Tyson Barrie won't return to the Colorado Avalanche's first-round series with the Minnesota Wild, after suffering an MCL injury on an ugly, knee-on-knee hit from Matt Cooke. 

Unsurprisingly, neither will Cooke, who was suspended seven games by the Department of Player Safety on Wednesday.

The DOPS suspension video uses the word knee a lot. Makes sense.

"Cooke is leading with his left knee. After Barrie releases the puck, Cooke continues in this posture, further extends his knee, and makes contact wkith Barrie's left knee. This is kneeing."

That's from Patrick Burke, the knight who says knee.

Burke also explains away anybody who might be dumb enough to suggest that Barrie exacerbated the injury by trying to avoid the hit. 

"While this evasive action might have worsened the extent of the injury, it should have been entirely predictable to Cooke that Barrie would attempt to avoid contact."

In other words, of course he tried to avoid the hit. Why the heck wouldn't he? That doesn't mean

Read More »from Matt Cooke suspended seven games for knee-on-knee hit that injured Tyson Barrie

The Anaheim Ducks will be without captain and first-line centre Ryan Getzlaf for Wednesday night's pivotal Game 4 versus the Dallas Stars.

According to the team, Getzlaf will miss the game with an upper-body injury. He's listed as day-to-day.

His absence will likely be felt a great deal more than Teemu Selanne's.

It goes without saying that this is a massive loss for Anaheim. Getzlaf has 4 points in the series -- a goal and an assist in both Anaheim wins -- but we knew his value to the team long before the playoffs commenced. Getzlaf finished second in the league in scoring behind Sidney Crosby, and is soon to finish second in voting for the Hart to Crosby as well. He's invaluable, and he's irreplaceable.

One wonders if the upper-body injury is in the upper upper-body, like, say, the face. Getzlaf's been wearing a jaw protector since he took a puck to face trying to preserve the lead late in Game 1. There's a distinct possibility that it's broken, and he's playing through it.

In Game

Read More »from Ryan Getzlaf to miss Game 4 versus Stars with upper-body injury

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Part of growing up is making mistakes and learning from them.

Just ask Eemil Selanne, son of Ducks forward Teemu Selanne. He is learning a very important lesson today: whatever you say on the internet is here forever. Not only is it here forever, it travels very quickly around the world. And when your father is a future Hall of Famer already in the midst of a big news-cycle of his own, it spreads even faster. (That's what she said.)

The younger Selanne, 18, tweeted his displeasure over his father's healthy-scratch for tonight's playoff game against the Dallas Stars by way of a roster move I don't think is allowed under the current CBA.

ROSTER MOVE: Bruce Boudreau has been reassigned to Norfolk Admirals (AHL).

— Eemil Selanne (@EemilSelanne) April 23, 2014

It's not difficult to empathize with the teen's anger. To us, he's Teemu Selanne, hockey legend; to Eemil, he's dad.

(If the tweet gets deleted, go here.)

Read More »from Selanne’s son tweets disapproval, suggests roster move for Boudreau

They say there’s no improving on perfection, and that’s probably true in most cases that don’t involve transforming a beer keg into the Stanley Cup.

Puck Daddy reader Damiën Valkenburg explains:

“I think some Dutch guys changed the game.

“I play with Nijmegen University Radboud Saints in the Dutch college-league. Every season we end with our playoffs, in which the grand prize is the Stanley Keg.

“Which is a Keg of "Olm"-beer turned into a shabby Stanley Cup replica.

“As with the real thing, champions engrave their players in the keg to remain forever a part of Dutch College Hockey history, for whatever that's worth. This year we were lucky (badass) enough to win it all. 

“They made it a couple of years ago and it has become our holy grail ever since. 

“I thought you might like the idea. Groeten uit Nederland!”

Now, by no means is this the only Stanley Keg we’ve come across. See also:

* The Stanley Keg of Tampa Bay, “a beer keg with a wood trophy box and a cup screwed to the top

Read More »from Behold, the Stanley Keg of hockey! (Photo)

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.

Justin Braun breaks Robyn Regehr's ankles.

• More playoff ankle breakage. Here's Justin Braun turning Robyn Regehr inside-out. [Reddit]

• Ken Hitchcock on David Backes, who wasn't available for the pregame skate: “He’s not going to play unless he’s healthy. You never know. He could be skating in another rink. He could be somewhere else. You don’t know. There are a lot of other rinks here in Chicago. So he could be doing other things. But he’s not going into the lineup unless he’s a player. If he’s a player, the way he plays he’s going to have a huge impact on the series. If he skated somewhere else and is in fine-tuned conditioning, you’ll see him tonight.” So in other words, you'll see him tonight. [Sun Times]

• The Dallas Stars are failing to make friends with the Anaheim Ducks. Not cool, Dallas Stars. Not cool. [Defending Big D]

• Is the NHL's new

Read More »from Stars, Ducks gets unfriendly; Crosby due; Backes in for Game 4? (Puck Headlines)

During the Sochi Games, when Teemu Selanne was helping to lead Finland to bronze with a stellar performance, a smart hockey person told me a curious thing: That they anticipated Selanne would be a healthy scratch in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for Anaheim.

Again, this is was odd, because (1) Selanne was playing out of his mind in the Olympics and (2) because one of the cardinal rules of managing a successful hockey team is that you don’t make Teemu Selanne a healthy scratch. Ever.

And yet here we are: Selanne will be a healthy scratch in playoff game for just the second time in his career, deferring to young speedster Emerson Etem as the Anaheim Ducks try to get their offense rolling in Game 4 at the Dallas Stars.

Why scratch Selanne? He has one assist in three games, that coming in Game 1 vs. the Stars. He had two shots on goal in each of the last two games. He has just four points in his last 11 games, and hasn’t scored a goal since March 23. The power play, where you assume Selanne

Read More »from Teemu Selanne, healthy scratch for Game 4

MVSW

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Special Guest Star: No one! Just your boys talking hockey.

• The Habs sweep.

• The Kings might get swept.

• The Calder Trophy

• Tonight's playoff action.

Question of the Day: Jeff and Greg are GOING POSTAL! Ask us anything! Email puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or hit us on Twitter with the hashtag #MvsW to @wyshynski or @jeffmarek. Click here for the Sportsnet live stream or click the play button above!

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Read More »from Marek Vs. Wyshynski Podcast: Hot Stanley Cup Playoff action and Going Postal

The day the Stanley Cup is presented is the best and worst day on the hockey calendar.

It's the worst because it signals the end of another NHL season and we then have to deal with three months of finding other things to do with our lives. It's the best because the Cup presentation ceremony -- from the tradition of booing Gary Bettman to the captain's first raise to the ensuing on-ice player parade -- is emotional and can't not put a smile on one's face. 

What we see on the ice those nights has evolved over the years. As YouTuber lostcanuck shows, the on-ice tradition of presenting and celebrating with the Cup has changed a lot since the Toronto Maple Leafs won it in 1949:

• Taking off the top half of the Cup to celebrate just is not as cool as lifting the entire thing over your head. (Could you fill the bottom portion with booze, though? That could be a gamechanger.)

• Nowadays, the Cup is brought to center ice by one of its handlers and placed on display with a nice NHL table skirt.

Read More »from Stanley Cup presentation, celebration has changed a lot since 1949 (Video)