Colorado Avalanche: News From Around the NHL December 17th, 2014

There is a new NHL song out there... about the mumps outbreak. [Sportsnet.ca]

How far has the NHL's mumps break spiraled out of control? It's been given the parody song treatment to the tune of Taylor Swift's "Blank Space," that's how far.

The Stars poked fun at Jagr when he played in Dallas recently. [TheHockeyNews.com]

Jaromir Jagr was a Dallas Star for all of 34 games, but when Jagr and the New Jersey Devils visited the Lone Star State, the Stars made sure remind fans of Jagr's time in Dallas.

With yet another list, the Stars scoreboard operators ran down some of Jagr's greatest achievements while a member of the team, and again, just like when pointing to things to do in Winnipeg, the list got a bit thin near the bottom. We kind of want to know about this missing key, though:

Taylor Hall is in the rumor mill. [ProHockeyTalk]

After firing head coach Dallas Eakins Monday, GM Craig MacTavish alluded to more changes coming within the organization.

"We've got to make changes. To think this is a coaching issue would be naive," he said. "It's deeper rooted than that and we have to get to the core of it."

What might those changes include? Well according to hockey insider Darren Dreger, it could include trading Taylor Hall.

Syracuse Crunch are trying to avoid the mumps. [Syracuse.com]

So far it seems the outbreak of mumps that has plagued the NHL hasn't appeared to have filtered down to the AHL yet, and officials on both sides are doing what they can to keep it that way.

Players on the Syracuse Crunch recently underwent blood testing to determine whether they had the antibodies necessary to combat the illness, according to Tampa Bay assistant general manager Julien BriseBois.

Those who lacked the antibodies either have been or will be offered a vaccination.

The Flyers honored Peter Forsberg.What were his five greatest game in their jersey? [NHL.com]

2) October 14, 2005 - Forsberg's four assists out-produce the old -- Mario Lemieux (two assists) -- and the new -- rookie Sidney Crosby (one goal, one assist) -- as Flyers, who once led 5-1, win in overtime 6-5, in Pittsburgh. One of Forsberg's assists so dazzles Flyer goalie Antero Nittymaki that he is caught looking at the replay video screen as Max Talbot scores from 89-feet following the center-ice faceoff.

What could of happened to the Flyers if they didn't trade for Lindros? [BucksCountryCourrierTimes.com]

So, what if? What if the trade had never happened. Would the Flyers now have four Stanley Cups in their trophy case instead of just two?

"I don't know,'' Forsberg said with a chuckle at the Wells Fargo Center. "Maybe. It's hard to say. Here they always wanted to win. They gave the team a chance to win every single year. It's hard to say if they would have won with me or not.''

Forsberg won't be remembered around the hockey world for his brief 100-game stay in Philadelphia but the talented Swede maintains it was a significant segment of his career.

Latvia is helping Girgensons make the All Star team. [TheGlobeandMail.com]

Latvia is in love with Buffalo Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons, who remains the runaway leader in the NHL All-Star game fan vote.

The second-year player had nearly 1.1 million votes Tuesday. That's nearly double the total of each of the next two forwards: Chicago's Patrick Kane (586,310) and Jonathan Toews (573,198).

Want the breakdown of the score per period? [NationalPost.com]

Below is a graph of the net score by period for the 30 NHL teams, sorted from worst to best in the first period. Montreal, which is in the thick playoff race in the Eastern Conference, isn't particularly good in the first period, either but makes up for it the rest of the way. The Calgary Flames' penchant for late comebacks is evident from their plus-20 mark in the third period.

Duncan Keith is out with an illness... they haven't released if it is the mumps or not. [TorontoSun.com]

Chicago Blackhawks stud defenceman Duncan Keith was expected to miss Tuesday's game against the Minnesota Wild due to an unknown illness.

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said Keith showed up at the rink feeling "sick" and was scratched from a game for the first time this season. Quenneville wasn't sure if Keith's ailment was the mumps, which has affected roughly 15 players so far this season.

"I don't know what's wrong," Quenneville said on the Chicago Tribune website. "He's sick. Not feeling good. (We are) doing everything we can to prevent (the mumps). We'll see what happens."