December 5th

Recchi on Waivers

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Mark Recchi was placed on waivers Tuesday. The 39 year old has posted two goals and six assists for eight points in 19 games this season, and has been a healthy scratch in Pittsburgh's last eight games.

Recchi ranks among the top scorers in franchise history with 154 goals and 385 points over three stints with the Penguins, and has totalled 510 goals and 1,341 points in 1,357 games over 19 NHL seasons for the Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, Montreal Canadiens and Carolina Hurricanes.

Recchi was drafted in the fourth round (67th overall) by Pittsburgh in 1988.


Thrashers Enstrom, Kovalchuk Earn November Honors

Atlanta Thrashers defenceman Tobias Enstrom was named the NHL rookie of the month for November. He led all rookie blue-liners in scoring with 10 points (2 goals, 8 assists) in 12 games. Enstrom tallied points in eight of 12 games, highlighted by a career-high three assists in a 5-1 victory at Washington Nov. 21. He also played an average of 25 minutes per game, topped by his 27:18 of ice time in a 4-3 overtime victory against Tampa Bay Nov. 19.

Chicago forwards Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane were also considered for the awards, along with Phoenix Coyotes centre Peter Mueller.

Atlanta forward Ilya Kovalchuk was named the NHL's first star of the month for November. Kovalchuk scored a League-leading 14 goals and added eight assists as the Thrashers posted a 7-5-0 record. He tallied goals in nine of 12 games, beginning the month with consecutive hat tricks against Ottawa Nov. 1 and Tampa Bay Nov. 3. He later tallied the overtime game-winner against Florida Nov. 13, registered a goal and an assist for his ninth multi-point game of the season Nov. 19 against Tampa Bay and posted his second four-point game of the campaign (two goals, two assists) in a 5-1 victory at Washington Nov. 21. Kovalchuk leads all NHL goal-scorers with 22 and ranks second to Lecavalier in overall scoring with 37 points (22-15--37).

The Thrashers are the first club since the 1996-97 Ottawa Senators (goalie Ron Tugnutt and defenceman Wade Redden) to have swept the monthly honours.

Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo was named the second star for the month. Luongo posted an 8-2-2 record with a 1.56 goals-against average, .940 save percentage and four shutouts as the Canucks (14-10-2, 30 points) climbed to second place in the Northwest Division. Luongo allowed two goals or fewer in eight of 12 contests, concluding the month with three consecutive shutouts and a franchise-record shutout streak that ended Sunday at 210:34. The streak surpassed Luongo's prior best (182:37, Feb. 21-27, 2004 with Florida) and the Canucks' record of 184:20 set by Ken Lockett (Mar. 29 to Apr. 4, 1975).

Tampa Bay Lightning centre Vincent Lecavalier was named the third star of the month. Lecavalier led all NHL scorers in November with 25 points (nine goals, 16 assists) in 14 games. He recorded points in 10 of 14 games and set a franchise record with an eight-game multiple-point scoring streak from Nov. 3-19. The last NHL player to record as long a streak was Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr in 1996 (10 games). Lecavalier leads the NHL scoring race with 41 points (18 goals, 23 assists), four ahead of Kovalchuk and five more than Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby (14-22--36) and Calgary's Jarome Iginla (14-22--36).


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