NHL's News report for 03/27

[RichardMoss]

Hawks still have a goal(ie) to go
by TheDaily Southtown

Give Cristobal Huet some credit. He didn't have to come out and talk with the waiting media. He could have sidestepped it all and sneaked off to the waiting bus bound for the airport.
But the classy veteran didn't do that Thursday night in Columbus, Ohio. He answered all questions regarding his role in the Blue Jackets' 8-3 shellacking of the Blackhawks, how it possibly affected his chances for the No. 1 job in the playoffs and his confidence level.
"After a game like that, (my confidence is) not very high, obviously," Huet said. "Maybe it's time for me to look back at what I've done in my career and focus on that and work harder.
"I'm looking for answers. It was pretty embarrassing the way the game went. The way I played is not acceptable."
If that's the case with Huet, that his confidence level recently has dropped as far as his save percentage has, then coach Joel Quenneville should hand over the keys to Antti Niemi right now and see how much he has in his tank for the playoff drive.
Only nine regular-season games remain. The Hawks, who are 5-5-2 since the NHL restart after the Olympics, have plenty of other kinks to work out before the playoffs start. So why not end the goalie debate and give Niemi the nod now and not at the five-game mark as Quenneville earlier outlined as a possible timetable for his decision?

[RichardMoss]

A frail Pat Burns says he probably won't see completion of Quebec arena bearing his name
by TheNewark Star-Ledger

STANSTEAD, Quebec -- A thin and frail Pat Burns said he's honored to have an arena named after him, even as he conceded he likely won't live to see it completed.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper attended an announcement Friday that the Pat Burns Arena will be built in Stanstead, a town near the Quebec-Vermont border. The former NHL coach, his voice left raspy by the cancer attacking his lungs, flew up from his home in Florida for the ceremony.
Burns, 57, was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2004 while coaching the Devils. In 2005 he had to fight liver cancer. When he was diagnosed with lung cancer last year, he opted against treatment.
"I know my life is nearing the end and I accept that," he told a few dozen invited guests at Stanstead College. "I probably won't be here when [the arena] is finished, but I'll be looking down on it.
"I hope I will see a young Mario Lemieux or Wayne Gretzky."
Harper pointed to the three Jack Adams trophies Burns won with three different teams -- Montreal, Toronto and Boston -- as evidence that "he had the ability to go to any organization and get the best out of that organization.