourth one that nearly lost the game.

He waved at the puck as it sailed past him though he said it hit him.

“Just a stupid mistake,” Bryzgalov said. “I started catching the puck and I miscalculated the distance between the puck and my glove and it hit me on the edge of the glove and went in.

“I’m kinda sick and tired of these mistakes. It’s not like playing bad, it’s just consistently stupid mistakes. I want to help the team.”

Another thing I found amusing was Bryz’ sarcasm about the fans chanting, “Ilya, Ilya.” The chanting began as the puck dropped and resurfaced after Evander Kane’s goal that even seemed to amuse Kane – it was that bad.

“You know, I like it,” he said. “It’s great atmosphere. I wished every building was going to be supportive like that. They gonna support me like here. It was nice to hear cheering, ‘Ilya, Ilya.’

“I never heard that before anywhere. When 15,000 people support you, it’s a great present.”

I asked Bryz if the fans here were acting just like they do in Philly.

“No,” Bryzgalov replied. “Here there is cheering. In Philly, they boo me.”

One thing that surprised me was how little power play and penalty kill time Pavel Kubina got in this game.

However, Kubina told after the game that he had not been on the ice for more than that one Flyer practice in over a week. He had tired legs. That’s when it made sense that Lavy was trying to give him gradual work in the game even though he still go 20 minutes of ice time.

The Flyers need to greatly improve on the PK or they are going to be in serious trouble down the stretch.

Also, the Flyers have not won consecutive games since Jan. 10-12 – more than a month ago! Both those games were on the road, too – at Carolina, at the Islanders.

That’s something to shoot for Thursday in Edmonton.

Here’s a bunch of stories on CSNPhilly.com:

click here

HockeyBuzz.com

ESPN.com – NHL

ESPN.com – NHL

MONTREAL – Improved hockey, basketball and soccer coverage, including better access to team practices and more angles on scoring are among improvements sports fans can expect from Rogers now that it owns a big chunk of Toronto’s top sports franchises.

“The consumer, really, is the real winner in this deal because they’re going to get coverage like they’ve not seen before,” Keith Pelley, president of Rogers media division, said Wednesday.

Rival telecom giants Rogers Communications Inc. (TSX:RCI.B) and Bell Canada (TSX:BCE) bought a majority stake last December in the country’s biggest sports franchise company, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment for more than $ 1 billion.

Even though Rogers and Bell own a chunk of the NHL’s Maple Leafs, the NBA’s Raptors and the Toronto FC soccer club, they will compete on how they distribute the content, Pelley said on a media call.

Rogers and Bell want to put the sports content on everything from smartphones to tablets to televisions to personal computers so that fans don’t miss any of the games. The move also gives them more access advertising revenue.

“We’re quite competitive with our friends at Bell,” Pelley said.

“We’re not going to share all of our secrets about how we’re going to make our coverage different than theirs, but we’re going to use all of our multiple platforms to be able to give the consumers Leaf coverage and Raptor coverage like they’ve not seen before.”

Pelley said coverage of the games is expected to be divided between Rogers (TSX:RCI.B) and Bell (TSX:BCE), but scheduling will be a challenge.

In the short term, Pelley said consumers won’t see much difference in game coverage. The deal is expected to close in late spring near the end of the second fiscal quarter.

Different angles on goals, dressing room access and “the one you can probably assume is that consumers will have better access to practices,” are being considered, he said.

“But how we would cover the games and how we go after advertising revenue is really where the competitive battle will change from our on-air commentators to our integrated packages,” Pelley said from Toronto.

Although Rogers and Bell will share ownership of the content, it will be very competitive in “how we’re going to distribute that content,” Pelley said.

Rogers already owns the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team and their stadium, the Rogers Centre, as well as the broadcaster Sportsnet.

Bell owns the CTV television network and specialty cable channels such as TSN sports channel and French-language cable channel RDS. Bell also has a minority ownership stake in the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens.

Rogers and Bell will pay the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan about $ 533 million apiece for their respective 37.5 per cent chunks of MLSE. Minority owner Larry Tannenbaum, through his company Kilmer Sports, will boost his current stake in MLSE by five per cent to 25 per cent.

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HockeyBuzz.com

CHICAGO — Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews will miss his second straight game Thursday with an upper-body injury, and although coach Joel Quenneville wouldn’t specify the nature of the injury, he did say he was hopeful Toews could return by the weekend.

“He’s progressing, but he’s day to day,” Quenneville said Wednesday.

Quenneville indicated the injury is not related to the left-hand problem that kept Toews out of one game before the All-Star break as well as the All-Star Game itself.

Toews played in — and finished — Sunday’s 3-1 win over the St. Louis Blues, but he missed Tuesday’s victory over the Detroit Red Wings.

The Blackhawks have won four straight and host the Dallas Stars Thursday.

Toews leads the team with 29 goals.

Meanwhile, Niklas Hjalmarsson, who has missed the past seven with an upper-body injury, is scheduled to play Thursday.

Jesse Rogers covers the Blackhawks for ESPNChicago.com and ESPN 1000.

ESPN.com – NHL

ESPN.com – NHL

Rick Nash wears the “C” on his jersey as captain of Columbus. These days, the letter stands more for, coveted.

The NHL trade deadline is Monday and no player has been dangled as bait like Nash, the Blue Jackets’ 27-year-old star forward, and the greatest player in franchise history. He’s done it all in Columbus – except turn the team into a winner. With the Blue Jackets floundering as the worst team in the league, the Nash era could be over in Ohio by this time next week, and the list of potential suitors seems to run as long as the list of playoff contenders.

Columbus’ visit to the Eastern Conference last week saw the trade rumors fly at light speed. Columbus general manager Scott Howson had a chat with Philadelphia Flyers GM Paul Holmgren. And Nash faced a media crush in New York, with everyone curious to learn if he’d be willing to trade the leisurely life in Columbus for the bright lights and Stanley Cup expectations in the Big Apple.

Could Nash be the franchise-shifter that turns a contender into a champion?

“Right now I’m a Blue Jacket,” Nash said in New York. “And that’s what matters.”

Columbus is ready to rebuild and could restock the roster with prospects and future draft choices for Nash, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2002 draft.

Nash is signed through the 2014-15 season, and carries an annual salary cap hit of $ 7.8 million.

Howson refused to comment when asked if anyone on his team is untouchable.

With 18 wins and 43 points entering Wednesday night, it seems every veteran on Columbus could be available.

“Everybody’s got a good handle now. There’s only six days left on where they are, what they need,” Howson said. “There’s still some uncertainty about whether some teams are selling or buying or staying pat.”

Nash enjoys Columbus and would like to stay, but he also recognizes that the NHL is a business, and even star players get traded, or at least shopped. Potential landing spots include the improved Los Angeles Kings (needs offense; could offer goalie Jonathan Bernier), Toronto (which covets a native son who could be the face of the organization), the Flyers and Rangers.

Unlike previous seasons, when the Blue Jackets were always near the bottom of the salary cap, they are near the top this season in spending. And for that, they easily have the worst record in the NHL.

Nash is far from the only big name Blue Jacket on the block. Jeff Carter, acquired in a ballyhooed deal from the Flyers last summer, has been a bust in Columbus. He was unhappy the Flyers traded him and has missed chunks of this season with a separated shoulder and a broken foot. He could find his bliss if he’s reunited with former Philadelphia running buddy, Mike Richards, in Los Angeles.

Nashville defenseman Ryan Suter, Maple Leafs defenseman Luke Schenn, and Anaheim forwards Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan could find new homes by the time deadline day is over, as well.

While the trade deadline is fun for fans who mix and match salary cap numbers and wish a superstar will push their team into the Stanley Cup finals, the reality is, trade rumors are just that.

Rumors.

“History tells you there’s going to be moves, but most of them will probably be depth moves,” Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said. “Everybody focuses on the sexy, higher-profile names, but most of the time, nothing happens with those guys. It ends up being the veteran players who can give an organization depth that everyone is looking for because of the parity in the league.”

The Washington Capitals expected scoring punch on the blue line and needed depth for the stretch run last season when they acquired Dennis Wideman, Jason Arnott and Marco Sturm. They gave the team a lift – the Caps had a nine-game winning streak into mid-March – just not the Cup.

Capitals general manager George McPhee then went out and made other additions last summer – goaltender Tomas Vokoun among them – in the hope that Washington can snare that elusive title. But the Capitals wouldn’t have even made the playoffs, if the season ended Tuesday night.

So, clearly, McPhee’s decisions down the stretch could determine whether he keeps his job.

Owner Ted Leonsis posted on his blog recently: “hope we can add some jump via the trade markets during the next few weeks. Go Caps!”

No pressure, George.

It’s not as easy as just trading a few pieces for a star. Aside from salary cap considerations, a team like the Rangers has to decide if it’s worth surrendering a piece like Brandon Dubinsky, key in their run to the top of the East, for Nash. The Bruins are playing again like a Stanley Cup champion. Does general manager Peter Chiarelli want to mess around with a wildly successful team’s chemistry going into the trade deadline?

“I think that’s probably my priority when I look to add something. I do want to add something, and I’d like to help the team,” he said. “I’d like to add to our depth. But that’s a priority. It’s a fine balance, chemistry, and you have to be careful.”

The risk can be worth it.

The Penguins scored big last season when they acquired forward James Neal, and he’s turned into their most reliable scorer behind Evgeni Malkin. Any deal this season would be limited to providing depth. The Penguins figure no trade could be better than the return of injured captain Sidney Crosby, who hasn’t played since Dec. 5 due to a recurrence of concussion-like symptoms. Crosby is skating, but has not been cleared for contact. He remains optimistic he can play again this season and his return would far outweigh anything Pittsburgh could get in a trade.

But for teams like New York, Philadelphia and others, the chance to land Nash could make all the difference between finishing in April or June.

—-

AP Sports Writers Rusty Miller in Columbus, Ohio, Larry Lage in Detroit, Joseph White in Washington, Jimmy Golen in Boston, and Will Graves in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.

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