Wednesday Chum Bucket: Dominic Moore’s wife passes away

In tragic news, former Sharks center Dominic Moore’s wife Katie lost a lengthy battle with liver cancer and passed away on Monday. Our thoughts and condolences to the Moore family from everyone here at FTF, I can’t imagine how difficult this is. [Mercury News]
Doug Wilson hints that the Sharks are unlikely to dip into the free agent pool for help either with an injury-hampered blueline or a shallow forward lineup. [Mercury News]
Sharks associate coach Larry Robinson, who began his Hall of Fame NHL career forty years ago yesterday, is hoping he ends this lockout-shortened season with a Stanley Cup championship, just like he did with the Devils in 1995. [CSN Bay Area]
As expected, due to events scheduled at HP Pavilion during opening weekend, the Sharks’ early schedule will be road-heavy and their home opener isn’t likely to be until January 24th. [CSN Bay Area]
Video: Douglas Murray, Jamie Baker and Ray Ratto discuss the lockout and the implications of a 48-game regular season. [CSN Bay Area]
PPP asks its readers to predict the Pacific Division standings. [Pension Plan Puppets]
The official schedule won’t be released for days but early reports indicate that games between Toronto and Montreal, Winnipeg and Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton, Minnesota and Colorado and potentially Chicago and Los Angeles for the banner-raising ceremony will take place January 19th. [Pro Hockey Talk]
Additionally, the schedule matrix for the season has been confirmed and thankfully doesn’t feature the 7 divisional games previously rumored: teams will play 4 games each vs. two divisional opponents, 5 games each vs. two others and 3 games each vs. their 10 conference opponents. [Twitter]
Chris Peters reviews the performance of every forward on Team USA’s World Junior Championships squad, including Sharks prospect Sean Kuraly. [United States Of Hockey]
Ilya Kovalchuk might not be returning to New Jersey once the lockout officially ends, as the KHL has declared a cold war (except not all that cold) on NHL contracts. [The Globe & Mail]
The NHL Network is a joke. [Awful Announcing]
If there’s one thing a very good Blues team could use (apart from a defenseman who can play the left side for Alex Pietrangelo), it’s high-end forward talent. Enter Vladmir Tarasenko, expected to attend St. Louis’ training camp. Shit. [St. Louis Game Time]

Talking Points