Morning Notes: Pronger reaction, Sakic to retire, AHL re-aligns

Some of the best stories from around the hockey media and blogosphere to start off your day…
“Those “Battle of Pennsylvania” match-ups are going to be fun for close to the next decade, eh?” Reaction to Chris Pronger’s contract extension. [Puck Daddy]
Bob Ford at the Inquirer likes the aggressiveness of the Flyers offseason thus far, and he wonders if another of the city’s pro teams can learn a lesson from them. [Philly.com]
Joe Sakic will announce his retirement from the NHL later this week. [From The Rink]
Avalanche fans aren’t taking the news so well, and it’s understandable. Arguably the best player their franchise has even seen is hanging up the skates. [Mile High Hockey]
I’m going to assume that Toronto GM Brian Burke has a little bit of Philly in him after this quote: “You look at the pre-cap rebuilding jobs, you look at Ottawa and you look at Pittsburgh, and basically the philosophy was, ‘Let’s finish dead last or next to dead last for 4-5 years and get top picks and we’ll turn it around.’ I don’t see any reason to repeat that here. I don’t think our fans here would be that patient. As long as they see a plan, I think they’ll be patient for a retooling, but not a demolition. Stripping down to the chassis and rebuilding it is certainly not what ownership has asked me to do. We’re not rebuilding here, we’re retooling.” [ESPN.com]
An excellent look at how Twitter is affecting the NHL by Greg Wyshynski over at PD. [Puck Daddy]
From the “Where Are They Now?” department, former Flyer prospect Jeff Woywitka has signed a contract with the Dallas Stars. Woywitka had relatively high expectations when he was selected at 27th overall by the Flyers in 2001, but he was traded to Edmonton in 2003 for Mike Comrie and he’s never really turned out as originally hoped. [TSN]
The AHL has performed it’s seemingly annual divisional realignment (Adirondack will be in the same division, the East Division, as the Philadelphia Phantoms were last season). The four division system has one Isles’ writer yearning for the old Patrick Division of the 1980s. [Lighthouse Hockey]
Bird Watchers Anonymous continues an excellent look at how to build a contender in Atlanta. Read the entire series — it’s incredibly interesting. [BWA]
President Obama panders to the locals in Moscow yesterday with an Alexander Ovechkin reference. [Japer’s Rink]/

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