Puck Headlines: Sacco, Sherman to return for Avs; Leafs ‘Because of the Cup’ ad

• A KHL goaltender prepares to fight a Russian ice nymph for control of his crease. The KHL is crazy, man. [Reddit Hockey]

• Bad news for the Buffalo Sabres, who won Tuesday's big tilt with the Washington Capitals but lost Christian Ehrhoff to a knee injury. [NHL]

• Sounds like Joe Sacco and Greg Sherman will both be back for the Colorado Avalanche next season. I say Jamie McGinn deserves all the credit for this. [Denver Post]

• With Matt Kassian out for the season, Jason Zucker, who signed an entry-level contract after two years at the University of Denver, becomes the 45th different player to dress for the Minnesota Wild this season. [Star-Tribune]

• You can't protect Ryan Nugent-Hopkins because there's no such thing as protection in today's NHL. [Oilers Nation]

• Scott Cullen runs down a list of 25 NHLers that have surpassed their previous career-highs in scoring by at least 10 points. [TSN]

• Great story on Chris Sutter, the third child of Darryl and Wanda Sutter, who doctors said wouldn't live long after he was born with Down Syndrome, hearing, sight and heart issues, but turns 19 on Friday. [Kings]

• The Vancouver Canucks' "This is Our Home" campaign urges fans not to riot, because, unfortunately, fans need to be told. [Pass it to Bulis]

• An elderly hockey fan passed away on the same day she won the Sens Xtra hockey pool. [Ottawa Citizen]

• Cool stuff on the Montgomery Cheetahs, a special hockey team in Maryland made up largely of children on the autism spectrum. [Washington Times]

• Jennifer, the world's first humanoid robot hockey player not named Nicklas Lidstrom, has made it to the final round of competition in the 2012 DARwin-OP Humanoid Appliance Challenge. [The Manitoban]

• Why is anyone surprised the Jets will miss the playoffs? [Backhand Shelf]

• David Pollak with a nice piece on the 'You Can Play' project. [Working the Corners]

• Shane Doan returns to the ice Thursday with the Coyotes still very much in the thick of things in the West. "Obviously you never want to be in the position I'm in right now with eight games to go and miss those three," Doan said. "But it is what it is. It's over. Now I have to get ready to go." [AZ Central]

• After looking more like fake Henrik Zetterberg for the first half of the season, the Detroit Red Wings' forward has 31 points in his last 23 games. [MLive]

• Is the franchise goalie disappearing? [The Hockey Dekely]

• Randy Carlyle says the Leafs are "embarrassed" by their late-season collapse. "And we should be." [The Globe & Mail]

• With that in mind, Down Goes Brown and Bloge Salming present the Leafs' "Because of the Cup" ad, Because of the Cap. [Down Goes Brown]