Here are yourPuck Headlines:A glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media. (Don't forget to check back this weekend for more previews, and thanks for reading.)
• You may have noticed a new addition to the Puck Daddy sidebar for MyBlogLog. We encourage you to sign up. Not because we understand exactly what it is. But because we refuse to believe that the NASCAR blog has more readers with fun avatars than we do.
• Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos "expects Chris Drury to be named captain of the New York Rangers before opening night." Sportsnet's headline: "Rangers to name Chris Drury captain." One of these things is not like the other ... anyhoo, Mark Herrmann wants Drury and Scott Gomez to share the captaincy. [Newsday]
• The League has announced that it will hold the NHL Face-Off Rocks 2008 opening day spectacular on Oct. 9 at the Fox Theatre in Detroit starring ... Def Leppard? Regarding the largely ignored single "C'mon, C'mon," lead singer Joe Elliott remembers bassist Rick "Sav" Savage telling him "I can hear this being played in every hockey arena all over the United States and Canada." Uh-huh. "Hysteria" was released in 1987; if we're going that far back for talent, Puck Daddy demands Rick Astley. [NHL]
• The top 100 fantasy players this season. No hard feelings, Tomas Holmstrom; think about how Mr. 101 feels. [Sportsnet]
• The Los Angeles Kings hold their ice girl auditions, pictured here. From CT: "Being able to skate would be a plus. Knowing what ice is, maybe. How to use a shovel, perhaps?" [On the 205th]
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• Pretty much every blonde in Boston is on the Bruins ice girls team this season. [The Professional Cheerleaders Blog]
• Chatting with Puck Daddy approved Washington Capitals forward Matt Bradley. [The Red Skate]
• Jaromir Jagr recruits a Calgary Flames assistant coach to come to Russia and be the new head coach of Omsk. Coach in the KHL or coach under Mike Keenan ... decisions, decisions. [Vancouver Sun]
• The Chief from Abel to Yzerman meets Bobby DeNiro. Is Kuklas Korner now in the circle of trust, Focker? [A2Y]
• NHLPA executive director Paul Kelly is outraged that NHL owners would talk about the League pulling players from the Olympics. "We're not going to roll over just because the owners want us to roll over." Yeah, that usually only happens during lockouts. And then, somehow, the owners still end up getting curb-stomped. [Globe & Mail]
• Remembering the great Jack Falla. [Xpress]
• Steven Stamkos will make his debut this weekend in a preseason game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts won't be in Pittsburgh. Go figure. [Lightning Strikes]
• The top rookies for the 2008-09 season. Gotta love any preview that includes the lines "Who wouldn't want to be Mrs. Clutterbuck?" and that Drew Doughty "is such a cutie and we would kill panda bears to see him patrolling the blue-line with none other than our favorite d-man Jack Johnson." [The Hockey Junkies]
• Everyone associated with this year's Florida Panthers claims that Jay Bouwmeester's contract status will not be a distraction this season. Great answer from Coach DeBoer: "Whether he's going to play in Florida long-term or go somewhere else, he's going to need a great year in order to set himself up for where he wants to go." [On Frozen Pond]
• Five good questions about this year's Philadelphia Flyers. Are we all underestimating how green the defense is and the hole left by R.J. Umberger's departure? [Philly Burbs]
• Finally, Kaduk over at Big League Stew sends us this interview of Chicago Blackhawks legend Tony Esposito in some sort of higher mental plane than the one on which we operate. Make sure you stay tuned for the part where Tony calls himself "retarded."
