Pens Points: Ehrhoff Quietly Impressive

Leafs again tonight. Flower's threatening to finally wear the yellow pads. Should be fun. Anyway, off we go with news and things.

First off, Christian Ehrhoff. After a somewhat pedestrian October, his November has been positively sublime. Third in the NHL at +13 and with GF% leading all NHL D-men, Darren Dreger says Pens would love to keep him but their ability to do that depends on their filling other pressing needs in the top 6. [Nichols on Hockey]

Speaking of needs at forward, the Oilers' MacTavish may need to make Eberle available if he really wants to make a meaningful and impactful change. [The Score]

Emerson Etem may be another young winger the Pens could look to acquire, and the Ducks may need help at D. [Hockey Buzz]

Lots of new hockey lists from Forbes. We have the new rankings for NHL's most valuable teams, NHL's highest paid players, NHL's best fans, and NHL's best goalies for the money. Pens take #1 spot in two of the four. One I'm sure you can guess. The other one is kind of nice. [Forbes Business of Hockey]

Let's check in and see how our old buddies in DC are doing. Matt Niskanen finally scored his first goal of the season 7 weeks in, so there's that. And apparently Brooks Orpik called it. No way does Nisky match 46 points from last year. [Chat Sports]

Dmitry Chesnokov was on MvsW on Tuesday and talked about the Caps. He compared the relationship between Barry Trotz and Alex Ovechkin to an arranged marriage and guessed that Ovi may soon ask to opt out (but can you do that with arranged marriages though?) [Marek vs. Wyshynski]

Elliotte Friedman's 30 thoughts have an interesting tidbit on the Oilers - how at first only non-core players were available, but as of Monday morning even some of the core guys were thought to be available. [Sportsnet]

This never gets old. Watch Canucks rookie Bo Horvat receive the news after the morning skate that he'll stay with the big club all season. [Pro Hockey Talk]

Because hockey writers have nothing better to do, the quarter-season awards are already being handed out. [Grantland]