Vancouver Canucks forward Alex Burrows celebrates his first-period goal against the Nashville Predators Monday. He wasn't all smiles for long, however. The Canucks lost the contest 3-2 and after the game, Burrows had some choice comments about referee Stephane Auger. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

HNIC's senior online reporter Tim Wharnsby dishes out the latest news, buzz and inside information in the hockey world.

1. League needs to be transparent in Burrows-gate

The NHL will investigate allegations made by Vancouver forward Alex Burrows about referee Stephane Auger. If the league uncovers wrongdoing on the referee's part, it would be nice to know what the consequence Auger will face.

If we know how many games a player is suspended or how much they are fined for their questionable actions, why can't the discipline against an official be made public, too?

To recap, Burrows claimed that Auger told him before the national anthems that the referee would get even with him because of an incident in a Dec. 8 game between the Canucks and Predators. In that affair, Auger assessed Nashville's Jerred Smithson with a five-minute charging penalty and game misconduct for a hit on Burrows.

The league later rescinded the major penalty and misconduct after reviewing the play because the NHL felt Burrows faked the injury to get the severe penalty.

In the Predators-Canucks rematch on Monday, Auger whistled Burrows for two marginal calls in the third period, one for diving and the other for interference. The second infraction resulted in a game-deciding power-play goal from Nashville's Shea Weber.

Video evidence certainly indicated that Auger and Burrows had words before the game. Interestingly, Auger was the same referee involved in the 10-minute misconduct levied to Phoenix's Shane Doan a few seasons ago, when the on-ice officials claimed they heard the Coyotes forward utter a slur against the four French officials.

2. Another ongoing league investigation

The league also is probing into the possibility that Pittsburgh Fox Sports Network withheld a video replay that showed Philadelphia's Simon Gagne score a short-handed goal in the second period of the Flyers' 7-4 win in Pittsburgh last Thursday.

At the time of the play, that particular video replay was not given up for use of the replay officials in both Pittsburgh and the league's war room in Toronto. Therefore, the ruling was no goal. But when play resumed a few minutes later Pittsburgh FSN showed the replay on the air.

3. Theo Fleury apologizes to the Flames for blog

Last week, former Calgary Flames forward Theo Fleury questioned his old team's wisdom for not keeping him and opined that they should trade defenceman Robyn Regehr so they can acquire a top-flight linemate for captain Jarome Iginla. He apologized for his scribblings with another blog entry.

"I sometimes say and do things without thinking," Fleury wrote. "I want to apologize to Craig Conroy and Robyn Regehr for my comments. I will never forget my 2 and a half weeks this September and how great it was being with the boys again. The Calgary Flames organization is one of class and integrity and the comments that I made were uncalled for. Please accept my apology."

An exerpt from the blog that Fleury apologized for read, "at one hundred and eighty pounds, I finished 11th out of 56 guys at camp in the fitness test and scored a historic shootout goal in an exhibition game after being out of hockey for six years. What does that say about the talent level in the NHL? 4 points and a plus 4 rating in four exhibition games and I get cut. What a joke! Craig Conroy goes the first 37 games of the season with zero goals. I wonder how many I would have had?"

4. Waddell attempts to clear the air

With rumours getting out of hand as to where Ilya Kovalchuk will end up, Atlanta Thrashers general manager Don Waddell wanted to make it clear that he still hopes to sign his top scorer to an extension.

"Our first priority still remains to sign him," Waddell told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "That's clear. I probably didn't leave the door open enough at the beginning of the year because, obviously, I was hoping that this would be long done by now. We also have to protect the asset. He's an asset to our franchise. …

"[A trade] still looms as an option, but it's not my first choice."

Waddell remarked that the main difference between the two sides is the Thrashers haven't been able to meet the salary demands of Kovalchuk, who is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

"We are at a difference of what the player should be paid," Waddell said. "It has nothing to do with Kovy being a great player, being our franchise player. It has everything to do [with] that we do this and still have room that we can continue to grow this franchise."

5. Ruff's Russian five

Scotty Bowman sometimes employed his Russian Five unit with success with the Detroit Red Wings. Last Saturday, Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff used a version of his own in the third period against the Colorado Avalanche.

As coach of the Canadian team at the world championships in Switzerland last spring, Ruff noticed the Russian coaching staff used five-man units, keeping the same defensive pairing with the same forward line. This promoted better on-ice chemistry.

"It's something we'll try at different times," Ruff told the Buffalo News. "Because you've got four lines and three defence [pairs] it's tough to do that [all game], but I think there's times if you want to go with a couple five-man units and then split a pair between a couple lines, it will work. It's something I think we're going to try coming up at different times, whether we start games or finish games with it."

For example last Saturday, Ruff used defencemen Tyler Myers and Henrik Tallinder with the line of Tim Connolly, Jason Pominville and Jochen Hecht.