NHL: Pluses and minuses around the league

+ Paul Deutsch, an embroidery shop owner in St. Paul, Minn., had a good excuse for missing his men’s league game last Wednesday: He signed an amateur tryout contract to be the Wild’s emergency backup goalie. The 51-year-old dressed for warmups, but Matt Hackett arrived from Houston in time for the game.

+ The city of Buffalo will rename a portion of a street in memory of longtime hockey writer Jim Kelley. Appropriately, it connects the Buffalo News — Kelley’s old newspaper — to the Sabres’ arena, now known as First Niagara Center.

+ Brian Elliott of the St. Louis Blues is the first goaltender to give up two goals or fewer in his first 11 starts of the season since Frankie “Mr. Zero” Brimsek in 1938-39.

- Forward Kyle Turris, who was an unrestricted free agent and didn’t sign with the Coyotes until last week, basically received the same two-year, $2.8-million deal he was offered last summer. But his pay is a bit less, because this season his pay was prorated for the games he missed. He reportedly wants out of Phoenix and would have been better off playing and asking for a trade, not sitting.

- Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin tied a career worst by being minus-four defensively in a 5-1 loss to Buffalo on Saturday that proved to be Coach Bruce Boudreau’s finale. Ovechkin has only eight goals and ranks second on the team to plugger Jason Chimera, who has nine.

- The Philadelphia Flyers’ explanation for Chris Pronger’s recent absence was that he had a virus. It must have gone to his knee, because the team announced Monday he will undergo surgery Tuesday to clean out particles in his left knee. He’s expected to be out a month.