Here are your 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.
• Yet another, er, "memorable" holiday jersey, this time from the AHL's Hershey Bears. Here's Zach Miskovic with what Keeley from On Frozen Blog called his "godforsaken Christmas sweater." Boy, these jersey-makers love the holly-on-the-sleeves bit, don't they?
• Score one for common sense: Greg Walsh, the Ontario minor hockey coach who was suspended after a racial slur prompted him to pull his team from the ice, has had his season-long ban lifted by the Ontario Minor Hockey Association. [CBC Sports]
• Ah, there you go: It's not that Mike Comrie has been a massive disappointment for the Pittsburgh Penguins; it's that he's been a massive disappointment with a nagging hip injury that may require surgery. [Post Gazette]
• Colorado Avalanche center Matt Duchene and left wing Tomas Fleischmann plus Carolina Hurricanes center Eric Staal have been named the NHL 'Three Stars' for the period ending Dec. 19. Seven points in four Avalanche wins for Flash. Nutty. [NHL]
• Darren Pang believes the Blue Jackets should send Steve Mason to the minors to regain his confidence. Because it worked so well for Nikita Filatov. [Dispatch]
• Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Mike Smith injured his left knee during practice today, leaving his status in question for Monday night's game against the Carolina Hurricanes. Dan Ellis is ready; oddly, AHL standout Cedrick Desjardins had been called up (as was scheduled) before the injury. [Lightning Strikes]
• Nice bit from Fear The Fin: Which defenseman does Todd McLellan trust the most to start in the defensive zone? [FtF]
• TSN is doing the Million Dollar Shootout at World Juniors, and 63-year-old Barry Epp has to score 15 goals in 24 seconds on New Year's Eve to win the dough. Helping him prep for the big day? Some hack named Bobby Orr. [Daily Bulletin]
• The top 33 tweets from Paul Bissonnette, on the occasion of his return to Pittsburgh to face his former team. Quoth BizNasty: "Just landed in Newark. Literally freezing my gonads off. Did jim balsamic buy our team yet? Cause I don't think I could take Winnipeg." [Pensburgh]
• He hasn't had the best season, but the loss of Kyle Quincey could catch up to the Colorado Avalanche. [Denver Post]
• Dates and times for the next airing of HBO's "24/7 Penguins Capitals: Road To the NHL Winter Classic." [NHL.com]
• A look back at ESPN's The Season, the mini-series that chronicled the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche nearly a decade ago in a 24/7-ish manner. [From The Rink]
• Preparing for Marco Sturm's addition to the lineup, the Los Angeles Kings ship Oscar Moller down to the AHL. [LA Kings Insider]
• House of the Hockey Photoshops Eric Boulton's hat-trick photo with hilarious results. [HOTH]
• Joe Paterson is your new head coach of the Adirondack Phantoms, saving the sanity of John Paddock. [Broad Street Hockey]
• Sergei Bobrovsky of the Philadelphia Flyers meets "Santa Coatesy" on CSN Philly. Tremendous performance. Next time, hopefully it's 2 minutes of Steve Coates asking the rookie goalie what you call a guy with no arms and no legs that just fell out of a boat? "Bob ..." [Stick-Tap dxflyers]
• Spector on how the Vancouver Canucks want to keep both Sami Salo and Kevin Bieksa, despite the cap issues: "Bieksa's offensive numbers are down this season, but his overall defensive game - especially his physical play - has improved, which explains why Canucks management would prefer to retain him for the rest of the season." [THN]
• Why can't the Buffalo Sabres? [Buffalo News]
• Can Donald Fehr "save" the NHLPA? Allan Maki of the Globe & Mail: "If Donald Fehr can't pull the NHLPA out of its apathy and disarray then no one can. Say what you want about his politics, his negotiating tactics and way of doing business: the man does what's best for the players. Always has. Yes, he's been involved in some nasty labour wars and a work stoppage in baseball. Hopefully, we don't see that again in hockey. But for the first time in more than five years, the NHLPA has a definitive voice offering a counter message to what we hear from commissioner Gary Bettman and the NHL owners. And that's a start." [Globe & Mail]
• We miss HLOG in a major way. There's a nice series of Q&As with top female hockey bloggers running on the site. [HLOG]
• Please say hi to Stranger in Leafs Nation, a new addition to the Ottawa Senators blogosphere. [SiLN]
• Nice piece in the Washington Post about our brothers-and-sisters-in-blogging SB Nation. [Capitals Business]
• Big-time thanks to Jonah Keri for having myself and Leahy on his podcast. [Keri]
• Finally, via Leahy, check out the brilliance of this Alex Radulov on this move in international play. Ah, what could have been, Nashville ...
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