It looks like Chris Pronger is doing some mentoring now that his playing career is over. He has been offering guidance to Flyers prospect Samuel Morin:

That's something that Pronger has discussed with Morin too. Pronger wants to see him use his intensity and anger in a positive way and "to be unpredictable on the ice."

That's exciting. Morin obviously has a ton of multi-category potential just based on his size but now Pronger is teaching him to be "unpredictable"? Music to my ears. Look for Morin to start slashing anyone who dares try to beat him to the outside, dishing out a fair number of cheap shots and even the occasional foot stomp, all as part of a career-long parade to the penalty box.

I'm only partially joking too. Pronger's antics were ridiculous but they did work. Players thought twice about challenging Pronger's foot speed knowing that a slash was coming if they did and they rarely challenged him physically because that was a dangerous notion as well. You definitely wouldn't call that the right way to play but Pronger made a Hall-of-Fame worthy career out of it.

Back to Morin though. The article linked to above also has Craig Berube talking about Morin playing with controlled emotions and to eliminate "dumb stuff" from his game so I doubt they are actually teaching Morin to play dirty. Besides, he may not need help in that regard. After all, he has recorded over 100 PIM in each of his last two seasons in the QMJHL.

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The Red Wings aren't expecting Daniel Alfredsson at training camp. That doesn't rule him out for the season but it's becoming less likely that he returns. Even if he does, we can expect more of these injuries. Don't draft him expecting more than 50 or so games.

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The Boston Globe has 10 Ideas for the NHL:

2. Hire women. Because of tradition, the NHL eliminates 50 percent of brain power by only hiring men as coaches and management. Rubbish. It's insulting to think that local coaches such as Digit Murphy (Boston Blades) and Katey Stone (Harvard) are not qualified to teach the game to professional men, just like it's nonsense to think a powerful executive such as Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi couldn't negotiate a contract.

Some of these ideas were all over the map but this one makes too much sense.

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Flyers chairman Ed Snider is cancer free, which is great to hear.

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Last week we heard news that HBO would no longer being doing their 24/7 behind the scenes show. It looks like the NHL has found a new partner in Epix, another premium cable channel, which will produce a similar show surrounding the Winter Classic.

I'm glad because it'll offer access to those who really want to see this kind of thing. For those like me who are tired of it, well, this is also the first I'm hearing of Epix so I don't expect to take up as much of the limelight.

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Some Peter Forsberg highlights to get you excited that hockey is returning:

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You can follow me on Twitter @SteveLaidlaw.