Shrapnel - 11/15/11

Welcome to Tuesday! It's a game day, and guess who's coming to dinner?

As the team gets healthy again and begins to look more and more like the squad Scott Howson assembled for this season, tonght's game feels like a measuring stick for how far they've come, and a chance to see if Steve Mason and his reworked defense can put up another strong effort. (And, dare I say it, perhaps the offense could untrack themselves for more than two goals?)

The biggest news in the NHL yesterday had nothing to do with what happened on the ice last night, as Brendan Shanahan ruled that Milan Lucic would not be suspended  for his hit on Ryan Miller Saturday night. Furthermore, Shanahan commented that Lindy Ruff's "fair game on goalies" comments were irresponsible and overreacting, but that didn't stop the Habs from taking a hard run at Jhonas Enroth last night.

For a local reaction, Martini Hockey thinks it was the right call, and the general consensus is that this needs to be answered on the ice, but that's not always easy.

Over at DBJ, Gallos revisits his history of the Jackets with a Hitch retrospective, and where to go from here.

At Puck Daddy, they feature the final results of BOTB and a look at the Flames dumping Niklas Hagman on waivers to Anaheim.

Something special with last night's Hockey Hall of Fame induction - touching and heartfelt moments from each inductee, particularly Doug Gilmour talking about  Pat Burns and Ed Belfour speaking to Vladislav Tretiak, but the crowning tearjerker was Mark Howe honoring his father's belated request that, just once, he pull on the #9 Red Wings jersey that Gordie made immortal. 

Over at TMM, Jeff talks about hockey stats that drive him crazy, while LTL takes another look at Nail Yakupov. (Don't tell LTL, but some recent scouting reports are now pointing to Mikhail Grigorenko as the top prospect. Sadly, "Suck for Mikhail" doesn't scan nearly as well. Plus it sounds like a badly dubbed Russian porno.

At Backhand Shelf, Bourne was wrong about a few things and we get to know Scott Gomez.

Some bad news for former Jacket Scottie Upshall - his injury is more serious than originally thought, and he'll be out until at least December.

Finally, LTL looks at some rumors and reports about the team and Scott Howson.