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It hasn't taken Shane O'Brien long to become one of the most-liked teammates on the Avalanche, according to The Denver Post. From his outgoing nature to his willingness to stand up for a teammate on the ice, O'Brien is considered the epitome of a team guy. Which is what makes what happened to him as a member of the Vancouver Canucks seem ironic.

Things are going well for O'Brien on and off the ice, but near the end of the 2009-10 season with the Canucks, his reputation as a team-first guy took a big hit. He was benched for three games for disciplinary reasons. There were reports of O'Brien spending late nights at a local nightclub, which may have contributed to him being late to practice. He was labeled by some as a party boy who was more interested in having a good time than playing hockey.

While expressing contrition after the Canucks benched him and saying he learned from the episode, O'Brien now says Vancouver's treatment of him was a bit over the top.

"Looking back on it, maybe they could have done a better job of sweeping it under the rug or maybe protecting me a little bit," O'Brien said. "But the coach (Alain Vigneault) obviously was trying to send a message. I don't agree with the way he did it, but he did it the way he wanted to do it."

Not that O'Brien, a 6-foot-3, 230-pound defenseman, absolves himself.

"You live and learn. Obviously, playing in that hockey market with the media attention they get, it got a little blown out of proportion. But at the same time, I put myself in that situation and definitely learned from it," he said. "The lesson is, to be a professional. There's a time and a place to have fun and blow off a little bit of steam, but we get paid a really good living and you've got to be responsible not only to yourself but your teammates."

The Post continues that Avalanche coach Joe Sacco, a stickler for discipline and not afraid to put players on the bench for not working hard, was aware of the episode in Vancouver, but he and the Avs weren't dissuaded from signing O'Brien this summer as a free agent. They are happy they did now.

"He's been a real nice addition to our lineup. He plays hard and plays within himself," Sacco said. "Shane's a little bit older now (28), a little bit wiser. I had a good talk with him at the start of the year, and he just wants to play hockey now. Every player at the start of their career probably does something they wish they could take back. I don't even know all the stuff that happened there, but you hear stuff. He's been great here, and I see no issues as far as that side."

O'Brien earned more respect in the room Friday night against Edmonton when he immediately fought 6-6 Oilers defenseman Andy Sutton for a hit to the head of Avs rookie Gabriel Landeskog, which earned Sutton a five-game suspension from the NHL on Tuesday.

"I told him thanks, that I appreciated it," Landeskog said. "Those are the things that build team chemistry."

That, ultimately, is what O'Brien wants to be known for — adding positives to the team mix.

"We've got a young team here, and I want to be a leader and set a good example," he said.

The Vancouver Province writes that if he was just another player, Manny Malhotra might be sitting out rather than suiting up.

The Canucks centre has come to symbolize the long trek to NHL supremacy on an individual and collective basis. The first to admit his game isn't where it needs to be after two offseason procedures on his injured left eye curtailed training to just three weeks, Malhotra has struggled to keep pace and battle, struggled to score and is struggling with a minus-6 rating following a 5-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Tuesday.

However, the fact that Malhotra has maintained dominance in the faceoff circle — he was ranked fifth overall after 11 games with a 60.1 cent proficiency despite obvious visual and conditioning challenges — has resonated with his teammates and the coaching staff. Malhotra's leadership in the room hasn't wavered. Neither has his work ethic. And that's where the centre gets cut some slack because you could argue that Maxim Lapierre has played more like a third-line centre than a fourth-line fixture. Alain Vigneault has even admitted as much.

"One thing that makes this team good is that we have that internal competition," said Malhotra, who was a plus-1 against the Flames with an assist while winning 12 of 19 draws. "It's not so much I'm competing with Max, it's wanting to contribute more and being able to get back to my game. In the course of a shift you have to get out of the gate. Without that training and extra sessions in the summer, you lag behind a bit and it wasn't until the beginning of training camp where I was able to exert myself.

"I feel I'm catching up to where I would normally be but it's a work in progress. If I'm getting to the position, that helps create a lot defensively by being in position and offensively being able to forecheck and create stuff."

The article notes the March 16 accident in which he was struck by a deflected puck could have been career threatening for the 31-year-old Malhotra and has been galvanizing the Canucks. With another season remaining on a three-year, $7.5 million US contract, the former first-round draft choice was signed to help take accountability to the next level. And when sidelined by the injury and surgeries, he became part coach and full-time cheerleader.

"If there's one individual who I'm going to have a lot of patience with it's him," said Vigneault. "He's such a quality individual and doesn't look for any excuses. He's aware of the situation he's in right now and he's trying to put his best foot forward every day. I've got a lot of time for that and our management has got a lot of time for that. We're definitely going to work with him."

Malhotra doesn't doesn't require any further procedures on his injured eye and doesn't dwell on the accident or the challenges surgeries have presented on and off the ice.

"I'm past that point," he said. "I'm over worrying about it or being concerned. It's about playing the game and as far as changing my game, I don't have that luxury."

The Edmonton Journal relays that the Oilers, as a team, have caught the fancy of the public and the media after getting absolutely no notice the last two years. That happens when you’re 7-2-2, of course, having a cadre of youngsters, Ryan Smyth back and scoring, and the best goaltending in the NHL.

“Sports Illustrated’s calling, The Hockey News, NHL Live, the NHL Network, ESPN ... that’s great for us,” said Oilers public relations director J.J. Hebert.

“I’m happy that the fans of Edmonton can be proud of their team at home or on the road ... that’s a huge part of all of this,” said coach Tom Renney. “I’m happy we have good stories to talk about with other media people around the league. I’m happy, too, that our opponents might have to pay particular attention to what might be a threat, that they’ll have to battle for two points.

“It’s a continuation of a work in progress and I hope the story continues.”

This is an acid-test month for the Oilers, who’ve had eight of their 11 games so far at Rexall Place. Not only do they have this six-game road trip, but 10 of their 14 games in November are on the road. Generally, about 80 per cent of the teams that are in the playoffs (the top eight in each conference) on the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend in late November are there in April, too.

“I honestly don’t know if I thought we’d have these results (in October), but I did know we’d have the effort, that there was some continuity from last season,” said Renney. “There’s all sorts of ebbs and flows in a season, though, and there will be on this road trip. I’m sure of that.

“We have to embrace this upcoming trip as an opportunity to see if we can sustain our work habits.”

And to keep the wins coming.

It took the Oilers until Nov. 29 to win seven games last year, 23 games into the season.

"It's going to take a little bit to get my timing, but my approach is going to be the same," Sidney Crosby told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "I'm going to be the player I've always been. That's my goal. That's why it's important that I'm 100 percent when I do come back. I'm going to get hit again. I know that. That's part of how I play. And hopefully, I'm going to give hits more than I take."

Phil Kessel (10-8-18), Thomas Vanek (8-7-15), Claude Giroux 7-8-15), Jason Spezza (6-9-15), Anze Kopitar (6-8-14), Daniel Sedin 5-9-14), Teemu Selanne (5-9-14), Jason Pominville (5-9-14), Henrik Sedin (4-10-14), Nicklas Backstrom 4-10-14), Joe Pavelski (8-5-13), Milan Michalek (8-5-13), Marc-Andre Bergeron (2-11-13), Erik Karlsson 1-12-13)

LA Kings Insider wonders: Will a return to the third line get Dustin Penner’s production going?

Penner spent the previous two games in a first-line look, with Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams, and the result was one shot on goal, one minor penalty and a minus-2 rating. So, the Kings will try something different. With first-line winger Simon Gagne expected to return Thursday, Penner will return to the third line, alongside Jarret Stoll and Brad Richardson. That’s a role in which Penner seemed to have his best game of the season, last week in Dallas, so Terry Murray will give it another look Thursday. Penner has one point, an assist, in nine games this season.

MURRAY: “I don’t know if it was the fact that he started to play with Stoll and Richardson, or exactly what it was, but there seemed to be a little more work involved on his part of the game. I think there was more movement in the offensive zone, using his size. I liked the way he got involved in the physical part of the game, in several of those looks in the offensive zone in the past couple games. But I still feel that he is sometimes looking for the perfect play to shoot the puck. Get back to that movement, get back to cycling, get back to reading off each other, with a little better spacing in the offensive zone. When you work at that part of it, I think the offensive part falls in place much easier.

“His overall effort is good. His work is good. He started to show me that when I put him with Stoll and Richardson. So I just said, `I liked it.’ He liked it. I talked to him on the plane, on the flight to Dallas. We reviewed all of his shifts from the previous game. When you put it under the microscope, and watch the first period when he was with Kopi, and then the second and third periods when he was with Stoll, there was a lot of offensive-zone time. In fact, every shift that he was on the ice with Stoll and Richardson in the second and third periods, it was in the offensive zone. So when we watched it, clearly that jumps out at you, and he said, `Yeah, that looks pretty good. It felt good, too.’ That’s why I’m going to leave him with Stoll and Richardson. Keep bringing that work ethic to the game, most importantly, and the other parts of things will fall in place for him.’

The Miami Herald describes how Tomas Fleischmann says playing hockey these days makes him “feel like a little kid.’’

And it’s the Panthers who are reaping the benefits.

“I basically got my mojo back,’’ he said.

Fleischmann has been one of Florida’s biggest offensive threats of late — in addition to the surprising and surging Jason Garrison — as he has four goals and three assists in a five-game scoring streak and is tied for third on the team with 10 points through the first 11 games this season.

On Monday, Fleischmann brought the Panthers back with a pair of third-period goals. Had it not been for a controversial late goal by the visiting Jets, Fleischmann’s goals might have been enough to lift Florida to its seventh win to start the season.

“I’m playing to win the games,’’ Fleischmann said. “Playing on the first line, you expect the points from us.

“This is how I played in junior, the American league. I haven’t played like this all the time, but now I’m up on the first line and it always goes like that. Hopefully it keeps going like this.’’

Fleischmann is enjoying himself with the new-look Panthers and looks right at home playing alongside linemates Stephen Weiss and Kris Versteeg. Florida’s top line has played together since the final week of training camp and is Florida’s top power-play line as well.

The trio has combined for half of Florida’s 28 goals.

Rookie forward Ryan Johansen has earned the right to remain a Blue Jacket with his play, general manager Scott Howson told the Columbus Dispatch.

“I think he can help us win some games,” Howson said. “He shown he certainly can contribute at this level. He hasn’t done it with consistency yet, but that’s not uncommon for a player at his age.”

Johansen, 19, has played nine games. Tuesday, the Jackets elected to keep him with the big club rather than return him to junior hockey and delay the commencement of his contract by a season. Howson said Johansen must increase his strength and conditioning and continue to develop, but he’s comfortable with Johansen doing so at the NHL level. “He earned the opportunity to stay beyond the 10th game by his play,” Howson said. “I don’t feel like we’re pushing him into a role where he is going to fail. “There have been games where he has played 14 or 15 minutes and games where he’s played eight or nine. There will probably be more games like that, where he looks really good, and more where his coach is going to have to hold him back a bit because he doesn’t have that consistency yet.” Johansen has been much better since he switched from center to right wing five games ago. It was a calculated move by the Jackets, who felt he would more comfortably adapt to the rigors of the NHL on the wing. “I felt I’ve played more comfortable and confident on wing,” Johansen said. “But they want to me keep improving. One bit thing is that I still want to be stronger. It will make things that much easier on the ice.” The positional switch has gone well. Johansen has increased his ice time and collected all four of his points – two goals and two assists – while playing on the wing. Both of his goals have been game-winners, no small achievement on a team with only two wins. He scored the winner against Anaheim with an impressive backhand flick on Sunday. “He’s got that raw talent,” said Matt Calvert, Johansen’s new linemate. “And he worked his butt off the last game.”

The Detroit Free Press observes that what stood out about Gustav Nyquist during training camp was how smart he played.

Physical strength can be gained, and stickhandling can be worked on, but good hockey sense is innate. The Wings saw that in Nyquist two months ago, and that's why they called him up from the minors and had him play just over 11 minutes during Tuesday's 2-1 overtime loss to Minnesota at Joe Louis Arena.

After the game, coach Mike Babcock said Nyquist "was fine, and yet we'll talk about that and go from there."

Before the loss, Babcock was more effusive, saying, "What I like about him is, he generates offense, he seems to be calm with the puck, and he doesn't make you scared to death that he's out there making 'hope' plays. We think he's an NHL player."

Babcock used Nyquist on a newly formed second line, with Johan Franzen and Todd Bertuzzi, as well as on the power play.

"I'm super excited to get the opportunity here," Nyquist said of his NHL debut. "I just have to play my game. They're a puck-possession team up here, and I like to have the puck, too. So it's a great system. It's just a dream come true."

Franzen was impressed by Nyquist after playing with him during the exhibition season. "He's a smart player," Franzen said. "One of those guys where the puck is going to follow him around. He's got that skill where he can both shoot it and find passes and still be responsible defensively. You either have hockey sense or you don't, pretty much. So that's a big thing."

The 22-year old Nyquist, who was a fourth round pick in 2008, had nine points in nine games in the AHL.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette indicates that through 13 games going into the contest Thursday at San Jose, 37-year old winger Steve Sullivan has been healthy. He has used his speed and savvy to fit in, playing on a top line with Evgeni Malkin and James Neal when Malkin has been healthy. He has three assists, three hits, one blocked shot.

But nary a goal.

Not a pretty one. Not a bang-bang lucky one. His career meter is stuck at 266.

"I'd take anything right now," Sullivan said. "If someone wants to give me one, I'd take it."

Sullivan can joke about it and his teammates can get on him about it -- a little -- because perhaps as many as half of his 24 shots have been golden chances.

In the most recent game, a 4-3 loss Saturday at Toronto, he had one of those. He moved across the slot with the puck, left to right, holding the puck, being patient until he had an opening inside the post to score, but somehow Maple Leafs goaltender Jonas Gustavsson slid over and nabbed the puck with his glove.

"It seems like right now the goaltenders around the league are making their unbelievable saves on him," winger Pascal Dupuis said.

Dupuis also has had some prime chances, and he has converted three of them. He sees no difference, essentially, in what he's doing and what Sullivan is doing.

"He's not struggling. He's getting the opportunities," Dupuis said. "The hockey gods will turn the other way. It will change."

That can't happen soon enough for Sullivan.

"I'd love to score goals," he said. "No one wants to score goals more than I do right now, but I think I've got to make sure I keep doing everything else around my game, make sure I'm doing those things right and trying to make a contribution everywhere.

"I think the goals will come. If I get 12, 13 scoring chances like I have had in the next 12 or 13 games, hopefully, I'll have four or five goals by then.

"I'm getting a lot of scoring chances."

Dupuis, listening in, interjected, "a lot of chances."

Sullivan couldn't argue that.

"Yeah, I'm getting a lot of chances," he said.

"I've just got to stay positive. There's no use dwelling over not scoring. I've got to stay positive about it and keep doing what I'm doing."

Email: chris.nichols@sportsnet.rogers.com

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­Chris Nichols is Sportsnet.ca's fantasy hockey writer.