Quick Hits: 11/03

If you haven't checked your schedule, you might forget that the NHL has moved the Red Wings Saturday/Thursday schedule up a day and the Wings will play tonight in Calgary.  The Flames are still struggling through being run by the Sutters, having dropped their last contest 7-2.  Still, I think they're going to bring the business tonight.  Let's take a look at news & notes from around the hockey blogosphere.

Red Wings news:

A big weekend for 'Big Game' Brendan: Somebody's making a strong push in Grand Rapids to unseat Doug Janik as the first callup option.  Ok, I'm exaggerating.  Smith isn't close to there yet, but 9 points in 9 games for his rookie AHL season as a defenseman is very promising [Brendan Smithsonian Institution]

Griffins Stats: Every once in a while, it's nice to take a look down the road and see how the kids are doing.  Mursak and Emmerton lead the way with 10 points apiece and Ilari Filppula is right behind them with 9.  Just scoreboard watching, it looks like the youngster with fantastic hands, but feed that still need to catch up, Tomas Tatar is starting slow with only 4 points in 9 games.  [TheAHL.com]

Red Wings fourth line looking for scoring touch: The young guys are having fun in their roles and Babcock appreciates that, but they're hungry to score more too.  Hey, you have fun out there and goals will follow, it's true enough to be on a fortune cookie. [MLive]

Nov 3 :: This Toads the Wet Sprocket: Petrella used my suggestion for team nicknames in his game preview post today and nailed it.  Scruffy cares about this comp'ny! [The Production Line]

A Grinder Says Farewell: Kris, who usually writes at Snipe Snipe, Dangle Dangle writes a fantastic piece about the blue-collar ethic of Detroit and why we love the grinders who have made our franchise the most successful in hockey since the early 90s. [The Fourth Period]

Elsewhere around the league:

The Long List of New Jersey Devils Injuries: Zach Parise is now out until February after having his knee scoped.  The good news is that this delays the team's need to get cap-compliant for another while longer.  The bad news is that the Devils are playing terribly this year and losing this many of their guys isn't going to help [In Lou We Trust]

Kings' Doughty cleared to resume hockey activities: After suffering a concussion on a hit by Carolina's Erik Cole, Doughty has been cleared by medical personnel to play big boy hockey again.  They were 4-2 without him.  He could be back as early as Thursday against Steve Yzerman's Hockeytown Southeast club in Tampa. [LA Times]

Flyers' Briere shocked after suspension: Danny "Napoleon Complex" Briere doesn't think what he did to Frans Nielsen's head was a cross-check and is disappointed he was suspended 3 games for the incident.  He also said that he was defending himself after Nielsen said some scary things to him before the faceoff.  If everybody defended themselves the same way Briere defends himself, the murder rate would skyrocket [Puck Daddy]

The Three Best Fits For Jarome Iginla: From the Rink picks up the momentum about a possible Iginla move to a contender and runs over three good options.  Two of them are in the East; I could live with that. [From the Rink]

The Real Standings: A fantastic look at the Western Conference sorted by winning percentage, since that's what's going to matter at season's end when all 82 games are played.  It's no secret that Chicago is not as good as their points total suggest if you only look at their games played difference, but this lays it out there.  They're on pace for 12 in the conference at this rate.  No way they'll end up there, but they've already blown 13 points. [Jewels From the Crown]