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The Montreal Gazette describes how here’s the sincerest hope that former Habs goalie and current St. Louis netminder Jaroslav Halak, the Canadiens saviour for the second half of the 2009-10 season and the team’s most spectacular performer through three magical playoff rounds, will get a thunderous welcome when he’s introduced as the Blues’ starting goaltender tonight. Halak deserves nothing less in his first game at the Bell since he was traded to St. Louis on June 17, 2010, dealt for the quite terrific Lars Eller and farmhand Ian Schultz.

The heckling, which surely is coming, will be nothing personal, the Canadiens from this day forward needing every edge.

Halak returned to the Bell Centre on Monday afternoon and for the first time in his NHL career headed to the visitors’ dressing room. Later, he admitted the media gathering was larger than any he’d seen for a game this season, no less a practice.

“Obviously, it’s great to be back in Montreal,” Halak said, blinking into the flood of lights. “I’m glad to get the start (Tuesday) and hopefully it will be a great game for both sides.”

A bow to Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock for having the sense of occasion to give Halak this start. He could have played the hot hand and come back to Brian Elliott, who was airtight in a 4-0 blanking of Colorado on Saturday and has been every bit Halak’s equal this season, and better at times.

But Hitchcock also realizes that of Halak’s 200 NHL regular-season and playoff games, 122 were played in the Canadiens jersey.

The coach knows that Halak was tremendously popular in this city, and still is; he knows that his goalie was lights-out fabulous for Montreal in 2010.

“We’re in the people business, too,” Hitchcock said after practice.

“I would look like an idiot not to put (Halak) in. This is the first time back for him. He was good for the team here, the team was good for him and there was a great relationship.”

The Gazette recalls that Halak coveted a No. 1 job while in Montreal, and he wasn’t going to get that with long-nurtured Price also in the Habs stable. So GM Pierre Gauthier made the trade, a deal that sent irate fans scrambling for their torches and pitchforks.

“It’s hockey, it’s part of the business,” said Halak, who harbours no bitterness. “If Wayne Gretzky can be traded, so can anyone.”

In a gesture to thank fans for their support, he returned to Pointe-Claire’s Fairview Centre in September 2010, for an autograph signing to benefit Ste. Justine’s Hospital. The astonishing queue snaked through the mall and into the parking lot.

The Winnipeg Sun says Blake Wheeler didn’t exactly have a warm and fuzzy relationship with the Bruins fans when he played here the last three seasons.

“I wouldn’t say I was anything close to a fan favourite,” Wheeler said Monday. “I don’t think I got booed all the time either.”

Wheeler was sometimes a whipping boy for Bruins fans during his tenure in Boston. He didn’t get many opportunities to win the fans’ favour, playing mostly third-line minutes and never seeing the ice on the power play.

He was traded to the Atlanta Thrashers late last season, just before the Bruins went on their run to the Stanley Cup, and while he missed out on an opportunity to win a championship in Boston, another door opened wide for him when the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg and he became a key player for the Jets.

“What’s happened with Blake is just the result of a door of opportunity opening for him and he’s jumped through the door with his play,” Jets coach Claude Noel said.

The Sun believes Wheeler’s confidence is at an all-time high and he’s having a career year while playing on a speedy, strong line with Bryan Little and Evander Kane. Wheeler has eight goals and is tied for the team lead with 31 points.

At the midway point in the season, he’s on pace for a career-best 62 points. His previous best was 45 in 2008-09, his rookie season.

“No bitterness,” Wheeler said about his time in Boston. “I’m happy with my time here. I learned how to play the game the right way and I’m really happy with where I am now.”

Wheeler, 25, is blossoming under Noel’s tutelage and he has developed some great chemistry with Kane, who also has 31 points this year and has been the trigger man on the line, with 18 goals.

A surprisingly good stick handler and passer for a big man (6-foot-5, 205 pounds), Wheeler’s not as physical as some fans would like. But he brings a lot of other elements to the table.

“He skates real good, is playing confident, has some chemistry with different players,” Noel said. “He sees himself as a top-6 forward and I think that’s what he might eventually become.”

Wheeler’s Jets will face the defending champion Bruins Tuesday night at the TD Garden.

Erik Karlsson’s success is going to come with a pricetag, according to The Ottawa Sun.

As the Senators hit the road Monday for a three-game trip that starts Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Consol Energy Center, Karlsson isn’t just leading defencemen in scoring, he’s blowing the rest of the field away.

Karlsson has six goals and 35 assists in 43 games and was eight points ahead of his closest competitor — Florida Panthers’ Brian Campbell (three goals and 30 assists) going into Monday night’s action. A restricted free agent, Karlsson is going to soon cash in on his success.

On pace to become only the fourth defenceman — Mike Green (Washington), Nicklas Lidstrom (Detroit) and Sergei Zubov (Dallas) — to score more than 70 points since the NHL lockout ended in 2005, Karlsson, a restricted free agent following this season, is on pace for 78 points.

Craig Oster, Karlsson’s agent with Newport Sports, confirmed in an e-mail Monday there haven’t been talks, but the belief is the Karlsson camp will be looking for something similar to the $5.25 million Green is making with the Capitals.

The Sun believes there shouldn’t be any concern about Senators GM Bryan Murray and assistant Tim Murray getting Karlsson signed, but the Senators have to decide whether they want a three-year deal or do a long-term contract of five or more years.

With the CBA expiring Sept. 15, the Senators also have to be aware of the fact Karlsson could be the target of a front-end loaded offer sheet.

Nobody on the Senators is underestimating his value.

“He’s an all-star. He’s really growing as a player,” said coach Paul MacLean, who gave the players Monday off before the one hour-flight to Philly in the afternoon.

“Right now, he’s really taken his game to another level, but it’s a level of simplicity. He’s not complicating the game as much as he maybe did earlier. He’s keeping the game simple. A lot of success is coming his way.”

“(He’s) gifted. He’s one of the best in the National Hockey League and there’s a reason for it,” said Senators goalie Craig Anderson. “He works hard and he’s in shape. He’s still young and he’s learning the game, but when he makes a mistake, the next night he doesn’t make the same mistake again. For every 10 things he does well, he makes one mistake. I like that ratio.”

The Washington Post points out that things already weren’t going well for the Capitals when the Kings broke up ice for a three-on-one early in the third period. Jack Johnson rifled a one-timer past Tomas Vokoun to put Los Angeles up 3-1 in the eventual 5-2 Capitals’ loss but it was the defenseman’s celebration that drew all the attention.

As Johnson turned up ice, he “Tebowed” along the half-board wall. Why?

“I was watching the Broncos’ game with some buddies that flew in from Michigan and they said ‘If you score, you have to ‘Tebow,’ ” Johnson said. “I said, ‘You’re on.’ ”

So after Johnson’s shot crossed the goal line he made good on his promise. The Capitals let him know that they weren’t particularly thrilled by his celebration.

“I said a couple things to him. I understand he’s just trying to be funny but still it’s kind of a stupid celebration,” Karl Alzner said. “It’s like those teams in world junior ride their stick giving high fives across the bench. It was over after that. Maybe a couple shifts where we were saying things [to Johnson] that’s it.”

As for the Kings, given the win the celebration was an amusing footnote.

“If we could all play like Tebow in a big game, we wouldn’t have lost a game yet,” Los Angeles Coach Darryl Sutter said.

At last, The Calgary Herald writes, there was some positive news from the Flames’ bulging injury bay on Monday.

Top defenceman Mark Giordano could be back in the lineup as early as Thursday against Anaheim or, possibly at the latest, in time for Darryl Sutter’s return to the Saddledome as coach of the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.

“I feel good, feel pretty close to normal if not normal,” admitted Giordano, following his first full practice with the team since suffering a torn hamstring Nov. 29, an injury many thought might even end his season. “That’s where I’m at right now. I got through a pretty tough practice and skate (Monday) so hopefully I just keep feeling better (Tuesday).”

Giordano has missed the past 19 games after he stretched out a leg awkwardly to block a puck with a skate in a game against the Nashville Predators. He took a light skate with the team during Saturday’s pre-game skate and cranked it up Monday.

You got the sense if he had his way, he’d play on Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils. Even coach Brent Sutter admitted it might be tempting to dress him.

“But I want to be smart with it, too,” cautioned Sutter. “He’s been out for a long time and today was his first full practice and I don’t want to put him in a situation where, God forbid, it’s something that could reoccur because we put him in the lineup too soon.

“We’ll make that decision on a day-to-day basis. I’d still like to see Gio get into some more practices here over the week. I think we’ll be closer with him come (Thursday) and see where he is at that point. If not then, you’d think by the weekend.”

There wasn’t much doubt in Corey Potter’s mind once the Oilers were interesting in talking about a contract extension, according to The Edmonton Journal.

He wanted to stay put. He didn’t want to wait and test the free-agent market in the summer, even though he’d finally started to turn heads in the NHL. That’s why it didn’t take long for the two sides to agree to a one-way, two-year extension that will pay Potter $750,000 in 2012-13 and $800,000 in 2013-14.

Potter is currently on a two-way, one-year deal that pays him an NHL salary of $525,000.

“You can’t really plan out what’s going to happen in the free-agent market. You never know about injuries ... and Edmonton was the first team to give me a true shot,” he said on Monday night.

Until this season, Potter, 28, was a journeyman defenceman wondering if he’d ever get a long look in the NHL. Enter the Oilers and head coach Tom Renney, who was with the New York Rangers when Potter was in that organization.

The rest was up to Potter, who played himself onto the opening-day roster as a depth defenceman, then made himself a regular on the blueline. He’s averaging 20 minutes a game, playing the point on the power play, and hopes he’ll now be able to look ahead as opposed to looking over his shoulder.

“This does take a little weight off my shoulders,” he said. “I can start to relax and get comfortable with the organization, just concentrate on the team and trying to get more wins. It was definitely a comforting feeling knowing that the team was interested, so to have a two-year contract is even better.”

The Calgary Sun reports that Alberta hockey fans have set the bar high for future host cities of the world junior hockey championship.

The Calgary- and Edmonton-hosted tournament set the tournament attendance record by attracting 571,539 fans through the turnstiles of the Saddledome and Rexall Place over the 11-day event — an average of 18,437 per day.

The previous record was also set in Canada. Ottawa drew 453,282 fans during the 2009 championship, an average of 14,622 per day.

Alberta blew that out of the water by 118,257 people, far exceeding organizers’ expectations.

“There were a lot of things that aligned for us,” tournament co-chairman Jim Peplinski said. “The games were great right from the start — and not just the Canada games.

“The weather was great. When we had multiple games in either Rexall Place or the Scotiabank Saddledome, it makes it much easier when it’s plus-two instead of minus-30.”

Next year’s tournament is in Ufa, Russia, and the following year will be a split between Finland and Sweden. The world juniors will return to Canada in 2015 for an every-other-year swing until 2021.

Already there is talk that Alberta will bid again — and after the success the tournament had in Calgary and Edmonton, it’s easy to see why.

Although final numbers haven’t been released, it was reported the tournament made around $18 million, far exceeding the $7-million guarantee made by Hockey Canada.

By putting the tournament in two NHL rinks, ensuring every single game could have a large crowd, the organizing committee raised the bar for future Canadian-hosted world juniors.

“We brought two NHL buildings into play and crews from two buildings that put on 80-some games a year of either NHL or major junior hockey,” Peplinski said.

“The in-game presentation was awesome. The hockey was strong. The whole package was strong.

“If you were in the building, the atmosphere was exciting, even when Canada wasn’t playing. NHL rinks have a number of benefits, not the least of which is the capacity. It’s a recipe hard not to aspire to.”

Fire & Ice relays that Devils rookie center Adam Henrique is past the point that he’s just happy to be in the NHL, but he’s not nearly ready to start talking about the Calder Trophy.

“We’re only halfway,” Henrique said. “There’s still a long way to go. In a few more months, ask me that.”

So, maybe it is a little premature to talk about Henrique becoming the third Devil to win the NHL’s rookie of the year award (Martin Brodeur 1993-94 and Scott Gomez 1999-2000 were the other two). Still, halfway through the Devils’ season, there’s no doubt that Henrique has been the team’s biggest surprise so far and a significant reason why they are 23-16-2 heading into Tuesday’s game in Calgary.

The 21-year-old native of Brantford, Ontario is fourth on the Devils with 32 points (12 goals, 20 assists) in 38 games. That also places him second among all NHL rookies, just three points behind Edmonton’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who has 13 goals and 22 assists in the same number of games.

Wednesday’s game in Edmonton would have been a match-up of two of the top rookies in the NHL if Nugent-Hopkins hadn’t separated his left shoulder a week ago against Chicago. Now, with Nugent-Hopkins, the top pick in last June’s draft, expected to miss three to four weeks, Henrique could be the league’s top scoring rookie by the end of the Devils’ trip this week, which also includes a game in Winnipeg on Saturday afternoon.

The article notes that Henrique, a 2008 third-round pick, admitted that the rookie scoring race is something that he is aware of.

“It’s obviously in the back of your mind,” Henrique said. “People talk about it, but I try to look at the bigger picture and that’s helping the team win every night, coming to play. You can’t just be looking to get points every night. If you do that, you’re going to get scored on. I think that’s something that goes with playing well, taking care of your own end, doing the small things, and then I think the offense comes from that.”

Henrique has been doing that centering the Devils’ top line with Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk on his wings. Henrique leads the Devils with a plus-9 defensive rating.

Henrique had a highly-successful junior career with Windsor in which he won consecutive Memorial Cups and was named the OHL’s playoff MVP in 2010. Although he won’t get a chance to play against Nugent-Hopkins on Wednesday, he will get to go head-to-head for the first time with his former Windsor Spitfires linemate, Taylor Hall, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 draft.

“I’m sure it will be interesting,” Henrique said. “It will be a cool experience, obviously, after playing with him for three years. After the success that we had in junior, it’s always nice when you can play against a former teammate in the NHL. It should be fun. I’m looking forward to it.”

The Rangers are no longer getting the lights-camera-action close-up treatment from HBO, but The New York Post details how that sure didn’t stop John Tortorella from calling for Take Two at practice Monday.

The coach sent his players off the ice and back to the locker room after a few minutes during which the club appeared to lack focus immediately following a 35-minute meeting in which he showed video evidence of “how poorly we played [relating to] details” in the 3-1 victory at Pittsburgh on Friday that was stolen by Henrik Lundqvist.

After a brief pause, the Rangers returned to the ice with vigor to prep for Tuesday’s match at Madison Square Garden against the Coyotes in which the team will seek its fifth straight victory and 10th in the past 11 matches.

“I figured we’d start again,” said Tortorella, who kept Henrik Lundqvist and Martin Biron on the ice to work with goaltending coach Benoit Allaire during the metaphorical club corner time. “It’s human nature when you’re finding ways to win some games, it’s human nature to forget about some details, but that’s the only way this team can win.

“They have to understand the importance of details and stay with it.”

Tortorella was pleased with the work after the club returned to the ice.

“I thought they practiced well,” he said. “It was a good tempo.

“It’s a good group, I’ve said that over and over. I trust the group. I just don’t want it to slip,” Tortorella said. “I don’t want us to get ahead of ourselves, we have to take it day by day.

“We’re headed down the right road. I want to stay on the right road and not detour anywhere.”

Steve Connell in Chicago: "Hey Chris, Long time reader and emailer (first time this year).

I would love your opinion on a recent trade. Single season, points based league... I traded rw Corey Perry and Ilya Bryzgalov for rw/lw Alex Semin and Henrik Lundqvist.

Great stuff again this year! As I have stated for years... You make the NHL that much better. Thanks."

Chris: Thanks for the kind words and for reading all of these years Steve, I appreciate it.

The trade should be fine for both sides, actually. You know how I feel about Lundqvist being one of the few truly elite goalies in this league and this year has been even better. Between the way he's playing and the way the team has elevated its play over the past year it's just a perfect situation for poolies.

Semin has FINALLY been doing something for his owners in the past few weeks and we know he has the talent and the position to produce. Fingers crossed there.

Perry and the Ducks haven't been as expected this season, but his value should still be fine. If we're talking points and not the normal peripherals from where he derives much of his value, then it's less of a loss for you. He's still a star, but standard leagues are where he really shines.

And Bryz... as up and down as he has been, I believe in the guy. His stats will rebound.

Again though, no issues with the trade for either side. I'd rather have Lundqvist of the four players. You have him now. Works for me.

Jon, Toronto: Chris, I received the following trade offer: Stamkos and Rinne for Henrik Sedin and Anti Niemi.

My pool’s categories are goals, assists, +/-, PIM, power play points, GWG and Shots on Goal, as well as goalie wins, GAA and shutouts. I currently sit first in the ten team pool but my leading goal scorer James Neal, just got injured for 4-6 weeks. My other goalies are Backstrom and Bryzgalov. What do you think?"

Chris: Jon, it turns out Neal is good to go. From what I'm hearing from the Pens as I write this, the X-Ray showed what they thought was a fracture in Neal's foot but it was actually a bone bruise from some prior injury. Weird, but whatever.

So do you still want to give up Sedin's assists for Stamkos' goals? Up to you and how the rest of your team breaks down. Both guys are elite talents who should be able to produce stats among the best all season, clearly.

Niemi has been better statistically than Rinne this season. Although I think Rinne's numbers will improve and it's all about what they do from today forward, there's really no reason to expect a dropoff from Niemi because the Sharks are a solid squad.

Given the way you've phrased the question with the seeming loss of Neal and his goals (he does have a pretty even split between markers and assists, but I know what you mean), it sounds like the incentive to make the deal has been quashed.

Email: chris.nichols@sportsnet.rogers.com

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