Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.
• Sean Avery(notes) of the New York Rangers wore his good Mets hat to a screening of "Get Low" at the Tribeca Grand Hotel this week. [Getty]
• N.Y. area hockey fans and others in the industry are stunned that Billy Jaffe won't be back on the New York Islanders' TV broadcasts. Chris Botta reports that the Islanders may have made the decision because Jaffe was too critical of the team. Which is nonsense, because Jaffe wasn't exactly Lewis Black on the cynicism front. [NYI Point Blank]
• Kevin Smith explains why he'll be filming his hockey movie in lovely Detroit. [Freep]
• Trying to make sense of the Ilya Kovalchuk(notes) contract mess from a legal perspective. [NY Mag]
• RFA Bobby Ryan(notes) wants to remain an Anaheim Ducks player. But the term of the contract continues to be the sticking point. [Sporting News]
• You think when half the NHL was kissing Fabian Brunnstrom's(notes) feet as a free agent a few years back they thought he'd end up taking a pay cut to avoid arbitration with the Dallas Stars in 2010? [Defending Big D]
• Scott Burnside on the Detroit Red Wings' pursuit of Mike Modano(notes): "If we were Wings GM Ken Holland, we'd take a run at Bill Guerin(notes) or Paul Kariya(notes) to add veteran scoring punch and give one of their young prospects a shot at centering the third line. Less nostalgic, perhaps, but in the long run, we're guessing it would be a more productive move with less potential for dressing-room headaches." [ESPN]
• Hearing the words "cost certainty" still gets our blood pressure up from the lockout, and Steven Ovadia explains why the Bettmanian concept is a joke. [Puck Update]
• The head of Moscow Dynamo's football team laments the fact that his players are hanging with "the joker Ovechkin" during the Washington Capitals star's offseason. [Alex Ovetjkin]
• The Carolina Hurricanes announce that they're unveiling the 2011 NHL All-Star Game logo on Monday. If this thing doesn't include a tobacco-smoking pig being ridden by Ric Flair, there's no hope for humanity. [Canes]
• The Dallas Stars are still negotiating with defenseman Nicklas Grossman(notes), hoping to snag him for $2 million per season. [Dallas Stars Blog]
• Spitballin' the idea of Brad Richards(notes) coming to the New York Rangers. [Blueshirt Banter]
• What if Phoenix Coyotes GM Don Maloney was, in fact, the GM of the Rangers rather than Glen Sather? [Hoffman]
• Nice work by Copper and Blue looking at the Edmonton Oilers' approach to free agency this summer. [C&B]
• Disappointed with this Zenon Konopka(notes) interview for the New York Islanders, save for this answer — "Hidden Talents: I have many hidden talents, but throwing a knuckle ball. I throw a great knuckle ball." [Isles]
• Ryan Kennedy on Eustace King of O2K Management, who is to his knowledge the only African-American agent in the NHL. [THN]
• Jim Johnson, coach of AHL Norfolk, coached the Tampa Bay Lightning's development camp. Now he's been fired by Steve Yzerman. What changed? Raw Charge says look no further than a new addition to the Bolts' front office. [Lightning Strikes]
• From our ongoing series, "When banner advertising does unintentionally hilarious things with website graphics." Haven't the Flyers been through enough? [Via Puck Buddy James D.]
• Icethetics is running a project that uses Google Maps to plot where different leagues' franchises are located. Today is the ECHL. [Icethetics]
• "Patrick Kaleta, Penalty-Drawing Ninja." [Behind The Net]
• Tyler Seguin(notes) on being with the Boston Bruins: "This is a job. You're trying to take other players' jobs here and trying to get to the next level. I think it's just the adjustment of how much bigger the players are here and I think it's different than sometimes in the OHL. Everyone here is 100-percent committed to their dream. It's just a little bit different than what I'm used to. It's just a whole other step." [NHL]
• What are the Florida Panthers going to do with Marty Reasoner(notes)? [Litter Box Cats]
• Does every NHL website have cool games like this? Name every Los Angeles Kings captain in under four minutes. AND GO! [Kings]
• Haven't given this a listen yet, but it appears to be awesome: lawyer 'mc79' of mc79hockey.com, on the "upcoming string of litigation surrounding the Kovalchuk contract." [PPP]
• Finally, here's Pavel Bure scoring for the Soviet Union. Seriously, don't try to get us Bissonette'd: It was still the Soviet Union in 1991: