NHL

Brooks notes that no contract offer is coming at this point, although Vigneault appears to be the favorite to replace John Tortorella. Former Rangers captain Mark Messier remains in the mix as well and the Post reported Thursday that Brian Leetch would likely join Messier's hypothetical coaching staff as an assistant. The Rangers also have permission to interview Lindy Ruff, although it's not known if they have at this point. The wild card in all of this is Dave Tippett, whose contract is up in July and might be growing frustrated with the Coyotes' ongoing ownership saga. For now, Tippett is under contract with Phoenix and has said he wants to re-sign, but a state-of-the-NHL presser Wednesday cast a bad light on the Coyotes' future, which could force Tippett's hand. Stay tuned.

"If I was playing in a bigger role and playing more minutes, I'd put one on for sure," he said. "In that fourth line role, you're getting targeted by other guys. If you're not playing on the fourth line, then you're not going to have as many opportunities to fight." Weise doesn't want to take his helmet off to fight, which several players who wear visors do because that can be even more dangerous. He thinks that fighting will remain in the game, but it will probably decrease with the new visor rule.

We already knew the Rangers and Vigneault would chat but didn't know the date. Vigneault is being talked about as one of the Rangers' top candidates for the role vacated when John Tortorella was fired. New York is also expected to speak with Lindy Ruff and will likely be interested in both Dave Tippett and Dan Bylsma if either coach leaves their current team. Former Rangers captain Mark Messier has also expressed an interest in the position.

Henrik and Daniel Sedin were on TEAM1040 on Monday and said they'd like to re-sign with the Canucks, but won't rush anything. The twins are each in the final year of their contracts and it's extremely doubtful the Canucks would let either one, let alone both Sedins, get to unrestricted free agency next summer. Much like they are on the ice, the brothers are a package deal off it and appear likely to play together the rest of their careers, be it in Vancouver, their native Sweden or another NHL city. One thing's for sure, the Sedin twins will not come cheap.

Beat writer Pat Leonard speculates that Vigneault could be one of the top candidates with Dave Tippett possibly re-signing in Phoenix and the Rangers' interest in Lindy Ruff unknown. Vigneault has a 422-288-35-61 career coaching mark and was the Jack Adams winner in 2007. Toronto Marlies coach Dallas Eakins and former Rangers captain Mark Messier are two other known candidates for the job vacated when John Tortorella was fired.

Whether or not to shrink goaltender pads in order to increase scoring has been an ongoing debate in the NHL for years. "I find sometimes that the bigger pads get in the way," Schneider said. "I can't get down there quickly and they're sort of hitting and clipping each other. Some guys prefer shorter pads (Jonathan Quick) and you can look at it both ways." At the same time, Schneider pointed out that goaltending involves muscle memory and to reduce the save of goaltender pads and the change could throw goaltenders off. Of course, there's also concerns that shrinking goaltender's pads could lead to injuries.

Booth's injury was originally reported as a sprain, but that seemed unlikely when he needed surgery. There has been speculation the Canucks would like to use a compliance buyout on Booth, but this injury throws a pretty large monkey wrench into those plans. As long as Booth is injured, Vancouver's unable to use that tool and the serious nature of the injury means Booth is unlikely to be healthy by the buyout deadline. Booth is scheduled to count $4.25 million against the salary cap next season.