Defenseman Joe DiPenta returns to North America after spending 2008-09 with the Frolunda Indians of the Swedish Elite League. The 30-year-old, who won a Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2006-07, signed a one-year deal with the Buffalo Sabres this off-season.
Dave Andrews is the American League's CEO and president, roles he has held since 1994. A goalie during his playing days, his administrative hockey career has included stops as the Edmonton Oilers’ director of AHL operations, senior consultant with SportCanada, and head coach and director of hockey operations for the Western League’s Victoria Cougars.
A native of Harrisburg, Penn., Jay Feaster is a former GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he took over in 2002 and helped build the team into a Stanley Cup champion in 2004.
Erika Vanderveer is a goaltender with the Burlington Barracudas of the Canadian Women’s League, a six-team circuit featuring many the game’s top female players. Vanderveer is in her second season in the CWHL after spending four years tending goal at Ohio State on a full scholarship and one year in Europe in the EWHL.
Mark Seidel is the chief scout for North American Central Scouting and co-hosts the radio show "Breakout; The Hockey Show; NHL 2009" on the Prime Sports Network. He is also a regular contributor to Hockey Night in Canada on Sirius Radio as their draft and junior hockey insider.
Jason Cassidy is a right winger for St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He spent four seasons in the Ontario League's with the Brampton Battalion and St. Michaels Majors. He is from Whitby, Ont., and is working towards a degree in journalism.
The co-founder of the NHL Fans' Association, Jim Boone is the chief operating officer for the Canadian Resident Matching Service and the president of Litnets Inc.
Justin Bourne last played for the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL and is currently a columnist for USA Today. He excelled with the University of Alaska Anchorage before going on to spend time in the Islanders organization with Bridgeport and Utah. His father, Bob, spent 14 years in the NHL and won four Cups with the Islanders.
Right winger Gregg Sutch enters his second year in the Ontario League having been traded over the summer to Mississauga from Sarnia. The 17-year-old native of Newmarket, Ont., is taking part in the under-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament in Slovakia and is highly touted for the 2010 NHL draft.
Brian Duff is a host of On The Fly on the NHL Network. Like his minor hockey days (playing goalie, defense and forward) his broadcasting career has been all over the map. In radio and TV from Medicine Hat to Edmonton, Toronto to Ottawa and back, Brian has been with the NHL Network since 2007 and has been covering the game for nearly 15 years.
Rand Simon is an NHLPA certified agent. He has spent the past 15 years with Newport Sports Management Inc.
Tom Lynn served for nine seasons as assistant GM of the Minnesota Wild and for six seasons as GM of the AHL's Houston Aeros. Prior to that he was an attorney in New York representing the NHL and other sports entities in a wide variety of legal matters, and has taught Sports Law at St. Thomas Law School in Minnesota.
Signed as a free agent out of Princeton, Kevin Westgarth is a 6-foot-5, 247-pound right winger for the Los Angeles Kings. The Amherstburg, Ont., native played in his first nine NHL games during the 2008-09 season after spending parts of two seasons with Manchester of the American League.
Mike Smith worked with the Rangers, Jets, Maple Leafs and Blackhawks during his time in NHL management, holding the roles of GM, assistant coach, head coach, director of hockey operations and director of scouting. The Potsdam, N.Y., native has also been heavily involved with USA Hockey, acting as GM for their world championship teams in 1981, 1994 and 1995.
Viktor Tikhonov is a right winger drafted 28th overall by the Phoenix Coyotes at the 2008 draft. In 2007-08, he played in the Russian Super League (now the Kontinental League) for Severstal and is the grandson of legendary coach Viktor Tikhonov.
A 6-foot-2, 190-pound defenseman, Éric Gélinas is in his second season with the Lewiston MAINEiacs of the Quebec Major Junior League after putting up three goals and 19 points in 54 games last season. The St-Jean-sur-Richelie, Que., native is eligible for the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.
Sean Pronger, the brother of Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger, played 260 NHL games with the Ducks, Penguins, Rangers, Kings, Bruins, Blue Jackets and Canucks. After playing four years at Bowling Green, the Dryden, Ont., native bounced around several leagues, including the ECHL, IHL, AHL, NHL and Europe.
A native of Flushing, N.Y., David Littman was drafted by the Sabres in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft. He spent four years at Boston College before turning pro in 1989. Over the next 10 years, Littman would play in the ECHL, IHL, AHL and NHL (with Buffalo and Tampa Bay). The 40-year-old currently works as a producer for the wildly popular EA Sports NHL series of video games.
Ben Clymer was originally drafted in the second round, 27th overall, by the Boston Bruins in 1997. He played 438 games in the NHL over seven seasons with Tampa Bay and Washington, scoring 52 goals and 129 points. After playing for the American League’s Hershey Bears in 2007-08, Clymer joined Dynamo Minsk of the new Kontinental League.
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Who should start in goal for Russia at the Olympics?
“I was coming in to take the boards away and had some good jump. He bobbled the puck at the last second and I don’t think he saw me coming at all. It was a shoulder right in his chest. He’s eight feet tall, so it’s not like you could hit him in the head.”
- Ottawa's Chris Neil about a hit he threw on Tampa's Victor Hedman Thursday night, causing Hedman to leave the game.
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