Top Line: Emery fight fallout continues; Oilers-Rangers trade talk; more links
Four days later and the hockey world is still buzzing about Ray Emery's attack on Braden Holtby. (Getty Images)
By Allan Muir
An annotated guide to this morning's must-read hockey stories:
• David Shoalts puts the onus on Gary Bettman to diminish the role of fighting in the game. Or, at the least, put The Code in writing.
• Steve Buffery offers a contrasting opinion that speaks for us less enlightened types.
• If you can fight past the inexplicable decision to run FIVE variations on the same question at the top of the column, Kerry Fraser eventually offers up a pretty damning take on the performance of referee Francois St. Laurent during Friday's Ray Emery/Braden Holtby mismatch.
• No word if additional security was ordered for Emery's visit to the White House.
• Phoenix goalie coach Sean Burke let Emery have it with both barrels, calling him a bully and questioning his toughness.
• The Flyers say Friday's brawl united the team and will make it stronger. Can't wait to see how some anti-fighting writers tap dance around the subject if the Flyers somehow manage to get their lost season back on track.
• If nothing else, the Flyers have Scott Laughton to look forward to. The kid has some soft mitts.
• Maybe the presence of three Edmonton front office types at Madison Square Garden last night was a coincidence. New York, after all, is lovely to visit at this time of year. Or maybe there might be something to those rumors that suggest the Blueshirts are talking with the Oilers about trading for Nail Yakupov.
• Winning the Stanley Cup is great and all, but how cool is it to be the butt of a joke issued by the President of the United States?
• Think this shift will make it into Ryan McDonagh's personal highlight reel? Spoiler alert: it's a must-click for haters of Corey Perry.
• Prime Minister Stephen Harper's hockey history lesson hits the shelves today. Tony Keller tells us whether it's any good or not.
• Gotta love Ken Hitchcock. He's the only guy who could take issue with a three-game winning streak . . . and be right about it.
• A former Calgary Flame was at the forefront as Canada's federal government announced funding for new research into brain injuries.
• Tyler Seguin talks about decisions made and perspective gained on the eve of his return to Boston with his new team, the Dallas Stars.
• One veteran Sabre says he wants to be part of the rebuild in Buffalo. The way he's playing lately, though, the feeling may not be mutual.
• The faces change in Detroit, but the winning ways stay the same, writes Eric Duhatschek.
• This is why things did not go well last night in Winnipeg for the Red Wings.
• Alex Ovechkin has already missed two games since colliding awkwardly with Roberto Luongo. Will it become three?
• Hoping to stop a five-game losing streak from turning into a six-game skid, Carolina coach Kirk Muller is reuniting last season's big line. Gotta feel for that guy, don't you? A good coach who just can't seem to catch a break, team health-wise.
• Down two centers, the Maple Leafs are giving James van Riemsdyk a chance in the middle. At this point, what choice do they have?
• Ryerson University is very serious about its no-drinking policy, as the school's hockey team found out on Monday night.
• Here's an offbeat tale of how a village of just 500 (!) supports one of the top teams in Switzerland's elite league.
• Here's a great one from the archives that was dredged up today by Dave Stubbs on how Jean Beliveau changed the game back in 1955.
• Brett Murdock offers a look back at the elements that defined a wildly successful October for the Phoenix Coyotes.