Attention poolies and Roberto Luongo fans alike: Strombone wants "some."

The Florida Panthers netminder - and noted fantasy football wiz - sent an open invitation to his March Madness bracket challenge into the Twittersphere on Wednesday.

Here's our printable bracket, by the way.

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Tyler Bozak skated with the new-look Toronto Maple Leafs for the first time Wednesday, taking part in an official practice after a near month-and-a-half long absence with a concussion.

The top-line contributor, who at the time of the injury was on pace to surpass his career-best point total and playing some of the best hockey of his career, was injured Feb. 6 versus the Ottawa Senators.

Bozak was cleared for contact Tuesday. And though he's eager to get back into the lineup, there's no timetable for his return after an 18-game layoff.

He has 10 goals and 21 assists on the season.

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Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson is scheduled to undergo surgery on his injured shoulder and miss the balance of the season, the team has announced.

He last played Feb. 25, but is said to have been dealing with the injury prior to his last appearance.

Johnson has six goals and 14 points and led the Blue Jackets in average ice time before being taken out of the lineup. He still has two years remaining on his deal at $4.5 million annual cap hit.

Seth Jones has seen a major workload increase in the absence of the 29-year-old top-pairing defender.

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It will be a few months yet before NHL executives have a firm handle on next season's salary parameters, but on Wednesday, they were provided a high-water mark.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly revealed at the general manager meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., that the salary cap will rise to $74 million should the CBA's five percent escalator be triggered, according to TSN's Frank Seravalli,

If that built-in clause - which depends on growth factor - isn't enacted, the cap will stay flat, and close to the current $71.4-million ceiling.

For now, and given the state of the Canadian dollar, teams will likely plan for a flat number, and then have a little extra wiggle room should the salary cap indeed rise.

The $74-million projection is $500,000 less than the estimate NHL commissioner Gary Bettman pointed to in December.

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The NHL is slowly moving toward a decision on expansion, and it's expected before the 2016 NHL Entry Draft on June 24 and 25 in Buffalo, N.Y., TSN's Darren Dreger reports from the general managers meetings in Florida.

With the league reviewing applications from Quebec City and Las Vegas, an expansion draft would be required should the league accept one or both bids. Each current NHL club would lose one player if the league expands by one team, and two players if both Quebec City and Las Vegas are welcomed into the league, deputy commissioner Bill Daly said.

Each team would have the option of protecting three defensemen, seven forwards, and one goalie, or eight skaters and a goalie, according to Dreger.

Teams will have to "expose enough players which total at least 25 percent of (the) previous season's payroll," tweeted ESPN's Pierre LeBrun.

"It might be a good player, but it's an important point that the most a team could lose is one player if we expand by one team," Daly said, according to TSN's Frank Seravalli.

Lastly, Dreger adds that the next step in the process is for the league's executive committee to make a recommendation regarding expanding by one team or two. "Most (general managers) think one team," Dreger tweeted. "Vegas."

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It's almost St. Patrick's Day and Brent Burns is making bold, timely fashion choices.

Same.

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There's at least one goalie unnerved by the manner in which NHL executives decided to set forth the motion of slimming down goaltending equipment.

Pensive Vancouver Canucks netminder Ryan Miller - who broke a thumb and missed 22 games after he saw recommended changes rushed into the game about a decade ago - remains wary about the changes that were reportedly agreed upon at the NHL general manager meetings Tuesday.

"I'm a little sensitive to it when they change sizes like the blocker, because I suffered the injury as a direct result of not having enough adequate padding in the right spot," Miller said, according to Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province. "It was not thought through, and it was just a little thing because the padding didn't extend over the back of the thumb quite as well as it did before.

"And you think: 'What are the odds of that happening?' Well, it's a hockey puck and it's moving relatively fast. They need to keep that in mind before they start pushing things too hard. I'm all behind anything that's done in a smart and safe way. It really comes down to being up to the standard we need."

Miller would like to see his union go to bat for its members.

"Test it and get it in the hands of guys early. If it's not adequate, there has to be some pushback by the NHLPA. My feeling is that it (change) has always been rushed. When you talk about the chest and body for me and getting hit in the sternum every day, I don't want something that fits so tightly that there's no air gap (to) suppress the impact.

"I don't want to get hit in the ribs or the collarbone. I don't really want to get hit anywhere where it's going to do some major damage. These are pretty extreme changes to important parts of the body."

It's expected that goaltenders will be hit with heavy fines and suspensions for not adhering to the standard established in the coming months.

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A couple of Chicago Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman's colleagues would like some clarification.

At the general managers meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., TSN's Frank Seravalli reports "at least two GMs would like answers about a salary cap oddity. It's best described as the Patrick Kane 'loophole,' because of the cap creativity of Bowman."

The crux of the issue: The salary cap only applies towards the regular season, and by placing a player on long-term injured reserve (LTIR), like the Blackhawks did with Kane last season after he broke his collarbone, Chicago was able to add salary matching Kane's cap hit ($6.3 million at the time). The only way for the money to work was for Kane to miss the rest of the regular season - which he did. But he was ready to go for Game 1 of the playoffs, and he rejoined a lineup that featured Antoine Vermette, Kimmo Timonen, and Andrew Desjardins, all acquired after Kane and his salary hit LTIR.

To start Game 1 of the playoffs, the Blackhawks were over the salary cap ceiling. The loophole: The salary cap no longer applied.

"It seems to be a counterbalance that you work 82 nights with one financial equation, (and) then on Game 1, there are no financial concerns," St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong said, according to Seravalli. "I'm not sure what the proper answer is."

Anaheim Ducks GM Bob Murray - another Western Conference rival of the Blackhawks - also who wants clarity on this situation, Seravalli writes.

It was thought the Blues might do what the Blackhawks did when Alex Steen went down with a long-term injury, and stash him on LTIR in order to add for the playoffs. But Armstrong knew Steen would be healthy before the regular season was over, and wasn't prepared to ask him to sit out games.

"To me, it was black and white because (Steen) wants to come back. We weren't going to add a piece better than Alex Steen," Armstrong said. "If we've got eight or nine games left, and he can help us secure home-ice, I'll take Alex Steen before anybody that got traded at that deadline."

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The hands on Claude Giroux.

The Philadelphia Flyers center put on a GoPro camera to show off his stickhandling skills, and the guy's a captain and one of the top point producers in the NHL for a reason.

The Frogger-like challenge begins around the 1:25 mark and is well worth your time.

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What was a three-point lead for the Detroit Red Wings over the Philadelphia Flyers is now only one.

Detroit dropped a 4-3 decision to the Flyers in Philadelphia on Tuesday, and the outcome came down to resiliency, according to head coach Jeff Blashill.

"We didn't show the resilience that you need to show after getting scored on," Blashill said, according to the Detroit Free Press' Helene St. James. "Our D-corps has to be better. We had unforced error for nothing."

Blashill said Detroit started fine - "the first five minutes we were good" - but the team fell apart after the Flyers opened the scoring. "Once we got scored on, we got on our heels way too easy," he said.

Michael Raffl opened the scoring at 5:41 of the first, and Wayne Simmonds scored a little over a minute later. The Flyers ended up outshooting the Red Wings 23-3 in the first period.

Detroit fought back, outshooting Philadelphia 21-9 in the third period, but it was too late.

"Any time you let two goals in, and have to play from being down, it's always tough," Andreas Athanasiou said. "But I think we made a good case coming back."

Problem is, it's the time of year where making "a good case" isn't good enough. Detroit's four-game road trip continues with stops in Columbus on Thursday, Miami on Saturday, and Tampa Bay on Tuesday.

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