Saturday Night Hockey: European GM, Cooke-Karlsson

(Quick Note: I'm writing the EHT/Olympic reviews now, so they should all be up by Monday. Sorry for the delay)

Kekalainen Goes To Columbus

The Columbus Blue Jackets did two amazing things this week:

1. Fire Scott Howson (finally)
2. Hire Jarmo Kekalainen as their GM

Kekalainen becomes the first European GM in the NHL. While I'm not going to say the "About Damn Time" line about having a European be a GM, it will be interesting to see how he fares, and hopefully be more successful than his European coach predecessors (although I think Hlinka got a bad rap). He does have a good resume, helping Ottawa and St. Louis with drafting their talent along with GM experience in Finland. What will be interesting is how he'll do with other GMs in the NHL when it comes to trades and meetings. I think the one thing that might hinder him is that he hasn't worked in an NHL capacity since 2010. With Columbus, he virtually has a blank canvas to work with. Time to see what he can do with it.

Quick Word About The Cooke-Karlsson Incident

It was accidental and only an issue because Cooke happened to be involved. It's funny that Melnyk is talking about dime-a-dozen players, he does know that Chris Neil plays for his team right?

Lineup Notables

Ottawa Senators vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

Ottawa: Jason Spezza (back), Guillaume Latendresse (whiplash), Milan Michalek (knee), Peter Regin (upper body), Erik Karlsson (Cooke'd Achilles), and Jared Cowen (hip) are out. Craig Anderson will start.
Toronto: Joffrey Lupul (arm), Matt Frattin (knee), Carl Gunnarsson (hip), and James Reimer (knee) are out. Ben Scrivens is in net.

Philadelphia Flyers vs. Montreal Canadiens

Philadelphia: Scott Hartnell (foot), Jody Shelley (hip), Chris Pronger (concussion), Andrej Mezaros (shoulder), and Micheal Leighton (finger) are out while Kimmo Timonen (lower body) is questionable. Brian Boucher is expected to start.
Montreal: Petteri Nokelainen (back) is out. Peter Budaj starts tonight.


Colorado Avalanche vs. Edmonton Oilers

Colorado: Gabriel Landeskog (concussion/neck/leg), Steve Downie (knee), Erik Johnson (head), Ryan Wilson (leg), and Jean-Sebastien Giguere (personal) are out. Semyon Varlamov is in net.
Edmonton: Shawn Horcoff (hand), Ryan Jones (eye), Anton Lander (foot), Theo Peckham (hip), and Andy Sutton (knee) are out. Devan Dubnyk is expected to start.