Shrapnel - 9/23/11

Happy Friday!

In the words of our forefathers, "WHOOMP! There it continues to be."

Though a few more preseason games hit the slate yesterday, the biggest news happened off the ice, as Brendan Shanahan released his first supplementary discipline rulings, complete with video.

Former Jacket Jody Shelley was suspended 10 games for his hit on Darryl Boyce Wednesday night - you can see the hit and hear Shanahan discussing his reasons for the suspension here. It was a loud and clear message that there's a new sheriff in town.

Just to back that up, Shanahan also reviewed a hit by Calgary's Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond for a similarly dirty hit along the boards, and suspended him for the remainder of the preseason and the first regular season game.

It's just two rulings, but I'm already very impressed compared to his predecessor and the so called "Wheel O' Justice" rulings that seemed to make no clear sense. The challenge is going to be keeping up this level of clarity and consistent rulings as time marches on. 

For now, I'll leave it to Martini Hockey, and his assessment of "Not Bad..."

We've got a couple more takes on Wednesday's pre-season game vs. the Capitals from Light the Lamp and Ten Minute Misconduct.

Keep an eye on Mikku Koivu in tonight's game - coach Mike Yeo thinks this could be a big year for him. He's expected to play on a line with Devin Setoguchi and Dany Heatley - the equivalent matchup against Columbus' "power" line with Carter, Nash, and Prospal.

Want some training camp coverage? We've got an injury focused update from Puck-Rakers, while LTL found some video coverage, and Rob Mixer sat down with the brothers Karamatzov Russell.

The guys at Hockey Prospectus have a nice look at how to predict big swings in shooting percentage. I'm a little surprised Matt Calvert didn't make the list - much as we love him, I suspect his percentages will be lower this season.

Something ugly from last night's pre-season tilt between the Red Wings and the Flyers: Some piece of garbage decided to taunt Flyers winger Wayne Simmons before a penalty shot by throwing a banana onto the ice. Absolutely disgusting - there's no place for that in the 21st century.

A hat tip to CBJProspects for finding this nice look at Michael Chaput's first game back in Shawnigan. Chaput had a goal and two assists in the 5-3 win. He also found an interview with Austin Madaisky about playing in Winnipegbefore returning to Kamloops.

Kudos to the Dallas Stars for signing Mike Modano to a "one day" contract so he can retire as a Dallas Star this afternoon. The Stars also received word that their plans for a sale of the team following a bankruptcy hearing has been approved.

If you haven't been to a pre-season game yet, you might like to check out the pre-season game opening video.

Icethetics has a look at the just unveiled uniforms for the AHL's St. John's IceCaps, the former Manitoba Moose. Not surprisingly, they look a lot like their parent club...

Looks like we'll finally get the official Winter Classic announcement Monday...but the Phillies were nice enough to leak the logo to us.

Over at NHL.com, they're doing another focus on the Jackets, including this feature on James Wisniewski and how the Jackets are aiming for the playoffs (including a projected lineup).

Despite atrocious ice conditions, they're hoping to get the NHL back in Baltimore again.

LTL had a quick news hat trick yesterday.

Finally, it's clench time for Sharks fans - with Antti Niemi's ability tostart the season unclear, they received news that backup Antero Niittymaki underwent surgery yesterday and will be out at least 3 months. Thomas Greiss seems like an OK option for a backup, but what will Doug Wilson do if he has to be the starter on opening night?