This has been a wildly interesting afternoon full of news in the NHL. Let's go around the league:
---The big one came down in the 5 o'clock hour: Matt Cooke of the Penguins is suspended for the remaining 10 games of the regular season AND the first round of the playoffs. Will cost him more than $219,000. About time a message was sent by this league. Is it still a garage league, Mario?
5:50 p.m. update: Guess the Penguins are totally on board. Kudos to them. Read GM Ray Shero's statement, a scathing rebuke of his own player. Very, very refreshing to see.
And look at this scathing tweet on Cooke by Edmonton defenseman Ryan Whitney.
---The Penguins, meanwhile, play tonight in Detroit with the Red Wings down to 10 forwards and can't call up anyone else due to salary cap consideration. Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen and Jiri Hudler are all out.
---Alexander Ovechkin is nursing a groin injury and will not play in tomorrow's Capitals-Flyers showdown. He could be out 7-10 days. Hmmm. Bet this has been lingering longer than the Caps admit and is a big reason for the Great Eight's lackluster season.
---The Canucks suffered a huge blow with the news Manny Malhotra's eye injury is very serious and he will be gone the rest of the season and playoffs. A very terse release, which doesn't portend good news longterm either.
---The Blackhawks are holding their breath over what could be a serious knee injury to Patrick Sharp.
---The Senators announced a four-year, $12.75 million extension for goaltender Craig Anderson, who has been a huge upgrade over Brian Elliott since Ottawa swapped goalies with Colorado.
---The Thrashers are still stinging from Saturday's rout in HSBC Arena and coach Craig Ramsay had some serious words for his players in face-to-face meetings and again in this Atlanta Journal-Constitution interview.
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
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