Colorado Avalanche: News From Around the NHL December 8th, 2014

Thousands have gone to pay their tribute to Jean Beliveau at Bell Centre. His wife thanking every fan.  [TheGlobeandMail.com]

It was wonderful," said former teammate Dickie Moore, who visited Beliveau often during the illness that preceded his death. "I think Jean would love to stand up and say thank you.

"It's a sad day. Elise has got to be commended. Really, she did a great job with Jean. She did everything for him. It's a shame."

Beliveau's wife greeted every mourner who passed, which is how Beliveau would have liked it. The player known as Le Gros Bil was known never to refuse an autograph or turn away and admiring fan.

Sgarbossa says that producing in the NHL is a special feeling. [InsideHalton.com]

"It's exciting... obviously. It's nice to get it out of the way," the 22-year-old Campbellville centre told the Champion of his assist on a second-period goal by Colorado Avalanche teammate Nick Holden Thursday night in Calgary. Sgarbossa won the draw in the Flames' end that eventually led to the goal (against Karri Ramo) that made it 2-1 in an eventual 4-3 overtime loss for the Avalanche. "It's disappointing that we didn't win the game, but my teammates were really happy for me and I got a lot of congratulatory texts, which was cool. This is what you work so hard for as a kid. Being about to produce in this league is special."

Meurs returned to the Komets and is doing well. [JournalGazette.net]

Komets coach Gary Graham was awakened at about 7:45 a.m. Saturday by his phone buzzing - and he'd only been asleep for about four hours - but he didn't mind.

"It was a good text," Graham said, explaining it was notification that the NHL's Colorado Avalanche were sending Garrett Meurs back to Fort Wayne because there was a glut of players with the American Hockey League's Lake Erie Monsters.

Brodeur won his first game as a St Louis Blues. [NationalPost.com]

After Brodeur skated to the Blues crease and was greeted by the "Marty, Marty" chants, the Blues went to work against Jaroslav Halak, who played three-plus seasons for St. Louis and beat the Islanders twice last season.

Halak had his team-record 11-game winning streak snapped to fall to 14-5-0. The six goals were the most he'd given up this season.

Stastny scored on the power play at 2:36 of the second before Patrik Berglund deflected a Chris Butler slap shot at 4:28 to make it 3-2.

Conor McDavid thinks he "should be ready" for world juniors. [CBC.ca]

Erie Otters star Connor McDavid gave nervous Canadian hockey fans some relief when he told Hockey Night in Canada's David Amber that he "should be ready to go" for the upcoming world junior championship set for late December.

Are the Coyotes in trouble again? [Sportsnet.ca]

The Arizona Coyotes can't seem to shake the ‘troubled franchise' tag. It was just two months ago when reports surfaced linking Andrew Barroway to the Coyotes, and the hedge fund manager was set to acquire a 51 percent stake in the franchise.

Fast forward to today, and it's Larry Brooks, who first reported the impending deal between Barroway and IceArizona, writing that the deal could be falling apart.

George Parros has announced his retirement from the NHL. [NHL.com]

George Parros, a hard-working fan favorite during his nine seasons in the NHL, announced his retirement from the League on Friday.

"It's been an honor to play in the greatest League in the world," Parros told the NHL Players' Association. "Thanks to the organizations I've had the good fortune to play for, especially to the Samueli and Molson families," Parros said, mentioning the owners of the Anaheim Ducks and Montreal Canadiens, respectively. "I've had the most amazing support from all of the fans who have supported my many endeavors throughout my career; for that I am eternally grateful. A final thank you to my parents Jim and Lynne, my wife Tiffany and my children who have made this dream of mine a reality."

Why does the NHL have a mumps outbreak? Might want to blame Canada. [SBNation.com]

Mumps was common in the United States before the mid-1960s, when a vaccine was developed that dropped the total number of cases to fewer than 1,000 per year. That said, the number of young adults who have become infected has risen in recent years, and there are several theories as to why.

For one, although mumps vaccinations are mandatory in the U.S., only three out of the 10 provinces in Canada require that children must be vaccinated. Second, although it is recommended that patients receive two vaccines (typically known as MMR: measles, mumps, and rubella) in childhood, at roughly 1 and 4 years of age, studies show that many patients miss the second "booster" shot, which is especially a problem given that approximately 22 percent of people do not develop measles immunity after only one dose of vaccine. And third, even among those who do receive both doses, more than 10 percent of patients will not develop immunity. So while the shot is effective, it is not foolproof.