By Chuck Gormley
Have you heard Peter Forsberg and Markus Naslund will be playing together for the first time since the 2006 Olympics? No, not for the Vancouver Canucks, but for Modo of the Swedish Elite League. While Forsberg’s latest comeback comes as no great surprise, Naslund’s return after his retirement in May is a bit of a shocker.

By Mike Heika
While the leading Calder Trophy hopefuls are in the East with James van Riemsdyk (Philadelphia), John Tavares (Islanders) and Michael Del Zotto (Rangers), don’t discount Ryan O’Reilly in Colorado or Jason Demers in San Jose as dark horses. Both seem to be very comfortable in their moves up to the NHL.

By Chuck Gormley
Already there is talk about Shanahan leading the NHL Players’ Association into its next round of contract talks, possibly as its new executive director. Several team representatives have said a former player would be a logical successor to Paul Kelly, who held the post less than two years.

By Adrian Dater
Yes, they’re absolutely right. Risk of dramatic head injuries are higher than the past because NHL players do hit harder because they are bigger, faster and stronger than the past, and the rinks are the exact same size. But, I’m sorry, I’m with Mike Milbury on this one: can we all just settle down a little?

By Darren Eliot
Over the past week or so, much has happened both on and off the ice. For posterity, congratulations to this year’s Hall of Fame inductees. On a more serious note, GMs met and discussed, among other issues, what to do about headshots. And how about Jarome Iginla and the Flames responding to their coach's challenge.

By Adrian Dater
This is a column about the most unique NHL arenas, with some inside tips on what to do and see when you’re there. Yes, most NHL arenas now all look the same. But there are some places that are still quite unique, and if you’re in a travelin’ mood, you can put them into the GPS system.

By Mike Heika
With a 6-0-1 start on home ice this season, the San Jose Sharks are 38-5-5 in their last 48 regular season games at HP Pavilion. That’s especially impressive in the NHL, where home ice has not always provided a guaranteed advantage.

By Chuck Gormley
As NHL general managers convene in Toronto for their annual talks, the primary topic of conversation centers around blows to the head and how the league should respond to them. Also, Peter Forsberg’s name was a hot one, even though the 36-year-old former MVP has been skating for the Swedish national team.

By Bob Harwood
One of the first things I got excited about as I learned the details of my broadcast schedule for this season was taking a look at the teams from the standpoint of Olympic hopefuls (or shoe-ins, for that matter) for the upcoming Games in Vancouver. That concept really presented itself last month when the Sabres hosted the Red Wings.

By Adrian Dater
These are always cheap and easy columns. Having been cheap and easy my whole life, this column idea is manna from heaven, so let’s take a look at some free-agent boom and busts around the NHL, with the season nearing the quarter pole.

Adrian Dater
Remember the scene in “Titanic” when the Billy Zane character shoves the women and children out of the way to jump in one of the lifeboats to save his own skin first? Billy Zane character, meet your 2009-10 Calgary Flames.

By Mike Heika
After the Anaheim Ducks defenseman knocked down Phoenix captain Shane Doan with what he felt was a clean hit by standing up in the neutral zone, the league decided to suspend him for two games for putting a forearm into the face of Doan. Wisniewski believes he made a textbook hit with his shoulder.

By Adrian Dater
Peter Forsberg, Eric Lindros and Alex Ovechkin. What do they all have in common? If Ovechkin doesn’t smarten up, he’ll end up having too much in common with the other two. Ovechkin once said “Russian machine never break, what can you say?” to reporters who questioned his reckless physical style. But the Russian machine is broken right now.

By Chuck Gormley
For those counting that’s nine straight losses for the Canes. Normally, that means a ticket out of town for an NHL coach. But instead of putting Maurice, who was hired 11 months ago to replace Peter Laviolette, on notice, Carolina general manager Jim Rutherford pointed an accusatory finger at – himself.

By Adrian Dater
Pittsburgh Penguins fans and management all went to bed Thursday night relieved that it appears Evgeni Malkin will miss only 2-3 weeks with a shoulder strain. But he was just the latest high-profile player to go down, and that’s not good for a league that needs every big name in the lineup it can get.

By Darren Eliot
Some interesting happenings shaped the first month of the season. Surprises include the starts the Colorado Avalanche and Phoenix Coyotes have posted. In Phoenix, coach Dave Tippett and assistant Dave King have provided structure for the Coyotes.

By Chuck Gormley
Two years ago the National Hockey League made a clear and emphatic statement on blows to the head when Philadelphia Flyers rookie Steve Downie was suspended 20 games and teammate Jesse Boulerice was sentenced 25 games for separate shots to opponents’ heads. Since then, the league has gone soft on head hunters.

By Mike Heika
On October 22 against the Dallas Stars, Kopitar pulled off the kind of goal that can only be scored with his mix of size (6-4, 220), speed and skill. It was the kind of superhuman effort that encapsulated what Kopitar is capable of at age 22.

By Adrian Dater
Craig Anderson looks like he should have a pocket protector on his shirt, not an NHL logo. He’s prematurely bald, a little geeky looking and has perfect teeth. Not your typical looking hockey player.

By Adrian Dater
Torts TV is totally habit forming. He’s charming, he’s caustic, he’s evasive, he’s painfully honest, he’s sarcastic, he’s philosophical, he’s boorish, he’s totally hilarious and he’s totally original. He’s been one of the most outspoken NHL coaches for a long time.

By Mike Heika
Let’s take a quick look at goaltending this week, because it already seems to be playing a huge role in the standings. While hockey probably isn’t a game that can be dissected accurately by statistics, there are some numbers I always like watching.

By Chuck Gormley
Someone needs to explain to me how, in a condensed schedule that includes a two-week break for the Winter Olympics, the New York Rangers can play nine games to the Atlanta Thrashers’ five before the NHL season is even three weeks old.

By Adrian Dater
The Colorado Avalanche, Atlanta Thrashers, Phoenix Coyotes, Edmonton Oilers and Ottawa Senators all hear you, O Ye cynical brood. In hockey parlance, these teams are still being dismissed around the league right now as “morning glories” – good in the morning skate, but nowhere to be found when the real games actually start.

By Chuck Gormley
As a young sports fanatic growing up in Brick, New Jersey, former NHLer Jim Dowd remembers standing in the cold outside Madison Square Garden and waiting for Anders Hedbeg and Phil Esposito to autograph his hockey cards.

By Darren Eliot
Among teams that failed to make the postseason derby a season ago, the Buffalo Sabres are off to a fast start. They have been led by Ryan Miller and, another goalie, Craig Anderson is trying to help the Avs back into the playoffs.

By Darren Eliot
The Pittsburgh Penguins are finding ways to win early and, in so doing, are averting any sense of a Stanley Cup hangover. Meanwhile, last season's other Cup finalist, the Detroit Red Wings, are facing questions that they have not had to in a number of years.

By Mike Heika
Considered to be one of the worst teams in the NHL by most experts (yours truly included), the Colorado Avalanche have plowed out to a 4-1-0 start, including 2-1-1 on the road. The Los Angeles Kings have arrived much quicker than imagined and are off to a 4-1-0 start.

By Chuck Gormley
It’s a shame we have to wait until Dec. 15 to see the Flyers and Penguins go at it again on Versus. By then, Kris Letang’s middle finger should be well healed and Scott Hartnell should have learned to feast on something more socially accepted – say, chicken fingers.

By Adrian Dater
Nashville is a fun city and all. The Music City, tons of great country landmarks, the Grand Ole Opry, great honky tonks to go after games, etc., etc. But part of the NHL’s image problem stems from being in cities like Nashville, especially when embarrassments happen like that of Thursday night.

By Adrian Dater
It was one of the worst kept secrets in hockey, but until the day Theo Fleury had the courage to come forward and expose it, questions would always surround his often bizarre behavior as an NHL player.

By Mike Heika
The Blues are healthy, they are motivated and they are organized. Their trip to Europe was a classic case of meticulous planning paying off. Management and the coaching staff had everything planned.

By Chuck Gormley
Trade rumors are as much a part of hockey as broken teeth and elbows to the head. Complaints to the NHL might raise awareness on trade rumors, but they won’t prevent them from happening.

By Adrian Dater
Hockey is one big, legalized street fight, and if I’m running a team I want a tough Irishman, who not only could land a meaty paw on your chin with sufficient force to loosen a tooth, but could argue his way out of the prosecution’s case against him.

By Mike Heika
Wayne Gretzky announces that he will be leaving the Phoenix Coyotes organization, and Dave Tippett is named the new head coach. This is exactly what the Coyotes needed -- a little stability.

By Adrian Dater
There were a couple of times I wanted to just burst up out of my chair and start cheering and yelling “Super Joe” right along with the fans. I should have done it. It would have been how I really felt.

By Adrian Dater
I would have been OK with putting 100 bucks on about one-third of the league to win the Stanley Cup, but didn’t because I’m too cheap and because I’m the original Cooler.

By Darren Eliot
Toronto Maple Leafs’ GM Brian Burke’s relentless pursuit of Phil Kessel reminded me of the days of schoolyard trading card bartering sessions.

By Mike Heika
As we prepare for the start of the season, the thing that strikes most NHL folk out West is just how tough it is getting.

By Chuck Gormley
Who has the most feared blue line in the Eastern Conference? The most overrated and underrated players? And who might be the first coach to get his walking papers?

By Adrian Dater
The hard truth is, Gretzky’s resignation today as coach of the Phoenix Coyotes was absolutely necessary for the good of the franchise. And, hopefully No. 99 will realize it was best for him, too.

By Adrian Dater
Peter Forsberg never went to college, but he's given it the old college try so many times in trying to resume his NHL career he should have an honorary degree from a major university by now.

By Adrian Dater
Look for the Coyotes to spend another year in Glendale, in continued limbo, and next year they’ll be somewhere else. And only in Gary Bettman’s worst nightmare will that place be Hamilton, Ontario.

By Adrian Dater
No team is ever going to win a Stanley Cup with Dany Heatley on it. Because Dany Heatley proved what he really is this off-season: a Diva.

By Mike Heika
The Blues really clicked in the second half of the season under coach Andy Murray and posted an NHL-best 27-9-7 record over the final 45 games.

By Chuck Gormley
When Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill left the Penguins for bigger pay checks in Los Angeles and Montreal, respectively, the Pens were left without two of their key contributors to last spring’s playoff run.

By Darren Eliot
I can still feel that sense of adventure heading to my first camp with the L.A. Kings in Victoria, BC. Heading out from Oshawa, Ontario, getting set up in the locker room, seeing the names Dionne, Simmer and Taylor.

By Adrian Dater
This is my list for the 10 best fighters in NHL history, and I never realized how hard this would be. For one thing, it became clear early on that it is very difficult to compare fighters from different hockey eras. Fighters of the 1960s and ‘70s, especially, had the toughest jobs in the world.

By Mike Heika
Sure the calendar indicates we're smack in the middle of the dog days of the summer, but that doesn’t mean the NHL isn’t making news. On the contrary, it seems like something interesting is popping up each day.

By Chuck Gormley
Have you craved the bone-crunching hits delivered by Dustin Brown? Thirsted for the acrobatic saves of Roberto Luongo? Longed for the sick moves and perpetual snarl of Alex Ovechkin? Are you ready to see Sid and Geno duke it out for the NHL scoring title?

VERSUS’ 2009/10 regular season schedule highlights some of the most exciting games of the season with the Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins all making a season-high eight appearances on the network. 

By Adrian Dater
Injuries, of course, happen in sports. Hockey certainly has not been spared, and there are lots of "Over Too Soon" stories. Some need Kleenex to get through, but most are just “Injuries happen”- type of stories.

The National Hockey League released its 2009-10 preseason schedule Wednesday. The slate features 109 games, including matches between the Blackhawks and Panthers in Helsinki as well as the Red Wings and Blues in Stockholm.