Morning Buzz: Canucks All-Stars happy together; talkin' trade targets; Andy McDonald on Ovechkin

The speculation is over, and the Sedins and Edler will play on the same team for the ASG, along with fellow countrymen Daniel Alfredsson, Henrik Lundqvist and Erik Karlsson. Hank had a great quip when asked what it was like to play against Daniel last year:

"It was nice to play with some good players last year, finally."

If they're going to start chirping each other, I don't imagine Daniel will let him forget how much earlier he was taken in the draft.

Vancouver Canucks News & Notes

While the Canucks' Swedish All-Stars ended up on the same team, poor Cody Hodgson wasn't so lucky. It appears we've lost him to the dark side. [Legion of Blog]

Take a trip down Canucks All-Star memory lane with every player who's ever represented the club at the big dance. [The Province]

As most of you know by now, Pamela Anderson was in attendance at the Canucks/Oilers game on Tuesday night, a fact which Jannik Hansen was apparently not aware of. Check out his reaction when he found out. [PITB]

Seemingly out of nowhere, there was a lot of Kevin Connauton talk yesterday, who's been stellar lately. Here are three takes: Canucks Army, The Province, and the Sun. You Connauton ignore his strong play.

The week in Canuck-related tweets. [Canucks Army]

Botch expects Mike Gillis to gauge interest in Mason Raymond before the trade deadline. As I've said, I don't want to see the club give up on Raymond, especially if we're exchanging him for some token "toughness". Unless it's Brenden Morrow or Shane Doan, I don't think that's a smart trade off. [The Province]

In the spirit of Zandberg's rosterbation post, I'll put this under the Canucks section of the post: would the Stars trade Brenden Morrow? I don't think he goes anywhere, but a 2nd line of Booth - Kesler - Morrow is fun to think about. [PHT]

While we're talking trade targets, how about Travis Moen? He'd be a good depth pick-up, but which line would he play on? I don't see a whole lot of room on the Canucks roster. No one is playing poorly enough to be replaced by Moen. [The White Towel]

Today in Canucks History

[Jan 27, 1996] The Canucks debut the 'Third Jersey' vs. the New York Islanders in a 6-3 win at General Motors Place. The Canuck 'Third Jersey' is a presentation of red accented with yellow and black.

NHL News & Notes

NHL.com has a full breakdown of Team Chara vs. Team Alfie after the All-Star Fantasy Draft last night.

Alex Ovechkin released a statement (briefly) on the NHL website yesterday about missing the All-Star Game. Here it is! [Head to the Net with the timely bit of Photoshop work]

Andy McDonald explains his "classless" tweet in regards to AO skipping the ASG:

"It's just disappointing. You think about the number of kids that are Ovechkin fans, certainly those in Ontario who don't get to see him that much. Now just because he doesn't want to go or he's mad at the league ... it's disappointing. Other players feel the same way."

TSN admits that Dave Hodge's tweet regarding Tim Thomas and the KKK was in "poor taste". No shit. This is a guy who got fired for flipping his pencil on CBC in 1986, yet he'll probably survive this fiasco. [Puck Daddy]

Governor Deval Patrick had some choice words for Tim Thomas regarding his White House snrub. [Sportsnet]

Katie Baker with her weekly round-up of all things NHL. Great stuff in here. [Grantland]

James Mirtle takes a look at what exactly it will take to make the playoffs in either conference this year. [Globe & Mail]

Are the days of Crosby and Ovechkin dominating the league over? Damien Cox thinks so. [Toronto Star]

Jesse Spector with the Western Conference's biggest surprises and disappointments at the break. [Sporting News]

Today in NHL History

[Jan 27, 1984] The LA Kings end Wayne Gretzky's NHL-record 51-game scoring streak.