Flames prospect Sven Baertschi backs WHL's Winterhawks

CALGARY - Yeah, Sven Baertschi’s parents once accepted a free flight across the Atlantic Ocean to watch their son skate in the Western Hockey League.

Thing is, the Portland Winterhawks had nothing to do with it.

Baertschi, widely considered the Calgary Flames’ most exciting prospect in recent memory, paid the bill himself.

“My parents only came over once and I paid fully for that. I was able to pay for it because I was already signed with the Flames,” said Baertschi, whose family lives in Switzerland. “In Portland, I got treated the exact same way as anybody else on the team.”

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Morgan Rielly, other Maple Leafs prospects eye world juniors

TORONTO - Sure, there are the AHL's Toronto Marlies, the viable development arm of the Maple Leafs that could and probably should get more love than it does from Toronto sports fans.

There is major junior hockey where on any given night if you plan it properly, you can catch a Leafs prospect in action. Then again, we know how the city is resistant to embrace that level of the sport as well.

Thanks to the insanity of the NHL lockout, Leafs fans have gone more wanting than usual in recent months, but with the holidays just around the corner, perhaps the world junior hockey championship from Russia might fill some of the void.

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NHL notes: Evgeni Malkin happy in Russia

The NHL lockout apparently hasn't been too tough on Pittsburgh Penguins star Evgeny Malkin.

Malkin has been playing with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL during the NHL work stoppage. And he's been playing well, recording 11 goals and 22 assists in 24 games.

Things are going so well, he doesn't miss the NHL, according to Russia Today (through Sovetsky Sports).

"I'm happy with everything in Magnitogorsk," he said. "We have a great team. We win a lot. I'm in good shape and get plenty of time on the ice.

"It's nicer here as I can communicate in Russian with everybody"¦ it's only calmer in America. I live outside Pittsburgh and I can go for a walk without creating any hype or visit a cafe."

That said, Malkin also added that he won't stick around Mother Russia when the lockout does end.

NEW PERSPECTIVE

Thanks to the NHL lockout, St. Louis Blues forward Jamie Langenbrunner knows what retirement feels like.

The 37-year-old, who signed a one-year, $1.25 million contract with the Blues in the off-season, has more than 1,100 NHL games under his belt. He's in the twilight of his career -- the contract could be his last -- and now has a better understanding of what life will be like when the cheering ends.

"I think this time also prepares you for it," Langenbrunner told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "I've gotten involved in coaching the kids' teams and, quite frankly, I've gotten to enjoy that aspect of it.

"You realize there is going to be an end to this (lockout) at some point. But it makes me feel when the end (of his career) does come, I'll be prepared for that."

This isn't the first lockout Langenbrunner has gone through but it most certainly will be his last.

"Speaking for myself, it could be the last year and it's not a lot of fun sitting out like this," he said. "On the other hand, I don't think there's any wavering in the way I feel about it. It wasn't our choice to be locked out."

BRIEFLY

Long-time Los Angeles Kings PA announcer David Courtney died Thursday at age 56. He held the job with the Kings since 1989 and also served as the voice of the Anaheim Angels and Los Angeles Clippers ... Minnesota Wild defenceman Clayton Stoner has signed with Slovakian team HC Banska Bystrica, according to the club's website. Stoner joins San Jose forward Michal Handzus with Bystrica.

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Paulina Gretzky decorates Christmas tree in sexy dress

NHL great Wayne Gretzky's model daughter Paulina got a head start on the holidays when she posed with her Christmas tree in a revealing dress.

She wore the sexy black dress, a full-length with high leg slits, while posing in front of the tree that was lit and fully decorated.

"Yes, I know I got my tree a little early," she wrote to describe the image on her Instagram profile.

She also took to Twitter, writing to her followers that "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (heart) Sweet Dreams Everyone xo."

Paulina has regularly posted sexy images online over the past year, most recently a gallery of revealing Halloween costumes in October. She also was criticized for adding an image of her giving the middle finger to a puppet of U.S. President Barack Obama, which she later took down.

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Steelheads set to add Thomas Welsh

A few months back, the Mississauga Steelheads made a deal with the Sarnia Sting that barely registered on the OHL's trade-ometer.

On June 1, the Steelheads sent a fifth-round pick to the Sting for the rights to 1995-born defenceman Thomas Welsh, who had committed to play at Penn State, in a transaction that many believe completed the J.P. Anderson blockbuster made at the 2012 deadline. It was one of four minor deals -- Keegan Wilson to Ottawa for Nicholas Foglia was the biggest -- made that day, the unofficial start of summer in the OHL.

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Texas city becoming hockey prospect factory

PLANO, TEX. - This affluent community of 260,000 people, often picked as one of the best places to live in America, is also one of the most popular homes to corporate America.

Driving along its flat and featureless terrain ("Plano" is Spanish for flat) among its twisting overpasses, you'll see the corporate headquarters of companies like Dell and Hewlett-Packard, Dr. Pepper-Snapple and Pizza Hut, CA Technologies and Ericsson. The city is thus responsible for producing a wide variety of some of the most popular consumer products in America.

Laptops.

Smart phones.

Pizza.

You can apparently add another product to the list: blue chip hockey prospects.

This suburb in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex could very well be home to the top pick in the 2013 NHL draft, giving Plano two first-round picks in the last three years.

That's potentially two more than, say, Montreal has produced in that time.

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Canada could be loaded at Spengler Cup

Locked out NHL players could get a chance to suit up for Team Canada this Christmas.

While there's time before the six-team Spengler Cup is held in Davos, Switzerland, from Dec. 26-31, for the NHL to get a collective bargaining agreement in place, Hockey Canada may considering using locked out players in the annual tournament.

Ottawa Senators centre Jason Spezza, who is playing with Rapperswil-Jona in the Swiss Elite League, has already volunteered to suit up for Canada. Usually, the roster is made up of Canadian players in Switzerland.

If Hockey Canada does decide to invite Spezza, they will also consider Tyler Seguin (Boston), Logan Couture (San Jose), John Tavares (Islanders), Patrice Bergeron (Boston), Brooks Laich (Washington) and Michael Del Zotto (Rangers).

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