Hockey Hearsay

Hockey Hearsay runs weekdays, 12 months a year; mixing NHL stories, quotes and fantasy takes.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette indicates that Penguins center and captain Sidney Crosby has said he wanted more contact in practice for evaluation purposes, and he got quite a bit Wednesday.

Although he was not part of any huge collisions, Crosby was bumped and jostled repeatedly in a practice at Consol Energy Center that lasted 75 minutes, plus more time for Crosby and others who chose to stay on the ice longer.

The Penguins, taking advantage of a lull in their schedule, had one-on-one battles in front of the net and long, intense five-on-five, single-zone drills.

"He shows a great willingness to initiate and go to the net, look for that type of situation, whether it's one-on-one, two-on-one, three-on-two, whether he is expecting to have contact or not," coach Dan Bylsma said.

"I thought [offensively and defensively] he's got a willingness to go into the area where there's traffic. ... He's shown that willingness for a while now."

The problem for Crosby, who has not played since Jan. 5 because of a concussion, is that the club's earlier jam-packed schedule left few days for that kind of rigorous practice.

Whether the contact Wednesday leads to him being cleared to play remains to be seen.

Crosby declined to speak to reporters beyond indicating his status has not changed.

Neither he nor anyone with the Penguins has fueled widespread speculation that he might play in the Penguins next game, Friday at home against Dallas.

The Winnipeg Free Press believes that defenceman Zach Bogosian has undergone tremendous growth in a Jets uniform this season, a transformation that has seen him morph from under-achieving prospect into an emerging defensive rock who is respected in the room.

It also makes the organization's decision to re-sign him this summer rather than deal him -- as had been the rampant speculation -- look like pure genius.

"You know, it's funny... Winnipeg is my kind of city," explained Bogosian the other day in Buffalo. "I just feel comfortable now. I like the people there and I feel a lot more comfortable than I did in Atlanta, that's for sure.

"Winnipeg is huge compared to where I'm from, but it feels like a big small town. I love it. The people are nice. I can walk around in my cowboy boots and big belt buckles and no one looks at me like I'm a weirdo. It's going well. I like it there."

Drafted third overall in 2008 behind Steve Stamkos and Drew Doughty, Bogosian entered the NHL with lofty expectations. And although he made the team as an 18-year-old it was, admittedly now, a lot to handle all at once. He had nine goals and 10 assists in 47 games as a rookie and 23 points as a sophomore but struggled last year. The most-glaring number: a -27 plus/minus rating and something that doesn't show up in the black and white of the stat sheet -- a shattered confidence.

Funny, then, how a change in scenery can breathe life into a guy's career again.

"A lot of things go into it," Bogosian explained. "In my first three years I experienced a lot of things I'm sure a lot of 21-year-olds don't experience. But that's in the past now. I just enjoy playing here now and we have such a good group of guys. That's a big part of, too: I feel more comfortable around the guys now to be myself.

"Confidence and being comfortable are huge. Last year, the way my year was going I really wasn't sure what it was going to be like day to day. Now I know I've kind of established myself as a hard working guy that comes to work every day. I love coming to the rink now.

"A lot of people had different opinions on where my career was going in the first three years," he added. "I'd be the first one to tell you it didn't go as smooth as I wanted. But I'm learning. And any time a team, like Winnipeg did this summer, says they want to keep you for two years it makes you feel good about yourself. I want to be here."

The Edmonton Journal points out that Oilers winger Taylor Hall, who will be intrinsically connected to Tyler Seguin for seasons to come, will play his first game at the Bruins’ home rink, the TD Garden, on Thursday. The comparisons will be drawn again as the top two picks in the 2010 NHL entry draft take opposite sides of the rink.

Tom Renney offered this of Hall: “This is a young fellow who wants to be the best player on the ice every night he plays. He wants to be the difference-maker every single shift and, although that approach is good and you like it, he can have a tendency to take too much upon himself,” said Oilers head coach Tom Renney. “I think what he has to understand is that it’s OK to share the workload ... and let the game come to him.”

On Hall facing Seguin: “At his age, he’s one of the best competitors I’ve seen, so I suspect there’s some motivation there,” Renney said about his sophomore, “but that could be a good thing, as long as you understand it’s a team game.”

Hall has scored three goals and six assists in 13 games, but has only one assist in his last five outings. Seguin, who leads the Bruins with eight goals and seven assists, scored his first NHL hat trick on Saturday.

The Oilers had deliberated between the two up until the final hours of the draft.

“Our careers have kind of taken different paths,” said Hall. “I think I was forced into thinking about it all when they won the Cup, but I wouldn’t change anything. I love where I am and the way our team is playing.

“The first eight games for me were really good,” he continued. “I think the last four might not have been as good — and I am trying to get back on that page — but our team is winning ... and that’s all that really matters.”

Hall was the centrepiece of the Oilers’ rebuilding program and playing top-six minutes last season. He still is. But, now, he’s playing on the same line as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the No. 1 pick in the 2011 draft.

Seguin was a fourth liner on an established team that was expected to make a playoff appearance during the 2010-11 season. He was even a healthy scratch on some nights.

“I haven’t thought about what it would have been like in Edmonton. I think what happened was meant to be,” said Seguin. “He definitely had a great year last year and, obviously, being fortunate enough to win the Cup, I had a good year, too.”

They were frequent combatants during their junior days in the Ontario Hockey League, too, but never did strike up a friendship that transcended their career paths. They last spoke at the all-star game.

“I said, ‘Hey,’ ” said Hall. “I haven’t talked to him at all. I haven’t really seen him, but I do think this is something that’s going to be around for a long time, no matter how our careers shape up.

“It’s something that’s there and it is kind of fun to look back on those times.”

The Montreal Gazette describes how it's not a lesson you'll find in any golf instruction book, but it is said that to avoid hitting a tree that's between you and the green, you should aim the ball directly at its trunk. Long are the odds that your shot will be so pure that you'll hit it.

So it seemed a reasonable question Wednesday for Canadiens forward Michael Cammalleri, perhaps the most avid golfer on his team, to ask if he has been substituting a goalpost for the tree.

After all, Cammalleri had hit two posts behind Edmonton goalie Nikolai Khabibulin on Tuesday in the Canadiens' 3-1 loss to the Oilers, the latest iron of a generous if uncharted total he has pinged and clanked this season.

"A lot of the time, you're not even shooting for specific spots as much as areas," Cammalleri said, suggesting that he'd not be aiming for goalposts any time soon.

"The game happens so quick that when you're trying to put a puck in a certain spot, it's almost a feel of an area you're trying to hit. It's not as precise as that."

In 11 games this season, Cammalleri has hit the 24 square feet of mesh behind opposing goalies three times. More often than that, he's drilled the goalposts, which are just 6.03 centimetres in diameter.

Cammalleri's modest point-scoring streak ended Tuesday, the veteran having registered four assists in his previous three games. He's been playing largely with David Desharnais and Erik Cole.

Cammalleri told The Gazette he'd be concerned, worried even, if he wasn't getting the chances a goalscorer needs to be productive.

"That's almost a helpless feeling," Cammalleri said of not having the opportunity to bury a shot. "It means that you or your linemates aren't doing things well enough to create chances.

"It makes you feel, 'Oh-oh, I'm in trouble here, I might not score.' But when you're getting chances, it means you're playing well. Generally, you really like your game. You're moving your feet well (with) good footwork, putting yourself in a good position, working well with your linemates and making the right plays at the right time.

"That's a good feeling. You go into games feeling, 'I could get two, three, four goals tonight, depending on where the puck comes to me.' When I'm getting chances, I'm not frustrated at all (if goals don't come). I get frustrated when I'm in a situation that I feel I won't get the opportunity to produce."

The Raleigh News & Observer relays that Eric Staal knew it was coming, knew the media would be waiting, knew what questions would be asked.

For the first time this season, the Carolina Hurricanes are facing the New York Rangers. The game is Friday at Madison Square Garden and Staal will be the main focus because of a player not on the ice - his brother, Marc. Rangers defenseman Marc Staal has not played this season. He continues to struggle with post-concussion symptoms stemming from the big hit he took from Eric in a February game at the RBC Center.

Eric was peppered with questions about Marc on Tuesday in Newark, N.J., before the New Jersey Devils game. He may get more today after the Canes' practice at Chelsea Piers and at Friday's morning skate.

"You never want to get hit in any spot like that ... but he was in a vulnerable position and I finished my check on him," Eric said of the collision. "You never want to get hit and all, and when it's your brother it only makes it worse. I'm sure it was. It would have been the same if it was me."

Marc, who had his head lowered, dropped to the ice after the hit. He played for the Rangers the rest of the regular season and in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but began experiencing headaches and other symptoms during offseason workouts and the problems have persisted. The Rangers are not sure when Staal will be able to resume play.

Canes coach Paul Maurice said it might be therapeutic for Eric Staal to come to the New York area, to face the media and get it out of his system.

"He's a big, strong man," Maurice said. "This isn't a guy who's hiding in the corner. He'll answer your questions.

"I think if it had been a bad hit it might have affected him more. I think they had delivered the same kind of hits on each other every single time they'd played each other."

The article notes that Eric Staal has been struggling on the ice. He isn't scoring goals. He isn't being a big difference in games. He isn't leading his team to victories, which bothers him most.

"I haven't been able to find a groove offensively yet," he said. "I've had a lot of looks, a lot of opportunities and chances around the net and just haven't been hitting the back of the net.

"I take a lot of responsibility. I feel I'm a big part of this team and a big part of this organization. I've been here a long time and take pride in this group. I know I'm a leader on this team and I need to be better."

With Jussi Jokinen expected back from a leg injury that has sidelined the forward the past three games - all Canes losses - Maurice said he likely would have Skinner play the left wing with Jokinen at center and Tuomo Ruutu on the right side.

Of having Staal play with Skinner and Chad LaRose, Maurice said, "I didn't see enough offense out of that line and I saw a whole lot of bad defense. It was the same thing at the start of the year. You'd like to do it to get it going, but I don't think it works."

Through 15 games, Staal has three goals - all on power plays - and two assists. He has a team-high 55 shots to Skinner's 51, but Skinner leads the Canes in goals (six) and assists (eight).

"Every player goes through tough times," Skinner said. "Guys go through scoring droughts and guys get in slumps, and you can't just judge a player just on that. Especially Eric, who sort of dominates games for us.

"He does so much more than put points up for us. He logs huge minutes on the team's top line against the top (defensive) pairs. He wins big faceoffs. He's physical. It's those things he's bringing to the game. He's in a little bit of a slump but I think that's what makes him a good leader."

Philly.com details how it began with Braydon Coburn standing just above the faceoff circle in the Flyers' zone, the puck just inches behind his stick, with no real intention to move it up the ice.

Peter Laviolette's on-ice chess match with Tampa Bay coach Guy Boucher quickly evolved into Chris Pronger gently skating circles in his own zone, with the disciplined Lightning waiting to pounce in their neutral-zone trap.

It was jarring, in such a fast-paced sport, to see two teams standing - and not skating - for minutes on end, with the clock ticking, patiently daring the other to make a move.

Twice, the Flyers were whistled for defensive-zone faceoffs, as referee Rob Martell animatedly tried to threaten Laviolette's squad with a delay-of-game penalty.

Except, Martell and partner Chris Rooney had no case. Nowhere in the NHL's ever-changing rulebook does it say that the puck must progress from one zone into another to avoid penalization.

That was confirmed during a television timeout in the first period, when Rooney communicated with the NHL's "War Room" in Toronto. The Flyers were free to stay in their own end, without pressure to exit, as long as they wanted.

The Flyers won that battle - but lost the war. Plagued by a lack of chances, increased by limited offensive-zone time, Marc-Andre Bergeron knotted the game for Tampa Bay in the third period and Brett Connolly handed the Flyers a 2-1 overtime loss in front of a sellout crowd at St. Pete Times Forum.

"That's not hockey in my book," Pronger said. "Would you pay money to watch that? That was a [national] TV game, too. Look at the [offensive] players they've got there. Way to showcase the product."

The article notes that for more than 45 minutes of last night's game, that cat-and-mouse game worked for the Flyers.

And then the Flyers scored a power-play goal in the second period, forcing Tampa Bay to change from a laid-back trap to an aggressive, two-man forecheck.

"Tampa thrives on turnovers and puck possession," Scott Hartnell said. "It's a tough system to get through the neutral zone. Obviously, we talked about it and had meetings about it. They eventually had to change their system, and that is something that we wanted them to do."

In the end, the opportunistic Lightning capitalized on two of 24 shots and the Flyers' game plan seemed to backfire as they were held to 15 total shots in 62 minutes and 30 seconds of play.

"We didn't give up much five-on-five," Laviolette said. "It's part of the game. We were trying to figure out a way around [the trap]. Everyone coaches differently."

Laviolette is not the originator of the coy, "four corners" setup that tries to goad a trapping team into pressuring for a turnover.

Washington's Bruce Boudreau was the first to use the wait-it-out tactic against the Lightning, a division rival, last season. Laviolette followed suit last Feb. 15, coaxing Tampa Bay into taking chances, as the Flyers were able to capture a 4-3 shootout win and their only points in the four-game season series.

Rather than deciding to attack a Lightning team that was skating without two of their best defensemen in Victor Hedman and Mattias Ohlund, the Flyers sat back. And it cost them.

"It's part of the game," Jagr said. "We practiced for it the last 2 days. For part of the game, it worked for us. We just couldn't finish it."

Apparently, writes The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, there is a 200-foot game; and then there is a 200-foot game.

Ken Hitchcock hockey falls into the latter category.

The measurement is not a new concept. Davis Payne often professed his desire for the Blues to play 200 feet, or the entire ice surface. But when the Blues defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 3-0 Tuesday night at Scottrade Center, Hitchcock indicated his Blues team will have to get up to speed to play a 200-foot game, at least in his version.

"It is hard to play this way and win," Hitchcock said. "You have to have a physical, mental conditioning to play this way, and I thought in the third period we had some guys that (for them) it was tough to play this way. But this is the way we're going to play to win hockey games.

"This is the way Chicago plays, this is the way Detroit plays and we're going to have to get the mental and physical conditioning up to there. I thought for 45 minutes we did a really good job, but when we came off it, they came at us in waves. So we have to get better in that area."

The Blues commenced getting up to snuff Wednesday, preparing to play host to the Toronto Maple Leafs this evening at Scottrade Center. It seems hard to reconcile how a team one month removed from training camp could be in need of a good Nordic Track. But that's not exactly what Hitchcock meant.

"Playing fast" also was a Davis Payne buzz phrase. But Hitchcock wants the tempo to be dictated in direct lines, stops and starts, face to face, with the puck and without. He wants the rubber to move quickly out of the Blues zone and begrudgingly out of the opponent's end. There can be no fly-bys, no "excuse me," no indirect mail.

After a high-paced Blues practice Wednesday at St. Louis Mills, the white-haired "Hitch" explained the physical adaptation is affixed to the mental challenge.

"This is a very difficult, rewarding way to play," Hitchcock said. "That's why anyone who plays this way has to play four lines. ... To ask a player to skate full-out for 40 seconds without resting and then, at the end of it, sprint off the ice is not an easy thing. It takes a lot to play that way, but all the top teams play that way. The whole game is about back pressure, tempo and 200 feet.

"Every coach who comes into (a new situation) says the players 'are not in shape,' well, I don't buy that at all. There are very few players, maybe five percent of your team, that is under the bar condition-wise. It's the mental approach.

"It's something where the players embrace doing the really hard things rather than find them to be a burden or a punishment."

The Denver Post says the answer to the Avalanche's offensive struggles at home probably is not a guy so fragile he has played only 18 games in more than three seasons with the team.

Still, all signs point toward left wing Peter Mueller being available tonight against the New York Islanders at the Pepsi Center.

Mueller, who has missed the past 12 games with postconcussion symptoms, practiced on the Matt Duchene-centered line Wednesday and will be re-evaluated after this morning's skate.

"Looks like he's improving, looks good," Avs coach Joe Sacco said of Mueller, who missed all of last season. "We'll see how he feels after (this morning) and make a decision then."

Colorado has a four-game losing streak and is 1-5 at home, where it has scored only seven goals. Mueller, 23, did not score a point as the Avs began the season 2-1.

He was scratched in several ensuing games before the team listed him with a "head" injury. Mueller said he was suffering from recurring concussion symptoms.

"I wouldn't say serious is the word," he said Wednesday. "Just more of a precautionary thing. I'm just trying to battle and get through everything with (the least pain) that I can. It's tough. I've been watching for 18 months, coming up on 19, and it's not fun. You want to be out there helping your team win."

When Mueller has played with Colorado, he has been on a line with Duchene.

"I think we complement each other pretty well," Mueller said. "It's just good to get in a full practice and get some chemistry with him."

David Jones is playing right wing on the Duchene line.

"We're excited. He's a guy who has a lot of skill," Jones said of Mueller. "He should help us offensively. We're happy to have him back."

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune believes the Shark Tank is one of the NHL's loudest arenas, but the joint should be especially vibrant Thursday night.

The Wild and San Jose Sharks meet for the first time after they uniquely aligned to consummate three trades in a six-week period over the summer.

Brent Burns, a popular former Wild defenseman, and Devin Setoguchi, a popular former Sharks winger, will play against the franchises they grew up in for the first time.

Skilled forward Martin Havlat, unhappy in Minnesota and willing to waive his no-trade because of that, will face the Wild for the first time, while goal scorer Dany Heatley, blindsided by the late-evening July 3 trade, will try to show the Sharks that last season's unproductive Heatley wasn't the real Heatley.

The trades, which included first-round bust James Sheppard to the Sharks for a 2013 third-round pick, were executed for three very different reasons, at least from the Wild perspective. General Manager Chuck Fletcher recently talked about how, and why, the trades came about.

The Wild had missed the playoffs for a third consecutive season -- a second under Fletcher's watch. He had fired Todd Richards, the first coach he took a gamble on, and was in the middle of a full evaluation of an organization in need of more bona fide prospects for the future and go-to guys for the present.

"We were stuck in a rut as a franchise," Fletcher said. "We wanted to take some time and really assess what went wrong last season, and even more importantly than what went wrong, 'Where exactly were we as a franchise?'

"By June, we were in a position where we felt comfortable internally where we needed to get to and what we wanted to try to accomplish."

Fletcher on trading Burns: "The players you could readily move, he had by far the most value. People might find this strange, but the decision actually has no reflection of what we felt about Brent Burns. It was more a reflection on the status quo had to change and we had to aggressively add a lot of young assets. To get three top assets for one at this stage of our franchise's evolution was really important."

Admitted Fletcher: "As soon as you traded Brent Burns, you know you're one day closer to looking for the next Brent Burns. You're blowing a big hole in one area to hopefully fill multiple areas of weakness knowing you're going to have to go back and address that other area again."

The Havlat-Heatley trade was complicated by Havlat's options after two years with the Wild.

"We envisioned Marty coming in and playing on a top line with Mikko [Koivu]. We envisioned him being a front-line guy for us, and the chemistry was never there. And I'm not blaming Marty at all for that. Just the fit was never there, and I don't know that he was ever completely comfortable here. And I don't think he was ever maybe put in the position where he wanted to be put in either. So that trade was just a recognition that we needed a different fit for our team, and San Jose felt the same thing."

At the draft combine in Toronto, Fletcher began talking to Havlat's agent, Allan Walsh, about Havlat's willingness to accept a trade for the right situation. Walsh gave Fletcher a couple of potential landing spots, and Fletcher began talking to those teams.

Fletcher came close on a couple of deals around the draft, he said, but the trade was eventually made after the Wild didn't find itself on Heatley's list of 10 teams to which he didn't want t be traded.

Ironically, trading Havlat was made easier by two things: 1) The acquisition of Setoguchi brought speed and goal-scoring prowess to the Wild; 2) Another of Walsh's clients, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, ideally would play the role Havlat had on the team.

"It took a lot of time because it had to work with Marty, it had to work with us and it had to work for another team," Fletcher said. "At the time, I had no idea if we would even be able to move him, if he'd want to be moved, if it was the right thing to move him. It had to be a hockey trade. You're not going to trade a player that good for nothing. It was complicated, and Marty did a lot of soul searching."

The Washington Post says that choosing if and when to play the grueling practice card as a coach, is something that can’t be done rashly. It’s not a tactic that can be used on a regular basis, or else it loses the ability to send a message as players become desensitized to it.

After the Capitals failed to work in a 5-2 loss to the Dallas Stars Tuesday, Coach Bruce Boudreau weighed his options.

“It’s not something you do off the cuff,” Boudreau explained. “The initial thought is you’re so mad you want to do something and then you have to sit and say, ‘Okay, you’re mad, let’s do the right things here. What’s best for the group and everybody?’ You talk it over with the assistant coaches and we come to a decision that the initial thought is probably the thought that was going to work in this case. It’s not something that you do every day because if it’s one of those things that if you do it every day, it’s not going to work.”

Boudreau said the only comparable practice he’s put the Capitals through in his tenure came after a 5-0 loss in Buffalo on Nov. 1, 2008. Washington was supposed to have an off day, but instead Boudreau brought the team in for a tough skate. The Capitals lost the next game, 2-1, in overtime at Ottawa, but ultimately reeled off six wins in eight games following the punishment practice.

“I’ve seen it work both ways,” Boudreau said of the after effects of a tough practice. “Sometimes, boy, it doesn’t work, but it’s the same way as coaches, they try things; sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. I don’t know if it’s right or if it’s wrong, but you can’t stay status quo when you’re not playing well.”

To be certain, Wednesday’s workout at KCI wasn’t limited to suicide sprints – though it did include four of them spaced out throughout the practice. The rest of the hour and a half was dedicated to battle drills, one-on-one work in corners and winning all of those individual tests.

For one of the drills, the nets were pulled into a corner of the rink roughly 20 feet apart. With the goaltenders in the nets, players proceeded to crash and bang on two-on-two battle drills, crushing teammates with every check in pursuit of the puck. Boudreau wanted to make sure that if he was going to have a tough practice, the Capitals got something more than just skating out of it.

“They were smiling and laughing and yet they were kicking the crap out of each other so it doesn’t necessarily – hard work doesn’t necessarily have to mean punishment and it was if you want to compete, it can be fun,” Boudreau said.

“I’ve never understood it quite frankly…the Herb Brookses [suicides] where you play the game and you lose and you get back to the arena, put the wet equipment on and you skate for two hours. You put it on auto pilot [as a player],” Boudreau said. “But if we’re going to work hard I don’t want to waste a day. We can work hard and be productive at the same time, I think.”

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