The Pittsburgh Penguins and center Jordan Staal have reached a new 4-year extension worth $16 million. Jordan Staal, who was due to be a Restricted Free Agent after this year, has 52 goals, 39 assists and 98 penalty minutes in 204 career games over a little more than two seasons.

Penguin's GM Ray Shero has now locked up the last of the Penguins' young talent to a multi-year contract. He had come to agreements with both Evgeni Malkin and Marc Andre-Fleury during this past off-season and Sidney Crosby the year before that.

Mats Sundin is finally back. Sundin confirmed that he will be playing tonight against the Edmonton Oilers. Sundin will wear his familiar number 13. Forward Mike Brown gave up the number soon after Sundin's signing and now wears 15.

The NHL has suspended Ottawa Senator's forward Jarkko Ruutu for two games without pay for biting Andrew Peters of the Buffalo Sabres last night. The Globe and Mail has reported that "The force of Ruutu's bite ripped Peters' glove off and broke the skin on the player's right thumb. It happened in the first period of Buffalo's 4-2 win when Peters forcefully rubbed the palm of his glove into Ruutu's face at the Senators bench."

The Players' Emergency Assistance Fund benefited from Ruutu by receiving $31,707.32 from Ruutu for missing the next two games. Ruutu is now considered a repeat offender under the terms of the NHL-NHLPA collective bargaining agreement because of the suspension in November for elbowing Maxim Lapierre of the Montreal Canadiens.

Up until Saturday it appeared that goaltender Brent Johnson had finally made it certain that he should be the number one goaltender for the Washington Capitals. He was on a hot streak and playing extremely well.

That is until Saturday's game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Johnson was pulled from the game after being down 3 - 0 even though Washingon had a 39 shots on goal compared to the 13 that Philadelphia had. José Theodore was put in the for the 3rd period, but did not play well either. As of last night, the Capitals were ranked seventh in the league in goals scored, but 21st in goals allowed.

The Washington Post has reported that "Boudreau(head coach) stopped short of saying there's a goalie controversy, but something is percolating between the pipes in Washington. Johnson and Theodore have appeared in 17 and 18 games, respectively, and both are looking over their shoulders at prospect Simeon Varlamov, who earned wins in both of his starts this month after being called up from the team's minor league affiliate in Hershey, Pa. "

A goaltender controversy could be heating up in Washington. We will have to keep an eye on this one.

Even though the NHL 2008-2009 season is not quite half way done, don't be surprised to see the Tampa Bay Lightning begin to "clean up" their roster. During the offseason, the Lightning made a huge splash in free agency and spent a lot of money on some long term deals. Once the Christmas break for the NHL passes look for the lightning to begin (if they already haven't started) trade talks with other teams.

On that list, could be backup goaltender Olaf Kolzig. He has not played particularly well and most likely is not happy with a backup role. It is pretty clear that Mike Smith will be the Lightning's number one goaltender so don't be surprised to see Kolzig move in a trade.

Would another roster shake-up help the Lightning? At this point, no. However, for the Lightning it can not be soon enough for them to start looking at the offseason and getting potential draft picks and free agents.

Due to the play of rookie Steve Mason, the Blue Jackets sent 35 year-old netminder Fredrik Norrena to Syracuse of the AHL.  Mason has started ahead of Pascal Leclaire, the starter for the past two seasons.  Norrena appeared in eight games this year, posting a 1-3-2 record and 3.16 GAA.

It was probably predictable considering the Pittsburgh Penguins sent goalie John Curry back to their AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre Scranton, but it is now offical as Marc-Andre Fleury will be returning to the Penguins line up on Saturday.

It has not been announced whether or not he will be starting and my guess would be that he probably won't be starting. Backup goalie Dany Sabourin has been doing a decent job filling in for Fleury and there might not be an immediate need for Fleury on Saturday.

However, for Pittsburgh fans it should be a nice sight to see one of their players returning from the injuried list.

As I am sure all of you are probably getting sick of hearing about the current situation with the Tampa Bay Lightning and former coach Barry Melrose's dispute, there is now another situation brewing.

TSN has reported that the Lightning are "investigating legal grounds for withholding the remainder of Barry Melrose's contract with the team."

This came about because of Melrose's comments about rookie Steven Stamkos which he reported during an interview on a Toronto morning radio show.

Freedom of speech anyone?

Good news for both Mike Van Ryn and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Van Ryn will be returning to the lineup tomorrow night against the Buffalo Sabres. Van Ryn has been sitting out since November 8th when he was slammed into the end boards from behind by Tom Kostopoulos of the Montreal Canadiens.

Van Ryn suffered broken teeth, broken nose, broken finger, concussion, and a gash on his head (ouch).

Avs captain Joe Sakic, already sidelined with a herniated disc, he's now expected to be out for 3 more months due to an accident with a snowblower that occurred at his home.  My guess is that he stuck his hand in the machine.  Even if the motor is off, the blades are still under tension, and once clear of ice and debris, they snap back into place.  He underwent surgery Tuesday night to repair three broken fingers and tendon damage, but he is expected to make a full recovery.

The Pittsburgh Penguins suffered another loss to injury today after it was announced that forward Tyler Kennedy would be out 4 - 6 weeks with a sprained knee. The injury occured during the game Wednesday night against the New York Rangers. Kennedy has been placed on injuried reserve.

Mike Zigomanis was also injuried during the Rangers game but there has been no communication on the extent of his injury.

Following these developments, the Penguins have recalled forwards Janne Pesonen and Chris Minard. Pesonen has played only a couple of games in the NHL and has been involved on a ferris-wheel like ride between the Penguin's AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre Scranton and the NHL Pittsburgh Penguins.

More information can be found here.

The Philadelphia Flyers will be without center Daniel Briere for approximately 4 - 5 weeks after straining his groin in last night's contest against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Briere was seen leaving the ice in the second period after taking a hit.

Of course, this is starting to become expected from Briere as he has missed 14 of the last 16 games with several different injuries.

ESPN has reported that the Carolina Hurricanes have fired head coach Peter Laviolette. Laviolette led the Hurricanes to a Stanley Cup Championship only two years ago. ESPN has also reported that the Hurricanes have already hired a replacement head coach. Paul Maurice is rumored to be the next head coach.

"In a curious turn of events, Laviolette was the one who replaced Maurice as coach in 2003, when Maurice was dismissed 30 games into the season. "

Just one more coach to get the pink slip after a disappointing start to the NHL season.

OK, we all know Sean Avery is a little off, especially after his Dancing with Stars routine in last year's playoffs.  Now he has taken to commenting on his former romantic interests.  The known NHL pest made the derogatory statements to the media Tuesday morning about his former girlfriend Elisha Cuthbert who is currently dating Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf.

This is just more bad news for the struggling Stars.  Avery has underachieved since signing a 4 year $15 million dollar deal this offseason.  What also hurts the organization is that co-GM Brett Hull vouched for Avery to get him signed.  And the latest comment comes from Stars/NHL legend who said, “It’s unacceptable. Our image around the league has been tarnished a bit."  We will keep you updated on this story as it develops. 

The fans in Oshawa got to see the jersey they've been waiting for, get raised to the rafters Thursday night.  The Oshawa Generals retired the No. 2 jersey worn by Bobby Orr from 1962 to 1966 in a ceremony prior to their game last night.  "It's pretty nice," Orr said. "This is where my career started... and this is something I'll never forget."

The Coyotes and before that, the Panthers could always relay on one thing, Olli Jokinen was dressing for the game.  But that has come to an end Wednesday night after 397 games.  Jokinen went to the bench after being checked hard into the boards.  The team is saying it's shoulder injury which could sideline their second leading scorer for two weeks.

In probably the most "seen it from a mile away" moment this year, Brian Burke signed a 6 year deal to become the Toronto Maple Leafs team president and general manager.  The deal is for the remainder of this season, plus 5 more at $3 million per, according to the Globe and Mail.

Toronto hopes he can enact the same type of turn-around he accomplished in Anaheim.  But some feel it will require a total rebuild of the team.  I think that may be a little drastic however.  Cliff Fletcher did a respectable job and Toronto is not terrible right now.  A lot of work still needs to be done, but however you look at it, I think it's a great move for the Leafs. 

Darren Helm was called up from Grand Rapids for tonight's game.  He'll take the place of Darren McCarty who was sent down.  Coach Babcock said he feels that after a road trip, most teams lack energy and Helm should give them a burst.  He skates well and showed a lot of promise last year.

On the injury tip, Dan Cleary said he should be ready to play Friday or Saturday at the latest.  It also looks like Chelios is skating with the team now.

Armand Guidolin, who at the tender age of 16 years and 11 months took the ice in the NHL in 1942 for the Boston Bruins, died Monday at the age of 82.

He was the youngest skater ever in the NHL and played 9 years in the league with with Boston, Detroit and Chicago.  In 1961, he turned to coaching.  He went on to coach in the NHL where he had Bobby Orr on his blueline.  He also coached Orr in junior hockey as well.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have brought back Mike Sullivan as an associate coach for interm coach Rick Tocchet's staff. Mike Sullivan was the associate coach for the Lightning last year under former Lightning coach John Tortorella.

I believe this move was not a bad move considering Sullivan has some experience with this team and the few players that still remain from last year. It is still yet to be seen whether or not any moves so far will assist the Lightning in returning to a half-way decent shape.

The Atlanta Thrashers' have placed goaltender Kari Lehtonen on Injuried Reserve, retroactive to October 31. Lehtonen had been sidelined since a loss to the Rangers on October 30, first because of illness, and now because of a back ailment.

Sometime today, the Vancouver Canucks will release news regarding the injury to Roberto Luongo.  The goalie appeared to have strained his groin in the first period of the win Saturday versus the Penguins.  We'll post as soon as we hear anything.

Update:  The Globe and Mail confirmed the injury is to Luongo's groin and will keep him sidelined for 4 -5 weeks.

That's what a few seem to believe.  It's being talked about that if Gaborik and the Wild can't come to a contract agreement during this season, and the enigmatic forward is allowed to become an unrestricted free agent, he may just take the advice of a good friend.  Pavol Demitra, who played the last few seasons in Minnesota before jumping to Vancouver this past offseason, has been talking up the Vancouver system and how great it is to play in.  It just so happens that he and Gaborik are good friends.  Demitra's influence may place the Canucks in the driver's seat on landing Gaborik if he does enter free agency.  We'll just have to wait and see.

The Ottawa Senators thought they had enough to worry about. Considering they have lost their last 5 games and are ranked last in the Eastern Conference the Senators are looking for a spark. Unfortunately, when it rains it pours.

Forward Mike Fisher could miss the next couple of weeks after straining ligaments in his right knee and right-winger Chris Neil suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee and will undergo surgery.

Bad times for Ottawa just got worse.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are off to a real rough start. Their head coach, Barry Melrose, who returned to coaching in the NHL after an extended period of time being a TV analysis, was fired last Friday after only 16 games. They are currently on a 4 game losing streak and are having an extremely difficult time meshing together all of the players that were picked up during the offseason.

In an attempt to shake things up, new head coach Rick Tocchet has decided to take the number one overall draft pick in this past years NHL Entry Draft, Steven Stamkos, and move him from a center to a winger on their number one line. This appears to be a desperate move by Tocchet to get Stamkos involved somehow. So far, Stamkos has only 4 points in 17 games and has played an extremely small part in the overall team.