Shrapnel - 12/22/11

Welcome to the last gameday before Christmas! We'll have more on that later today.

Over at the Dispatch, we have a report as the team hit the road, the latest chat transcript, a look at the decision to shuffle the top six, and a slew of injury updates.

Over at SBN, Travis talks about the growing obsession with the World Juniors and the rink is taking shape for the Winter Classic.

In case you missed it: Scott Howson fired off a new blog yesterday afternoon, including the unfortunate news that Cody Bass is done for the season after an injury in practice on Monday required shoulder surgery.

Over at PHT, they look at the NHL's attempts to cut down headhunting. Is it working? Honestly, no, I don't think it is. Not when Brendan Shanahan is having hearings on Rule 48 violations almost every week. (Speaking of which, Deryk Engelland has his hearing with Shanny later today...)

Over at Jackets Report, Rob had a look at how the team will be using Ryan Johansen, a few quotes from practice, and some general NHL musings.

Tapeleg gives a great breakdown of a controversial goal from last night's Blues / Avs game. Puck Daddy also takes a look at the NHL's own report on the goal.

HBO aired part 2 of 24/7: Rangers Flyers last night, and PHT and Puck Daddy both had some favorite moments...but it may be an incident in Dallas last night between Peter Laviolette and Steve Ott that steals the show in Episode 3.

Finally, Bourne has an opinion on the best player in the world and talks about the problem of playing with temporary teammates in the minor leagues.