Hockey Beat » Players

Latendresse and Pouliot Switch Teams

Jeanne Dupuis — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:41:23 +0000

The Montreal Canadiens have acquired Benoit Pouliot from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Guillaume Latendresse. The pair of them are pretty comparable in terms of age and goals/assists amassed so far this year so I’m not completely sure why this trade happened.

image: TSN

Latendresse is 22, has scored two goals and recorded one assist. Meanwhile, Pouliot is 23 and has scored two goals and two assists in 14 games this season. “The forwards are two players at the same stage in their careers who were still looking to make a place for themselves with the teams that drafted them,” Canadiens GM Bob Gainey said. “Often times a different environment, new teammates and a new situation can be beneficial for a player.”

We’ll see. Pouliot has been out of commission since suffering an upper body injury on November 13th but is expexted to be back in the lineup sometime in the near future.

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Columbus Puts Dorsett On Injured Reserve

Jeanne Dupuis — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:44:24 +0000

After getting hit by James Neal last Thursday, Derek Dorsett has been placed on the injured reserve by the Columbus Blue Jackets and it’s unclear when he will return to the lineup.

Neal hit him from behind and got a game misconduct but received a two-game suspension from the league a couple days later. Honestly, I don’t think it was long enough for the hit he delivered (watch it here). I swear the NHL coddles certain players…

Dorsett has one goal and three assists in 18 games this season.

image: TSN

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Canucks Getting Ready for Sedin’s Return

Jeanne Dupuis — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:57:49 +0000

It looks like Daniel Sedin is getting ready to rejoin the Vancouver Canucks lineup after missing 18 games due to a broken foot. I’m not a Canucks fan but I’m pretty happy to see him getting back on the ice. In anticipation of his return, the team has sent forward, Matt Pettinger, back to the AHL.

image: TSN

It is likely that Daniel will get to team up with his twin brother, Henrik, in tonight’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks. They really are great together but Henrik has done a good job in his brothers’ absence.

Since it happened in just the fourth game of the season, it must have been weird for Henrik since this is the first time that Daniel has been out of play for a longer length of time since this is really his first serious injury.

A lot of people, myself included, wondered what would happen to Henrik but he’s proven that he’s not dependent on his brother. He already has 13 goals so it’s clear that he can do more than set up plays for Daniel.

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Markus Naslund is No Longer Retired

Jeanne Dupuis — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:33:49 +0000

I’m guessing Markus Naslund didn’t enjoy the retired life since he’s reactivated himself and will be joining Modo, his first pro club. He seems to be done with the NHL after 15 years so I hope he enjoys himself over in Europe.

image: TSN

It would appear that Peter Forsberg’s announcement about playing for Modo was a motivator for Naslund who said: “I will do anything to get in shape and hope I can add something on the ice, but as everybody understands it’s not just to get on the ice and perform. I’m really looking forward to play with Modo again and the fact that Peter and I will do it together is of course something really special.”

Incredibly, 36-year-old Forsberg is hoping to perform well enough to earn a spot on Team Sweden’s Olympic team. Naslund was a little more realistic and didn’t even mention that.

After spending most of his NHL career with the Vancouver Canucks, he played briefly for the Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Rangers.

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Henrik Sedin Is Thriving Without Daniel

Jeanne Dupuis — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:07:00 +0000

The Vancouver Canucks have had a rough start to the season after the roster dwindled when star players got injured. Among them is Daniel Sedin, who has now missed his 17th game with a fractured foot, his first major injury in his nine-year NHL career.

image: TSN

He and his twin brother, Henrik, have spent their careers with the Canucks and have consistently put up almost identical stats so when Daniel got knocked out of the lineup, a lot of people wondered what would happen to Henrik. They usually work in tandem with Henrik setting up good plays and Daniel scoring but now Henrik is stepping up and celebrated his first NHL hat trick last night in the Canucks’ massive 8-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche. It’s amazing to me that after 667 games he hadn’t accomplished this feat but it doesn’t matter now anyway.

Of course, I’m sure Henrik got a little help from the craptacular way Colorado has been playing. The Avs are suddenly sucking after having such a good start (10-1-2) to the season. They are now 2-4-1 over their last seven games.

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Underwood Talks About Romance With Fisher

Jeanne Dupuis — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:51:28 +0000

Carrie Underwood has been dating Ottawa Senators player, Mike Fisher, for almost a year now and it seems like the relationship is still going strong. She sat down for an interview on In the Spotlight with Robin Roberts and talked about how her life has changed since leaving her small town and winning American Idol.

Among the topics, of course, was her love life. She has dated NFL star Tony Romo and actor Chace Crawford while under the microscope of the media but she’s really done a good job of keeping her relationship with Fisher under wraps.

Carrie explained that they have been able to stay under the radar because they like to stay in and are not big party-goers so they don’t go to events together.

She affirmed that she’s very happy in every aspect of her life but was able to avoid answering Robin Roberts’ question about whether she wants to get married and have kids any time soon.

Watch the interview:

image: Zuma Press

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Alexander Ovechkin Might Be Injured

Jeanne Dupuis — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:22:22 +0000

Washington Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin left early in the second period and did not return to the game in the team’s 5-4 loss against the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight. The possible injury occurred when Ovie collided with Raffi Torres.

image: Zuma Press

After falling to the ice, the Russian player stood up and appeared to be in pain. A team spokesman said that Ovechkin had suffered some sort of upper body injury and is currently being listed as day-to-day.

I know there are other players for the Caps to rely on but no one wants to lose a player like Ovechkin, who went into Sunday’s game with a league-leading 14 goals and 23 points.

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Fisher Talks About Dating Carrie Underwood

Jeanne Dupuis — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:35:04 +0000

What’s it like dating an American Idol? Ottawa Senators player Mike Fisher seems to think it’s pretty awesome. He admits that their crazy lives have made things tough but that they “always find a way to make it work. She doesn’t get too many days off — a lot less days off than I get,” he notes. “She’s always going. She’s talented and she’s getting rewarded for it. That’s good to see.”

They met in Toronto through a mutual friend about a year ago and they’ve been dating ever since.

I have wondered if people who are dating singers ever try to perform their songs and Mike answered the question for me: “I try to sing some of her songs, [and] she just laughs!”

Ouch! Hopefully, it’s all in good fun but it shouldn’t be anything that a tough hockey player like Fisher can’t take!

image: Bauer-Griffin

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Gaborik Limps Off Ice After Scoring Twice

Jeanne Dupuis — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:59:59 +0000

New York Rangers fans were thrilled tonight to see Marian Gaborik (who the team acquired over the summer) showing some real star quality. He scored two goals in the club’s 5-2 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes.

image: TSN

Gaborik was a major part of helping the Rangers end their three-game losing streak but the night didn’t end well for the star player – he limped off the ice with an undisclosed injury in the third period.

Hopefully, it’s nothing serious and he’ll be back in action in no time.

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Van Ryn’s Career Could Be Over

Jeanne Dupuis — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 08:26:19 +0000

Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman, Mike Van Ryn, is only 30 years old but his NHL career might be over. He has elected to undergo extensive knee surgery and, depending on how he heals, he could be forced into early retirement.

Van Ryn is having an osteotomy on October 22, 2009 and the procedure that is usually reserved for the elderly. His bone will be cut and then the knee will be realigned.

It takes at least six months to recover from this surgery (seriously, it sounds awful) but Steve Yzerman had the same thing done back in 2002 and was able to rejoin the Detroit Red Wings. He wasn’t as good as he used to be but he was able to play.

I’m hoping for the best since Van Ryn could still have some good years ahead of him in the game.

image: TSN

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