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The New York Post writes that with all eyes in the NHL on Philadelphia this week for the showcase Winter Classic, Eric Lindros and the Flyers have seemingly patched their dysfunctional relationship and hope to put the past to rest when Lindros takes the ice in front of a sold-out crowd of 44,000 fans in Saturday’s alumni game. He’ll play for the Flyers organization for the first time since the first period in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals on May 26, 2000.

Knowing one of the greats had to be included on a star-studded roster, general manager Paul Holmgren reached out to Lindros to ask about playing.

“It was great to hear Paul’s voice on the other end of the line,” Lindros said by phone from Toronto. “We had a real nice talk and I’ll leave it at that. It was real positive and I’m grateful for it. I know they have a number of players to choose from, and I was fortunate to get the call.”

Bobby Clarke, who had stripped Lindros of his captaincy and repeatedly blasted him in the media, believed the time was right to move on. He said Holmgren did not ask for permission to invite Lindros — nor did he need it.

“I didn’t care,” Clarke said. “Eric won the MVP as a Philadelphia Flyer. He’s important to this franchise. He should be playing.”

But it was Clarke who said in the months leading up the trade, “I don’t care if I talk to Eric for the rest of my life — it won’t kill me.”

Clarke won a pair of Stanley Cups in the 1970s during the Flyers’ “Broad Street Bullies” era. He’s remembered as much for his role in the Lindros-Flyers soap opera that could have filled 52 weeks of programming for HBO’s “24/7” series. While Clarke has been prodded to rehash Lindros’ nightmarish final year, the 62-year-old Hall of Famer insisted he no longer had hard feelings toward him.

“As far as I was concerned, they were gone as soon as he was. When he left, it was over,” Clarke said. “He went to the Rangers and it was all over. Whatever had gone on, was done. I didn’t have any animosity.”

The Post remembers that Lindros had his career derailed by a series of concussions, at least eight by his count, and the consequences of the devastating blow suffered from the Scott Stevens hit played a role in what cost him the 2000-01 season.

The collapse stretched beyond the actual injury. Lindros had criticized the team’s medical staff for failing to diagnose his second concussion of the season on March 4, 2000. Clarke questioned the severity of Lindros’ concussions, and ripped his parents, Carl and Bonnie Lindros, for meddling in their son’s life. Lindros rejected the Flyers’ qualifying offer, became a restricted free agent and demanded a trade.

While Lindros played through his share of controversy and injuries, he’s refused to live haunted by what could have been had he remained healthy.

“There’s no point in that. When you look back, you just want to look at the positive,” he said. “It’s upsetting we didn’t win. It’s extremely disappointing. Beyond that, when I think back to playing there and living there, I think of the good people that are around, and my teammates.”

He’s thankful he can look back in good health. While all those head shots rattled his brain, Lindros insists he feels good and doesn’t suffer from headaches, memory loss or other symptoms associated with repeated concussions. Lindros still plays pick-up hockey at outdoor rinks throughout Toronto and practiced this week for the alumni game with a junior team in the Ontario Hockey League.

Lindros said being smart about concussions at a time when little was still known about their destructive effects has saved him.

“I had time off in between, I didn’t play,” he said. “Sometimes, that wasn’t the most popular course of action. There’s some real unfortunate situations that some of the guys have had to go through. I count my blessings.”

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette notes that Sidney Crosby 's situation could be discouraging for anyone. He's back to sitting out practices and games, back to dealing with concussion symptoms.

According to others with the Penguins, though, their captain and best player is keeping his spirits up.

"Sid knows how to handle a lot," winger Tyler Kennedy said. "He's handling it great. I don't know too many guys who could handle it the way he's doing it. He's showing leadership that way, too.

"Most guys would break. But he's staying positive, which is good to see."

Coach Dan Bylsma said Crosby, who is permitted to do light exercising, is around the club, sitting in on meetings, talking to his teammates.

"He's got a good demeanor being around the guys," Bylsma said.

Crosby missed nearly 11 months because of a concussion, returned for eight games and sat out a ninth game in a row Thursday night when the Philadelphia Flyers visited Consol Energy Center.

He must wait for symptoms to subside and is out indefinitely.

"He's still himself," forward Craig Adams said of Crosby. "He's the way he always is. He's pretty quiet, but he seems to be in good spirits.

"He's in here talking to the guys at practices and after games. He's still our captain, for sure."

The Orange County Register reflects that Bruce Boudreau emerged as one of the unlikely stars of HBO’s ’24/7′ series when it focused on the Washington-Pittsburgh rivalry in the buildup to the 2011 Winter Classic game between the teams.

The Ducks coach, whose colorful and salty language was one of the highlights of the series, said he’d do it again if he were asked.

“It was great,” Boudreau said. “The end was great anyway [a 3-1 Washington victory]. The first two weeks were not pretty good.”

But while this year’s edition is focused on the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers, Boudreau hasn’t made time to view any episodes.

“I haven’t really watched it quite honestly,” he said. ”Being with a new team, I’ve been quite busy worrying about this team and getting everything straightened. Being the participant, it was in your face every day so you couldn’t avoid it.

“I’m sure they’re having fun doing it.”

The Miami Herald says the New York Rangers are in town with Friday’s game against the Panthers being the final stop on their road to the 2012 Winter Classic.

The Rangers are scheduled to face the host Flyers on Monday at Citizens Bank Park, normally the home of baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies, so long as the weather cooperates. Monday’s game is the fifth official Winter Classic, with previous games at Wrigley Field, Ralph Wilson Stadium, Heinz Field and Fenway Park.

Could Miami be in line to host an outdoor hockey game as well? Don’t laugh.

Thanks to the new Marlins ballpark — and its retractable roof — ice-making experts say an NHL game could be played “outdoors’’ in South Florida. Will it ever come to pass? Well, that’s another story.

“It would cost a lot of money to do it, but they’re spending that anyway for these games,’’ said Graham Caplinger, ice technician for the Panthers at BankAtlantic Center. “The NHL has this down to a science. They definitely could do it in Miami. You may lose the spirit of the thing because it will be inside-outside, but I think it would be cool. If it’s in the winter months, I see no reason why you couldn’t do it.’’

And, the Marlins’ park could not only have ice, but if the conditions outside were good enough, it also could be NHL-quality ice. First, the ballpark would have to close its retractable roof for about two weeks with the air conditioning running — and humidity lowered — while the ice sheet is built and maintained. On game day, the roof would open for the outdoor effect.

One can only imagine the scenery an outdoor hockey game in the tropics would produce for a worldwide television audience. That imagery is what the Panthers would sell to the league. It’s a hook no other market has. Sure, Los Angeles has sun and palm trees; it doesn’t have the retractable roof.

The Herald believes the chances this actually happens is remote, although some with the Panthers think the NHL with its aggressive marketing could look at a tropical outdoor game as something unique. Of course, there are many northern markets — not to mention California — vying to host this game. South Florida would be at the very bottom of a long list. The Panthers, though, are taking the idea seriously.

“I wish I would have thought of this myself, but it’s a real possibility,’’ team president Michael Yormark said. “I think David Samson and the Marlins would love to do something like this. At the right time, we would want to discuss this with the league. We would like to put this on their radar.’’

The Chicago Tribune reports that Patrick Kane is back to being a man in the middle for the Blackhawks — for now.

Kane, who started the season at center before being shifted back to right wing after 24 games, will be centering Friday night when the Hawks face the Red Wings at the United Center.

Coach Joel Quenneville shook up the lines after Wednesday night's 2-0 loss to the Kings and Kane likely will center the second unit between wingers Patrick Sharp and Viktor Stalberg. Quenneville had Kane in the middle of Sharp and Marian Hossa late against the Kings.

"The last two times I've gone to center it seems like we've had a little bit more balance," said Kane, who also saw some time in the middle Dec. 20 during the Hawks' loss to the Penguins. "We've had some good periods and some pressure in their end and some chances. I guess maybe they want to start out that way and see where it goes. Sharp has been playing great and so has Stalberg so I'm playing with two pretty confident guys right now."

Kane had seven goals and 17 assists with a plus-9 plus-minus rating while at center to start the season. He currently is sitting at nine goals and 25 helpers through 37 games.

"At center you're always moving, you're always low and you're always supporting not only the forwards but the defensemen as well," Kane said. "You are an out for the D-men a lot of times to give you the puck and skate up the ice. One of the strengths of my game is having the puck and making plays."

The Ottawa Sun recalls that no one would have thought much of it at the time, but the July 8, 2009 trade that sent Alex Auld to the Dallas Stars for a sixth-round draft pick may well go down as one of Bryan Murray's best with the Senators.

It certainly didn’t seem like a blockbuster.

Auld had fallen to third on the depth chart behind Pascal Leclaire and emerging rookie Brian Elliott. A sixth-round pick usually doesn’t amount to much, but ... assistant GM Tim Murray stepped up to the Staples Centre podium to select Mark Stone, a little-known right winger out of the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings, the 178th pick of the 2010 draft.

And the Mark Stone era began for the Senators.

“I think our staff has done a good job with later-round picks and our development staff, our strength and conditioning staff in Ottawa have done a great job with him,” said Murray, in Alberta with Bryan Murray, Pierre Dorion and a full contingent of scouts tracking Stone’s progress at the world junior hockey championships. “It’s very gratifying to see him (succeed).”

A household name now, Stone spent most of his draft year on the injury shelf, playing only 39 games on a deep Wheat Kings squad as his stock fell.

The Senators passed on Stone through the early rounds, but scouts “made a strong case for him, and the rest is history,” said Murray.

“I didn’t even go to my draft,” Stone told QMI Agency after scoring a hat trick in Team Canada’s Boxing Day opener at the World Juniors. “I went to our cabin and followed it on the Internet. Obviously, I was getting a little bit nervous. But once my name was called ...”

Stone attended his first development camp that summer, and returned to junior to lead the Wheat Kings with 106 points in 71 games. His reward was an invite to Team Canada’s evaluation camp, where he dominated on a line with Jonathan Huberdeau and Columbus rookie Ryan Johansen.

With Ryan Strome at centre in place of Johansen, the line has been Canada’s best.

Marc-Andre Gragnani noticed a few things the past four games while watching from the press box, according to The Buffalo News. The most obvious was how easy everything looks from three levels up.

"The game from on top looks like the easiest game," the Sabres' defenseman said Thursday. "Everyone can play the game from up there, so you just try to watch, try to pick up a couple things that when you're on the ice you can't see."

Gragnani will put his lessons to work tonight against Washington in Verizon Center. He will return to the lineup in place of blue-liner Andrej Sekera, who suffered an upper-body injury Wednesday and is out for weeks.

"I'm looking forward to it. It's been a little while now," Gragnani said. "I have to play harder in my zone. I started well and then I got maybe a little bit away from that. I'd like to contribute more offensively, too. I need to jump more in the play, and we'll see what I can do."

Gragnani has a goal and eight assists in 30 games. Problems with passing and puck possession helped send him to the land of healthy scratches, but he hopes his wide-angle look at the rink will eliminate those.

"You have a lot more time with the puck, at times, than we think," Gragnani said. "Sometimes you think there's someone right on you, but there's not. You just try to pick up a couple things like that, but it's hard because it's completely different up there. It's slower. You see everything before it happens. When you're on the ice it goes so fast, but I tried to pick up a couple things for sure."

PhillyNews.com believes that this season, Sergei Bobrovsky has tended goal like Roy Halladay pitches, which is to say that he looks like a sieve early in the game before settling down to perform like a star.

Last night, it took just 44 seconds for the Penguins' Jordan Staal to beat him. Last week in Dallas, Michael Ryder found the net in 56 ticks.

Bobrovsky has allowed just 30 goals this season. Including last night, eight of those goals have come in the first period; five of them were in the first 7 minutes of a game.

Bobrovsky, 23, gave Ilya Bryzgalov the night off at Consol Energy Center after "Bryz" turned in one of his worst performances of the season Tuesday night in Tampa Bay. Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said he would best describe "Bob" as "really sharp."

"Bob works really hard," Laviolette said. "In practice, he's looked really good. I know he likes playing games and wants to play games, but he's got a tremendous work ethic off the ice. On the ice, he keeps himself extremely well prepared. He's been excellent in the starts that he's had recently."

The Flyers are 8-2-2 in games in which Bobrovsky starts this season. They are 13-9-3 when Bryzgalov is in between the pipes for puck drop. And entering last night's game, Bob had a stellar 1.47 goals-against average and .950 save percentage over his previous six appearances.

"He was great," Laviolette said of Bobrovsky's performance last night. "He got that tough one , but I think that shows his mental toughness to come back and make some big saves for us after [the early goal]. He's been really good for us."

The coach would not comment on his Winter Classic starter, which is his custom to not announce any lineup decisions ahead of time.

Laviolette was asked once more following last night's game.

"Let's stick to tonight," the coach said after the Flyers 4-2 win. "I'm not even out of the building yet."

The Washington Post reports that on Thursday, Mike Green skated for a third consecutive day with his Capitals’ teammates and with each successive day of practice the defenseman is inching closer to a return from a strained right groin muscle.

Both Green and Coach Dale Hunter stressed caution when asked about defining a date for the two-time Norris Trophy finalist’s return to the lineup but it’s possible he could be back in the mix as early as next week.

“I’ll skate tomorrow again, see how I feel,” Green said. “You never know. Maybe I could play [this weekend]. But it looks like next week.

“I think we want to play this safe,” Green said. “Obviously been out for a long time and I want to get back, but I want to make sure I’m ready to play. No need to put myself in a dangerous situation if I’m not ready.”

Green has missed 21 games with the strained right groin muscle that he suffered back on Nov. 11 at New Jersey. It’s been a slow recovery for the 26-year-old Calgary native, and that’s part of the reason why Green and the Capitals want to make sure they don’t rush him back.

“He must be feeling pretty good,” Hunter said. “But it’s still a medical decision. Players always want to play, we’ve got to make the right decision for his injury.”

During an interview with John Feinstein on 106.7 The Fan this afternoon, General Manager George McPhee expressed the same sentiments that Green did and said that while the defenseman likely won’t return this weekend he could be back in the lineup “later next week.”

Email: chris.nichols@sportsnet.rogers.com

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