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Colorado Avalanche: News From Around the NHL December 12th, 2014

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The Ducks reunited a soldier with his wife at a hockey game. [TorontoSun.com]

If you don't enjoy this scene, you're right up there with Ebenezer Scrooge and the Grinch.

The Anaheim Ducks surprised a soldier's wife Wednesday night when - you guessed it - they flew him home early for the holidays.

Sergeant First Class Robert Vandenberg Jr. appeared on the jumbotron inside the Honda Center in an "attempt" to talk with his wife from "Romania".

The CHL have been named in a $100,000 defamation lawsuit. [TheStar.com]

Junior hockey union activist Glenn Gumbley and his family have filed a $100,000 defamation suit against the Canadian Hockey League in response to a league press release "cautioning" parents and young players about them.

The "malicious" press release issued by the world's largest junior hockey league "strategically and intentionally used (Gumbley's) name ... in an attempt to find the perfect scapegoat to demonize in order to deflect the negative press surrounding their legal matters," the statement of claim reads.

Michal Handzus signs in Europe. [SecondCityHockey.com]

Michal Handzus is lacing up his skates once again.

The former Chicago Blackhawks forward is returning to his native Slovakia to play with Banska Bystrica, of the Slovakian Extraliga, the team announced Tuesday.

The Senators might be getting a new home - downtown Ottawa. [NationalPost.com]

The group that operates the NHL team - Senators Sports & Entertainment - has confirmed to the Ottawa Citizen that it is "actively considering the opportunity" to build a new hockey arena on the grounds of LeBreton Flats.

That means the Senators will be among those taking a long look at redeveloping the so-called second phase of the sprawling property on the south side of Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway across from the Canadian War Museum.

The Oilers need a change. [TheGlobeandMail.com]

In that long, rambling mea culpa that doubled as a press conference last week, Edmonton Oilers general manager Craig MascTavish largely preached staying the course - because what else can you do when your best-laid off-season plans lie in ruins?

Well, on a practical level, that's one possible approach. The Oilers didn't set out to be bad this season, but now that they are, there's no point in trying to aggressively correct the course and become merely mediocre. In a year when you can potentially draft a generational player - a Connor McDavid or a Jack Eichel - by having an acutely dismal season, it really needs to be all or nothing.

Simon Gagne will be missing some time to spend with his terminally ill father. [StanleyCupofChowder.com]


my dad met with specialist in Boston and he has an incurable cancer. We hope a miracle will happen...

Bobby Ryan scored a gorgeous goal. [SBNation.com]

There are a few reasons why Bobby Ryan's goal against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday is the best goal of the season. Let us count the ways.

The Kings are widely considered the best defensive team in hockey. And Bobby Ryan absolutely undressed them.

You could put a little NHL 15 controller indicator above Bobby Ryan's head and no one could tell the difference between real life and video game.