---Big news out of the Boston camp as the Bruins get to set to open their season today at noon against the Coyotes in Prague (it's on Versus). Get your boos ready for the forseeable future: The Bruins have signed Zdeno Chara to a seven-year contract extension. The latest reports are $45.5 million over seven years, taking him to age 41 with a $6.5 million cap hit. That follows the three-year, $15-million deal Patrice Bergeron got yesterday.
---In a scary scene last night in Atlanta, Thrashers goalie Ondrej Pavelec collapsed on the ice and lost consciousness with the puck at the other end early in Le Thrash's 4-2 win over Washington. The latest story is that Pavelec regained consciousness and is in stable condition at an Atlanta hospital.
---Mike Modano scored for the Red Wings in his first game, a 4-0 win over Anaheim. But what had everybody talking after this one was the flying fists of perennial Lady Byng winner Pavel Datsyuk. Toni Lydman is traveling with the Ducks but has still not skated with the team or talked to the media since being sidelined with migraine-related acute double vision.
--Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
