by Eric Duhatschek , Breaking News from globeandmail.com

ABSTRACT

Only four National Hockey League players have been diagnosed with H1N1 but that hasn't stopped the flu from walloping half-a-dozen teams

?Officially, four NHL players have been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus, but that hasn't stopped the seasonal flu bug from walloping half-a-dozen teams, including the Edmonton Oilers, who had one confirmed case of H1N1 (Ladislav Smid), one suspected case (Lubomir Visnovsky) and six others (Mike Comrie, Gilbert Brul , Tom Gilbert, Denis Grebeshkov, Dustin Penner and Ales Hemsky), all of whom missed time or were undermined by flu-like symptoms. The NHL is monitoring the progress of the virus, but beyond the usual precautions - no more sharing of water bottles, towels or razors; rapidly isolating any player showing signs of the illness - will not make flu shots mandatory for now. The Calgary Flames, meanwhile, had a creative solution when centre Dustin Boyd contracted the flu. Boyd's roommate, Eric Nystrom, temporarily moved out of their shared house, stopping by only to drop off some soup. Even then, Nystrom took no chances. He left the soup on the doorstep and then texted Boyd to say it was waiting for him outside.

5

Goals this past week by New York Islanders forward Jeff Tambellini, only two shy of his career high of seven goals he scored all of last season. Tambellini, who registered his first career hat trick Saturday in front of his father, Steve, the Oilers second-year general manager, will try to stay hot, with Edmonton in town to take on his Islanders tonight.

7

Consecutive road wins to start the season for the New Jersey Devils, tied for second most in NHL history. The Devils go for No.?8 Saturday against the Senators in Ottawa.

370

Coaching wins with the Nashville Predators by Barry Trotz, tying him with Punch Imlach (Toronto) for seventh on the career list for most coaching victories with a single team. Trotz can move past Imlach with a win in Nashville's next outing, Thursday against the Anaheim Ducks.

Hall of Fame's Red Wing gets additions

The Detroit Red Wings make a rare trip to Toronto on Saturday, providing the opposition for the Maple Leafs in the annual Hall of Fame game. Three of four inductees from the class of 2009 have ties to the Red Wings, beginning with Steve Yzerman, who served 20 seasons as Detroit's captain - longest tenure in NHL history - and won three Stanley Cups along the way. Though primarily associated with the St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings respectively, Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille joined Yzerman on the 2002 championship team, which at the time was said to boast as many as 10 potential Hall of Famers. Of that group, Igor Larionov is already in the Hall. The other candidates, all still active on some level, include Dominik Hasek, Chris Chelios, Nicklas Lidstrom, Brendan Shanahan, Sergei Fedorov and Pavel Datsyuk. Brian Leetch, the fourth player inductee, played the first 1,129 games of his NHL career with New York, but had a brief 15-game cameo with the Leafs at the end of the 2003-04 season.

Team Canada

Steve Yzerman, executive director of Canada's 2010 men's Olympic Hockey team, will be in the house at the Air Canada Centre tomorrow night to scout a trio of Tampa Bay Lightning candidates: Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier - both of whom attended the summer orientation camp - and second-year centre Steven Stamkos, who didn't.

Stamkos is making a strong 11th-hour bid with a productive first month (10 goals in his first 11 games), and if Canada legitimately wants to consider him as a candidate for the team, they need to notify him of the possibility because he would then be subject to the International Olympic Committee's drug-testing protocols.

St. Louis, meanwhile, continues to make a strong bid for the team, recording a point in all 11 games this season, the sort of consistency they need to see. Yzerman and the rest of the managerial staff also plans to watch the San Jose Sharks play twice this week - in Columbus and Detroit - to assess their four candidates (Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley, Patrick Marleau and Dan Boyle).

Canucks

"Their lineup is decimated, let's be realistic."

Anaheim Ducks coach Randy Carlyle strikes a rare note of sympathy for the Vancouver Canucks, who are playing without starting goaltender Roberto Luongo, plus a sextet of regulars, including top scorer, Daniel Sedin. Unhappily for the Canucks, the schedule doesn't get any easier, with three games in the next four nights - a lone home date tomorrow against the Rangers, before embarking on two games in two nights in Minnesota and Dallas on Thursday and Friday. Luongo could theoretically be back by then from that painful rib cartilage problem that has him sidelined.

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