Hockey Rambling

 TSN's reporting of the draft combine, found here, indicates that both Brayden Schenn and John Tavares may be suffering from upper body/shoulder injuries . They skipped out on all of the upper body tests. Ryan Ellis was excused from the combine, for unknown reasons. The Panthers have signed undrafted free agent goalie Alexander Salak to an ELC. [...]

 TSN has great coverage of the draft combine, which can be found here . Marek Zagrapan, who was ranked 61 on my prospects list, has signed to play in the KHL next year. Yep, he drops down the list... Red Wings injuries: Nick Lidstrom will play in Game 1; Kris Draper will not play in the first [...]

 Pittsburgh and Detroit - the series will start Saturday. Look for the panel's take on it tomorrow. Detroit rearguard Jonathan Ericsson was diagnosed with acute appendicitis and had to undergo surgery. It is expected that he will be back for Game 1. Don't ask me how that works, that's just what I've read. Martin Havlat finally missed [...]

 There have been some reports that some members of the Montreal Canadiens' brass have been drunk a lot lately. In related news, there are also reports that Kovalev has been offered a contract in the $7 million range, as well as the captaincy. I think both reports need to be true, or neither are. Kovalev? Seriously? [...]

 Info on the Prospects Report can be found HERE.  Peter Zezel has passed away. Details and story can be found here . He was a valuable member of the Maple Leafs and had a lot of fans, myself included. Sad news The Rangers have come to terms with prospect rearguard Michael Del Zotto. He is profiled [...]

 Dobber Nation Podcast will be up shortly - I'll be on this one, as well St. Louis goalie Chris Mason, among others...  Given that Quenneville went to Corey Crawford in the second period, but went back to Huet for the third, I would guess that Khabibulin is likely unavailable for Game 5. Crawford stopped six [...]

 Havlat took a hit early in the second and did not return. He needs to stay home and get healthy - you only get one life.  Havlat is playing, what can I say? As an unrestricted free agent, he needs to show that he is alright...even if he isn't. People who take a hit like [...]

 Puck Daddy, a guest on the last Dobber Nation, reports on Sean Avery's new bar that he opened. Just an interesting read.  Nikolai Khabibulin left last night's contest with a lower body injury. Huet came on and did not allow a goal in the third period nor in the brief OT. I would expect Huet [...]

 The Flames fired Mike Keenan. We won't know what this means until they hire the new coach. Although, Keenan was criticized for playing Jokinen with Iginla far too much when they clearly didn't click. Perhaps with a new coach that won't happen now. Pavel Datsyuk's foot is actually broken. He missed tonight's game and it could [...]

 Another confirmed guest for Dobber Nation: Jay Zawatski from 670 The Score in Chicago will talk some Hawks.  Phil Kessel underwent unsuccessful shoulder surgery. It was the first surgery to be reported a failure right afterwards in sports history. Oh no, wait - according to all the headlines it was actually a "successful surgery". Sorry [...]