Right-winger Milan Hejduk has signed a one-year contract with the Colorado Avalanche, the team announced Friday.

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As the Los Angeles Kings have pushed to within one win of the Stanley Cup Final, there have been some growing pains for local TV media. Please recall the Kings/Kings logo gaffe that led to an on-air apology, for example.
On Thursday night, as Liz Habib of Fox 11 in Los Angeles ( s/t Media Rants ) took it to a whole new level with a train-wreck of a highlight package after the Kings’ Game 3 win over the Phoenix Coyotes. Watch and wince:

So, in summary:
• Just because there’s a hockey team playing in the basketball arena, celebrities still show up in Los Angeles.
• “Anje Kopidor.”
• “The Kings still have the ball.” Leading to the awkward “let’s throw out other non-hockey sports terms as a comedic smokescreen,” leading to the reporter rightfully identifying this debacle as “terrible.”
• “Brad Doty” says “not tonight.” Not Brad Daugherty. Not Drew Doughty. Not Larry Doby. Brad Doty.
• Finally, the station throws up the NHL’s pre-lockout logo, for good measure.
In fairness, the score and the teams were right, and the network at no point swapped out the hockey footage for a squirrel riding water skis. But that’s about it.
s/t Félix Lévesque

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Patrick Warburton has breathed life into some cult roles over his 25-year career as a character actor — Kronk in “The Emperor’s New Groove,” the title role in the live-action version of “The Tick,” “NewsRadio’s” Johnny Johnson — but perhaps no character has been as iconic as Elaine’s sometimes boyfriend David Puddy, a mysophobic, Arby’s-loving, diehard New Jersey Devils fan.
Anybody that watched classic “Seinfeld ” episode “The Face Painter” will no doubt remember Puddy’s devotion:

Also awesome: when he hissed at a minister .
But, while David Puddy is a diehard Devils fan, Warburton, who grew up in Huntington Beach, Calif., is a Los Angeles Kings fan. With both teams in contention for a trip to the Stanley Cup Final, he runs the risk of being at odds with … himself.

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EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) The Edmonton Oilers are searching for a new coach after deciding to let Tom Renney go following two losing seasons.

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(Reuters) – Veteran forward, team captain and three-time All-Star Milan Hejduk has signed a one-year contract to stay with the Colorado Avalanche through the 2012-13 season, the National Hockey League (NHL) team said on Friday. The softly spoken 36-year-old Czech Republic native, who helped Colorado win the Stanley Cup in 2001, has played for the club for the last 13 years. A triple Olympian, Hejduk recorded 11 straight 20-goal seasons in Colorado from 1999-00 to 2010-11, and is just nine games short of becoming the first player in the franchise to appear in 1,000 games. …

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Jersey Fouls is our ongoing exploration of the rules and etiquette for proper hockey jersey creation and exhibition. If you spot what you think may be a foul in your arena, email a photo to us at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com for inclusion in future installment.
Well, this was bound to happen.
Perhaps no other athlete has been defined by a particular food item like Los Angeles Kings forward Dustin Penner has been with pancakes. At least not since David “Morning Kegger” Wells of the N.Y. Yankees.
Ever since he was “injured” while eating a stack of pancakes , Penner has been associated with flapjacks and has been more than willing to embrace the meme for a good cause.
John Hoven ( aka The Mayor ) passed this along before Game 3 of the Western Conference final. Foul? Well, yes, but we respect someone for using the official (or close to official) nickname of a player.
But for the record: We’re not sure how a couples’ jersey in which the other one reads “MRS. BUTTERWORTH” would affect the acceptability of the original jersey.
( Coming Up: God-awful Devils/Rangers FrankenJersey, and another one from Dallas; the Jets celebrate return of hockey and beer; Danny Briere Fouls; and a rather offensive Flames fan.)

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Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.

• Look, JGL: “Inception” was the bomb. You were Han Solo in “500 Days of Summer.” You probably become Batman when Bane breaks Bruce Wayne’s back (/speculation). But please do not wear the Lakers gear to the Kings game. That said, feel free to wear the Kings gear to the Lakers game, if there are still going to be Lakers games this spring.
• The Ryan Suter watch begins next week. Hold on to your butts. [ Malik ]
• Shea Weber on Alex Radulov’s quasi-suspension in Round 2 for the Nashville Predators: “You feel a little bit betrayed, but I am sure he feels bad about it now and he looks back on it and wishes it didn’t happen. Those are the things you can’t take back and we’ve got to move forward.” [ Examiner ]
• Pekka Rinne on Radulov and the curfew issue: “It didn’t affect as much as media made it seem like. The way I see it, Radulov joining the team mid-season affected the atmosphere more than the incident that happened in the playoffs.” [ On The Forecheck ]
• Milan Hejduk is back with the Colorado Avalanche for one year and $ 2 million. Says Dater: “Yeah, I’m a little concerned about where/what Hejduk’s role might be. I mean, it’s a little worrisome to think he’ll be relied upon perhaps as a top-six forward. And yet, would he really be effective on a third or fourth line? Those are questions Joe Sacco will have to grapple with next season.” [ All Things Avs ]
• Great work here by Nick Cotsonika on burgeoning New York Rangers star and rookie sensation Chris Kreider. [ Y! Sports ]
• Ryan Callahan says his left hand isn’t injured, despite blocking a shot with it back in the Ottawa series. [ NYDN ]
• Darryl Sutter, on the growth of Los Angeles Kings forward Dwight King: “Growth?” Sutter said. “He’s still 232 (pounds). After games, he’s 228.” [ LA Kings Insider ]
• Kerry Fraser on embellishing players in the postseason: “The Conference Finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs is not the time for the referees to strap on the six guns in an effort to clean up embellishment in Dodge. The refs must however, ramp up their radar and if any doubt is created in their mind as to the legitimacy of a foul, then I would suggest they keep their arm down and play on. I also hope they will seize every opportunity to enforce obvious embellishment by calling a penalty (whether as a ‘stand alone’ penalty or a coincidental minor when embellishment occurs as the aftermath to a legitimate foul).” [ TSN ]
• John MacKinnon torches the Edmonton Oilers for firing Tom Renney. “This move — anticipated as it was — was a long, slow slap in the face to a coach who deserved better. If you’re the incoming man, it would be wise to at least ponder the fashion in which the Oilers will ultimately dump you. That might help you decide whether you want to accept the job in the first place.” [ Journal ]
• David Staples does much the same: “My bottom line on Renney? He  earned a new deal. He made a few big miscalculations, but much more was going right than wrong under his direction.” [ Cult of Hockey ]
• From Black Dog: “The Oilers are like the opposite of that and maybe this should be their master plan. Howson has already destroyed Columbus. Maybe Messier can take over the Rangers and Prendergast can move to Chicago. Let Tambo move back to Vancouver and Buchberger coach the Avs. Let them go forth and multiply and take their special brand of incompetence to the rest of the league, like the Black Plague, destroying franchises as they alight from their private jets, just as flea ridden rats destroyed cities as they swarmed ashore from ships manned by infected doomed sailors.” [ BDHS ]
• Ellen Etchingham on the Los Angeles Kings: “These Kings, they just look so brilliant. So clearly and completely and definitively ass-whoopingly eye-catchingly heart-liftingly brilliant. They play the way I’d always hoped a Cup-winning team would play. They play like they are actually so much better than everyone else that they ( *gasp* ) deserve to win. There’s still a part of me that can’t wholly believe they’re for real. There’s a part of me that’s still tensed for the inevitable fall. But, nevertheless, I hope. I would like to see a team take the Cup this decisively, in less than twenty games. I want to see a juggernaut victory.” [ Backhand Shelf ]
• Alex Ovechkin was named the 11th most marketable athlete internationally in 2012. [ Alex Ovetjkin ]
“A finalized lease agreement with a potential Phoenix Coyotes buyer has yet to emerge publicly but a Glendale City Council majority appears poised to approve a $ 17 million fee to operate the city-owned arena.” [ AZ Central ]
• Hopefully, when Daniel Alfredsson says he may have played his last competitive game, he means all 82 games next season for the Ottawa Senators (plus playoffs) are blowouts. [ Senators Extra ]
• Finally, the New York Mets all wore hockey jerseys on their road trip to Canada. Expected to see more Islanders sweaters, given that both franchises have been living off the glory of the 1980s for decades… ( Kukla )

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NEWARK, N.J. (AP) For one game, at least, in the Eastern Conference finals, the New Jersey Devils found a way to beat Henrik Lundqvist and the New York Rangers.

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Update: Kesler, who underwent surgery May 8 to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder, will be out at least six full months and will not return early, reports the Vancouver Province.

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NEWARK, N.J. (AP) For one game, at least, in the Eastern Conference finals, the New Jersey Devils found a way to beat Henrik Lundqvist and the New York Rangers.

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