What a busy day!

Well, it's been a busy first week back for Sidney Crosby and it was a busy day in the NHL today for coaches, and not the good kind of busy for some coaches.
First of all though, let's talk about Sidney Crosby. He has been back for 4 games now and has been doing a pretty great job after missing such a long time. Such a great job in fact, that he was named the first star of the week in the NHL. He has put up 9 points in those first four games and specualtion has already begun on whether he can take over the points column. It's a tad too early for that in my opinion, but I would be happy to see him try his best at it. Though, you never expect anything but Crosby's best when he is playing. Why do you think he had such a long recovery? He wanted to be sure he could play at his best upon his return.

The Pens are off to a great start, leading the NHL currently and with the addition of Crosby back in the lineup, I am sure the Pens are not a team a lot of other teams want to face. Which means that Dan Bylsma is doing a great job as coach, but that's not the case for two other Eastern Conference teams today. Bruce Boudreau, the Washington Capitals coach and Paul Maurice, the coach of the Carolina Hurricanes were both fired today. Boudreau was replaced by Dale Hunter and Maurice was replaced by Kirk Muller. Both teams have not been performing as well as some would expect and stars on those teams have also been suffering so far this season with mediocre starts. We'll have to wait and see what these coaching changes do for these teams.



To change subject, I read a great feature on Marc Andre Fleury last week on thn.com by Ryan Kennedy that was a great read. Here's a link to the article for you to check it out. http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/43125-Kennedy-Can-Fleury-catch-Brodeurs-win-total.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=thn_daily_20111126

The column is about whether or not Fleury can catch Martin Brodeur's records and gives a good case as to why our top netminder is capable of doing just that!

Status of both Ruutu and Cole unknown.

Tuomo Ruutu and Erik Cole were both injured in Game 1 last night. Ruutu did not return and it is believed that he could be held off the ice for a few days with a groin injury. Cole was hurt after a collision with Matt Cooke, and what Paul Maurice, the coach of the Hurricanes, described as a "knee-on-knee" hit after the game. Cole returned to the game, but was expected to be reevaluated today. Cole is expected to be back on the ice Wednesday though.