Per USA Today:

The University of Michigan Board of Regents voted unanimously Wednesday to allow the NHL to use Michigan Stadium for its annual Winter Classic outdoor hockey game.

The NHL followed that vote with an announcement that it would hold a major news conference Thursday at the stadium and at the downtown Comerica Park.

The NHL will pay up to $3 million to use the stadium from Dec, 1, 2012 to mid-January. The game will be held Jan. 1, 2013, with an alternate date set for Jan. 2. The NHL has also agreed to donate an undisclosed amount of money to the university for student scholarships.

Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon said he was first contacted by the NHL in November 2011 about the possible use of Michigan Stadium.

“We have Michigan Stadium sitting over there empty on New Year’s Day 2013,” Brandon said. “One of the things you try to do is leverage our assets in a way that provides us opportunities to make them available and also generate some income.”

Regent Denise Ilitch, whose father, Mike Ilitch, owns the Detroit Red Wings, recused herself from voting.

Because the announcement isn’t until Thursday, Red Wings players weren’t willing to speak freely. But goalie Jimmy Howard couldn’t hide his excitement.

“It’s going to be quite the spectacle,” he said. “With it being at the Big House, with 110,000-plus that are expected to be there, it’ll be great for all of us.”

The Wolverines and rival Michigan State attracted a record 104,173 people for a hockey game on Dec. 11, 2010.

Captain Nicklas Lidstrom spoke only in maybes.

“If it’s going to happen, I think it will be very exciting,” he said. “I think they haven’t announced anything yet, so we’re still waiting for the announcement. But if it happens, it will be exciting for fans to have something in this area.”

Asked if it could sway him to come back and play again next season, Lidstrom laughed. “I don’t know if one game is going to sway me one way or another, but I think it’s great for the fans.”

NHL advertising and other sponsorship arrangements will be implemented throughout the stadium and a liquor license will be obtained for service of alcoholic beverages at the stadium for the event.

Matthew Lombardi stalls long enough for Phil Kessel to get open on the side of the net.

He could’ve tested the free-agent waters this summer, but there was never a doubt in John-Michael Liles‘ mind where wanted to play hockey.

The 31-year-old defenceman signed a US$15.5-million, four-year extension with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday. Liles says he’s pleased to be staying with the Leafs, who acquired him in a trade at the draft with the Colorado Avalanche.

Liles has four goals and 21 points in 34 games this season and is more than good with the notion he might’ve passed up a more lucrative deal as a free agent.

“Some guys choose to go the unrestricted route but it’s a pretty special feeling when Burkie (Leafs GM Brian Burke) went out and traded for me and knowing that he wants me there for years to come,” Liles said during a conference call. “As far as money goes, you could say that you leave some on the table. Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t … but I’m looking at it as I was negotiating a contract to stay in a place I wanted to be and play on a team I wanted to play on and live in a city I wanted to live in.

“It feels great. It’s a place that’s grown very dear to my heart, a place I was excited about getting traded to this summer.”

The five-foot-10, 185-pound American-born defenceman is in the final year of a contract he signed with Colorado that carries a cap hit of $4.2 million. Liles said his extension does contain a partial no-trade clause.

But Liles has been out of the lineup since Dec. 22 with what he says are “concussion-like” symptoms.

“I don’t want to term it a concussion because it’s been a bunch of different factors,” he said. “We’ve been working a lot on my neck, which I think has led to some concussion-like symptoms and that’s kind of where we’ve been at.

“I think it’s on a whiplash basis, I think, more than anything.”

Liles did resume skating last week but took time off over the weekend because he didn’t feel right. Still, Liles is expecting to return to the Leafs’ lineup after the all-star break.

“We were going hard there for four or five days and there was a day where I didn’t feel as good as I had previous days so we decided to take a day off and go day by day up until the break,” he said. “I’m not going to say it was a step back because I think it’s more I didn’t feel as good as I wanted to feel … it was just a matter of making sure we’re continuing to head in the right direction.”

In 557 career NHL games with the Avalanche and Leafs, he has 72 goals and 296 points.

Per NHL.com:

Could the Philadelphia Flyers be investigating bringing a brother act to the City of Brotherly Love?

TSN and the Philadelphia Daily News are reporting the Flyers and Toronto Maple Leafs have held discussions regarding Leafs defenseman Luke Schenn being part of a package coming to Philadelphia in exchange for forward James van Riemsdyk.

Schenn’s younger brother, Brayden, is in his first season with the Flyers.

The Flyers reportedly have been in the market for a defenseman. Chris Pronger is out for the remainder of the season and the playoffs due to a concussion, and All-Star Kimmo Timonen is playing through a hand injury.

James van Riemsdyk

Left Wing – PHI

GOALS: 11 | ASST: 11 | PTS: 22
SOG: 107 | +/-: -1

The Philadelphia Daily News has reported the Flyers’ top target of interest is Predators defenseman Ryan Suter. Philadelphia will play in Nashville on Saturday, and Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren and Predators GM David Poile have a history of working well together. In 2007 they worked out a deal that saw the Flyers send Peter Forsberg to Nashville, and months later another trade that saw the Flyers acquire impending unrestricted free agents Scott Hartnell and Timonen. And in 2010 the Flyers acquired the negotiating rights to unrestricted free agent defenseman Dan Hamhuis from the Predators.

If Philadelphia can’t make a deal with the Predators, the Flyers then could investigate a deal with the Leafs for Schenn.

The Philadelphia Daily News reported Friday that Holmgren and Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke have held discussions on a Schenn-van Riemsdyk deal, and added that Flyers Director of Player Development Don Luce has been a frequent visitor to Leafs home games.

Schenn, who has 12 points in 41 games, has seen his ice time drop from 22:22 last season to just 16:35 this season — sixth among Leafs blueliners.

He also said he’s heard the trade rumors, but it’s not the first time he’s heard his name mentioned in potential trade talks.

“In the 3 1/2 years that I’ve been here there has been a few rumors about trades that were going to happen,” Schenn told the Toronto Star. “They come up every year somehow.

“It doesn’t really mean much. They’re just rumors and I’m happy being here in Toronto.”

Luke Schenn

Defense – TOR

GOALS: 1 | ASST: 11 | PTS: 12
SOG: 47 | +/-: 7

Adding fuel to the trade-rumor fire was Burke, who on Wednesday said on Toronto sports radio station 590 AM that he would consider what he called an “age-group asset trade.”

“I do think there is room for age-group asset trades,” Burke said. “If you trade a 22-year-old and get back a 22-year-old that plays a different position, that’s an age-group asset trade. I’m not giving away any future; I’m making a bet on what it does for our team. That’s a possibility.”

Coincidentally, Schenn and van Riemsdyk each are 22 years old.

While Schenn could fill a role for the Flyers, van Riemsdyk could do the same in Toronto.

“I think we’re a little small up front,” Burke said. “We don’t have much playoff experience.”

Van Riemsdyk could fill both those roles. At 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, the left wing certainly has good size. And in just three seasons, he has 32 games of playoff experience, including a trip to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final. He also had 7 goals in 11 playoff games last season.

Signed to a six-year contract extension earlier this season, van Riemsdyk hasn’t quite lived up to expectations, scoring just 11 goals in 37 games, and with the emergence of rookie forwards Matt Read and Sean Couturier — both of whom were named to the All-Star Game — Holmgren could use van Riemsdyk as a trade chip in any potential deal.

Tim Connolly works to feed a beautiful pass across to Phil Kessel, who hits an open net to tie it up.

Clarke MacArthur breaks down the Buffalo defense and drops to Nazem Kadri, who whips a shot past the glove of Ryan Miller.

Paul Gaustad catches John-Michael Liles with a thunderous body hit in the Buffalo zone.