News

How about a Stanley Cup parade down Robson St.? Or maybe a championship celebration on the Red Mile?The Canadian Press’ hockey writers have pulled out a crystal ball to make some predictions about the upcoming NHL season and see Vancouver and Calgary as the teams most likely to end the country’s 17-year Stanley Cup drought

LINKOPING, Sweden – Paul Kariya scored twice in the second period to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 6-0 victory over Swedish Elite League club Linkoping in a pre-season game Tuesday

EDMONTON – Dr. Quinn is in – just in time for the team everyone agrees needs a heart transplant.The Edmonton Oilers and new head coach Pat Quinn open their NHL regular season Saturday against the Calgary Flames in what they hope will be a new beginning for a lurching franchise

TORONTO – “Hockey Night in Canada” loudmouth Don Cherry will be among the celebrity judges assessing the axel jumps and death spirals that former figure skaters and NHL players plan to unleash on the reality series, “Battle of the Blades,” says “Blades” co-host Ron MacLean

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Columbus Blue Jackets have placed forward Fredrik Modin on injured reserve and made several other moves to reduce their roster to 23 players heading into Saturday’s opener against Minnesota

OTTAWA – The Ottawa Senators assigned defencemen Christoph Schubert and Brian Lee to Binghamton of the American Hockey League on Tuesday.Schubert had six points (3-3) in 50 games for Ottawa last season

VANCOUVER, B.C. – The Vancouver Canucks returned centre Cody Hodgson to the Brampton Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League on Tuesday, putting on ice the former first-round draft pick’s hopes of starting the season with the NHL club

CANONSBURG, Pa. – Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby has practised for the first time since injuring his groin during a pre-season game Thursday in Columbus

PITTSBURGH – There were few reasons to think the Pittsburgh Penguins could recover from a stretch of 16 losses in 25 games and make the playoffs, much less win the Stanley Cup

Movements in the world of hockey Monday:National Hockey LeagueATLANTA THRASHERS-Released G Manny Legace and F Dan Fritsche.BOSTON BRUINS-Assigned F Zach Hamill and F Brad Marchand to Providence (AHL)

ZURICH, Switzerland – Radek Smolenak had a pair of goals to lead the Chicago Blackhawks to a 9-2 drubbing of HC Davos in NHL pre-season action Monday

CALGARY – Brent Sutter is bent on bringing change to the Calgary Flames right down to where the players sit in the dressing room.Captain Jarome Iginla now sits on the opposite side of where he was, but the more symbolic relocation is the defencemen’s corner, where Jay Bouwmeester, Cory Sarich, Robyn Regehr and Dion Phaneuf now reside side by side

ATLANTA – Veteran goalie Manny Legace was among two players released Monday by the Atlanta Thrashers.Legace, 36, appeared in one preseason game for Atlanta, stopping 25-of-27 shots against Carolina

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Columbus Blue Jackets traded a 2010 third-round draft pick to the Calgary Flames for defenceman Anton Stralman on Monday

The biggest impact on this NHL season won’t be made by a breakout player or an upstart team. It’s going to come from the Olympic tournament in Vancouver

LOS ANGELES – Brayden Schenn is going to spend another season in the Western Hockey League.The Los Angeles Kings returned the 18-year-old forward to the Brandon Wheat Kings on Monday

VANCOUVER, B.C. – Goaltender Cory Schneider and former first-round draft pick Michael Grabner were among the players the Vancouver Canucks sent to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose on Monday

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota Wild winger Colton Gillies has been sent to the minors.Gillies was assigned to Minnesota’s AHL affiliate, the Houston Aeros

TAMPERE, Finland – Former Colorado winger Ville Nieminen scored to give Finnish league team Tappara a 3-2 shootout win over the Florida Panthers in NHL exhibition play Monday

TORONTO – Veteran hockey producer John Shannon is moving to the other side of the camera.The former NHL executive vice-president of programming and production is joining the “Hockeycentral” panel on Rogers Sportsnet