Here are all the links from around the hockey world, and what I’m reading while waiting for the NHL holiday roster freeze to take full effect.
*In the spirit of Christmas, pretty much the answers you would expect when NHL players are asked what their favorite toy was growing up. At least Vladimir Tarasenko admitted he still has the same Batman figure that he loved as a kid.
*The Columbus Blue Jackets are putting back together the pieces after getting walloped by the Bruins on Monday night, and Nick Foligno said that his team showed “a lack of care” in the road loss.
*Good piece from FOH (Friend of Haggs) Mark Divver, who caught up with Matt Beleskey after reporting to the Providence Bruins. The biggest reason, in my opinion, that the B’s could do this is because they know that Beleskey is going to be a good pro in the AHL with so many impressionable young guys in Providence. I’m not sure the same certainty was there with the work ethic of a guy like Jimmy Hayes last season if they had dropped him down to the AHL with so many young guys learning how to be pros. It was part of the reason he remained in Boston prior to getting bought out.
Boston Bruins
*One constant during the early season success story of the Vegas Golden Knights has been the work of a quintet of goaltenders due to injuries, so credit the goalie coach with some of the work that he’s done out there.
*Marc Spector says that the Oilers are playing with a renewed confidence, and like their old selves, after some hellacious struggles out of the gate this season.
*A good piece out of Chicago chronicling the cancer treatments and chemotherapy that FOH (Friend of Haggs) Eddie Olczyk is enduring while still remaining a voice of the Blackhawks. We’re all with you, Edzo!
*For something completely different: It was 20 years ago this week that the world lost Chris Farley, and all of the Matt Foley Motivational Speaker moments we could have had over the last two decades.