Here’s all the links around the hockey world, and what I’m reading 24 hours prior to the official announcement for the Winter Classic to be held at Gillette Stadium tomorrow.
*A very good question: when will the New Jersey Devils retire the No. 30 for Martin Brodeur now that it seems the setting the is right for it?
*I was wondering when Tuukka Rask would finally break down and join Twitter, and it looks like it’s finally happened. He’s verified and everything.
*PHT writer and FOH (Friend of Haggs) Mike Halford has Marcus Kruger’s agent willing to be patient with the Blackhawks as they work out their salary cap situation.
*Flyers draft pick Travis Konecny puts his draft year stress in the rearview mirror after essentially serving as the first round’s little engine that could.
*If defenseman Jordan Leopold’s NHL career is over after last season with the Minnesota Wild, then he would be okay with that.
*Frequent Bruins tormentor Daniel Briere is another longtime NHL veteran mulling retirement while having a tough time finding a gig for next season.
Boston Bruins
*The Hockey News Matt Larkin answers the question as to why goaltender Cam Talbot is better prepared for the Edmonton Oilers than you might think.
*A Toronto blogger says that the NHL is at a crossroads because of the growing concussion problem with the sport. So is the NFL, and any other contact sport aside from the UFC, which seems to embrace the hard hits and knockout blows that football and hockey are distancing themselves from.
For something completely different: a 1993 conversation between Larry Bird and Mike Gorman about his career sounds like 30 plus minutes that are very much worth my time.