Trending Topics is a column that looks at the week in hockey, occasionally according to Twitter. If you're only going to comment to say how stupid Twitter is, why not just go have a good cry for the slow, sad death of your dear internet instead?

Management positions in the National Hockey League, or any professional sport, boil down to a fairly complex relationship between tools and practitioners.

For instance, an owner gives a general manager the tools of money with which to construct his team, and the surrounding personnel and authority to pursue those ends as he sees fit.

Obviously, this takes place to varying degrees. Some owners, like Charles Wang, are stingy with money and overly involved in the day-to-day operations of the team he owns. That's his right, of course, since he's the one signing checks for everyone from the team president to the assistant equipment managers, but that doesn't make it easy for Garth Snow to do his job.

At the other end of the spectrum, though, are larger-market teams, ones that draw crowds and generate significant revenues and for which the owners have little interest in telling the hockey people they're paying to run a hockey team what they should be doing in the running of it. It leads one to wonder why Wang, or any other meddlesome owner, doesn't just make himself the GM, cut out the middle man and save a million bucks a year.

The point, though, is that from the above relationship springs another, similar one. Just as the GM can only do so much with the tools he's given by his owner, so too can the coach only do the best he can with the tools his boss gives him.

This was the problem Alain Vigneault faced this year, and what ultimately led to his being fired despite the fact that he is far and away the best and most successful coach in franchise history by just about any metric.

Mike Gillis, it should be said, probably didn't feel to great about having to fire Vigneault after the team he put together crashed out of the first round in spectacularly embarrassing fashion for the second straight season, after that time they lost in the Stanley Cup Final to a juggernaut.

Not that he didn't feel good out of any great loyalty to his longtime coach — hockey is business, after all, and business isn't personal — but more because the firing was the last bullet in his gun that he had to save himself, and might consequently find himself in a similar position if his new hire doesn't work out posthaste. The tools Gillis gave Vigneault, and will soon give someone new, are woefully inadequate in achieving the results the GM so desperately believes the team should produce.

Let's be honest: It's tough to foresee whoever succeeds Vigneault as the Canucks' bench boss working out any time soon because it's hard to make sand go back up into the top of the hourglass.

Vigneault's biggest mistake this year was not winning that Game 7 two years ago. That was always going to characterize his time in Vancouver, because his team straight-up got its lunch bagged up and handed to it by the Bruins on its home ice.

But ironically, it was that Cup run that also married Gillis to the idea of what this team could be in theory.

Much like the Calgary Flames in the post-2004 Red Mile delirium, Gillis determined not to look for meaningful ways to improve his team this year by making real changes after that five-game pantsing by Los Angeles last time around, but rather to more or less stand pat and hope everything worked out for the best with an aging, oft-injured core.

Of course, the biggest mistake Gillis made this summer, as everyone with half a brain understands, is that he didn't find someone — literally anyone — to take Roberto Luongo off his hands. The reason for this is obvious: He dramatically overplayed his hand, thinking there'd be a line around the block for a goaltender who was by that point 33 and now a full year older than that and whose contract, by his own admission, is borderline untradeable.

Trying to hold him for a ransom of picks and prospects and roster players despite the fact that only one team seemed even especially interested was foolish, and probably what ultimately doomed the Canucks this year. Whatever the package might have been last summer, you can bet the market this time around (if there is one) dictates the return for Luongo is significantly diminished, but the good news is the turnip that looks kind of like Nazem Kadri when viewed at a certain angle won't carry much of a cap hit.

That Gillis had the temerity to sit there in his press conference announcing the coaching change and say goaltending wasn't an issue is ludicrous, and untrue, and disingenuous.

Vigneault is just the latest victim of a GM who couldn't figure out what the hell was going on in the NHL in 2013.

Joe Sacco got fired because, since making the playoffs in a total freak accident two years ago as a rookie head coach, Greg Sherman did absolutely nothing at all to make his team even remotely better in the interim. If anything, things have gotten worse; the Ryan O'Reilly saga was an embarrassment, and he hasn't made a trade for even one roster player with anyone, to my knowledge, in more than a year (unless you want to count Tomas Vincour's two games with the Avs this year, in which case he's wheeling and dealing). The same is true of Glen Gulutzan getting canned in Dallas after Joe Nieuwendyk drove that team into the ground and had to be replaced. Guy Boucher is out in Tampa because Steve Yzerman is a very assured rookie general manager who tasted success too early and now thinks himself infallible, though he's proven time and again to be anything but.

The trend isn't new, but it does seem to be getting sillier.

Not that you can ever expect GMs to fire themselves, and yes it's true that sometimes coaches aren't right for their jobs given how things with a given team are going, but Gillis especially seems like an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire of an organization unsure of the direction in which it wants to go. The time to fire him, if you were looking for one, which you shouldn't have been, was last year. Not this year.

Yeah, a sweep is bad, obviously, but what was he supposed to do? The team was so thin on the blue line that Andrew Alberts got four games in the playoffs. He didn't have his starting goaltender for half the series. And when he did his starting goaltender played like anything but.

There's a cloud hanging over the Canucks franchise right now because the guy running it lost whatever magic he used to get all the guys under the vaguely affordable contracts to which they are signed. The Sedins will be 33 by the time next season starts. Alex Burrows, who led the team in playoff scoring, a surprising 32. Ryan Kesler is 29 and maybe never reliably healthy again.

It's no mystery why this team lost ground in the Western Conference this season after winning two straight Presidents Trophies. It was because, in much the same way the Capitals' success was probably only ever the result of a bad Southeast, the now-dearly-departed Northwest actually improved over the summer. The Wild got better. The Oilers got better. The 24 easy divisional games a season the Canucks were able to count on got just a little bit harder, and a combination of that fact plus Gillis' inability to adapt is, ultimately, what got Vigneault pink-slipped.

I found it interesting that Gillis, in his presser, said, "We're in a results-oriented business and if you look at the last two playoffs we've been in, we were the higher-seeded team but lost. There comes a point in time where the message has to change and we have to be better. We simply didn't get the result that we expected, and in this business you have to get results."

Right, and that indicates that he finds himself to be in no way culpable. He blamed the shortened season for his not being able to improve the roster, but not the fact that Vigneault couldn't guide the team Gillis put together to better results. Even if, in saying that, he tacitly acknowledges it was at least in some way flawed. That takes a peculiar type of cognitive dissonance, doesn't it? The ability to say, "I was not able to put together the best team I could," while also saying, "This coach was not able to do what I wanted him to with that team," is one that must be inherent to general managers of professional sports teams.

Because anyone on the outside sees that type of logic as being so full of holes that it could have substituted passably for Cory Schneider in these playoffs. Not living up to unreasonable expectations is a crime now? Put Schneider on the trade block, then.

Gillis also blamed the persecution of the local media for making his and Vigneault's jobs harder the last two years, so maybe the necessity to change the message doesn't reach as far as his desk.

Another thing Gillis said: "I think we're well-positioned to continue to improve and get better and I'm excited about where we're going to go from this point forward."

This is what I'm talking about when I say he has unreasonable expectations. In what way are the Canucks well-positioned to improve? He cratered Luongo's trade value, so the team's not going to improve there. He tied an anchor around his own neck with a payroll that's already above the cap for next season — already-filled-out compliance buyout paperwork for David Booth and Keith Ballard notwithstanding — and a bunch of roster holes to fill. His best players are too old to be relied upon for more than one or two more years. He has one of the weakest prospect pools in the league. And he's moving into a division next season in which at least two and maybe even three of the teams contained therein (depending upon how legitimate you feel the Ducks' success this year to be) are better than his.

Oh, but I guess he's got a great solution for all those problems tucked into a desk drawer, and he's only waited on for the purposes of dramatic tensions.

All brilliant GMs do. Now he just needs a coach to sort it all out.

If you’ve got something for Trending Topics, holla at Lambert on Twitter or via e-mail. He’ll even credit you so you get a thousand followers in one day and you’ll become the most popular person on the Internet! You can also visit his blog if you’re so inclined.

No one is ever going to be totally happy with the ways in which the NHL's referees or officials make their decisions. We can all agree on that.

If there's a game in which neither team is whistled for a penalty, both will likely complain that the refs missed calls on the other. If there's a game in which both teams receive 10 power plays, both will complain that the referees were overly harsh in doling out discipline. No one is ever especially happy with calls that go in between those two extremes, either, because unless you win, you aren't happy. And sometimes, even when you do win, you aren't happy.

It's tough to know what, exactly, brought all this to a head in these playoffs. Alex Ovechkin complaining about a league-wide conspiracy in Game 6 after the end of Game 7; Jonathan Toews stamping his feet when his team got clobbered on home ice by its archrival; Sidney Crosby saying the league needs to institute video review for puck-over-the-glass calls; Jonathan Quick abusing officials because the Kings gave the Sharks a two-man advantage in overtime.

Doesn't it strike anyone as being a bit much?

No one likes to lose in October, let alone in the second round of the playoffs, and you might even say that the refs have made a bit of a spectacle of themselves in the last few games. The best thing a ref can do, the old saying goes, is not be noticeable, and things have admittedly gotten a bit out of hand in some instances.

But nonetheless, can you imagine the eye-rolling or outright mockery in Chicago if Henrik Zetterberg had said the same things Toews did after they got creamed in Game 1? Or the uproar if Ryan Callahan of the lionized New York Rangers had complained about a conspiracy to push the series longer? Or the furor if Joe Thornton had done what Quick did after the Sharks gave up a similar late-game 5-on-3 advantage that allowed the Kings to tie Game 1?

What it boils down to is being a sore loser.

It's extremely rare for guys celebrating a 3-1 win to say, "Well, we thought the refs were being a little too generous with us but we'll take it," but boy do the tissues come out when things bounce the other way. Media members covering the final month of the postseason might want to bring their galoshes to the rink as a precautionary measure.

It's times like these you wish the league came down as hard on players complaining about the officials as they do for coaches; Toews and Ovechkin can make a stink but John Tortorella has to pay a $30,000 fine after what he said about the Winter Classic, or $20,000 for saying the Penguins are an "arrogant organization" after Brooks Orpik ran Derek Stepan without punishment.

Why are coaches held to a different standard? Aren't they essentially doing the same thing: Bringing what the league would argue is undue scrutiny to its officials who it would argue are just doing their jobs to what it would argue is the best of their abilities?

Again, it must be said that no ref goes into these games looking to screw the Blackhawks or Kings or anyone else, and the finger-pointing only serves as a means of distracting from the fact that these teams put themselves in the situations in question.

It would be nice if the league would crack down on these guys so this kind of pointless whining stops before it gets any worse. It's one thing to do it in a game, I understand, and that's why you can almost forgive Jonathan Quick for his misdeeds; but when it's spilling over into postgame scrums, there's no need for it.

A quick fine of a few thousand dollars here and there might get them to blame an inability to put more than a goal on the board in 60 or more minutes of hockey on something other than officiating.

It's embarrassing that these otherwise extremely respected players, Toews in particular being routinely painted as this stoic figure who approaches everything in this sport The Right Way, have to resort to this type of petulant whining because their teams didn't win.

Maybe it's to be expected, but if we're going to say these guys are held to a certain standard, then it's time for all involved to start acting like it.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: Bruce Boudreau kind of put it out there that the Ducks would have been a little better off with a longer training camp but it's like, c'mon man you finished second in the West despite all the percentages saying you had no business being there. Get ready for a huge step back. "Better start next year?" You went 13-2-1 in your first 16 games. How much better can you do with that roster?

Boston Bruins: The Rangers might want to learn to defend this Bergeron/Marchand play because they're sure not doing themselves any favors by standing around with their hands in their pockets every time the Bruins run it.

Buffalo Sabres: Can you believe no one who had anything to do with a 12th-place team that allowed more goals than it scored was nominated for an award? I sure can't!

Calgary Flames: So the Flames have to re-sign TJ Brodie, one of their best defensemen, this summer. It's going to be very exciting to see how Jay Feaster messes this one up, for sure.

Carolina Hurricanes: "It's not Eric Staal's fault for getting his knee blown out," is the thrust of this Luke DeCock column. His next one will be, "Grass is pretty green if you think about it."

Chicago Blackhawks: This was just about the only thing the Blackhawks did right on Saturday afternoon but wow this shot was something special.

Colorado Avalanche: The company that owns the Avalanche, Denver Nuggets, and Colorado Rapids also just bought the Outdoor Channel, which makes me wistful for the days that I could watch deer hunting before and after every NHL game.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Ryan Johansen was good for the Blue Jackets in the second half (5-5-10 in 28 during March and February after 0-2-2 in 12 in January and February), but then only had one point in five games in the AHL playoffs. Is this kid a bust or what? I've never heard of sample size, by the way.

Dallas Stars: Glen Gulutzan is already guest-coaching the Saskatoon Blades in the Memorial Cup, which doesn't seem all that fair to me.

Detroit Red Wings presented by Amway: Drew Miller might be the Red Wings' secret weapon. After missing a month, he came back, got a bunch of PK time, and helped hold Chicago 0 for 2 on the power play.

Edmonton Oilers: Will the Oilers make Ryan Smyth and Shawn Horcoff compliance buyouts? Probably not and maybe, respectively.

Florida Panthers: The Panthers getting a new scoreboard last week with taxpayer money means that since the arena opened, the team has received some $138.4 million. The amount Broward County has gotten back on that investment? Just $331,206.

Los Angeles Kings: Tyler Toffoli will never score an easier goal in the playoffs in his entire career.

Minnesota Wild: Hey, so, uh… who's gonna be the Wild's goaltender next year? Is there even a really good answer?

Montreal Canadiens: Hmm, the Canadiens have to get bigger you think? What makes you say that?

Nashville Predators: Roman Josi's new contract is a top priority for the Preds, and they're going to really get to work on it now that Worlds are over, and he was named MVP of the tournament.

New Jersey Devils: No one in the free agent forward crop took more shots than David Clarkson's 180. The next-closest guy was Pascal Dupuis at 140. Boy is he gonna look good on the Maple Leafs' top line next year.

New York Islanders: The Isles have two very good prospects — Anders Lee and Scott Mayfield — coming out of college this year, and those dudes basically are the best prospects beginning their pro careers in the organization.

New York Rangers: This Ryan Callahan goal sure was wonderful.

Ottawa Senators: Gotta agree with this: Erik Karlsson has looked awful through three games of this series. I know what he's coming back from but the longer this goes on the more you gotta wonder if he should've come back from it at all this season. Hint: He should not have.

Philadelphia Flyers: The best thing I read this week was Ed Snider taking a shot at Marc-Andre Fleury for "falling apart" in the playoffs. It made me so happy. (But then again he sure made it sound like Steve Mason is going to get a good shot to start in Philly next year, which also made me happy.)

Phoenix Coyotes: Today is Day No. 283 since Jude LaCava of Fox 10 in Arizona said Greg Jamison would have the deal for the Coyotes sewn up within the next five days. And how big is this Rob Klinkhammer contract extension? It got three whole sentences in an AP release.

Pittsburgh Penguins: The Penguins' power play went 0 for 6 last night after beginning the playoffs 10 for 31 so clearly it's time to panic in Pittsburgh. Everything has gone off the rails. Might as well just forfeit the rest of the series.

San Jose Sharks: I mean I'm not an NHL coach but I think on the penalty kill in overtime you gotta tell someone to cover Logan Couture or something like this will probably happen more often than not.

St. Louis Blues: The Blues consider Vladimir Tarasenko to be pretty important to the team going forward which, y'know, yeah.

Tampa Bay Lightning: "Will Martin St. Louis be a Hall of Famer?" That's an interesting question. You'd have to think so, right? Six point-a-game seasons, a few more that were close, led the league in scoring twice, won a Stanley Cup. Only 88 points away from 1,000 despite missing two seasons to lockouts and not becoming a regular NHLer until he was 24. I'd say yes, but then I'm not an idiot like the morons who vote on the Hall of Fame.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Famous Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield returned from his mission during Game 7 wearing a Maple Leafs shirt under his space suit, marking the second time in just a few hours that someone rocking that logo crashed back to earth.

Vancouver Canucks: Looks like Keith Ballard is going to be bought out. Yeah, I see that.

Washington Capitals: How funny would it be if the Capitals re-signed Mike Ribeiro long-term? Scale of one to 10? Like a million I think.

Winnipeg Jets: Leave it to the Winnipeg media to try to tie Paul MacLean and Randy Carlyle being ex-Jets into a reason they'd be good assistants for Canada in Sochi. Speaking as an American, I put my full confidence behind Carlyle's candidacy. How 'bout Ondrej Pavelec for player-coach for the Czechs while we're at it?

Play of the Weekend

Real nice play from Valtteri Filppula. Real nice.

Gold Star Award

Torey Krug has two goals in his first two NHL playoff games, and also an assist. He also broke up a partial break before he scored yesterday's goal, on which he kicked the puck through his own legs to himself.

Minus of the Weekend
What the hell happened to the Blackhawks on Saturday? Did they think it was a 7 p.m. start?

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week
User "kushh" is living up to the name.

Roberto Luongo, Ryan Kesler, Keith Ballard
for
Josh Harding, Mikko Koivu, Kyle Brodziak, 1st in 2013*

*Canucks keep %10 of Luo and Ballard's contracts (533k and 420k every year)[/quote]

It's the $950,000 cap savings that will really entice Minnesota.

Signoff
Now I know what it's like to be a crack head. I took one hit of real estate and it blew my head off.

Ryan Lambert publishes hockey awesomeness almost never over at The Two-Line Pass. Check it out, why don’t you? Or you can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter if you so desire.

After the Vancouver Canucks lost Game 1 against the San Jose Sharks, head coach Alain Vigneault called out the Sharks for cheating on faceoffs. The little bit of gamesmanship paid off. The linesman were a little more vigilant with foot placement the next night, and the Canucks won the faceoff battle in Game 2.

They did not, however, win Game 2. Nor did they win Game 3. Now they're on the brink of being ousted in stunning, sweeping fashion. Any additional edge they can gain to stave off elimination is welcome, and considering they've been outpenalized in all three games, that might be a place to start.

On Monday, Kevin Bieksa played the embellishment card. From the Vancouver Sun:

"Couture, you can't go near the guy, he snaps his head back, he flails," Bieksa told reporters. "You touch him after the whistle and he is going to jump off the ice and throw himself into the glass. These are hard calls for the officials to make and right now they are going against us.

"This isn't my opinion. The evidence is in the video ... Hank (Sedin) touches him off the faceoff, he does a full back arch and his glove goes flying off in the corner."

Here's the incident in question. You be the judge:

Maybe Couture's pain receptors take half a second to kick in?

Now, Kevin Bieksa plays, I remind you, for the Vancouver Canucks. He knows this. He knows the response is readymade. But the calls are already going against the Canucks in this series, and I'd argue that, at times, it's been reputation-based, so there's really nothing to lose.

Lest we claim hypocrisy, it should be noted that Bieksa's been outspoken about embellish before, even in regards to the players in his own room. “I know guys will do whatever it takes for a power play to win a game,” Bieksa said in the 2011 postseason, referring to his own teammates. “But sometimes they’re crossing that line of integrity. I think for the better of the game, for the good of the game we need people to stay on that line and not cross it, and not dive and exaggerate for calls.”

Furthermore, Bieksa was a member of the anti-diving committee at the Rules Summit, a group that brought up ideas like disseminating a list of known divers, so as to shame them into staying on their feet. In other words, it's tough to call him a hypocrite for bringing this up now when he's been speaking out against embellishment for some time.

Still, he plays on a team with Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows, two players who understand that, when the officials put the whistles away in the postseason, sometimes they need to be inspired to pull them back out again.

This is the approach that Adam Burish, a former Chicago Blackhawk that has hated the Canucks for some time, took in crafting his response.

From the Mercury News:

'Tis a fine retort.

But if we're rating rejoinders, I award the gold star to Sharks head coach Todd McLellan, who just crushed it here, kissing up to the officials and burning the Canucks in the process. From CSN Bay Area:

“They use that word embellish, and I haven’t heard that for awhile. In fact, I think it was in vogue a couple springs ago (when Vancouver lost to Boston in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final).

“If we go back now to look at the series, we’ve been called cheaters in Game 1, we’ve been called embellishing Canadians after Game 3. If the series goes any deeper, we may be accused of biting, eventually.”

Just one more reason the Sharks will hope to finish the sweep Tuesday night.

Follow Harrison Mooney on Twitter at @HarrisonMooney

The latest example comes from the world of pizza:

This receipt popped up on Reddit over the weekend, as a customer informed the local pizza joint that they couldn’t venture out to pick up their large original hand-tossed chicken pizza because the Canucks had just tied the San Jose Sharks in a playoff game.

Hence, they couldn’t leave the house. Because of hockey.

[Watch: Senators, Canadiens brawl in Game 3]

The smart money is on this being a receipt from Game 2 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series, which Ryan Kesler tied 59 seconds into the third period and then gave Vancouver the lead roughly six minutes later.

Alas, San Jose would tied the game at 19:04 of that period, and then win at 5:31 of overtime.

The silver lining is that upon delivery, the pizza might have still been warm when the Canucks fan depression-binged after Raffi Torres’s goal. Or when the Sharks fan swallowed celebratory slices. There's really no gleaning fan loyalties here.

s/t HuffPo

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Via our friends from Bovada, here are odds to win the 2013 Stanley Cup:

Pittsburgh Penguins 7/2
Chicago Blackhawks 15/4
Boston Bruins 17/2
Anaheim Ducks 12/1
Montreal Canadiens 12/1
Los Angeles Kings 14/1
St. Louis Blues 14/1
Vancouver Canucks 14/1
San Jose Sharks 16/1
Washington Capitals 16/1
New York Rangers 18/1
Toronto Maple Leafs 20/1
Minnesota Wild 22/1
Detroit Red Wings 28/1
Ottawa Senators 28/1
New York Islanders 40/1

If you believe in late-season surges and the potential for dark-horses to reign supreme, there's some good value in picking the Capitals at 16/1. The Kings to repeat at 14/1 ain't too bad, either.

After the jump, individual player odds for the Conn Smythe Trophy.

10/1
Sidney Crosby (PIT)

15/1
Marc-Andre Fleury (PIT)
Corey Crawford (CHI)

16/1
Patrick Kane (CHI)
Jonathan Toews (CHI)

20/1
Evgeni Malkin (PIT)
Tuukka Rask (BOS)

25/1
Carey Price (MON)

30/1
James Neal (PIT)
Jonathan Quick (LAK)
Brian Elliott (STL)
Henrik Lundqvist (NYR)

33/1
Marian Hossa (CHI)

35/1
Patrice Bergeron (BOS)
Tyler Seguin (BOS)
Ryan Getzlaf (ANA)
Cory Schneider (VAN)
Antti Niemi (SJ)
Alex Ovechkin (WAS)

40/1
Henrik Sedin (VAN)
Daniel Sedin (VAN)

45/1
Braden Holtby (WAS)
James Reimer (TOR)
Niklas Backstrom (MIN)
Craig Anderson (OTT)

50/1
Kris Letang (PIT)
Patrick Sharp (CHI)
David Krejci (BOS)
Zdeno Chara (BOS)
Corey Perry (ANA)
Viktor Fasth (ANA)
Anze Kopitar (LAK)
Joe Thornton (SJ)
Rick Nash (NYR)
Jimmy Howard (DET)

55/1
Max Pacioretty (MON)
Tomas Plekanec (MON)

60/1
Phil Kessel (TOR)
Zach Parise (MIN)

65/1
Jeff Carter (LAK)
Mike Richards (LAK)
Chris Stewart (STL)
David Backes (STL)
Patrick Marleau (SJ)
Nicklas Backstrom (WAS)
Brad Richards (NYR)
Mikko Koivu (MIN)
Pavel Datsyuk (DET)
Henrik Zetterberg (DET)
John Tavares (NYI)
Evgeni Nabokov (NYI)

75/1
Bobby Ryan (ANA)
Teemu Selanne (ANA)
P.K. Subban (MON)
Alexander Steen (STL)
David Perron (STL)
Ryan Kesler (VAN)
Logan Couture (SJ)
Joe Pavelski (SJ)
Mike Ribeiro (WAS)
Nazem Kadri (TOR)
James van Riemsdyk (TOR)
Daniel Alfredsson (OTT)

80/1
Derek Stepan (NYR)
Johan Franzen (DET)

95/1
Ryan Suter (MIN)
Kyle Turris (OTT)
Erik Karlsson (OTT)
Matt Moulson (NYI)
Brad Boyes (NYI)

Even at 10/1, chucking $10 on Crosby will still get you $100 if he wins it. There's plenty of value in this list.

If you're in the bag for a Penguins-Blackhawks Final, any of Crosby, Malkin, Kane, Toews could fetch you some decent coin with those odds. But if you feel another matchup is more probable than the chalk, there's plenty of good value throughout the rest of the Smythe odds list.

Lundqvist at 30/1? Ovechkin at 35/1? If the Rangers or Capitals get to the Final, it will surely be on their shoulders. Jeff Carter at 65/1? Hard to see his goal scoring come to a screeching halt.

So, degenerate gamblers, in the words of Pierre McGuire: "Go have fun out there!"

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

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The Western Conference seedings are set

So who is facing the most pressure?

Here are 16 people facing the heat:

Dan Bylsma, Pittsburgh Penguins

Bylsma’s not exactly on the hot seat, what with the Penguins having rolled through the Eastern Conference regular season. But he’s the coach with the most talent on his roster, and that means the expectations are higher than they are for any other bench boss in the NHL postseason. The pieces are all there; how Bylsma manages them will determine whether Ray Shero has constructed a Cup winner or a paper champ.

Milan Lucic, Boston Bruins

He entered the final game of the season with seven goals in 45 games, but it’s been the lack of emotional engagement that’s been the real worry for the Bruins regarding their power forward. From Bud Barth of the Telegram:

Certainly, the fact that Lucic didn’t play during the lockout has taken a toll. Since he is a big body, conditioning is crucial to his game. He got off to a decent start — two goals in his first three games and 3-5-8 totals in his first 11 — but when the schedule became tougher, so did the road to offense for Lucic, who often looks tired.

… Other theories have been thrown out there — like this being Lucic’s first season with a wife and baby, and the fact that he just signed that lucrative extension, which will make him the highest-paid forward on the team next season (at $5.5 million) and second on the club only to defenseman Zdeno Chara.

Maybe one or both of those changes have played with his mind. The one thing that’s certain is that Lucic needs the physical edge to his game to excel, and the Bruins need a maximum performance from Lucic to have a legitimate shot at winning the Stanley Cup.

They don’t need Lucic to be an offensive juggernaut. They just need him to be a difference maker again.

Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals

He probably can’t replicate the 1.95 GAA and .935 save percentage of his rookie postseason without a Dale Hunter system in front of him. But the 23 year old is the key to the team’s postseason hopes, even beyond star talent like Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom – especially when it comes to the Capitals’ penalty kill, which is by far the weakest facet of their team.

P.K. Subban, Montreal Canadiens

His newfound maturity has led to a Norris caliber season and the Canadiens to the fifth best power play in the regular season. Opponents are going to do everything they can to bring the hothead out of Subban. He’s been a catalyst for the Habs, and will need to again in the playoffs.

Nazem Kadri, Toronto Maple Leafs

Was it finally hitting the wall? Was it the Don Cherry kiss of death? Whatever the case, Kadri went from a Hart Trophy dark horse to a player with one goal in his last 12 games. How far can they get without his offense?

Erik Karlsson, Ottawa Senators

The defensive wunderkind for the Sens returned to the lineup after a miraculous recovery from a sliced Achilles and apparently hasn’t missed a beat. His first foray into the playoffs last season resulted in one goal in seven games in a loss to the Rangers. They’ll need more from him this time. And hey, no “I missed all that time with the injury” excuses, Wolverine …

Rick Nash, New York Rangers

Nash was no doubt thrilled to hear about a “second season” for teams that qualify for the “playoffs”, having only spent four games in the postseason during his Columbus Blue Jackets career. The Rangers’ best forward at 21 goals in 44 games, Nash was brought to New York to add that bit of offense the team seems to lack in tightly played postseason games. This is his time.

Evgeni Nabokov, New York Islanders

Nabby has played more playoff games (80) than defenseman Thomas Hickey has played regular season games (39). Any Sharks fan can tell you the pattern: Nabokov will look unbeatable one game, human the next, and never makes that one key save the team needs in a series-changing moment. But he’s been every bit the MVP John Tavares was for New York in the regular season. He’s the key to the Isles scoring an upset.

Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks

The pressure on Keith is two-fold. First, he’ll need to withstand the physical beating teams will attempt to lay on him and the Chicago defense, as Vancouver and Phoenix in the last two postseasons. Second, he’ll need to help turn around a Blackhawks power play that struggled to 19th in the regular season. Hey, maybe the Hawks become special teams juggernauts in the playoffs. Anything can happen. Maybe we’ll even see a female referee one day.

Bruce Boudreau, Anaheim Ducks

Boudreau has had great regular seasons before. But he’s never had a team advance past the second round in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. As he told the Washington Times: “You know what, I feel that there is a little bit of pressure because I don’t want to get a reputation and keep that reputation,” he said. “I’d be foolish not to think that. That would eat at me.”

Ryan Kesler, Vancouver Canucks

When Kesler’s in beast mode, the Canucks become a Cup contender. Now that he’s healthy and making a successful shift to the wing with Derek Roy at center, Kesler could be a huge factor in establishing a scoring threat beyond the Sedins.

Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues

His first run through the playoffs was short-circuited by injury. The Blues’ ice time leader (25:06) plays in every situation and leads a blue line that needs to be at its best in a series against San Jose Los Angeles. A goal would be nice, too, considering he hasn’t scored since March 7.

Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks

Could it be anyone else? Everyone’s favorite postseason scapegoat followed two seasons of productivity (15 goals in 32 games) with five games without a point last postseason. He has one goal since March 28. Good times.

Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings

After an inconsistent season following his Conn Smythe campaign, Quick had a strong April to propel the Kings into the postseason. Last time he backstopped the Kings in the playoffs, he left with a Cup ring, the MVP and a fat new contract. So what’s the encore?

Niklas Kronwall, Detroit Red Wings

In the first Red Wings’ first postseason without Nicklas Lidstrom since 1991, it falls to Kronwall to be the leader on the backline, as it has throughout the season. Can he be the 15 points in 22 games player he was the last time the Wings won the Cup?

Zach Parise, Minnesota Wild

The big gamble paid off for Minnesota, as Parise and Ryan Suter arrived and turned the Wild into a playoff team. Parise, who scored in the Wild’s clinching game, has solid postseason stats but was never a difference-maker in a series for the New Jersey Devils. If the Wild are to pull off the upset in Round 1, it’ll take Parise matching the playoff heroics of players like Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.

In keeping with yesterday's theme, it's time to cover the Western Conference. Because if we didn't, my OCD brain would probably explode.

And to kick off this second of two playoff primers, I'll turn to Frozen Pool for another riveting and relevant snapshot. Here are the Top 50 faceoff men of the past three weeks, minimum 135 faceoffs taken:

Anaheim Ducks

The Obvious - Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Bobby Ryan and Saku Koivu.

The Sleepers - Although Kyle Palmieri has played all of five playoff games as a pro, his ability to score when it's needed most speaks volumes. He has five game winners out of his 10 goals. I also find it interesting that in his four playoff games for Syracuse in 2012 he took 21 shots…

Nick Bonino is another good secondary option. His lower-body injury kept him out for 21 games, but of the games he did play he has 11 points in his last 19. His ice time is also much higher than it was early in the season, at times topping 19 minutes.

Rookies to Watch - Defenseman Sami Vatanen has played five straight games, covering for the injured Luca Sbisa. Vatanen has two points in those games and next year could surprise you with strong numbers in what will still be a rookie-eligible season…

After a couple of recalls and demotions, Etem was brought to Anaheim for good in late February. He has chipped in some timely points, but for the most part his ice time is carefully controlled. Neither Etem nor Vatanen will likely make a playoff impact this year.

Don't Overrate - Early in the season, the Ducks relied on their secondary scoring. Now that the top line has been flying for a couple of months now, some of the other guys have slowed down. Francois Beauchemin has just two points in his last 13 games, Teemu Selanne (nine in last 34), Andrew Cogliano (one in his last eight), Daniel Winnik (12 in last 42), and Sheldon Souray (10 in his last 34).

Chicago Blackhawks

The Obvious - Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa, Brandon Saad and Duncan Keith.

The Sleepers - Dave Bolland always brings his 'A' game to the playoffs. In 49 career playoff games, his points-per-game average is 0.76, which is better than his best regular season…

Bryan Bickell is enjoying a career season and at 6-4, 233 pounds he reminds me of another huge refrigerator-type player who was a key cog in the Blackhawks 2010 Cup run…

Michael Frolik was arguably Chicago's best forward during their brief playoff stint a year ago, but would need decent linemates (Playoff Warrior Bolland would be ideal). Here are Chicago's line combinations for the past three games. This is a free report that can be found here for all teams.

As you can see, Frolik is not exactly playing with top liners.

Rookies to Watch - Saad has three points in his last eight games, but prior to that he was very much in the Calder Trophy conversation and should be a high draft pick this weekend.

Don't Overrate - Viktor Stalberg has just six points in his last 17 games and has just two power-play points all season…

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Obvious - Vinny Prospal, Marian Gaborik, Mark Letestu and Fedor Tyutin.

The Sleepers - Cam Atkinson suffered a high ankle sprain in the third game of the season and then he came back a little quickly. He was playing with some discomfort for a couple of weeks and it showed in his numbers. He had just six points in his first 18 games but has 10 in his last 16…

R.J. Umberger was a strong playoff performer for the Flyers and Blue Jackets (during their brief visit to the postseason in 2009). He has 13 goals in his last 21 playoff contests…

Brandon Dubinsky has been going nutty since returning from injury nine games ago. He has nine points and 37 PIM since April 4.

Rookies to Watch - Defenseman Dalton Prout plays with a lot of grit and intensity, gets tons of ice time, and he's a plus-14. That being said, he's not offensively gifted…

Fellow rearguard Tim Erixon has yet to show his offensive promise at the NHL level and will be a non-factor in all playoff pools.

Don't Overrate - To John Tortorella the casual fan, the name Gaborik brings a certain expectation. He won't reach that expectation. He's been good, but not great. Just seven points in 11 games since joining #Lumbus.

Detroit Red Wings

The Obvious - Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, Niklas Kronwall, Damien Brunner, and Nicklas Lidstrom. Sigh.

The Sleepers - After a 66-point career season, Valtteri Filppula is having a hell of a time getting things going this year. Still, in his last five postseasons he has 46 points in 73 games (0.63 points per game) and in every year other than last year, his points-per-game in the playoffs exceeded his points-per-game in the season.

Rookies to Watch - Gustav Nyquist has show creativity and poise, more so with every game since being recalled a month ago. But it hasn't translated into points and there is some risk that he gets scratched now that veterans such as Todd Bertuzzi are returning from injury…

Brendan Smith makes for a nice dark horse if you see the Wings going deep. He has seven points in his last 14 games, although the arrival of Danny DeKeyser has seen Smith scratched on occasion. I think the target of the 'healthy scratch' is now focused exclusively on former Leafs Ian White and Carlo Colaiacovo, so Smith should be a safe pick…

DeKeyser is this year's prized college free agent, but from a fantasy standpoint he holds little value. He's a defense-first kind of guy.

Don't Overrate - Johan Franzen, a playoff stud for so many years, has become a playoff dud the last two. He managed just four points in his last 13 postseason games. Prior to that, he had 59 in 51 playoff games, so you can see where our expectations have been for him. He'll need to get some of that magic back if the Wings hope to go deep.

Los Angeles Kings

The Obvious - Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, Justin Williams, Dustin Brown, Slava Voynov and Drew Doughty

The Sleepers - Trevor Lewis has always had the potential to play on the second line, but on a deep Los Angeles roster there were too many better options. He's still out of the top six mix, but his 14 points represent a career high, despite the shortened season. During the Cup run he had nine points in 20 games…

With three points in his last 18 games, Jake Muzzin has slowed down from the torrid pace he set in early March. But his ice time is still up there and he's still seeing a lot of power-play time. If the Kings go 20 games deep into the playoffs again, I can see Muzzin getting 10 points.

Rookies to Watch - Muzzin is the impact rookie on the Kings' roster, making a big splash when he posted 11 points in 13 games starting February 25. He's averaging upwards of 18 minutes per game…

Tyler Toffoli would be an impact rookie on 25 other teams, but on the Kings he's often been in the press box. This despite five points in nine games in which he averages 12 minutes of ice time. Barring an injury to someone in the top nine, Toffoli will take in these playoffs from the press box beside Dustin Penner.

Don't Overrate - Last year's big playoff surprise Dustin Penner has been back to his old tricks, playing his way out of the lineup on a few occasions. He's trying hard to shed his 'soft player' reputation - if you look at his year-over-year hits-per-game average it has gone steadily upwards from just over one hit every two games in 2009-10 to close to three hits every two games this year. But it hasn't been enough and he's a risky pick as a result.

Minnesota Wild

The Obvious - Zach Parise, Mikko Koivu, Jason Pominville, Ryan Suter and Devin Setoguchi.

The Sleepers - Excuse Pierre-Marc Bouchard for taking a couple dozen games to get his timing back, after missing much of the last several seasons with concussions. Three consecutive healthy scratches in early March sparked him though, because he returned and has posted 14 points in 21 games…

Rookie Jonas Brodin is the Calder Trophy winner this year if you talk to Minnesota insiders. That won't happen, of course, since his stats don't reflect his near-flawless play. But Brodin is gobbling up the minutes and seeing PP time, and although eight points in his last 21 games aren't dazzling he could possibly build on that in the postseason.

Rookies to Watch - Besides Brodin, the only other safe rookie is Charlie Coyle. Coyle's ice time has inched upward and in the year's most important game Tuesday against L.A. he played over 20 minutes. He has 11 points in his last 26 games and is getting better with each game…

Mikael Granlund just might have the highest upside of any rookie in the NHL, but the consistency hasn't been there and the Wild have been handling him carefully - he's currently in the minors. He's not eligible to be a rookie again next year, as he's played 27 games.

Don't Overrate - Devin Setoguchi's hot production in March went down the tank in April when Matt Cullen was injured. Cullen has since returned, but is struggling.

San Jose Sharks

The Obvious - Joe Thornton, Logan Couture, Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski and Dan Boyle.

The Sleepers - Martin Havlat, when he's not tripping over his skate laces and spraining something, can be a very good player. We were wondering if the injuries were adding up, though, when he started the season slowly. He has 12 points in his last 20 games, which is still weak by his standards, but better than his overall numbers show.

Rookies to Watch - Defenseman Matt Irwin was a free agent signed out of college in 2010. He transitioned seamlessly to the NHL this season and at one juncture he tallied seven points in nine games. He has been up and down, as happens with many rookies, and thus carries a risk.

Don't Overrate - Dan Boyle has 14 points in his last 40 games. He's not the stud blueliner he once was and shouldn't be counted on for a point every two games as his numbers indicate…

Patrick Marleau started the season with 14 points in six games, which is pretty impressive. Not as impressive are the ensuing 41 games. He has just 17 points in that span, which is very un-Marleau like.

St. Louis Blues

The Obvious - Chris Stewart, Alex Steen, David Backes, David Perron, Patrik Berglund, Alex Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk.

The Sleepers - Andy McDonald was the Blues' top playoff scorer a year ago, with 10 points in nine games. Historically, he has always been productive in the postseason…

T.J. Oshie has been out since March with an ankle injury, but he'll be ready for the playoffs. His point total has been stuck at 20 as a result, keeping him off the radar of most of the casual hockey fans in your pool.

Rookies to Watch - The adrenalin has worn off of Vladimir Tarasenko, who looked like he was going to walk away with the Calder Trophy when he posted five points in his first two NHL games and 10 in his first eight. But he has just eight points in his last 29 contests and is pretty much out of the Calder conversation altogether…

Jaden Schwartz started off slowly and has picked things up a little bit, but not enough to warrant drafting unless you think the Blues will go to the Final.

Don't Overrate - Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk had 13 points in his first 12 games, but just 10 in 35 games since. He should be drafted based on the latter number, and not the former.

Vancouver Canucks

The Obvious - Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Derek Roy, Jannik Hansen, Alex Burrows, Alexander Edler and Ryan Kesler.

The Sleepers - Jason Garrison has found his niche with his new team, posting eight points in his last 11 games, including four points on the power play…

Rookies to Watch - None.

Don't Overrate - Mason Raymond has just 16 points in 51 career playoff games. He has also slowed significantly since the trade deadline, when the Canucks added Derek Roy, not to mention the return to health of Kesler. Just not enough PP time to go around…

Roy has just five of his 27 points this year with the Canucks (11 games).

Six of Zack Kassian's 10 points were in the first eight games of the season. Since then, he has been snakebitten and has a greater chance of getting zero points in the playoffs than he has of getting six or seven.

Also, hey, I have an Interactive Playoff Draft List that I'm selling. It will make things way easier for you at the draft table.

For more fantasy hockey tips, take a gander at DobberHockey. And while you’re at it, follow Dobber’s fantasy hockey musings on Twitter.

There’s really no discussion on this. He’s a leader. He’s confident and calm. He’s the one who manages his hot-headed partner. We’re also convinced he’s handy with Katana blades.

On Tuesday, we presented you with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle proxies for the NHL’s Eastern Conference. Now it’s time for the Western Conference.

To reset the personality types:

Leonardo (blue mask): The measured, valiant leader of the group. Strong and fearless.

Donatello (purple mask): The scientist who prefers to use intellect rather than his bo staff to solve conflicts. A bit shy.

Michelangelo (orange mask): The pizza-gobbling free spirit of the group whose “Cowabunga” launched a million T-shirts.

Raphael (red mask): The temperamental bad boy of the group. And he speaks with a New York accent!

We asked the Puck Daddy readership to check in with their choices for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles proxies for all 30 NHL teams. Here are the Western Conference choices for hockey heroes on a half shell.

Chicago Blackhawks

Leonardo: Jonathan Towes because he's the leader.

Donatello: Patrick Sharp because he's undervalued.

Michelangelo: Patrick Kane because he's silly and a showboat.

Raphael: Marian Hossa because he's smart and has a long stick

- Paul Vogl

Leonardo: The leader/captain Jonathan Toews.

Donatello: The inventor, and quiet genius, Marian Hossa.

Michaelangelo: The party animal… Patrick Kane.

Raphael: The no-nonsense, dude with the 'tude Ray Emery.

For Fun:

Casey Jones: Michael Hanzdus-Former ally, left for awhile to pursue other things, now is currently back with the team to fight for another Cup

April: Any Ice-Girl

Shredder: Alain Vigneault

- Justin Dal Corobbo

Columbus Blue Jackets

Leonardo: Vinny Prospal - He's old and has been the de facto captain ever since Nash requested a trade.

Donatello: Sergei Bobrovsky - Had to mention him somewhere. He's a smart goaltender who makes saves based a lot on positional play as opposed to Hasek-like acrobatics

Michelangelo: Artem Anisimov - He's struck me as a bit of a fun lover ever since last year's 24/7 and always seems very lighthearted and has some of the best cellys in the league.

Raphael: Jared Boll - Would've been Dorsett prior to the trade deadline, but Jared Boll can be a bit of a hothead and is never afraid of a fight, even against guys twice his size.

- Mark Fairholm

Leonardo: Vinny Prospal. Measured, valiant leader? Check. Superb pointer finger? Check. Strong and fearless at age 38? Check.

Donatello: Marian Gaborik. Mad scientist with his stick. Does not engage physically, unless necessary. Unspoken best player of the group.

Michelangelo: Jack Johnson. Really...who can't see this guy as the unspoken heart and soul of just having fun and kicking ass?

Raphael: Jared Boll. Few tough guys in the NHL willingly fight him anymore. Especially after an off-season of working with MMA coaches.

Extra: Splinter... Jarmo. The new trade ninja. Dude knows what he is doing.

- Kevin Saarie

Detroit Red Wings

Leonardo: Leo is the leader so we have to go with Henrik Zetterberg although with the constant hair on his face he may be a master splinter nominee as well.

Donatello: The easiest of the four is Pavel Datsyuk as Donatello, the scientist and inventor

Michaelangelo: Michelangelo laid back surfer dude purely on looks would be Valteri Filpula.

Raphael: Raphael is the bad boy of the group. This is probably a toss up between Todd Bertuzzi and Jordin Tootoo but Tootoo gets the edge due to the fact he is actually playing. Bertuzzi as Shredder?

- Chris Breuker

Leonardo: Henrik Zetterberg. He's a natural leader, calm and collected.

Donatello: Pavel Datsyuk. He's a genius, possibly the smartest hockey player out there.

Michaelangelo: Dan Cleary. He's a bit of a goof sometimes but can come through in the clutch.

Raphael: Todd Bertuzzi. He's tough and sometimes a bit surly but he's loyal to his teammates.

Nashville Predators

Leonardo - David Legwand: old, experienced, fearless; the most veteran leader

Donatello - Colin Wilson: quiet and disciplined; talented; thinks his way around

Michelangelo - Paul Gaustad: easy-going; comic relief; at his best when it matters most

Raphael - Rich Clune: the team's bad boy; aggressive and quick to throw-down; sarcastic; loyal

- Tyler Pennington

St. Louis Blues

Leonardo: David Backes (Captain America, enough said).

Donatello: Jaden Schwartz (Least violent, hockey smarts off the charts, much like how Donatello uses his knowledge to solve conflicts).

Michelangelo: Kevin Shattenkirk (too easy).

Raphael: Vladimir Sobotka (under-appreaciated, but very gritty and aggressive).

- Patrick Spinner

Leonardo: David Backes, leader

Donatello: Alex Pietrangelo, brains

Michelangelo: TJ Oshie, jokester

Raphael: David Perron, headcase

April O'Neal: Roman Polak

Splinter: Coach Ken Hitchcock

Shredder: Barret Jackman

Footclan: everybody else

- Joe Miller

Calgary Flames

Leonardo; This is a title that would have been given to a certain #12 until a month ago, but now it falls to a reluctant Michael Cammalleri. Standing at what can generously be described as "5-9", Cammalleri still shows the tenacious and fearless leadership reminiscent of the leader of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. That is until he gets pulled off the bench mid-game in January 2014 to abandon the sinking ship of the Calgary Flames, when he will get traded to the Dallas Stars to help them to a 9th place finish in the Western Conference.

Donatello: Just as this turtle possesses the unique skill of technical aptitude, Miikka Kiprusoff possesses the unique skill of being the only one in the locker room who can do the splits while a cigarette hangs out of his mouth. His ability to make James Reimer feel as if he is about to lose his job with only the use of a cell phone call to Dave Nonis rivals Donatello's knowledge of high-tech machinery.

Raphael: Often described as "aggressive" and "emotional", much like the Flames' resident enforcer Tim Jackman. Just as Raphael can use his anger and crazed nature to somehow slay enemies in combat, Tim Jackman is well known for using his "grit" and "sandpaper" to somehow earn Power-play time on Brent Sutter-coached teams.

Michelangelo: Seen as the younger, fun-loving member of the squad- much like Mikael Backlund. On a team that does not contain many entertaining players on Twitter, his relatively active Twitter account provides the same change-of-pace that Michelangelo's comic relief does. Michelangelo is known for coining such popular phrases as "Cowabunga!". Mikael Backlund is known for coining such popular phrases as "Whaddaya mean Brian McGrattan is one of my wingers?!"

Bonus: The role of Splinter is laid upon the portly leader of the Flames organization, Mr. Jay Feaster. Splinter is, of course, a rat. Feaster has been the metaphorical rat picking away at the corpse of fleeting Flames success from 2004, attempting to capitalize on any little bit of meat left on the bones from the last time this team won a playoff round. Oh, and speaking of meat... Jay Feaster fat joke.

- Scott Denoon

Colorado Avalanche

Leonardo: Matt Duchene - The true leader of the group, proficient in all forms of "combat", takes the serious approach.

Donatello: Ryan O'Reilly - Groomed by his father Brian O'Reilly, Ryan prefers to use his knowledge to solve conflicts (and contract disputes).

Michelangelo: Gabriel Landeskog - Young Captain with an easy-going personality and positive outlook.

Raphael: Steve Downie - The team's bad boy, he has an aggressive nature and seldom hesitates to throw the first punch.

Splinter: Jean-Sebastian Giguere - The rat of the bunch, also an adoptive father teaching his children the ways of the hockey player. No Vegas.

- Jonathan Cable

Edmonton Oilers

Leonardo: Shawn Horcoff. Wisdom of an old-pro, leads the way and gets the others to follow.

Donatello: Jordan Eberle. He just thinks and thinks, makes something out of nothing, and is good with his hands.

Raphael: Taylor Hall. Comes across as an a-hole, but is just doing what he’s doing because he wants to help the team. If you cross him, he will hurt you.

Michelangelo: Nail Yakupov. Young, spunky, zest for the game. Seems like a party dude too!

Honorable Mention:

The foot clan – Made up of dozens of Eric Belangers. Can only do one thing, and no matter how many of them you have, it will do no good. Just absolutely terrible and make no contributions whatsoever, you’d think you’d be better off without them anywhere, and you’d be right.

- Jake DesRoches

Leonardo: Taylor Hall, the natural leader.

Donatello: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, he's the quiet one, his hockey IQ is rivaled only by Donatello's Bo Staff IQ.

Michelangelo: Jordan Eberle, he's easy going and everyone's favourite.

Raphael: Nail Yakupov, he's somewhat mysterious and prone to emotional extreme.

- Matt Sletto

Minnesota Wild

Leonardo: Zach Parise

Donatello: Miikko Koivu

Michelangelo: Cal Clutterbuck

Raphael: Zenon Konopka

- Justin Day

Leonardo: Zach Parise - Could have the 'C' on his sweater and definitely is the most well spoken on the team. Great leader, doesn't have the mean streak of Koivu.

Donatello: Jared Spurgeon - Only reason this guy is in the league is because what is between those two ears.

Michelangelo: Neck and neck between Cal Clutterbuck and Zenon Kenopka. Kenopka is almost too smart, but he is a goofball. I'd go with Clutterbuck, I mean take a gander at that mustache.

Raphael: Mikko Koivu - ask Michael Russo about his Surliness

- Chris Sigurdson

Vancouver Canucks

Leonardo: Henrik Sedin, leader of the pack, need I say more?

Donatello: Gonna go out on a limb and say Chris Higgins or Dan Hamhuis. They both step on the ice and are methodical with their work on offense or defense and just get the job done.

Michelangelo: Ryan Kesler for the Kesler bombs or Kevin Bieksa for fooling that reporter into thinking he was Kesler

Raphael: Max Lapierre, I think this is a no-brainer, the instigator/hot head.

- Tom Le

Leonardo: Unlike the Turtles, the Canucks aren’t led by Leonardo. They’re led by twin Donatellos. That said, the Sedins are basically inimitable aliens. I think most of us would agree that Ryan Kesler is the team’s spiritual leader, the one who leads by example. So let’s call him Leonardo.

Donatello: A player that prefers the cerebral over the physical? You just described a Sedin, my friend. I’m going to cheat and say that both Daniel and Henrik are Donatello, since they’re effectively the same person, as Daniel’s 905th NHL game demonstrated for us on Monday.

Michelangelo: Onto the wild child, and this one’s a toss-up. On one hand, Zack Kassian is beginning to get a bit of a reputation for his partying ways, and he’s certainly a free spirit. He’s weird as all Hell. But I think I’ll give this to Bieksa, who’s the quippiest interview and the most likely to spawn a catchphrase. Not to mention I think anybody who watches his game knows that he’s a bit unpredictable. We’ll give him the nod, although I suspect this is the one that will cause the most debate.

Raphael: And finally, Raphael. Now, Alex Burrows isn’t really a “bad boy”, per se. But he’s far and away the most likely to get in trouble. He’s the most antagonistic guy on the Canucks, and the one that always seems to be in the thick of things. Plus did someone say “accent”? Because Burrows’ accent is so thick, he could spread it on toast.

- Harrison Mooney

Anaheim Ducks

Leonardo: Teemu Selanne (obviously)

Donatello: Jonas Hiller

Michelangelo: Ryan Getzlaf

Raphael: Corey Perry

Bonus:

Splinter: Scotty Nieds

Krang: Boudreau

Casey Jones: Bobby Ryan

- Jen Neale

Dallas Stars

Leonardo: Stephane Robidas as Leonardo, the "leader"

Donatello: Loui Eriksson as Donatello, the genius!

Michelangelo: Vern Fiddler as Michelangelo, the "free-spirit" (see: The Bieksa)

Raphael: Antoine Roussel as Raphael, the bad boy

- Jen

Los Angeles Kings

Leonardo: Dustin Brown is Leonardo because he's the absolute leader that nobody can absolutely love. His constant tendency to seem divey and/or fall down reminds me of Leonardo's super-obnoxious need to teach me a lesson EVERY FIVE MINUTES... but still, he's the leader.

Donatello: Jeff Carter would be Donatello because he's got the pinpoint wrister accuracy that only a semi-geek would have because he practiced. Plus he looks kinda Canadienerdish.

Michelangelo: Dustin Penner is Michelangelo because he's got to be the Michelangelo of the Western Conference, if not the whole league. Most likely to say, "Cowabunga, Dude!" Plus, his bank shot empty net goal from last year shows his uncanny knack for party puck skills. Also, his twitter feed. Done.

Raphael: Jonathan Quick would be Raphael because the dude gets NUTS when he doesn't play well or has something go against him. Plus, he's too brash for his own good chasing pucks/pizza the way he does.

Bonus:

Anze Kopitar as Splinter. Veteran, been there forever, speaks with an accent.

Drew Doughty as Casey Jones. Sometimes he's there taking big swings with his stick... other times he's absolutely nowhere to be found.

- Joseph Isaac

Leonardo: Jeff Carter

Donatello: Anze Kopitar

Michelangelo: Dustin Penner

Raphael: Dustin Brown

Casey Jones: Jonathan Quick

- Paul Gofberg

San Jose Sharks

Leonardo: Leo is a brave, highly skilled leader who has the least personality of any of the turtles. Boringly does the right thing every time. That's Marleau, the Sharks former captain is extremely good at what he does, but as soon as he opens his mouth you fall asleep.

Donatello: The scientist of the group, often relying on gadgets? Well, look no further than Brent Burns and his robot sex pants.

Michelangelo: The goofy oddball of the group. I think that title goes to Couture. His random love of Bieber and other random crap from pop culture combined with that goofy smile cements his spot.

Raphael: Highly skilled loner with a temper. Now that the obvious and certifiably psychotic Ryane Clowe has moved on, that leaves Dan Boyle. Boyle has the most skill on the team and the temper to match. Often even tries to win games all on his own

- David McGuire

Phoenix Coyotes

Leonardo: Shane Doan, duh. More applicable when you think about the love/hate relationship Leo has.

Donatello: Oliver Ekman Larsson. Seems to be the smartest of our crew and is pretty good with a stick.

Michelangelo: Biznasty. Partier. Best when he is delivering one liners. Constantly has to justify why he is part of the team.

Raphael: Mike Smith. Cool but rude. Likes to stray from home and get blindsided from unsuspecting hordes of Foot soldiers.

- Shaun Guhy

Leonardo: Shane Doan. (duh) Doesn't really need any explanation

Donatello: Mikkel Boedker: He's smart. He's polite. He writes the blogs. So what if he can't find Phoenix on the weather map...

Michelangelo: Biz *IS* Michelangelo. 'nuff said.

Raphael: This has to be Mike Smith. Temperamental? Check. Attitude? Check. And if you poke him HE WILL TAKE YOUR STICK AND FREAKING BREAK IT IN FRONT OF YOU.

- Rachael

No. 1 Star: James Reimer, Toronto Maple Leafs

Reimer was incredible in a 2-0 win over the New Jersey Devils, as the Leafs managed just 12 shots against Marty Brodeur. He made 32 saves. He was their best penalty killer in the Leafs thwarting four power plays. He stopped 16 shots in the third to make Phil Kessel’s goal stand up until a Jay McClement empty netter – a goal that, naturally, Reimer assisted on.

No. 2 Star: Nick Foligno, Columbus Blue Jackets

After Sergei Bobrovsky kept the game knotted with some spectacular OT saves, Foligno kept the Blue Jackets’ playoff hopes alive with a 4-3 win at the Colorado Avalanche. R.J. Umberger sent the game into OT with a goal at 18:33 of the third.

No. 3 Star: Scott Hartnell, Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers forward notched a hat trick in their 7-3 rout of the Montreal Canadiens. Hartnell scored two power-play goals in the second period and then added another at even strength in the third.

Honorable Mention: Andrew Shaw and Jonathan Toews had a goal and an assist while Marian Hossa had three points in the Chicago Blackhawks’ 5-2 win over the Dallas Stars. Ray Emery improved to 16-1-0 on the season. Jamie Benn had both goals for Dallas. … Antti Niemi made 35 saves and Tommy Wingels had a goal and an assist in the San Jose Sharks’ 4-0 whitewash of the Phoenix Coyotes. … Linemates Ryan Kesler (2 goals) and Derek Roy (1 goal, 1 assist) helped lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators, eliminating them from playoff contention. Roberto Luongo made 36 saves. … Jason Pominville scored two goals and Ryan Suter had an assist and was a plus-3 in the Minnesota Wild’s 4-3 win at the Calgary Flames. Ben Hanowski scored his first NHL goal in the loss. ... Cody McLeod scored two goals for the Avs.

Did You Know? The Bruins and Senators were postponed due to the Boston Marathon bombings.

Dishonorable Mention: Trevor Daley was a minus-3. … Ryan O'Byrne had three minor penalties for the Leafs. … Martin Hanzel was 9-for-31 on faceoffs. … David Legwand and Taylor Beck were minus-3. … Shea Weber, Andrew Alberts and Zack Kassian were all given misconducts in the third period. ... Carey Price was pulled after giving up six goals on 29 shots. … Ryan White is expected to have an in-person hearing for this brutal hit on Kent Huskins.

No. 1 Star: Phil Kessel, Toronto Maple Leafs

Kessel scored twice and assisted on another as the Maple Leafs edged the New York Rangers 4-3 and moved four points ahead of the Ottawa Senators for the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference. His first goal gave Toronto a 3-1 lead in the second period, but the Rangers tied things nine minutes into the third period. Just 39 seconds after Derek Stepan's game-tying goal, Kessel put home his own rebound to give the Maple Leafs the lead for good:

No. 2 Star: Radek Dvorak, Anaheim Ducks

On the night Justin Schultz gave Anaheim fans plenty to boo, Dvorak was the reason they would cheer. His pair of goals were enough for the Ducks to double up the Edmonton Oilers 2-1. Jonas Hiller made 27 saves in his first game back after missing four due to the flu. Dvorak has three goals in five games since signing with Anaheim on March 24.

No. 3 Star: Cory Schneider, Vancouver Canucks

Needing just 19 saves, Schneider earned his fifth shutout of the season, and second in three starts, with a 2-0 win over the Phoenix Coyotes. He's now tied with Mike Smith and Pekka Rinne for the NHL lead in shutouts. Ryan Kesler scored in his first game back from injury after missing 20 games. This shorthanded goal was credited to Dan Hamhuis, but it was Antoine Vermette who had to watch his pass back to the Coyotes' blue line travel all the way into his own empty net:

Honorable mention: After the Colorado Avalanche opened the scoring early in the second period, the Calgary Flames would score three unanswered goals en route to a 3-1 victory. Roman Cervenka, Mike Cammalleri and Alex Tanguay would net goals for the Flames, while Joey MacDonald stopped 39 shots for only his second win since mid-February. With the victory, Calgary ended a 13-game winless streak away from Saddledome. Avs rookie forward Brad Malone scored his first NHL goal ... Brad Marchand scored his 15th and 16th goals of the season ten minutes apart in the first period to help build up a 3-0 Bruins lead. That was more than enough for Boston as they downed the Carolina Hurricanes 6-2 to move within a point of the idle Montreal Canadiens for tops in the Northeast Division. Tuukka Rask made 40 saves for the second time in three starts. Rich Peverley, Jaromir Jagr, Andrew Ference, and Gregory Campbell each recorded two points. Dennis Seidenberg had three helpers.

Did you know? Oilers defenseman Nick Schultz scored for the first time in 58 games.

Dishonorable mention: Justin Peters allowed two goals on the first four shots he faced and was pulled eight minutes into the opening period ... Carolina has lost 12 of 13 ... The Coyotes have been shutout 7 times this season, tying them with Nashville for most in the NHL this season.

Preview: New York Rangers at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7 p.m. ET. There are some valuable Eastern Conference points on the line this week as the Rangers and Maple Leafs play a home-and-home Monday night and Wednesday. The Rangers will feature the same lineup from Saturday's 4-1 win over Carolina, while the Leafs' lineup will see Ryan O'Byrne make his debut since coming over in a trade from Colorado. Toronto will still be without Joffrey Lupul, who suffered an concussion upper-body injury last week. He skated for 10 minutes Monday morning for the second day in a row. There's no timetable set for his return.

Preview: Carolina Hurricanes at Boston Bruins, 7 p.m. ET. The Tyler Seguin experiment at center is over. The Bruins forward found a grey sweater hanging in his stall on Monday meaning he'll be back on the wing between Brad Marchand and Rich Peverley. The Hurricanes have dropped four in a row, leaving them eight points out of a playoff spot, while the Bruins will try to keep pace with the Montreal Canadiens for Northeast Division supremacy. Things aren't going well in Carolina, as Canes Country sums up: "Third in the Division. 13th in the Eastern Conference. 26th in the League. Seven straight home losses (tying a franchise record). 1-10-1 in the last 12 games. On the outside of the playoff race. Looking good for a high draft pick in the off-season."

Preview: Edmonton Oilers at Anaheim Ducks, 10 p.m. ET It's "Boo Justin Schultz Night" at Honda Center as the Oilers defenseman and Duck draft pick visits the team he left as a UFA over the summer after failing to come to terms with them. “I saw an opportunity in Edmonton and I don’t regret that decision,” Schultz told the Edmonton Journal.

Check out previews and updated scores for all of today's games on the Y! Sports NHL scores and scheds page. For tonight's starting goalies, check out Goalie Post.

Evening Reading

• How close is a potential Kings/Ducks outdoor game at Dodger Stadium to becoming reality? An announcement for a Jan. 25, 2014 game could come as soon as next week. [LA Times]

• So, what's the deal with the Flyers showing all this love for Steve Mason? [Broad Street Hockey]

• Speaking of goaltending, it looks like Joel Quenneville will use a platoon in net come playoff time. [ESPN Chicago]

• Ryan Kesler returns for the Canucks tonight. [Vancouver Sun]

Puck Buddy Comment of the Day: Kevin on "Blacky Hawky Spider":

The fact that other people joined in with the singing, and no one stopped this guy is disturbing.

Enablers!

Bold Prediction: Justin Schultz nets the game-winning goal on the power play as the Oilers edge the Ducks 3-2.

Derek Roy was told this week that he would not receive a contract extension from the Dallas Stars, meaning that he had one skate out the door at the trade deadline with unrestricted free agency pending this summer.

The Vancouver Canucks were long-rumored as a destination, needing help up the middle and having previously talked trade with the Stars at the 2012 deadline for Steve Ott.

Now they have the center that was traded for Ott. The circle is complete.

Roy was traded to the Canucks for a second-round draft pick and Kevin Connauton, a 23-year-old defenseman for the Chicago Wolves and a power-play specialist.

In Roy, the Canucks get a player tailormade for the second-line center role and one that’s had an strong season for the Dallas Stars – in, let’s remember, a contract year. He has 22 points in 30 games, although only four of them are goals. After a strong year on draws on 2011-12, Roy is back to being around a 46-percenter in the circle.

Jeff Angus of Defending Big D had a good take on Roy’s season in Dallas, and how he was utilized.

Vancouver was seen as a team “one proven center short,” so naturally they traded for a short proven center. (/rim shot).

Does this mean Ryan Kesler shifts to the wing when he’s back from (another) injury?

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The NHL trade deadline is in six days - as it is in most fantasy leagues, too. Some owners like to target those players who are on the trading block, in hopes that they are moved to a more favorable situation. I'm guilty of that myself. But the reality is, unless he's a winger going to the Penguins a prospect going to a rebuilding team, the move that you're making strictly on the hope of his production surging after a trade has as much downside as it does upside. Stay focused on the current situation - the best way to avoid overpaying.

This week's Frozen Pool takes a look at the top roto players of the last two weeks heading into Wednesday's games.What do these 20 players have in common? None of them are on the trading block.

Studs...

These fellas are wielding a hot stick. Take that into consideration when you go after them in trade talks...

Dustin Byfuglien, Winnipeg Jets (9-2-8-10, minus-1, 6 PIM, 32 SOG, 5 PPPts) – Byfuglien and Tobias Enstrom really complement each other. And not just because cloning them and putting 20 of them together in a line looks like a UPC code. But you have the big, hard-hitting shooter beside the smaller, slick-passing finesse. Enstrom is back from injury now, so watch these two go to work.

Joffrey Lupul, Toronto Maple Leafs (4-6-1-7, plus-5, 8 PIM, 14 SOG) – Injuries and suspensions behind him, Lupul is now back in his familiar spot alongside Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel. Last year he emerged as a point-per-game player and as long as he can pretend Bozak is a first-line center stay healthy, the numbers will continue.

Derek Stepan, New York Rangers (14-7-9-16, plus-4, 4 PIM, 27 SOG, 5 PPPts) – In the last 14 games, Stepan has more points than Marian Gaborik (seven) and Brad Richards (six) combined. Now his ice time has crept above the latter two vets and is actually second on the team in TOI among forwards behind Ryan Callahan.

Cory Schneider, Vancouver Canucks (4-0-0, 0.73 GAA, 0.970 SP, 2 SO) – Before this five-game winning streak, Schneider held a 6-5-3 record and had sat on the bench for four games watching Roberto Luongo get the starts. Nine days have gone by since that 'low' and everyone in Vancouver has relaxed.

Duds

Somebody wake these guys up – their fantasy owners are counting on them...

Jake Allen, St. Louis Blues (0-2-0, 4.29 GAA, 0.769 SV%, yanked once) – Just like it's been in Vancouver, the goaltending situation in St. Louis has been a roller coaster ride. Except with the Blues, the 'downward' part has lasted a lot longer. So Jaroslav Halak sucks and Jake Allen is a superstar. And now Halak doesn't suck anymore, he's actually great. But Allen sucks. Hopefully this suck/not suck pattern will stop soon. Thankfully, we don't have to go through such a roller coaster with Brian Elliott. He's been pretty consistent with his suckiness.

Alexander Semin, Carolina Hurricanes (3-0-0-0, minus-5, 2 PIM, 7 SOG) – This is precisely the reason why forward-thinking Jim Rutherford only signed Semin to a one-year deal. He knew all about Semin's inconsistency. So after Semin proves himself for 48 games, I'm sure Rutherford will reward him with a two or even three-year extension, though probably not for his current $7 million given that the salary cap drops next year. So Semin will play hard and …I'm sorry? Oh.

James van Riemsdyk, Toronto Maple Leafs (7-0-1-1, minus-6, 0 PIM, 12 SOG) – Something is off with JVR. Going back a month, to February 27, van Riemsdyk is a minus-9. Whatever the reason for the spiral, he should be benched in fantasy leagues.

Daniel Sedin, Vancouver Canucks (10-1-3-4, plus-1, 0 PIM, 31 SOG) – Sedin owners should be troubled by this - Daniel tallied 10 points in the seven games that Ryan Kesler was in the lineup, but just 19 in 26 when Kesler is out.

The Wire...

Mostly short-term grabs here, but as always some potential steals...

Martin Erat, Nashville Predators (3-1-6-7, plus-1, 0 PIM, 7 SOG) – Erat owners have been waiting all season for this. If you bailed on him a week ago, shame on you. You know what he's like - pointless in seven followed by 12 points in seven. He's done it for years. We call this phenomena 'The Huselius'.

Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Minnesota Wild (7-2-7-9, plus-5, 0 PIM, 11 SOG) – Scratched for three games in mid-March, PMB returned to the lineup a new man. Or maybe it was the 'old' Bouchard we saw prior to his concussion issues.

Michael Frolik (2-2-1-3, plus-1, 2 PIM, 7 SOG) – Until this point, Frolik has been a PK specialist on the Hawks. I use this term a lot with him, but it's like using a race car to plow the field. Now he's playing on a line with Jonathan Toews and seeing decent ice time. These last two games mark the first two times all season in which he has seen more than 16 minutes of ice time.

Marcus Johansson, Washington Capitals (4-1-4-5, plus-4, 0 PIM, 3 SOG) – He's now on a line with Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom and until that stops, the production will probably be reasonably close to where it is currently at.

Jared Spurgeon, Minnesota Wild (14-4-8-12, plus-11, 0 PIM, 20 SOG, 5 PPPts) – Although he's been paired up with Clayton Stoner (who is also on a decent streak), Spurgeon is on the first power-play unit with Ryan Suter - and the Wild PP has been humming of late.

Roman Josi, Nashville Predators (6-2-6-8, 2PIM, minus-2, 11 SOG) – After 27 games he had seven points, but six games later he has another eight. Who does he think he is, Martin Erat? Josi has been paired with Shea Weber at even strength all season, but only in the last 10 or 15 games has he also been paired with him on the power play.

Steve Oleksy, Washington Capitals (4-0-2-2, plus-2, 13 PIM, 1 SOG) – The 27-year-old rookie is a fine option for penalty minutes or hits. Oleksy should deliver if you are lacking in either physical category. The points have been a nice bonus.

Heating Up?

Here's where I'll fire off a few names of players who may be at the very beginning of a nice little run. Just a gut feeling, but worth looking into and/or taking a chance on:

Roman Cervenka, Calgary; Mikael Backlund, Calgary; Rich Peverley, Boston; David Moss, Phoenix; Joe Pavelski, San Jose; Tyler Toffoli, Los Angeles; Erik Condra, Ottawa

For more fantasy hockey tips, take a gander at DobberHockey. And while you’re at it, follow Dobber’s fantasy hockey musings on Twitter.

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• Uh, Getty Images, this really isn’t cool. That said, it’s probably time for the full Messier, Getzy.

• Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Anders Lindback is out indefinitely for the Tampa Bay Lightning with a bum ankle. Luckily, they have Dustin Tokarski in the oh right they totally and inexplicably traded him. [Raw Charge]

• Has Buffalo Sabres forward Drew Stafford asked for a trade? “No, absolutely not. That’s not something that’s part of my character, I was brought up a certain way and I’m here to focus on the controllables and that’s how I’m playing. If I’m going in there and demanding this and demanding that, that’s just not the type of person I am, so I’m never going to quit no matter how bad it gets.” [WGR]

• Interesting stuff from Cam Charron about the Lethbridge Hurricanes and how the Washington Capitals have told them to change their uniforms because, well, they’re basically the Washington Capitals’ jerseys. [Buzzing The Net]

• New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider and J.T. Miller will line up together against the Florida Panthers. Said Kreider on NY pressure: “I don’t think there’s a microscope, and I don’t think there’s added pressure. I just think they want to help you reach your potential. It’s no more, no less (under the microscope) than it was down there with those (Whale) coaches, too, which is a good thing. You’d rather be under the microscope than (not).” [Daily News]

• Scott Lewis comes up with the fighting advanced stat called “Kordic” that measures punches thrown and missed. It’s pretty awesome. [Backhand Shelf]

• Ryan Lambert doesn’t love everything. But he does love him some Teemu Selanne. “And obviously I understand that no 42-year-old man is looking to play another eight years in a professional sport as tough as hockey, but just the idea that this might conceivably happen is enough to keep me warm. You also have to wonder what the quality of the Ducks this year might mean for Selanne’s return at least for, say, next season. Is he, like Corey Perry, liking what he sees from his teammates enough that next season is at least a possibility? Let’s hope so. Because Teemu is the greatest.” [Two-Line Pass]

• Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has claimed forward Zach Boychuk on waivers from the Nashville Predators. Because if there’s one thing Carolina’s good at, it’s racing cars, growing tobacco and bringing hockey player reruns. [Hurricanes]

• The Canes get Tuomo Ruutu back from injury. [Hurricanes]

• David Krejci is a game-time decision for the Boston Bruins. [Bruins Blog]

• Mike Green is also a game-time decision for the Washington Capitals. [Capitals Insider]

• Daniel Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks isn’t nearly being selfish enough. “The team’s most visible failing has been on the power play, and that’s where Daniel has been MIA. The loss of Ryan Kesler’s right-hand shot and the inability to develop consistent production from the point hasn’t helped. But when you’re an Art Ross and Ted Lindsay Trophy winner, more is expected — and a lot more is expected of Daniel than two power play goals in 29 games.” [Province]

• The NHL hath deemed Niklas Kronwall’s hit on Charlie Coyle as OK for the realm of supplemental discipline. [Malik]

• The Los Angeles Kings will head to the White House next week to meet President Obama and pray that Jonathan Quick doesn’t reveal himself as a member of the Tea Party. [The Hill]

• Finally, the Russian judge only gave Andrew Shaw a 5.0 on this one:

Blackhawks baby says: not a chance.

Preview: Edmonton Oilers at St. Louis Blues, 8 p.m. ET

Both clubs played last night. Who will benefit most from this? Well, the Oilers are coming off a 5-1 win, and the Blues are coming off a weak, 3-0 loss, so I'll say the Blues. While Edmonton put in one of their best efforts of the season, St. Louis conserved a lot of energy barely showing up last night. History is also on their side. They're 9-1-1 in their last 11 versus the Oilers.

Preview: Blue Jackets at Chicago Blackhawks, 8:30 p.m. ET

The Blackhawks have now put in 20 games of regulation loss-free hockey. They're an absurd 17-0-3. Will they ever lose in regulation again? Yes. At some points, they're bound to have a bad night. But if it ends tonight versus the Blue Jackets... man. That would be hockey's equivalent of how Omar Little died.

Preview: Minnesota Wild at Anaheim Ducks, 10 p.m. ET

The Ducks have won 7 straight at home, which is good news, since it's where this one will be taking place. But Minnesota is streaking with four wins in their last five games, and a win tonight would give them a share of the Northwest Division lead. They'll be motivated.

Check out previews and updated scores for all of today's games on the Y! Sports NHL scores and scheds page. For tonight's starting goalies, check out Goalie Post.

Evening Reading

• Trade action is heating up in the NHL. [The Globe & Mail]

• Sean Bergenheim has won his medical grievance with the Florida Panthers and will be paid his full salary, retroactive to the beginning of the lockout. [PHT]

• If the Canucks had known that Ryan Kesler's foot was broken a few hours earlier, they would never have waived Aaron Volpatti. But the real gem from this story is the quote from Dale Weise, on playing against Tom Sestito in the minors: “I don’t want this to come off the wrong way, but I was playing against their skilled guys when I played in the minors. I didn’t play against the third and fourth lines." [The Province]

• Erik Cole refutes rumours that he had a problem with P.K. Subban. [Montreal Gazette]

• Doug Wilson on the Sharks: "We've become a pass-first team in a shoot-first league. Our guys have to change that." [Mercury News]

Puck Buddy Comment of the Day: Swatter, on the Allen Americans' Ronald McDonald jerseys:

Commodore in that jersey would have been epic back in the day.

Bold Prediction: Blue Jackets. Regulation win. Hilarity ensues.

Preview: Washington Capitals at Philadelphia Flyers, 7:30 p.m. ET. RIVALRY NIGHT ON NBC SPORTS NETWORK! Simon Gagne’s first game back with the Flyers after they reacquired him from the Kings. Adam Oates said last night that the Capitals are “60 or 70 percent” as far as grasping his system’s nuances, which is a polite way of saying they’re still playing like poo 30 percent of the time. Yes, poo.

Preview: Montreal Canadiens at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7:30 p.m. ET. IT’S RIVALRY NIGHT IN CANADA, OR AT LEAST THE EASTERN PART! The Leafs have beaten the Habs twice this season, including that PIMs-filled 6-0 rout. Michael Ryder will play for Montreal. Mikhail Grabovski is trying to play it cool with facing the team he loathes to the point of allegedly biting people.

Preview: Detroit Red Wings at Los Angeles Kings, 10 p.m. ET. Darryl Sutter breaks down the Red Wings: “They’re playing more of a push-the-play type of [game]. If you look at it, quite honest, Datsyuk and Zetterberg – this team has scored 57 goals. They [have 47 combined points]. So they’re still pretty central figures as to what’s going on. And then Brunner probably hasn’t gotten enough respect. He’s got 10 goals. That’s a significant number in the league when two guys are – they’re not a high scoring, dominant team offensively, but those guys are in on that many goals is pretty significant.” Jonathan Bernier gets the start for the Kings.

Preview: Nashville Predators at Anaheim Ducks, 10 p.m. ET. Anaheim has two wins over Nashville this season by 3-2 scores. Viktor Fasth will battle Pekka Rinne. Bruce Boudreau, on realignment of Detroit to the East: “They shouldn’t be in the West,” Boudreau said. “Get them out as quick as possible, by the way. I can tell you a couple of teams. They should be with Chicago. Chicago should be in the East too. ... Who else? I think the Kings could go there, just for some travel.”

Check out previews and updated scores for all of today's games on the Y! Sports NHL scores and scheds page. For tonight's starting goalies, check out Goalie Post.

Evening Reading

• Sam Gagner of the Edmonton Oilers was on our podcast tonight, and it was a good time. [Marek Vs. Wyshynski]

• Ryan Kesler of the Vancouver Canucks has a broken foot and could miss six weeks. Paging Stephen Weiss? [CP]

• “Derrick Brassard is now on the shelf along with fellow centers Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov, and defensemen Jack Johnson and James Wisniewski. If you're scoring at home, that group consists of the Blue Jackets' top three centers (on paper) and the No. 1 defense pair for the first 16 games of the season.” [Puck-Rakers]

• Montreal Canadiens defenceman Raphael Diaz is suffering from a concussion and will not dress in Wednesday's game against the rival Toronto Maple Leafs. Unless of course it’s just the flu. [TSN]

• Bourne on the pill culture for sleepy hockey players. [Backhand Shelf]

• Oh, hi Craig MacTavish and Kevin Lowe watching the Flyers and Caps tonight. [@NHLAdamK]

Puck Daddy Reader Comment of the Day: John P. on the Rangers fan that fell on the stairs:

You protest the use of Ginger but not the more obvious and disgusting use of vertical video? For shame.

Bold Prediction: Simon Gagne outscores Michael Ryder tonight.

• At right: Redditor MrBDubz suspects that the authors of his Corporate Finance textbook are hockey fans. I'll go one further. They're Penguins fans, and this textbook was written in 2009. Closer look here: [Reddit]

• Dean Lombardi on the Simon Gagne deal: "Not the same thing, but it’s similar when you move Jack Johnson for Carter because you know you have Voynov coming through. We feel pretty good about our depth up front in the system. So that opens up a roster spots. That’s one of the things very underestimated in juggling, particularly in this shortened season, is juggling roster positions and having access to players. This frees up a roster spot, allows us some flexibility, and obviously gives us some flexibility in terms of space and cash at the deadline." We also would have accepted, he wasn't very good here. [Mayors Manor]

• Decoding the Dallas Stars' acquisition of Erik Cole. Good stuff here. [Defending Big D]

• Jordan Staal talks about his trade to Carolina, and the opportunity to play against former linemates Matt Cooke and Tyler Kennedy in his first game versus the Penguins: "I played with TK and Cookie for a long time. It’s going to be interesting and a unique experience for myself. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Hopefully, we can shut up their chirping by winning the game." [ESPN]

• Who wins in NHL realignment? I say the earth wins, because people will curse it's rotation less now that similar time zone teams are grouped together. Standard D&D logic: anytime you can accrue fewer curses, you're a winner in my books. [SI]

• The NHL's plan for the playoffs under realignment is stupid and mine is great, says this guy. [First Round Bust]

• Ryan Kesler missed Canucks' practice Wednesday and was seen walking around with an air cast. Turns out he broke his foot three games ago. [TSN]

• How the Toronto Maple Leafs are mis-using Tyler Bozak and Mikhail Grabovski. [Leafs Nation]

• McIndoe on the similarities between Nascar and the NHL: "NASCAR: A vehicle known as the "pace car" starts out in the lead and sets the pace before everyone leaves it in the dust and it's never heard from again. The NHL: There's a similar concept, but it's called 'the 2013 San Jose Sharks'. [Down Goes Brown]

• Youth hockey coach Martin Tremblay has really gotten a rough ride since he tripped a 13-year-old in a postgame handshake. 15 days in jail, and the breakup of his marriage. The lesson, I guess, is don't do unbelievably foolish and mean-spirited things? [Prep Rally]

• After being ejected, this player kicks a helmet (and falls on his ass in doing so), then throws a chair in the hallway, scaring two children. It's all very amusing, because he didn't hit the kids. If he had, then probably less so. [Buzzing the Net]

• Damien Brunner appears to be another European gem uncovered by the Detroit Red Wings. [Cotsonika]

• James Wisniewski goes on the injured reserve for the Columbus Blue Jackets. [Blue Jackets]

• Alex Semin's return to Washington, in photos. [RMNB]

• Looking at Boston's cost-to-point ratio, and featuring the most appropriate use of an Adam Sandler gif in the history of the Internet. [Days of Y'Orr]

• Phil Housley could draw interest from the Buffalo Sabres, either as a successor to Lindy Ruff or an assistant. [Twin Cities]

• Dustin Jeffrey fits everywhere on the Pittsburgh Penguins' roster, and thus, nowhere. I say it's karma for signing in the Dutch league during the lockout and then bailing at the last second. You broke Dutch hearts, Dustin. [The Hockey Writers]

• Patrik Elias and Steven Stamkos: good fantasy players, unless faceoffs are a category in your league. [Dobber Hockey]

• And finally, feast your eyes on this gorgeous penalty shot from the KHL. Love this move whenever I see it.

That was a recipe for a memorable game, and they didn’t disappoint: Chicago won in a shootout, 4-3, after Vancouver tied to the game with two goals in the last 2:42 of regulation.

The victory matched the 2006-07 Anaheim Ducks’ record for longest point streak to start the season, a.k.a. most games to start the season without a regulation loss.

The Blackhawks improved to 13-0-3, and can set the record against the San Jose Sharks on Friday.

[Y! Sports Radio: Nick Cotsonika assesses the first month of the NHL season]

“It feels pretty good. It’s a special feeling right now. We want to make the record all ours, and we plan on doing that Friday night,” said Patrick Sharp, who scored his fourth of the season in the win.

Marian Hossa scored twice before leaving the game on a controversial hit from Jannik Hansen of the Canucks, whose forearm connected with Hossa’s head in the third period during a battle for a loose puck.

The Blackhawks won in the shootout on goals by Patrick Kane and Andrew Shaw, while Ray Emery (29 saves) stopped Ryan Kesler to preserve the win.

Alex Elder (on the power play) and Kevin Bieksa scored late in the third period to push overtime. Cory Schneider (40 saves) look the loss.

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Expect less smiling after puck drop.

Through 15 games, the Chicago Blackhawks have been just shy of perfect. The Hawks are 12-0-3 heading into Tuesday night, one game shy of the NHL record for most games without a regulation loss to open a season.

Jonathan Toews would have you believe the win streak doesn't really matter. "What's important to us is getting home-ice advantage, making the playoffs," he said in advance of the game. "Those are our goals. Once you get there, the real season starts. When you get to that point, no one really cares or remembers those streaks at the start of the season."

Sure. But something tells me Chicago will care and remember if the team that ends this streak is the Vancouver Canucks, a team for whom they don't much care. In a delightful coincidence, it's Chicago's biggest rival standing between them and a share of NHL history.

[Y! Sports Radio: Nick Cotsonika assesses the first month of the NHL season]

“This is a great rivalry and has been since the first playoff series,” Patrick Kane said. “It just seems to get better every year. I don’t know if players hate players, but when you get on the ice it’s always a big rivalry.

Some, myself included, would argue it's hockey's biggest right now. With three consecutive postseason appearances prior to last year, the second and third propelling the victor to Stanley Cup Final appearances, they've had plenty of time to let their hatred for one another fester.

But their rivalry goes beyond the postseason. Three years ago, in a regular-season game, they gave us one of the most entertaining brawls of the post-lockout era. Kevin Bieksa and Ben Eager practically strip-fought. Alex Burrows tried to snatch Duncan Keith's weave right off his head. Shane O'Brien got slewfooted by an official, it was that crazy.

And last year, in the regular season, the Canucks' lost Daniel Sedin to a Duncan Keith elbow. Keith received a 5-game Shanaban for the foul.

Bearing that -- and everything else -- in mind, the Canucks would like nothing more than to spoil the Blackhawks' party, especially in their own building. From the Vancouver Sun:

“Chicago is obviously one of our biggest rivals so to beat them anytime feels good,” Canuck alternate captain Kevin Bieksa said Monday before the team flew to the Windy City. “It would be extra special to put an end to their streak.

[...] If the Canucks manage to halt the 'Hawks, it would be another feather in their cap. Last season, they went into Detroit with the Red Wings on an NHL record 23-game home-ice win streak and edged the Wings 4-3 in a shootout.

The Canucks looked downright giddy to end Detroit's streak. (Roberto Luongo's "Thank you, goodnight" to the Detroit fans was especially trollish.) And that was Detroit, a team with whom the Canucks have little history. Chicago, on the other hand? Hell, the Canucks want this so bad they actually cheered for the Blackhawks to win versus LA just so they'd get a chance to ruin this record.

[Also: Nazem Kadri is making the most of his time in Toronto]

“Personally, I was pretty happy that they won against L.A. so we'd get the chance to go in there and, hopefully, beat them in regulation,” Burrows said.

The Canucks have a few things going for them. Ryan Kesler will be playing his third game since stepping back into the lineup, and David Booth will be making his season debut after suffering a groin injury in the abbreviated training camp. Plus, they were responsible for one of Chicago's three overtime losses, a 2-1 triumph on February 1 that came via shootout.

What does Chicago have going for them? Well, they haven't lost a regulation game all season, so... everything.

What can we expect Tuesday night?

“It’s going to be loud, something is going to happen and we’re going to make sure we focus,” Alex Burrows told the Province Monday.

Yes. Something is going to happen.

More news from the Yahoo! Sports Minute:

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• The image above was tweeted by Mathieu Darche today with the message “Time to make it official! Moving on to second career.” So he’s either returning or going to work in a Bauer factory. One of the two. [@Matdarche52]

• Down Goes Brown offers the seven levels of dirty hockey, from the snow shower to Bertuzzi/Moore. [Grantland]

• Elliotte Friedman on the Olympics: “I still believe NHLers will go to the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Everyone got together last week to air their official positions. My bosses won't be thrilled, but it sounds like the NHL and NHLPA are going to be able to show video and get access that was previously unobtainable. Insurance remains a major issue, though. It costs about $7 million to cover player contracts, which the International Ice Hockey Federation and International Olympic Committee are being asked to pay. Another issue is the current package only covers about 80 per cent of a player's salary. That's a significant difference for a player like Crosby or Alexander Ovechkin.” [CBC]

• The Guardian on Alex Ovechkin: “But while there's been a bit of improvement, things for Ovechkin still look stalled. The comparisons with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have stopped. Meanwhile, he's been eclipsed by the likes of Steve Stamkos and Jonathan Toews. It's difficult to believe this is truly the new Ovechkin, that this is the status quo that we should expect from now on, but perhaps that's the expectation we should have of his North American play. One more question: Is Ovie still to be considered a superstar?” [Guardian]

• Stu Hackel on Ovechkin: “But the fun has been leaking out of Oveckin's game for a while. We've waited through two seasons and a quarter of a third to see the old Ovie. After watching him on Sunday, I'm not sure he's ever coming back.” [SI]

• Japers’ Rink thinks Alex Ovechkin is neither trending up nor down at the moment. “Needs to be more focused in his own end of the rink and needs some help at the other end; the effort is there.” [JP]

• That AHL game that was stopped after Wade MacLeod’s seizure has been rescheduled. “The Springfield Falcons, AHL affiliate of the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets, announced that they will finish their suspended game from Sunday, Feb. 17 against the Adirondack Phantoms on Friday, Mar. 1 at 6:05 p.m. prior to that evening's scheduled contest between the two clubs, which will now begin at 7:30 p.m. The game will resume with 3:42 remaining in the second period with Adirondack leading, 2-1, and Springfield commencing a two-minute power play. The public is invited to attend the conclusion of the Feb. 17 game free of charge. After that game has ended, fans will be asked to exit the MassMutual Center before reentering the building to have their tickets for the 7:30 p.m. contest scanned.” [SportsNetwork]

• Nikolai Khabibulin draws the starting gig against the Los Angeles Kings tonight, marking only the second start of the season for the 40 year old. [Edmonton Journal]

• Only you can help Japandroids defeat Nickelback and save hockey. [Spin]

• “Jack Johnson likes carrying load in Columbus.” [CBC]

• The Kings Garden offers an NHL realignment plan. [My Hockey Buzz]

• Ryan Kesler would like to stay healthy in order to avoid the tedium of injury rehab: “Mentally, for me, it was tough. It was very tedious work basically to go to the gym every day and just grind it out over and over and over again and skate by yourself, because I wasn't allowed to skate with any of the guys.” [ESPN]

• Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has acquired defenseman Scott Ford from the St. Louis Blues for forward Jani Lajunen. [Tennessean]

• Milan Lucic said “personal reasons” took him off the road with the Boston Bruins this weekend. [Boston.com]

• Here’s a theory you have to love: Jay Bouwmeester’s lack of any playoff experience is actually something that’s helped along his ironman streak: “Flames defenseman has had a bit more time to recover from the rigors of the regular season. His lack of playoff appearances, though, does raise another point. Vancouver’s Henrik Sedin, the player with the second-longest games streak, has played more consecutive games in the same time thanks to the postseason. Sedin currently trails Bouwmeester, with 595 consecutive games in the regular season vs. the defenseman’s 602. When you factor in playoff games, Sedin has played an extra 71 games over that stretch, bringing his unofficial total to a devilish 666 consecutive games.” [Hockey Writers]

• “How covering the Houston Aeros has made me never want to have children.” [Hockey Wilderness]

• Does the NHL have an allergy against technology? “Is there something about the culture surrounding the sport of hockey that makes it more resistant than the other professional sports to new ideas, new applications of technology, and change? At the moment, it certainly seems like it. On the one hand, there are clubs like the Sharks, Penguins, Kings, Canucks and Bruins all of which are admittedly at the forefront of using advanced analysis (of various kinds) to improve player readiness and personnel decisions.” [Vice, via Wayne from Tuskegee]

• Lepore on how to make Hockey Day in America even better: “Make the NBC and NBC Sports Network games the only show in town that day, unless there's a game between two Canadian teams. Why distract people in Boston and Dallas (who both played at the same time as Washington-NY Rangers) from the event?” [SB Nation]

• Finally, via Buzzing The Net, an indefinite suspension from juniors:

Whatever the Moncton Wildcats' Ross Johnston meant to do with his stick when he broke the Halifax Mooseheads' Brian Lovell's jaw on Saturday, he wasn't in control of it.

Was this intentional or incidental? It happened so fast that none of the four on-ice QMJHL officials in the game called a penalty, but the Mooseheads video crew caught it and the clip went viral.

“The Book of Mormon” is a tremendous musical, simultaneously goofing on yet embracing the trappings of that ridiculous genre, while skewering organized religion with the pointed dagger the “South Park” boys previously used on L. Ron Hubbard.

But the Broadway hit also provides us with a salient point about recruiting non-believers: It’s less about the message than the means. If the natives aren't digging the Mormon narrative, drop a bunch of "Star Wars" references into it. This is true in organized faith as much as it’s true in centuries of salesmanship: It’s about tailoring your pitch, providing a comforting environment and understanding what they’re looking to get out of the experience.

[Y! Sports Radio: Nick Cotsonika assesses the first month of the NHL season]

(It’s also a musical about maggots in male genitalia and Mormons being assailed by satanic coffee cups, but that’s less relevant to this column. At least the second example isn’t.)

As hockey fans, especially in the U.S., we’ve gone on our missions to convert the uninitiated. To grow the flock. To bring the light of puck into the dark hearts of baseball and basketball fans who have stumbled down the wrong path.

Thing is, we all need to do more of it, especially after Gary and Don drowned the NHL’s momentum with casual sports fans in a tar pit of ego. Yeah, we all came back. Sure, the numbers are strong. But we can’t be the only ones that sense the lockout took hockey off the radar for those casual sports fans that rubberneck the Winter Classic and the Stanley Cup Playoffs; or the ones that are curious about hockey but never took the plunge.

Fear not. Today’s Lambert-less edition of WWL will provide you with a six-step program for getting a heathen into our temple, drinking our holy water and then sending them out to ring more doorbells.

It all starts with getting them to the game. A reading from the Book of Gordie …

(Coming Up: John Tortorella is a meanie; Jake Allen's clutch save; the 101-year-old fan attends first game; Ryan Miller haz a sad; Mike Babcock needs a bucket; more sickness from Ales Hemsky; bombs tossed between Blues and Canucks; Viktor Fasth is humble; and where did Patrick Marleau go?)

1. Locate a potential convert.

This is more challenging than you’d anticipate.

It requires a brief interview to determine the following: Have they ever attended an NHL game before? Have they ever seen one on television? If so, did they have trouble understanding the game/following the puck/overcoming a feeling of indifference because there isn’t a basketball game’s offensive pace and/or they don’t have money on the outcome?

If they fit into any of those latter categories, explain that the visceral thrill of the live in-arena experience overcomes any difficulty they might have in connecting with the game through visual media.

Or that you’ll buy them a ticket, that there’s beer there* and hope they have nothing else better to do that night.

2. Pick the proper game.

I took a convert to a Flyers/Devils game at the Rock on a Saturday night. Granted, this kind of blood feud isn’t readily available in every NHL city. So find a game situation that you feel will best capture the essence in the in-arena experience. No mid-week games against inconsequential non-division opponents. If your team is attendance challenged, grab a game you’re sure will have a least a hint of the enthusiastic chaos in the stands that’s like crack-rock to puckheads.

(No, I have no idea how this applies to Phoenix Coyotes games. I guess just wait for Detroit to come through or something.)

3. Pick the proper seats.

Again, trust your gut on this. If they seem the type that needs to be close to the action to better understand the speed and fury of the game, then snag some tickets in the high rows of the lower bowl.

(Don’t go setting the bar ridiculously high with the tickets near the glass; that’s like giving them 25 orgasms on the first date.)

If they seem the type that will become addicted to puck because of the fan experience, get thee to the cheap seats.

Which brings us to …

4. Beer.

I’ve often felt that attendance at church wouldn’t be waning if they’d just do the wine goblet thing earlier in the mass.

Ditto beer in our temples. Beer and hockey go together like cats and YouTube. Provided there aren’t 12 steps, ahem, "reasons" why you can't do it, ply them early and often with suds.

* If you’ve done your job as a hockey proselytizer, then you’ll have worked out some sort of “you buy the first two rounds and I’ll buy the ticket” agreement with the potential puckhead. Being that the cost of a beer you’d actually like to drink runs you upwards of $9 in most arenas, you’re talking about a $36 outlay, reducing the hit from your upper deck ticket (assuming that was the play) and paying you back in beer. Which, frankly, should be our national currency anyway.

5. Point out the Ice Girls/Cheerleaders/Dancers.

Depending on your company, reactions will range from leering to cattiness to outright guffawing. Regardless, it's point of conversation between the fights.

6. Above All Else, Be Patient.

Targeted education is that pathway to obsession. Don’t get caught up in the minutia of the rulebook – explaining icing to a newbie fan is a surefire way for them to hear the Charlie Brown Teacher Voice Trombone whenever you speak.

Instead, explain the sexy. The stuff behind the play. The kinetic thrill of seeing a goal develop. The traditions on the ice, in the stands and dangling from the rafters. Why a certain team or player or referee has their name affixed to “SUCKS” during crowd chants.

In other words, all the stuff they tend to leave off the broadcast and the commercials. The things you can only see, hear and feel inside the arena. The things that lead to epiphanies whenever a potential convert enters the temple for the first time – and brings them back again and again.

There you go. A surefire way to get that guy in your office or that girl in your coffee shop to love the puck. Before you know it, they’ll be teaming up in twos to spread the gospel of the NHL to the corners of this world that know not of hockey’s joy. And after they leave Mississippi, they’ll move onto the next state …

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: Viktor Fasth joins the long list of goaltenders that can’t take all the credit for how awesome they are. “I’m not going to stand here and just talk about myself. I mean, it’s a team sport. If the guys don’t play good in front of me, I can’t play good. And the other way around. It’s a team game.”

Boston Bruins: Stanley Cup of Chowder on Brad Marchand, who is putting pucks into the net like they’re fists into a Sedin’s face: “He's now shooting at 47%! Nearly half of the kid's shots are going in! Is he sapping Bergeron's mojo like some kind of scoring-mojo vampire? What gives? Enjoy it while it lasts, regression lies ahead.”

Buffalo Sabres: Jason Pominville’s turnover led to Pascal Dupuis’ tying goal in the Sabres’ loss to the Penguins. Oh, Ryan Miller, was this a good way to lose? “It’s just a [bleep] way to lose,” Miller said. “I don’t understand. Your guard has to be up at all times. They get right back in the game. And a broken play to seal it for them. Just preventable and not what we need to be doing right now.”

Calgary Flames: Bob Hartley believes that goalie Daniel Taylor may be the next Dwayne Roloson, i.e. a late bloomer. Which is great news for the 2023-24 Calgary Flames, as Taylor will be 36 a.k.a. in His Roloson Prime.

Carolina Hurricanes: Canes Country believes a certain defenseman has been Faulk’in great this season: “He usually gets the tough matchups every night, isn't getting a zone start push and is somehow managing to drive the play forward. Oh, and he is only 20 years old. Faulk was very good in his rookie season but he is playing on a completely different level now.”

Chicago Blackhawks: The Hawks are now 12-0-3, inching closer to tying the 2006-07 Anaheim Ducks’ record of 16 games without a regulation loss to start the season. And Jonathan Toews couldn’t be more excited: “What’s important to us is getting home ice advantage, making the playoffs. Once you get there, the real season starts. When you get there, nobody remembers these streaks at the start of the season.” Zzzzzzzzzz....

Colorado Avalanche: The Avs talked to the New York Rangers about a Ryan O’Reilly for Michael Del Zotto and Chris Kreider or J.T. Miller swap. No word when Glen Sather stopped laughing, or if he has yet.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Scott Howson suggested the Blue Jackets hire John Davidson, who fired him last week. Just in case you were wondering if Scott Howson was capable of making a good decision as GM.

Dallas Stars: Trevor Daley left the Stars’ 4-3 loss to Calgary with an “upper body injury.”

Detroit Red Wings presented by Amway: Somebody get Mike Babcock a bucket, as the Red Wings’ winless streak reached three games. “You have to win and get points in this league or you lose sight of everything in a hurry. Right now, we're taking on water.''

Edmonton Oilers: More sickness from Ales Hemsky, whose contract PJ Stock still thinks is terrible:

Florida Panthers: The charity point helped the Panthers win the Southeast last season, but their inability to win games in OT might keep them out of the playoff this season.

Los Angeles Kings: Keaton Ellerby’s time at the Keith Ballard School of Goalie Head Etiquette have really paid off:

Minnesota Wild: Rookie Jason Zucker, who scored his first NHL on Sunday, on his playmaking skills or lack thereof: "I'm not exactly a passer," he said. "I'm trying to get the puck on net and limit my passing."

Montreal Canadiens: The Canadiens played something called “Hockey Baseball” in practice on Sunday. Finally, a way to revive the Expos! Somewhere, Youppi squees.

Nashville Predators: Dave Lozo makes the case for Pekka Rinne to be the current MVP frontrunner. “Despite getting an average of 1.8 goals of support (and zero goals in three games already), Rinne has almost single-handedly earned the Predators 11 of 20 points in his starts. Rinne has been the difference between the Predators sitting sixth in the Western Conference through Sunday's games and sinking to the bottom of the standings.”

New Jersey Devils: You know, the Devils have pretty OK goaltending:

New York Islanders: The NY Post reports that Charles Wang has been in talks with an investment bank in order to sell the Islanders for upwards of $300 million. Because Brooklyn, that’s why.

New York Rangers: John Tortorella curtly replied “none of your business” when asked about Rick Nash’s health on Sunday morning, leading members of the media to protest his behavior while once again spending time obsessing over it.

Ottawa Senators: Hell of a time for Kyle Turris to go into a tailspin, what with Karlsson and Spezza (and potentially Michalek) out. He hasn’t scored a goal since Jan. 25.

Philadelphia Flyers: Danny Briere is drawing inspiration from the past to rally the Flyers. “When Lavy took over the team a few years ago, I think we ended up being 14th in the conference at one point and we made the playoffs late in the season, and rode it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.. … So it's not too late. I really believe with the team that we have, we can come back in this race and we should be making the playoffs.”

Phoenix Coyotes: Zbynek Michalek blocks much rubber with his body. When does it hurt the most? “The worst is when you take it straight on the bone.”

Pittsburgh Penguins: We don’t want to say things are going well for the Penguins, but Paul Martin scored a game-winning goal.

San Jose Sharks: How are the Sharks going to pull out of their 7-game losing streak? Getting Patrick Marleau to shoot a bit more would be a good thing.

St. Louis Blues: Ryan Reaves dropped some bombs here on Aaron Volpatti. Ouch.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Vincent Lecavalier is tied for 16th in the NHL in points, and is averaging 1.07 points per game. Party like it’s 2007!

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Preview: Boston Bruins at Buffalo Sabres, 7 p.m. ET

Another visit to Buffalo for the Boston Bruins. Will John Scott singlehandedly win the game by beating someone up again? (Follow-up question: Did he even do that last time?) The Bruins are rolling right now at 8-1-2, and they're rolling even harder on the road, with four straight wins. Buffalo will cross their fingers that Tuukka Rask will completely to be a dud against them. He's been pulled twice in his last four starts in Buffalo, with a 3.62 goals-against average.

Preview: Philadelphia Flyers at New Jersey Devils, 7 p.m. ET

Here we have a match of two teams that have made me feel dumb this year. I thought the Flyers would be better. I thought the Devils would be worse. I know nothing. Danius Zubrus is out and Alexei Ponikarovsky makes his debut for the Devils, who have won five straight over the Flyers, dating back to last postseason. Something tells me Flyers remember that series. (Also, Wysh is at this game. If you see him, tell him to come home.)

Preview: San Jose Sharks at Chicago Blackhawks, 8:30 p.m. ET

The last time these two teams met, both were streaking into the season. Chicago won, putting the second loss in San Jose's win column, and San Jose immediately fell off a cliff. They've lost every game since, and six straight. The Blackhawks, meanwhile, are still unbeaten in regulation at 10-0-3, so the Sharks have an excellent opportunity to end two streaks with one win. They'll be buoyed by the fact that Chicago is without Corey Crawford, who's day-to-day with an injury that looks and quacks like a concussion.

Preview: Dallas Stars at Vancouver Canucks, 10 p.m. ET

Ryan Kesler returns for the Canucks and he'll be the centre of the hour. That is, unless Henrik Sedin has a multi-point night, in which case, he becomes the scoringest, pointiest player in Canucks history. Kari Lehtonen would like to make a little personal history of his own, however. He's never won a game in Vancouver.

Check out previews and updated scores for all of today's games on the Y! Sports NHL scores and scheds page. For tonight's starting goalies, check out Goalie Post.

Evening Reading

• Shouldn't be necessary, but Bruins' coach Claude Julien comes to the defence of Matt Cooke: “I’ll be bluntly honest. I looked at the play. If you look at in slow motion, sure it’s going to look deliberate. But in normal speed I don’t believe it was deliberate. But I can understand why Bryan Murray is upset. If I lost a player like that I’d be upset too, but sometimes when you’re upset you’re not being realistic." [CNNSE]

• Still not necessary, but teammate Sidney Crosby stands up for Cooke as well: "With Matt’s history, he probably gets a tough call on that one. I think that’s unnecessary.I think we all saw the play and know what happened and know that it was an accident. If you ask anyone that understands the game at all, they’ll tell you that it’s pretty hard to try to intentionally do what he did. Unfortunately, his past creeps in and people probably give him a hard time. He’s really tried to clean up the way he plays and I think he’s done a pretty good job with that. His past gives him a tough guy, but he’s made a strong effort of making sure that he’s better.” [Canoe]

• How Ryan Kesler's return could soften the blow of the Canucks' inevitable regression. [PlayNow]

• Jean-Sebastien Giguere is taking a brief personal leave from the Avalanche. [Denver Post]

Puck Buddy Comment of the Day: Not that it even matters what post it's from, but "Brad" took issue with the Eugene Melnyk post:

#$%$ you mooney...your a #$%$ idiot!!!!...i/d like to find out where you live!!!!!!

All right then.

Bold prediction: San Jose's streak ends, which means Chicago's does too.

The Vancouver Canucks will be without centre Manny Malhotra for the remainder of 2013. On Thursday, they announced that he's been placed on injured reserve through to the end of the year. From a release:

The Vancouver Canucks announced today that centre Manny Malhotra has been placed on Injured Reserve and will miss the remainder of the 2012.13 NHL season.

“The long term health of Manny Malhotra is of utmost importance to our organization,” said Michael D. Gillis, President and General Manager, Canucks Sports & Entertainment. “Throughout his career Manny has showcased his indispensability through skilled play, being a consummate professional and leader in the room while also continuously giving back to the community. Manny will continue to be a valued member of our organization.”

There are still a lot of questions to be answered in this surprise announcement, but the release gives a few hints at a few answers.

According to Bob McKenzie, the issue that will be sidelining Malhotra for the duration of the season is the same one that took him out of the Canucks' lineup late in the 2010-11: his left eye, which was struck by a puck in a freak deflection late in game versus the Colorado Avalanche on March 16.

A series of surgeries and a medical miracle allowed Malhotra returned to the Canucks' lineup just in time for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. Still, he admitted that his vision in that eye would never be 100%. And, after completing the series versus the Bruins, Malhotra had more procedures in the summer.

Now it would appear that the condition of his eye has deteriorated enough to raise questions about his safety on the ice, which, considering the speed of the game, the threat of hitters and the need for complete peripheral vision, makes a lot of sense. If Malhotra's blind side is larger than most players, he's putting himself at risk, and he knows it. When Gillis says, "The long term health of Manny Malhotra is of utmost importance to our organization," I'd hazard a guess that this is what he's referring to.

The final lines of the release indicate that Malhotra's career is over -- "Throughout his career Manny has showcased his indispensability through skilled play" -- although he hasn't made that decision yet. The centre will spend the rest of the season on long-term injury exception, then re-evaluate.

In the meantime, he'll get a taste of what his post-hockey career will be like. Malhotra has already done a lot of coaching work with the Canucks, teaching young centres how to improve their faceoff techniques and running drills and practices. The final line of the release indicates that he'll likely do more of that. If he finds that it's enough to satisfy his need to be on the ice, I suspect that we've seen the last of Manny Malhotra as a player.

It's a shame. When Malhotra was healthy in his first season in Vancouver, the Canucks were able to roll their top three lines comfortably. With Malhotra on the roster, Alain Vigneault developed some of the most extreme deployment strategies in the league, sending Malhotra out almost exclusively for defensive zone faceoffs so that Henrik Sedin and Ryan Kesler could start closer to the opposing net. Malhotra's unique role as an offensive enabler and shutdown centre earned him discussion as a dark horse Selke candidate.

Speaking of Ryan Kesler, he appears to be ready to jump back into the lineup. His return originally looked as though it might displace rookie Jordan Schroeder. Does Malhotra's absence open up a permanent spot for the rookie centre?

Follow Harrison Mooney on Twitter at @HarrisonMooney

Darryl “Dobber” Dobbs is Puck Daddy’s resident fantasy hockey expert. Dobber can be criticized and ridiculed over at his own site, too. Follow him on Twitter (@DobberHockey), but only if you like cool tidbits on player trends.

The best thing to do after writing team-by-team stuff on the Eastern Conference is to follow it up with one about the West. That's just logic.

Anaheim Ducks

The battle: Kyle Palmieri vs. himself

The stakes: A top six spot

The lowdown: Palmieri did not look out of place during a couple of NHL stints, for the most part. As what happens to most prospects prior to making the jump full time, he was plagued by inconsistency. Even in the AHL this year he started off with 11 points in nine games before managing just five in his next 12 (and a minus-11 rating). He's lining up with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry in training camp.

My call: He'll stick with the club, but will bounce in and out of the top six, ending with a middling 20 points that includes a couple of hot six-game runs.

Calgary Flames

The battle: Roman Cervenka vs. Sven Bärtschi vs. Jiri Hudler vs. Mikael Backlund vs. Curtis Glencross

The stakes: Three scoring-line spots

The lowdown: Cervenka and Hudler were the much-hyped acquisitions of the summer, targeted for the very reason that they can contribute on the second - or even the first - line. But Cervenka has been sidelined with a blood clot and Hudler has missed camp because his father unfortunately passed away this week. Bärtschi is coming off a great start to his pro career, though he kind of fizzled a little at the end with six points in 11 games for Abbotsford. Backlund put on a strong performance over in Sweden and has continued with that in training camp. And finally, Glencross is Glencross no matter the camp - a point every two games whether he plays with Tim Jackman or Jarome Iginla.

There are three spots open, not necessarily an entire second line as this team will mix and match. But if you assume Cervenka and Hudler have two of the three open spots, then the winner out of the other three could conceivably flirt with 30 points while the other two will be lucky to hit 20.

My call: Backlund is due.

Chicago Blackhawks

The battle: Viktor Stalberg vs. Brandon Saad vs. Michael Frolik

The stakes: A top six spot

The lowdown: Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa are in the top six. Indisputable. Dave Bolland is also being tried out as the second-line center and it looks like that will remain the situation for the near future. That leaves one spot for potential rookie sensation Saad, 24-year-old former 21-goal scorer Frolik, and Stalberg, who is coming off a 22-goal season himself. Stalberg is already seeing plenty of power-play practice time.

My call: Stalberg wins and, if healthy, scores 15 goals in 45 games. The only way Frolik gains fantasy relevance is if he is traded to a team that actually puts him on their power play. Amazingly, Frolik saw just 11 minutes of power-play time - total - all last season.

Colorado Avalanche

The battle: Mark Guy vs. Greg Sherman

The stakes: Ryan O'Reilly playing for the Avs this year.

The lowdown: I originally had a Stefan Elliott vs. Tyson Barrie penciled in here, but that was over before it started. Elliott has struggled in the AHL so far, while Barrie has flourished.

O'Reilly is coming off of a 55-point sophomore campaign. And while the Avs are trying to convince him that he's worth slightly less than what he is asking for, New Jersey hands Travis Zajac an eight-year contract worth $46 million and spoils everything. But one thing poolies need to keep in mind - when Matt Duchene was out of the lineup, O'Reilly had 19 points in 23 games (0.83). With Duchene in the lineup, O'Reilly had 36 in 58 (0.62). Duchene is healthy now, so do not overrate O'Reilly.

My call: The deal gets done in time for O'Reilly to get into the second game of the season.

Columbus Blue Jackets

The battle: David Savard vs. Tim Erixon vs. John Moore

The stakes: Secondary PP time

The lowdown: Jack Johnson and James Wisniewski run the first power-play unit from the blue line. There are three youngsters, rather unproven, who will do battle for PP apprenticeship. Moore didn't see any last season, his first in the NHL. Erixon was part of the team's return from the Rick Nash trade, while Savard saw 2:18 per game on average over the 31 games he played for the Jackets in 2011-12. Erixon (24 points) outscored Savard (22) and Moore (9) in AHL action after 34 games for Springfield.

My call: I think Moore makes the team as a defensive blueliner, while Savard wins the job. But Erixon will see several recalls throughout the campaign and have many chances to usurp Savard later.

Dallas Stars

The battle: Richard Bachman vs. Cristopher Nihlstorp

The stakes: Backup goalie job

The lowdown: Bachman was impressive last year, stealing Andrew Raycroft's job and at times even outplaying Kari Lehtonen. The Stars rewarded him by signing the most hyped European goaltender in Nihlstorp, who is 28 years old and thus didn't come all the way over to North America to get into AHL games. Nihlstorp has been fabulous in AHL action and equally impressive in training camp. Lehtonen is injured every season, be it for three weeks (like last year) or three months (as in 2007-2010), so the winner could see a nice chunk of games.

My call: The Stars will take the easy way out and keep three goalies. If Lehtonen stays healthy, this situation could get hairy by the end of February.

Detroit Red Wings

The battle: Damien Brunner vs. history

The stakes: A first-line spot

The lowdown: After Jiri Dopita, Janne Pesonen, Fabien Brunnstrom and Ville Leino, we now have Damien Brunner, a late-blooming European superstar. The difference this time is that Brunner got to play on a line with the superstar of the team he is joining, before he joined them. Henrik Zetterberg and Brunner created magic in the Swiss League - a league in which Brunner led in scoring for the third straight year. In camp he is already seeing action with Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk. If this works out, he'll be an instant star. But of the above four examples, only Leino turned into anything and it took him two years to do it. So history tells us that Brunner will need time, at the very least.

My call: He makes for a great dark horse - I picked him myself late in one of my drafts. It's a tough call, but I lean towards the side of success. I'm buying into the hype.

Edmonton Oilers

The battle: Ryan Whitney vs. his ankle

The stakes: A return to form

The lowdown: After missing 88 games over the last two seasons with ankle and foot problems, Whitney got extra time to rest and heal up thanks to the lockout. He once had 59 points and 77 penalty minutes (2006-07). He repeated those numbers, pro-rated, when he first arrived with the Oilers, notching 27 points and 33 PIM in just 35 games (2009-10). The Oilers now have an embarrassment of young offensive talent, as well as a great puck-moving defense partner for the power play in Justin Schultz.

My call: The ankle holds up and Whitney rebounds. One of my favorite sleeper picks.

Los Angeles Kings

The battle: Dustin Penner vs. Simon Gagne vs. Andrei Loktionov

The stakes: A top six spot

The lowdown: Penner improved his game come playoff time, showing that he could be a second line player after all - something we doubted after watching him play the last two years. Gagne is a former first-line talent who has spent nearly as much time in the injury ward as Rick DiPietro. It's hard to stay razor-sharp when you're only playing one out of every three games. Loktionov is a skilled young player who needs extended time on an NHL scoring line, but up until this point just gets short trials there.

My call: Penner gets first dibs, as the Kings like size on that second line and Gagne adds a nice dimension to the third line. Loktionov will get another short look on a scoring line thanks to the Anze Kopitar injury, but it won't last long enough for him to prove anything.

Minnesota Wild

The battle: Pierre-Marc Bouchard vs. his concussion woes

The stakes: Reaching his NHL potential.

The lowdown: Bouchard is a talented player hit by concussion after concussion. Injuries started taking a toll right after his career high of 63 points in 2007-08. He was still trending upward at the time. Still only 28, he can still recapture his top six skills, but needs to catch a break. His training camp has been, by all accounts, very impressive. A full season could see him notch 40 points on this re-vamped Minnesota lineup.

My call: All we can do is hope, but I would feel comfortable with him playing at least 30 games and helping out a rotisserie team.

Nashville Predators

The battle: Roman Josi vs. Ryan Ellis for ...

The stakes: Playing time with Shea Weber

The other battle: Colin Wilson vs. Craig Smith

The other stakes: A second-line spot

The lowdown: Josi impressed last season with his poise and smarts, while Ellis was no slouch either. Ellis has the greater upside offensively, but Josi may be the closer Ryan Sutter clone. Playing with Weber will mean upwards of 25 points.

Wilson has improved with every season and on a lot of teams he would already be on the second line. Smith made a huge splash in 2011-12 as a rookie, but fizzled in the second half as he was unused to the 82-game schedule. The winner here will hit 30 points.

My call: Josi plays with Weber at even strength, Ellis will play with him on the PP. I know I waffled on that one…Smith takes the second-line job and hits 30 points.

Phoenix Coyotes

The battle: Michael Stone vs. David Rundblad vs. David Schlemko vs. Chris Summers

The stakes: The No. 6 spot on the blue line

The lowdown: The Coyotes have one of the deepest systems in the league when it comes to the blue line. Rundblad has the most upside, but struggled in his first year in North America. However, he's come on strong this season. Meanwhile, Stone and Summers are NHL ready, having impressed in stints in 2011-12. Schlemko has been on the NHL roster for over a year now, but injuries and the numbers game have kept him from getting regular duty.

My call: Stone will be No.6 and Schlemko No.7, pushing Rundblad to the minors. Summers may be kept up as a No.8. Something has to give here and I'm confident a trade will happen sooner rather than later. Until that happens, none of these players are draftable.

San Jose Sharks

The battle: James Sheppard vs. tough luck

The stakes: His career

The lowdown: James Sheppard was Gilbert Bruled into the NHL by the Wild. He was brought in too soon and his immense talent was quickly eroded by lack of confidence and ice time. And then he got beat up by an ATV and hasn't played a lot of hockey over the past two years. It's hard to believe, but Sheppard is only 24 years old. That's younger than Damien Brunner and the same age that Gustav Nyquist will be next year when he finally makes the jump to the Red Wings for good. Sheppard was understandably rusty to start the year for Worcester, managing just eight points in 18 games. But he's found his groove, posting 15 points in 16 games and has the inside track on an NHL job.

My call: Sheppard makes the Sharks on a depth line and remains healthy enough to work his way up to the third line, with spot duty in the top six.

St. Louis Blues

The battle: Nine forwards compete for PP time

The stakes: Obviously a spot on the power play pretty much bumps your production significantly.

The lowdown: Word out of St. Louis is that the team is going to roll with three power-play units. This is probably just the forwards, as the team will rotate Alex Pietrangelo, Kris Russell and Kevin Shattenkirk as much as they can. Alex Steen will also see time on the point. But the forwards will, by the sounds of it, each average about two minutes of PP time per game.

My call: It may take a dozen games or so, but someone will step up and show that he deserves more PP time than the others. My guess is rookie Vladimir Tarasenko, as he has the most raw talent. Provided Ken Hitchcock doesn't look at him and see Nikita Filatov.

Vancouver Canucks

The battle: Jordan Schroeder vs. Zach Kassian

The stakes: Top six and power-play time.

The lowdown: Ryan Kesler is sidelined for at least another six weeks, maybe longer. David Booth is sidelined for about six weeks as well. That leaves two very gaping holes up front. Kassian is the Canucks' prize acquisition (for Cody Hodgson) and they would love nothing more than for him to become their next Todd Bertuzzi. Schroeder has taken longer than expected to develop, but seems to be close to NHL-ready.

My call: Kassian will contribute, but not points. So he'll eventually find himself on the third line. Schroeder will surprise with a hot start, but won't be able to keep it up beyond the 10th game, leaving Canucks fans restless for Kesler's return.

Pick up my Fantasy Hockey Guide here - all are based on the 48-game season and frequently updated with injury notes.

Dobber can be criticized and ridiculed over at his own site, too. Follow him on Twitter (@DobberHockey), but only if you like cool tidbits on player trends.

The division sees a serious influx of talent in 2013, with veteran all-stars Ryan Suter and Zach Parise joining Minnesota, rookie sensations Nail Yakupov and Justin Schultz coming to Edmonton, and Calgary and Colorado beefing up with pricey free-agent acquisitions like P.A. Parenteau, Dennis Wideman, and Jiri Hudler. The Northwest has been a weak division for a few years now, but there shouldn't be a real pushover in the bunch this time around.

That said, the Northwest could still see as little as one team graduate to the postseason. The Canucks are all but a lock to win another Division title, but Edmonton, Minnesota, Colorado and Calgary are all bubble teams. A few could eke into the playoffs or none could. And frankly, the order in which they finish is anybody's guess. It depends on how well the new acquisitions mesh and who gets off to a hot start in the short year.

Unfortunately, we have to make some predictions. So let's start with the easy one and work our way down.

Vancouver Canucks
Last Year’s Record: 51-22-9 (111 points)
Coach: Alain Vigneault
Pre-Lockout Preview: "The Canucks remain one of the league's best teams and they should be right in the mix for their third Presidents' Trophy. But at this point, the regular season couldn't be more inconsequential. Just as it was last year, their entire season will be defined by the shorter season that comes after it. If it's too short, the entire campaign is a wash."
What’s Changed: Ryan Kesler and David Booth are injured to begin the season. Cory Schneider looks to be the incumbent starter, unless something crazy happens with Roberto Luongo, which wouldn't come as a shock.
Pivotal Player: The Canucks' season begins and ends with the health of Ryan Kesler. The second-line centre will miss the beginning of the season as he recovers from a series of upper-body surgeries, and the speed and effectiveness with which he returns is paramount. If he can find the form from two years ago -- or better yet, two years ago in the playoffs -- the Canucks have to be considered a favourite. If he can't, then they're an impact player away from a chance to win it all.
Player That Benefits Most From 48-Game Season: Daniel and Henrik Sedin. The twins tend to come back from the summer with a new bag of tricks, so fewer opportunities for their opponents to scout their latest moves is a good thing. Plus they're getting older, and a shorter season should help with their freshness come playoff time.
Prediction: First.

Edmonton Oilers
Last Year’s Record: 32-40-10 (74 points)
Coach: Ralph Krueger
Pre-Lockout Preview: "The Oilers will flirt with a playoff spot, and with healthy seasons from Hall and Nugent-Hopkins, strong rookie campaigns from the new recruits, continued development, some residual lottery luck, and a renewed commitment to two-way play under new coach Ralph Krueger, they might even get one. But that's a lot of stuff that has to go right. I don't see it happening. A seventh straight season in ninth or lower awaits."
What’s Changed: During the lockout, most of the Oilers' core played together in Oklahoma. They should start strong, with a little more chemistry than some other teams.
Player That Benefits Most From 48-Game Season: Taylor Hall. The Oilers winger was able to work his way back from shoulder surgery slowly, then in the AHL, so he should be fully up to speed. Plus he destroys himself over the course of the season, so less time to chip away at his overall health could mean he's actually healthy down the stretch.
Prediction: Second. I wrote Edmonton's pre-lockout preview and predicted the Oilers would finish just outside the playoffs, but now I'll say just inside. The chemistry advantage should allow them a strong start, and Schultz and Yakupov look to have more of an immediate impact than I expected.

Colorado Avalanche
Last Year’s Record: 41-35-6 (88 points)
Coach: Joe Sacco
Pre-Lockout Preview: “I thought the Avalanche were a playoff team last year, and I think a year of development for that young core will do wonders. Gabriel Landeskog, Matt Duchene, Ryan O'Reilly, Erik Johnson, and Semyon Varlamov will all be better, and that should be enough. The Avalanche aren't going to set the world on fire, especially with their issues on defence, but I can see them holding strong down the stretch this time around and eking out a 7th or 8th place finish.”
What’s Changed: While most of the players came home from the KHL, Ryan O'Reilly didn't, because he still doesn't have a contract. Gabriel Landeskog was named the youngest captain in NHL history.
Pivotal Player: Really, it's O'Reilly. If Colorado can't get him signed, an iffy defensive team becomes incredibly iffy. They can't afford to be without him. But since he's not on the team right now, I'll say Erik Johnson, who needs to be a more consistent presence on both ends of the ice for the Avalanche to contend.
Player That Benefits Most From 48-Game Season: Milan Hejduk, because he's old.
Prediction: Third, and vying for the final playoff spot.

Minnesota Wild
Last Year’s Record: 35-36-11 (81 points)
Coach: Mike Yeo
Pre-Lockout Preview: “It should go without saying that the Wild will be better. Parise and Suter are impact players that will help the Wild drive possession in the right direction, improve that abysmal 2.02 goals per game average, and help the Wild contend on any given night. But they're still not a playoff team, not yet. That should come next year, when a few more of their other high-end prospects like Charlie Coyle, Jonas Brodin, and Matt Dumba join the team and fill out the thin depth chart below the stars. The Wild's future is bright, but another year on the outside of the playoff bubble is in the offing.”
What’s Changed: Wild fans are still plenty excited about their two high-profile signings, even with a lockout pushing their debut back four months. They had over 13,000 fans attend a scrimmage Wednesday. And Pierre-Marc Bouchard is healthy.
Pivotal Player: Ryan Suter. Shea Weber's been the Nashville Predators' star and Suter's always been seen as his right-hand man (on the left side), but now Suter's out on his own. He'll find Jared Spurgeon a little less elite than Weber, so it'll be up to him to lead that pairing and the Wild's defence as a whole. For Minnesota to contend, Suter needs to play at an elite level himself.
Player That Benefits Most From 48-Game Season: Pierre-Marc Bouchard was able to use the lockout to finally get past his post-concussion symptoms. “I kind of needed that," he told the Associated Press. "It wasn’t a great situation for anybody — don’t get me wrong here — but it gave me a little bit more time to make sure I healed properly."
Prediction: Fourth. The Wild will contend for a playoff spot but they'll fall just short.

Calgary Flames
Last Year’s Record: 37-29-16 (90 points)
Coach: Bob Hartley
Pre-Lockout Preview: “The Flames are a much different team last year, and if everything goes well, they could be better too. But I'd wager that, despite spending heavily in the summer, they find themselves in about the same position in the spring: fighting for a playoff spot as the schedule winds down.”
What’s Changed: Jarome Iginla hurt his groin and then got better. Roman Cervenka came down with a blood clot and is out indefinitely.
Pivotal Player: Miikka Kiprusoff. This team is so weak down centre ice that Cervenka's injury is a body blow to their hopes, and teams weak in the middle tend to give up a lot of shots. Hence, Kiprusoff will be called on to stop a lot of shots. His play will determine Calgary's entire season.
Player That Benefits Most From 48-Game Season: Still Kiprusoff. The Flames' netminder won't have much help in goal, since the Flames' brass don't seem impressed with either Leland Irving or Henrik Karlsson. That means Kiprusoff will be doing what he usually does -- playing a lot of games. Thankfully, this season only has 48.
Prediction: Fifth. The Flames made some moves to punch up the roster, but I don't think it will matter. The team is spinning its wheels while the rest of the division improves.

Coach Alain Vigneault revealed on Tuesday that forward David Booth is out four to six weeks with a strained groin, which was confirmed by an MRI. Combine that with Ryan Kesler being out of the lineup to start the season, and the Canucks’ second line has exploded days before opening night.

Said Vigneault today, via the Canucks:

"I believe we are capable of putting four strong lines on the ice. It's what we're going to do.”

Mason Raymond, a.k.a. the Opposite of Name-Dropping, is the only healthy body from the Canucks’ second line last season, and doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

Kesler’s replacement was expected to be either Andrew Ebbett or Jordan Schroeder until the Selke contender is recovered from two offseason surgeries. As for Booth’s spot, it could come down to Jannik Hansen, Chris Higgins or Zack Kassian.

In other words, the Canucks’ first line just received more slack to pick up.

From the Sun:

The prospect of starting the season with a makeshift second line will only add to the pressure on Henrik and Daniel Sedin and linemate Alex Burrows to shoulder the bulk of the offensive load. "It has always been like that," Henrik said Monday. "That's nothing new for us. We are here to score goals and if we don't we usually lose games. That's not going to change this year, so that's where we are."

In an 82-game season, a month without Booth and Kesler could be overcome. In a 48-game sprint to the playoffs, a month without a second line could hinder a fast start for Vancouver – and every team in the West needs one if they’re going to contend.

(Might this hasten a Roberto Luongo trade? The Canucks were seeking an NHL top sixer and a top prospect, reportedly.)

As for Booth, there’s been talk that his offseason of hunting and outdoorsman activities could have contributed to the injury. There have also been accusations in the past that he over-trains in the offseason, leaving his body more susceptible to injury.

We suppose the Canucks should be happy it was just a groin injury, and not Booth getting mauled by a narwhal or something … as unintentionally hilarious as that may have been.

Maybe we were all wrong. Most of us really did doubt the resolve of Gary Bettman and the Board of Governors' elder council of bloodthirsty owners.

The legal filings made on Friday afternoon at about 4:59:59 p.m., as a preemptive strike against the NHLPA doing the same at a slightly later date, seem to indicate as much.

Not that I fully comprehend all the legal wranglings contained therein, obviously, nor do most hockey writers — we're not lawyers — but my understanding is that it is asking a New York court to rule that the NHLPA, which it has been trying to smash to smithereens during this entire lockout, doesn't have the legal right to smash itself as a means of gaining leverage against the NHL in ongoing negotiations.

The threat of decertification has loomed large for more than a month now, and no one at league offices likes that prospect one bit, hence the filing. We've been told, repeatedly, that this kind of move prompted the NBA to reach a CBA agreement with its players in just a week, in time to get the season started on Christmas Day.

That's obviously not going to happen for the NHL at this point, but hopeful (see also: blindly optimistic people who can't have been paying much attention) say that New Year's Day might be a more reasonable target. If only the NHLPA were to cave under this latest legal threat.

And now, it seems there might be a pretty damn good reason for it to do so:

"The NHL requests a declaration that, if the NHLPA's decertification or disclaimer were not deemed invalid by the NLRB, and the collective bargaining relationship between the parties were not otherwise to continue, all existing contracts between NHL players and NHL teams (known as Standard Player's Contracts or "SPCs") would be void and unenforceable," the league's filing said (top of page 8).

Boiling that down to the simplest terms possible, the league wants the court, in the event of a decertification or disclaimer of interest, to make it so that all player contracts are null and void. Essentially, that means every player in the NHLPA, all 700-plus, would be a free agent.

(Coming Up: Teemu has lost his smile; Dustin Brown moves his family to Switzerland; Matthew Corrente done for the season; enough with the Justin Schultz-as-Paul Coffey stuff; Marian Hossa is cleared to play and promptly locked out; Stephane Robidas ate reindeer; who as the NHL's deepest prospect pool?; Mike Richter vs. the lockout; SF Bull pack in fans at the Shark Tank; Penguins fans aren't buying NHL gear; Jordan Eberle is bonkers.)

I forget the exact statistic, but isn't it something like one-third of the NHLPA is a free agent every summer? And think about how crazy pretty much every summer is with teams spending huge sums of money on numerous players of widely varying quality. Now imagine it at three times that amount, with guys like Jonathan Quick, Steven Stamkos, Shea Weber, Tyler Seguin, Evgeni Malkin, Erik Karlsson, Claude Giroux, Alex Pietrangelo, and I guess oh I don't know Sidney Crosby all hitting the market on the same day.

Now, I'm sure there would be mechanisms put in place to protect guys who previously played with teams to have a period during which they are allowed to negotiate exclusively with the teams that previously held their rights, but one has to wonder just how committed to Tampa a guy like Steven Stamkos would be if he knew that in just a few weeks, 29 other teams would come knocking with a slew of league-max deals.

This would be a living hell for any team with any player who's any good at all. The ability to poach just about any high-level player they want must seem an enticing one for those with deep pockets, and for this reason, the teams that have those players now may be all that's left standing between the league and chaos.

(On the other hand, if you're one of those people who just wants to watch the world burn — Jeremy Jacobs — this could be a really great thing for you. Sure, it means you'll lose the entire season, but think of how much fun July would be.)

Penguins owner Ron Burkle, who employs two of the three or four best players alive today, for example, cannot be happy about the potential of losing both of them to who-knows-where, with nothing coming back his way except the chance to sign someone who could theoretically replace them on some level.

If the talk from the NHLPA last week is to be believed, he might not know all that much about exactly what's going on with these negotiations; ditto many of the other "moderate" owners, brought in as a camouflage for the hawks to try to bully the union into accepting a deal without its top executive's approval.

The prospect, faint though it may be, of having Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and James Neal and Kris Letang and Marc-Andre Fleury all bolt, should be enough to make him start reading up.

Guys like Burkle, and Jeff Vinik and Ed Snider and Daryl Katz (if he can stop whining about an arena deal for a minute), who have a lot to lose in terms of team quality from the voiding of every contract in the NHL, are the guys who need to intercede here and tell Bettman and Co. to stop acting like babies over what are now remarkably tiny differences between what it wants and what the NHLPA is willing to give.

That is, if it's not too late, which it might be. If so, these moderates, who sat on the sidelines and let rapacious greed from a small minority of the league's owners extend this lockout far longer than it should have stretched (approximately zero days), are just as guilty through their inaction as Bettman, Jacobs, et al.

They could have spoken up, and they didn't until the league needed them to play marionettes in the farcical, theatrical attempt to sway everyone back to the owners side when Burkle, Vinik, Mark Chipman, and Larry Tanenbaum put out those pathetic statements about how intractable the players are boo hoo hoo.

They'd deserve to lose their players. And they'd deserve no sympathy whatsoever. So these guys have a pretty important decision to make: Save the season to save themselves, or let things play out and descend into anarchy. I can't imagine they'd be dumb enough to support the latter path.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: Teemu Selanne recently told a Swedish newspaper that the lockout has him questioning why he's even bothering with working out any more. "What's the point?" is an actual thing he said. Not only has the lockout robbed us of hockey, it also robbed Teemu of his smile. This cannot stand.

Boston Bruins: Today is Day No. 14 since Steve Burton of WBZ in Boston said the lockout could be over in two days. Meanwhile, Zdeno Chara knows how to deal with the lockout, no matter how long it stretches on. "It's at a point where I'm not getting frustrated or excited anymore. I'm just waiting for a final decision." This is the proper attitude to have.

Buffalo Sabres: I guess it's never a good thing when your local beat writer's blog on a game you lost in shootout includes the words "Imagine that" and "(of course)." So the Americans lost to the Leafs after blowing a lead with 9.5 seconds left. This shootout "only" earned Rochester its fifth point in three games.

Calgary Flames: Flames prospect Tyler Wotherspoon officially made Canada's World Junior team, which, when that team crashes and burns spectacularly, should give him a very nice taste of what it's like playing for the Flames.

Carolina Hurricanes: Cool picture of Eric Staal putting on his skates next to his dad to play in some crummy community rink in Thunder Bay. Maybe the league can use it for the next "NHL players: They're just like us" ad campaign.

Chicago Blackhawks: This didn't happen over the weekend, but it was definitely my favorite headline of the last little while: "Marian Hossa cleared to play, then locked out." Man is that funny.

Colorado Avalanche: Ryan O'Reilly will likely make his debut for Mettalurg Magnitogorsk on Wednesday, after a plane trip that required three layovers, in London, Moscow, and Chelyabinsk. Who says the KHL isn't just as glamorous as the NHL?

Columbus Blue Jackets: Fedor Tyutin was named to Russia's roster for something called the Channel One Cup, which will play a number of other national teams this week. So I don't know why everyone acts like nothing but bad things happen to the Blue Jackets. Alex Semin and Semyon Varlamov didn't make the team, for the record.

Dallas Stars: Stephane Robidas says he ate reindeer while playing in Finland. The War on Christmas continues unabated.

Detroit Red Wings presented by Amway: The Michigan House recently voted to give the Red Wings significant tax dollars from Detroit's Downtown Development Authority for the team's proposed $650 million arena district. In all, it will receive $12.8 million that used to be earmarked for the city's crippled public education system. Hey it's a good thing all those unpaid taxes were just an error maybe.

Edmonton Oilers: The Edmonton media is even more caught up in the Justin Schultz hype than it was for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Because while it was all they could do to not actually say "Ryan Nugent-Hopkins" and "Wayne Gretzky" in the same sentence, everyone seems perfectly content to say "Justin Schultz" right next to "Paul Coffey." Hey you know who else tears up the AHL every year? Darren Haydar.

Florida Panthers: The Panthers no longer have the top-ranked prospect pool in the NHL, according to Hockey's Future. Now that honor belongs to the Wild, or at least it will until everyone gets injured at once and their fans are left to complain about what could have been.

Los Angeles Kings: Pretty bad sign that Dustin Brown recently moved his entire family to Switzerland and his kids are going to school there, right?

Minnesota Wild: That thing about the Wild having the top prospect group in the league these days? Built on the back of college hockey players. College hockey owns. Think about it.

Montreal Canadiens: Here's a poorly-timed press release from two hotels near the Centre Bell. "Hockey Fans Won't Miss a Game With Montreal Hotel Specials." Yeah, about that…

Nashville Predators: Colin Wilson recently called Gary Bettman a "phony" for that allegedly angry press conference in New York a little while back. I'm actually pretty surprised that more people thought Bettman was actually upset, and not doing some community theater-level acting, which is what he was pretty plainly doing.

New Jersey Devils: Devs prospect and actual first-round pick Matthew Corrente is done for the year with a shoulder injury. In the past three seasons, he has played just 75 games with a series of various injuries including a broken hand, shoulder injury, twisted leg, another shoulder injury, and now this one. So, like, that's not good about his shoulder.

New York Islanders: Imagine being from the New York area and your favorite teams are the Jets, Mets, and Islanders. Oof.

New York Rangers: Mike Richter says he doesn't like the lockout. Bold stance.

Ottawa Senators: In this article about how much the lockout might affect the Senators, an unnamed (obviously) "league insider" says predictions show some teams could lose 30 or 40 percent of their hockey-related revenues. But yeah the lockout will have been totally worth it.

Philadelphia Flyers: Say, remember that thing everyone talked about a few months ago about how guys with back-diving, long-term deals who call it a career might end up back on the cap payroll of the teams that signed them? Yeah, theoretically that could apply to Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, and Scott Hartnell, and possibly even James van Riemsdyk if for some reason he retires at like 26. That would be hysterical.

Phoenix Coyotes: Today is Day No. 129 since Jude LaCava of Fox 10 in Arizona said Greg Jamison would have the deal for the Coyotes sewn up within the next five days. And by the way, here's a nearly-200-foot effort and gorgeous goal from Andy Miele, starting around 33 seconds into the video. It was the only goal of the game, too.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Pens fans, and probably hockey fans in general, just aren't buying as much NHL merchandise as they did in the last few holiday seasons. Weird how that works.

San Jose Sharks: I think people in San Jose might want hockey back. The ECHL's San Francisco Bulls recently sold all 17,562 seats at the Sharks' HP Pavilion, to be played tonight. Well, "sold" may not be accurate. The game was free to Bulls and Sharks season ticket holders, plus another 3,400 people.

St. Louis Blues: The new CBA might hurt the Blues. Because it won't allow the team, or any others, to roll back player salaries. Hoo boy.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Jeff Vinik recently announced all team employees will receive a lengthy paid vacation as a holiday gift. Well, okay, not ALL team employees. Steven Stamkos's vacation remains unpaid.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Jake Gardiner has concussion-like symptoms but Dallas Eakins says it's more like neck issues with some headaches. No big deal gang!

Vancouver Canucks: Ryan Kesler will be out another few months at least. His injuries, which both required surgery, were both on the left side of his body, so rehab hasn't gone very well. Yuck.

Washington Capitals: Here's the real tragedy of the NHL lockout: Adam Oates can't coach the Capitals. Yup.

Winnipeg Jets: The Jets say Mark Scheifele will stay with the Canadian World Junior team regardless of whether the NHL comes back in the next few weeks, but I bet that's only because he's not pro-ready.

Play of the Weekend

Here's Jordan Eberle scoring four goals for Oklahoma City. The release on that first one is friggin' bonkers.

Gold Star Award

The Sedins rule. I love the Sedins.

Minus of the Weekend
More of this dumb "If there's no NHL playoffs, non-NHL teams should play for the Stanley Cup" crap. Because nothing says "Most important trophy in sports" like letting some junior B kids play for it.
Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week
User "Beer Me" seems like someone already did that a bunch of times before he posted.

to Edmonton:
Hamilton
Subban
1st Round '13

to Boston:
Yakupov
Klefbom

Sounds great!

Signoff
You cannot make authentic guacamole out of lima beans and Ritz crackers.

Ryan Lambert publishes hockey awesomeness almost never over at The Two-Line Pass. Check it out, why don't you? Or you can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter if you so desire.

• Mike Fisher can't tour with Carrie Underwood because he'd get fat. [Winnipeg Free Press]

• Bettman, Fehr back at the bargaining table. Sigh. [CBC]

• But so might the mediators. Yea! [KK]

• Sidney Crosby "does not plan a return to Pittsburgh before the weekend so long as talks with the league continue. He shares the opinion of franchise ownership and executives that owners and players must make significant progress toward a new labor contract if the NHL season is to be saved." [Tribune Review]

• On the "Sid will save the NHL" idea: "The idea that any one person is responsible for a CBA being signed is short-sighted and wrong. The process is ongoing, and it's going to take contributions and engagement from 29 owners and 700+ players. That's the only way this deal gets done and we get our NHL back." [Winging It]

• Hockey fans haven't had it good lately. Well, how does a green light to sue the NHL for antitrust violations look under our holiday trees? "A federal judge on Wednesday allowed sports fans to pursue a lawsuit accusing Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League and various networks of antitrust violations in how they package games for broadcast on television or the Internet." [LA Daily News]

• John Shannon of Sportsnet on the negotiations: "And the other side -- was Don Fehr's role now diminished? Were the owners' early stories about Fehr not telling the truth or giving the players the complete information accurate or just a smoke screen by the league, who had difficulty reading the poker face of Marvin Miller's protege? When Wednesday morning arrived, you had to know that the positive vibe would be tainted even just a little bit by the NHLPA. Momentum had shifted to the owners' side, and there was no way Fehr was going to allow his players to fall for any Group of Six trap." [Sportsnet]

• Lockout haiku. [That's What She Haikued]

• Did Ryan Miller get nutty and start yelling at Jeremy Jacobs in the most recent meeting? "Really? I don't have any recollection of that or why [Jacobs'] opinion would be that." [CBC Sports]

• Five For Howling offers the Phoenix Coyotes' fan response to Lambert's anti-Glendale screed. "Everyone's favorite twitter troll Ryan Lambert (aka @twolinepass) is at it again, this time with a grossly inaccurate piece on the current state of the Coyotes sale. Join us as we pick apart this laughably inaccurate article." [Five For Howling]

• Brian Burke on the lockout talks: "The fact that they changed and shuffled the deck a little bit and appeared to have gotten some traction, I think everyone is hopeful it will continue." [Sportsnet]

• Scott Burnside of ESPN.com on the negotiations: "A negotiation like this is like a train. There are a lot of personalities involved, a lot of constituents to take into account. As such, it takes a lot to get both sides going in the right direction. Conversely, when things go sideways, as they threatened to Wednesday night with both sides believing the other side was not serious about taking the final step toward a deal, it takes a lot to stop it." [ESPN.com]

• Watch Vancouver Canucks players Kevin Bieksa, Ryan Kesler and Jason Garrison invited fans to an impromptu road hockey game. [Sun]

• "Police in Anne Arundel County are asking for your help to find a man who wore a hockey mask to burglarize a tobacco store." It's a Bernie Parent style mask; hence, holes to hold cigarettes. [ABC 2]

• Finally, we know you're sick of Gangnam Style. So here's the new rule: Only 12-year-old girls hockey players are allowed to do it, m'kay?

Yes, indeed, despite the promise of impending labor Armageddon and a prolonged work-stoppage, your friends at Puck Daddy are previewing the 2012-13 NHL season (whenever the heck it starts). Why? Because this is the most important election in the history of all-time ever, and you need to know the candidates — like the Vancouver Canucks.

It's a testament to the skill of the Canucks that you can say a season in which they won the Presidents' Trophy was also a season of underachievement, but it was.

Fresh off an appearance in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, expectations were sky-high in Vancouver, and despite the team winning the regular-season, these expectations went severely unmet.

The five-game postseason probably had something to do with that. Sure, there was no stopping the juggernaut that was the Los Angeles Kings, but that's little consolation for a franchise that was one season removed from being a juggernaut themselves.

But the Canucks' problems went beyond running into a team of destiny. The Sedins became somewhat stale, and by virtue of that, their entire offense did too, especially on the powerplay. Ryan Kesler wasn't the same player. Sami Salo aged out of the top four, and Alex Edler looked lost without him. Alain Vigneault retreated back to a defensive shell and the team lost some of their identity.

A year removed, the Canucks are hoping they've addressed all of these problems. If they have, it could be a fun year in Vancouver. If they haven't, they could be caught by several of the Western Conference's other improving teams. Then fans might not even get a third Presidents' Trophy to belittle.

Are the Canucks still an elite team?

"We've got Swedish twins, but it's not as hot as it sounds…  trust us"

The biggest departure from the Canucks' roster is defenceman Sami Salo and his booming slapshot, a signature of this club for years. He'll be missed, though not as direly as some might think. He began to slow down around January last season, and by the year's end, the coaching staff was reluctant to use him in the top four. While the team tried to re-sign Salo for depth, they definitely didn't want to pay him like a top-four defenceman any longer, and when Tampa Bay did, he was gone.

In his place comes Jason Garrison, fresh off a mammoth season with the Florida Panthers. If last year is any indication, he should be able to replace Salo, no problem.

Also gone: Samme Pahlsson, who returned to Sweden, and Alain Vigneault favourite Aaron Rome, who signed in Dallas.

Not arriving: Shane Doan, whom the Canucks pursued hard, but left the team at the altar when he chose to give his rose to the Phoenix Coyotes instead.

At forward… The Sedins and Alex Burrows will continue to shoulder the offensive burden for the Canucks, which is just fine with them — they're good at it. They regressed a little last season and became a touch predictable at times, but they remain among the top 10 offensive players in the NHL, and they've been given a long offseason to cook up a new playbook. They should be fun to watch.

Behind them, Ryan Kesler leads a convoy of talented, two-way players: Chris Higgins, Jannik Hansen, necklace of dead ducks wearer David Booth, Maxim Lapierre, Mason Raymond and, if he can take the next step this season, Zack Kassian.

On defense … The Canucks' top four consists of shutdown pairing Dan Hamhuis and Kevin Bieksa, and will likely also consists of the newly-formed pair of Garrison and Alex Edler.

Edler's no good on the right, so it will be up to Garrison to make the shift to his off-side. He played there intermittently with the Panthers last season to relative success, but in order for him to have success, he'll have to do it on a near-permanent basis this time around. If he can, Edler could blossom into the Norris-calibre defenceman many feel he could become.

If he can't, it could be a nightmare in Vancouver. Edler will struggle without a steady partner, as he often does, and Garrison will land in the same position as Keith Ballard: relegated to the third pairing and egregiously overpaid to be there.

Speaking of Ballard, he and promising prospect Chris Tanev make up duo three, but Tanev's poise, puck-moving ability  and right-handedness could see him work his way into the top four, especially if Garrison disappoints.

In goal … The Canucks are downright stacked. They're so stacked it's sort of a problem. They currently employ a tandem of Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider, and Mike Gillis insists that THEY ARE TOTALLY FINE WITH THAT.

But he's still shopping Luongo hard, and if Gillis can find a taker at his lofty asking price, Schneider will ascend to number one status and Swedish prospect Eddie Lack will graduate from the AHL as his backup.

Based on Salt n Pepa's "Push it", may I present to you the finest Kevin Bieksa tribute video you will ever see: "Bieksa real good".

While there was some speculation that one or both might not return to the team as a result of the Canucks' short postseason, both GM Mike Gillis and coach Alain Vigneault signed extensions in the offseason and will have the opportunity to re-earn some of trust lost by the early exit.

During the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs, Ryan Kesler basically worked himself until his groin exploded (we've all been there, amirite?). But after undergoing offseason surgery to correct the issue, he returned early and played through pain for much of the year. That was unnecessary and it cost the team. Kesler may not be the Canucks' top scorer but he's their most complete player and the heart of the team.

Kesler has had two more surgeries this offseason and the only good that might come out of the lockout from a Canucks' perspective is that he can't come back too early if there's no hockey. If Kesler can refind his "A" game, the Canucks will rediscover theirs as well.

Zack Kassian arrived in Vancouver amidst controversy and outrage. Fans liked Cody Hodgson, and after bad experiences with previous power forwards acquired from Buffalo (Taylor Pyatt, Steve Bernier), the idea of trading Hodgson for another one seemed unattractive.

But Kassian has the ability to be an elite power winger. He's spent the offseason trimming down and attempting to reach the Canucks' fitness standards, and if he can begin to show something in his sophomore season, or if he can bring some much-needed toughness to the lineup, Canuck fans will forgive him for existing in a hurry.

Expectations for Jason Garrison are sky-high. The White Rock will be counted on to give the Canucks a booming shot from the powerplay and round out the top four. But Garrison will likely be playing on his off-side, and whats more, he only has one season as an offensive weapon under his belt. That has to be a concern. If it turns out to be a one-off, he'll become a lightning rod for criticism in a hurry.

[MALE NARRATOR]

"Chris Higgins says his abs are 100% real.

But how can we be sure? He missed a great deal of the 2011-12 campaign with a mysterious illness that the team called a "staph infection." A likely story.

Here's a likelier story. There was no staph infection. Higgins was simply getting abdominal implants because he's exceptionally vain."

"You know who's not exceptionally vain and whose hot and shiny abs are totally real? Eddie Lack."

"Feast your eyes, ladies. And spread the word."

"Paid for and narrated by Eddie Lack."

The Canucks remain one of the league's best teams and they should be right in the mix for their third Presidents' Trophy. But at this point, the regular season couldn't be more inconsequential. Just as it was last year, their entire season will be defined by the shorter season that comes after it. If it's too short, the entire campaign is a wash.

You hear it every year. What is the NHL going to do to stop all this diving and embellishing?

There have been various proposed crackdowns in a number of different sports. In soccer, referees are now allowed to present yellow cards to particularly egregious actors, and getting enough of those can indeed lead to suspension.

In the NFL, if you pretend to be injured, you can get an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and cost your team a timeout.

In the NHL, of course, there are two-minute minors for diving and for even acting as though an actual penalty was worse than it was, such as shaking your hand like someone just tried to remove it, when all you received is an inadvertent tap on the glove.

But the League wants to go beyond than that.

As you likely well know by now, the NHL is kicking around the idea of circulating a list of known divers around the league so that officials can better spot the actions of these cowardly no-goodniks. Guys like Ryan Kesler and maybe even Evgeni Malkin could very well appear on this list, and therefore their unacceptable actions will no longer be tolerated, unless they are.

The problem with this list is that it doesn't accomplish much. Okay, sure, it gives homer broadcasters something to harp about whenever an offending player comes to town; imagine Jack Edwards' glee at seeing someone like Tomas Plekanec appear on that list. But what else could it possibly achieve?

If anything, it will just lead to those guys drawing fewer penalties they might have deserved or, at worst, lead those players to maybe earn an extra two penalty minutes a couple times a season.

The reason I bring this up is that the NBA is apparently kicking around the idea of penalizing floppers — same act, different name — by conducting reviews of every game, and potentially fining those it believes intentionally hit the deck to draw a couple free throws. Here's why that, and all other attempts to crack down on this kind of behavior are always going to fall short: Because players don't care.

(Coming Up: Rick Nash injury update; Kings for sale; lockout hurting arenas; Daryl Katz "I'm a Dumbass" Tour; will the Staals head overseas?; Kansas City bummed about losing exhibition game; Blue Jackets already with the Nathan MacKinnon talk; Jimmy Howard misses Chris Osgood; Canucks go to midgets; Toby Enstrom's waiting game; Nazem Kadri is fat; and trading Bouwmeester to the Avalanche.)

The NHL rules actually have fines and even suspensions built into them when diving by one player becomes problematic. As with the NBA's half-baked idea, it involves postgame reviews at league offices.

First offense: The NBA sends a warning letter. Ooooooo, scary! Nothing like a terse letter from head offices to stop doing a thing to really put the fear of God into you.

Second offense: A $1,000 fine. Whoaaa not $1,000, that's 1/500th of league minimum.

Third offense: A one-game suspension. Which actually isn't that bad of a deterrent, in theory anyway.

Fourth offense and beyond: Penalties are doubled from the previous infractions.

It might shock you to learn, however, that this kind of thing is never enforced, at least not publicly.

Now, you might say that it's rare for a team or a single player to get whistled for diving, and that much is true. In the last two seasons, Max Lapierre and Alex Semin, respectively, each led the league with just three of them. Neither Semin nor Lapierre were suspended by the league for hitting that threshold, despite what it says in the NHL Rulebook.

The only player who has even had his diving fine publicly announced in the last several years, as far as I can tell, is Sean Avery (of course it's Sean Avery).

That was in 2005.

The thing with that diving list — or the NBA's proposed fine system, or the NHL's existing one — is that we know who the divers are on the ice. We see them 20, 30, 40 games or more a season, and as a consequence we know what this kind of thing looks like. The NHL very obviously chooses not to enforce what it has written down despite the fact that this is happening with at least some frequency.

Fines, again, don't work. These guys make lots and lots of money and even if the NHL maxed out the fine amount to the largest allowable under the past CBA, that's $2,500 and no one cares. At least in the NBA, they have a history of fines that are of sizable amounts ($100,000 to Kobe Bryant being like $2,500 to the average NHLer, sure).

If you want accountability from professional athletes on this matter, you need two things, neither of which will ever actually happen.

First, you need officials who aren't afraid to call diving whenever they see it. If there's four dives in a game, call every single one of them and make sure the teams get the message that on this ref's watch, diving won't be tolerated.

Second, increase the punishment heavily and make the review process more transparent. Here's what every player does when they get that letter from the league: crumple it up and throw it in the garbage. You or I would do the same thing because really who cares. So, fines for the first offense, suspensions for the second, at a minimum. You want to circulate that divers list? Make all diving and embellishment penalties for guys on it count double on the ice and in terms of supplementary discipline. Four minutes in the box, $2,000 out of your wallet, two-game suspension, etc.

Otherwise, the NHL just looks like the punk teacher who gets driven out of the inner city school at the beginning of all those movies Dangerous Minds-type movies.

The problem is the NHLPA likely won't go for that, and the list is already going to be extremely subjective since it's based on perhaps the most subjective penalty around in the first place. Plus, players will always find a way around it because they're very good at what they do.

And so in the end, the only thing you can really say about diving is that there's nothing you can ever do except pay it lip service — "Boy is it bad!" — and hope no one notices when you don't do anything about it.

Hey, it's worked for the NHL so far.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: Ducks goaltending prospect John Gibson is off to an okay start for Kitchener of the OHL. He stopped 42 of 43 on Saturday night and now in three games this season has a GAA of 0.97 and save percentage of .969.

Boston Bruins: Jordan Caron is likely to be a full-time NHL player when or if the season eventually starts. Peter Chiarelli said he saw a significant development in Caron's game just over the summer.

Buffalo Sabres: The Sabres have a number of good young prospects, all of whom will likely improve as a result of the quality of players now flooding the AHL.

Calgary Flames: Here's Flames defensive prospect Patrick Sieloff drilling Justin Bailey from late last week.

Gotta keep your head up.

Carolina Hurricanes: In which Eric Staal gets deep about the prospect of playing overseas: "Everyone is their own individual." Seems both he and his brother Jordan will be staying in North America.

Chicago Blackhawks: Blackhawks farm team the Rockford IceHogs are putting coupons for free tickets to preseason games in their local newspaper, so why not go to a free hockey game if you're near there? Great marketing here.

Colorado Avalanche: Kansas City is all bummed that the cancelation of the NHL preseason will deny them an Avs/Rangers game. Hey guys, don't worry about it. Just wait a few years and you'll get either the Coyotes or Oilers.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Probably not too early to start with this stuff, eh?

Dallas Stars: Say this for Rauman Lukko of the SM-Liiga: They love their Danes. In the last few days alone, they've signed Danish NHLers Philip Larsen of Dallas, Mikkel Boedker of Phoenix and the great Frans Nielsen of the Islanders. Frans Nielsen will be the SM-Liiga MVP this year book it.

Detroit Red Wings presented by Amway: Because of the lockout, Jimmy Howard can't get advice from goaltending coach and mentor Chris Osgood, which in this article is being framed as a negative for some reason. As far as Osgood is concerned, though, you know what they say: Those who can't do, teach.

Edmonton Oilers: Next stop on the Daryl Katz "I'm a Dumbass" Tour is a public talk with the City Council. That'll go well.

Florida Panthers: "Panthers not on ice but staff is out in the community." You know, rooting around in garbage cans, panhandling, collecting cans, that sort of thing. Oh that's not what they're talking about? Never mind then.

Los Angeles Kings: The guy who wants to buy AEG — which owns the Kings, LA Galaxy and part of the Lakers — is a former surgeon and pharma mogul who wants to use the company's considerable heft in an effort to raise kids' awareness of the importance of health and physical fitness. Seems like a good guy to me.

Minnesota Wild: The Houston Aeros are holding camp at the Xcel Energy Center because why not. They'll also host Rockford in an AHL game there in November.

Montreal Canadiens: As with the Aeros and most other AHL teams, the Hamilton Bulldogs are also holding their training camp right now. That team could have as many as six rookies on it, and Aaron Palushaj is already talking like he's a greybeard at 23 years old.

Nashville Predators: The locked out Preds players hired a coach to help them refine their skills while they can't work with their actual coaches. That's initiative right there.

New Jersey Devils: Not one but two of Travis Zajac's brothers, Darcy and Kelly, are participating in the Albany Devils training camp. Also in camp, oddly, are three former UNH Wildcats.

New York Islanders: Nino Niederreiter hopes this latest trip to the AHL is enough to catapult him to a full-time NHL job. Don't forget, though, that he only had one goal in his final 55 games last season after dealing with a concussion.

New York Rangers: Rick Nash shoulder injury update: He's day-to-day with a bruised bone, but didn't break anything. Good news, bad news.

Ottawa Senators: Jared Cowen doesn't much seem to like playing in the AHL again. "I'm not saying it's bad here," is never a good way to start a sentence about a place you're playing.

Philadelphia Flyers: Given Claude Giroux's recent concussions maybe going to play in the KHL would be a frigging terrible idea.

Phoenix Coyotes: Today is Day No. 52 since Jude LaCava of Fox 10 in Arizona said Greg Jamison would have the deal for the Coyotes sewn up within the next five days. Oh and Glendale is working with Greg Jamison to rework its original deal to pay him to run the arena because he's totally buying the team, guys.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Do the Pittsburgh Penguins have roster flaws? Let's just have a quick glance at the goals they gave up in the playoffs last year and see what the problem there was. I'll give you a hint: It starts with Marc-Andre Fleur-.

San Jose Sharks: The area around HP Pavilion will lose out on a lot of business, and that will obviously hurt profits, say owners there. Meanwhile, the Sharks' owners are probably happy they don't have to lose another $15 million this season.

St. Louis Blues: Vladimir Sobotka is lighting up the Czech league, with eight points in his first five games. He only had 20 all of last season.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Bolts center and Alaska native Nate Thompson signed with the Alaska Aces of the ECHL, joining other Alaskans Joey Crabb and Scott Gomez on the team. Meanwhile, Matt Carle, Ty Conklin and Brandon Dubinsky continue to turn their back on their home state.

Toronto Maple Leafs: The Marlies already love what Paul Ranger is doing in his return to professional hockey.

Vancouver Canucks: Kevin Bieksa and Dan Hamhuis recently went to a AAA midget hockey practice to work with and talk to the kids. Bieksa admitted to being gassed afterwards. Getting run around by 15- and 16-year olds when you're already supposed to have been in camp? Good work, Kev.

Washington Capitals: Brooks Laich had a goal and an assist in his first game with Kloten of the Swiss A League. Fun fact, one of his teammates is Matthias Bieber. No relation.

Winnipeg Jets: Toby Enstrom wants to sign for Modo but can't yet because the club is still a little dubious about whether that ruling that Swedish teams could sign NHLers will hold up.

Gold Star Award

Tom Fitzgerald's son Ryan looks to be a top-quality prospect, taking home the MVP award at the first ever USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game in Buffalo ahead of guys like oh I don't know Seth Jones. Three assists and dominated at the dot in a 5-2 win.

Minus of the Weekend

Nazem Kadri seems to have spent the summer on the Dustin Byfuglien diet.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week

User "Flames rebuilder" just wants to help.

To Calgary:
Paul Stastny
Duncan Siemens

To Colorado:
Jay Bouwmeester
Mikael Backlund

Good job out there.

Signoff

Oh, spoons. Can I assume the potatoes will be mashed tonight?

Ryan Lambert publishes hockey awesomeness almost never over at The Two-Line Pass. Check it out, why don't you? Or you can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter if you so desire.

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In order to curb diving, a few players involved in the forum supported the public shaming of chronic floppers. From NHL VP Colin Campbell, via NHL.com:

"They want to get [the list] out there," Campbell said. "They want the player to be caught, whether it's on the ice by the referee or by us on video. They are all tired of diving. The object is to make them stop eventually and, by doing that, they can get it out there around the League, embarrass them. The referees will know it, too, so the divers don't get the benefit of the doubt."

To that end, a few of the names prominently mentioned in those meetings have been leaked by Darren Dreger of TSN. Chief among them: Ryan Kesler of the Vancouver Canucks.

Fun fact: His teammate, Kevin Bieksa, was a part of the rules summit. (Awwwwkward…)

From TSN:

Vancouver Canucks centre Ryan Kesler has been identified as an offender. While Kesler plays the game hard, he has been known to exaggerate contact to gain an advantage. Chicago's Dan Carcillo has been caught on video on more than one occasion during his career trying to sell a penalty. Among his more noteworthy attempts was in a 2010 playoff game with the Philadelphia Flyers against the New Jersey Devils, where Carcillo pretended to have been struck in the face with a stick.

Superstars such as Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin have also drawn criticism for attempting to mislead referees, as he did in the playoffs last spring resulting in a penalty against Philadelphia's Matt Carle.

Everything from posting pictures of each culprit in every NHL dressing room to re-instituting a fine system, or simply tacking on an additional two-minute penalty to offset the original call is being discussed by hockey operations and will at some point be presented to all NHL general managers for further discussion.

The "posting pictures" thing is somewhat new, as the players involved in the summit — including Ottawa Senators center Jason Spezza, Bieksa and Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman John-Michael Liles — talked about posting a list in every referees' locker room and players' dressing room.

But posting the photographs … OK, now we're getting into "dude who keeps passing bad checks at the liquor store" territory.

But hey, if it helps end the scourge of FIFA-level overacting, whatever works.

But Kesler? A diver? Outside of this …

And this …

And also this …

And tumbleweeds …

… we've only seen him dive one or two dozen times.

(But please remember: Diving is evil, but it's also a tactic.)

Meanwhile, Kesler must be wondering how he could be singled out as a diver on a team that has Alex Burrows and Max Lapierre in its employ. Because we sort of are.

Sign up your Yahoo! fantasy hockey team today.

The sexy picks

Many poolies take the bigger-named rookies earlier than they should. The hype exceeds production, because let's face it - these days even Calder Trophy winners are barely getting 60 points if that.

Nail Yakupov, Edmonton Oilers

Someone's bound to take the No.1 pick of 2012 in the fourth or fifth round, hoping they snagged a 70-point winger with upside for the season ahead. And perhaps he will be just that. But historically speaking, Yakupov is probably looking at high 50s and a deserving spot in the middle rounds. He just won't slide that far for you.

Ryan Murray, Columbus Blue Jackets

An outstanding defenseman whose name carries a lot of weight in fantasy hockey. But that's for his two-way game, not his offensive game. And in fantasy hockey, we want offense. Considering he's on the Blue Jackets and looking at a golf-tournament-winning score when it comes to plus/minus he shouldn't even be drafted at all in your one-year roto league.

Alex Galchenyuk, Montreal Canadiens

After missing most of last season due to injury, Galchenyuk will be hard-pressed to stick with the Habs beyond a nine-game tryout (assuming those exist with the future CBA). So drafting him at any time before the bench rounds is wasting a pick.

Mikhail Grigorenko, Buffalo Sabres

The, at one point, projected second-overall pick in the 2012 draft fell to 12th, but Grigorenko is consider close to being NHL ready and the Sabres are eager to inject his combination of size and skill into their lineup. He's another 'maybe' just to play in the NHL this year and as such should not be drafted before the reserve/bench rounds, if at all. But you won't have to worry about it because some dummy will grab him in the 14th round and think that they snagged a great sleeper.

Marcus Foligno, Buffalo Sabres

With 13 points in 14 games, there are some eager poolies who see that as 70-plus points. The only way Foligno gets that is if the new CBA ups the schedule from 82 to 132 games. Draft him for 70 PIM and the low 40s for points. Rank him properly on your list and he probably won't make it to you.

Sven Bärtschi, Calgary Flames

After scoring three goals during a five-game emergency call up last year, the 19-year-old has a spot waiting for him on the Flames. He could very well score 20 goals and 50 points and is certainly in the Top 10 on anyone's preseason Calder Trophy list. But that just means he'll go early. Too early.

Gustav Nyquist, Detroit Red Wings

Okay, this one might be my fault. In fantasy hockey circles, Nyquist is vastly popular because of his immense talent and how it seems to have translated so quickly to the pro game. But he's also been a favorite prospect of mine for three years now, which means he's been on the radar of DobberHockey readers since 2009. That's a lot of time for hype to build up. And now he's ready to make the jump, but he's not going to sneak up on anyone, unfortunately.

Brendan Smith, Detroit Red Wings

Smith is one rookie who isn't a bad pick in the upper-middle rounds. This is because his downside isn't that bad. At worst, he struggles to find the offense but still helps your fantasy squad with tons of PIM. At best, he makes a splash with 35 points on tops of those juicy penalty minutes.

Justin Schultz, Edmonton Oilers

Two things can happen with Schultz, this summer's most-hyped free agent defenseman outside of Ryan Suter. One, he could Jack Hillen his way through a couple of seasons in Edmonton and then bounce around the league. Two, he could go the route of Matt Carle or Jack Johnson, which is a slow and steady progression upwards (albeit on different teams, in the case of Carle). Neither of those options say "gets 40 points right away and is a plus-10 or better". So don't overrate in one-year leagues.

Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers

Your typical preseason Calder Trophy candidate who oozes offense. That is to say, he'll get between 45 and 55 points, and is a long shot for something in the mid-60s.

Mikael Granlund, Minnesota Wild

My personal favorite among all rookies, but he's in the Top 3 if you were to poll most fantasy owners. However, the summer hype about the Minnesota Wild will see to it that he's drafted far too early.

Ryan Strome, New York Islanders

Strome is going to be drafted in the later middle rounds in more than a few rotisserie drafts. Why? I don't even think he makes the jump full time this season. Thank the person who takes him, for wasting a pick.

Chris Kreider, New York Rangers

A fantastic playoffs has everyone excited about him. But the stats say that he tallied seven points in 18 games and was a minus player. And last time I checked, fantasy hockey relies on stats. Great long-term potential, but for the short term I would only draft him in the bench rounds and expect 40 points and 60 or 70 PIM.

Vladimir Tarasenko, St. Louis Blues

Tarasenko boasts supreme skill. But is it Alexander Semin/Aleksey Kovalev skill? Or Ilya Kovalchuk/Alex Ovechkin skill? If it's the latter, Tarasenko will make a nice splash. If it's the former, he'll take some nights off. And just ask Nikita Filatov how that worked out with Ken Hitchock as coach.

The savvy picks

Here are the rookies who should slip to the bench rounds. Decent risks to take, even if it means keeping them on the bench for a month or two.

Torey Krug, Boston Bruins

If it wasn't for his size (5-9), Krug would have had nearly as much hype as Schultz. Okay, maybe not. But still, the odds of Krug getting 30 points this year are similar to the odds of Schultz getting 30 points. And you can take Krug in the last round of your draft.

Brayden McNabb, Buffalo Sabres

McNabb would be ineligible as a rookie had he played one more game last year. His production would depend on whether or not Alexander Sulzer stumbles. If that happens, McNabb is a steal. If Sulzer does okay, then you can just drop McNabb. Taking him in the final two or three rounds is very low risk.

Brandon Saad, Chicago Blackhawks

Saad surprised last year, enough to make the team. He was later demoted because the Hawks didn't have enough room to give him the ice time he needed to properly develop. Things will be easier for him this time around.

Brandon Pirri, Chicago Blackhawks

Pirri has done all he can at the AHL level and what you could potentially see is another Kris Versteeg in terms of rookie impact. It's a boom or bust scenario for the steadily improving Pirri.

Richard Bachman, Dallas Stars

Bachman would flourish if given a chance. But a chance will only come if Kari Lehtonen gets hurt. Fortunately, that happens a lot.

Matt Donovan, New York Islanders

Another former college defenseman with excellent offensive upside to keep an eye on. Surely one of Donovan, Schultz, Krug and Smith will pan out immediately, no? Don't call you Shirley? Alright.

Jakub Silfverberg, Ottawa Senators

Last year's Mr. Sweden, Silfverberg did everything in the SEL except win goaltender of the year. And he probably would have won that had he tried his hand at goaltending. The 21-year-old winger could be in Ottawa's top six right off the bat.

Michael Stone, Phoenix Coyotes

The former WHL All-Star made an excellent NHL debut, posting three points and plus-7 in 13 games. If the Coyotes move Keith Yandle, I think they'll look to Stone for more responsibility and give Brandon Gormley and David Rundblad some more development time.

Simon Despres, Pittsburgh Penguins

Whenever Kris Letang was hurt last year, which was a lot, the Penguins turned to this guy. He proved he belongs and he has a shot at second-unit PP time. And since the Pens play their second unit about as much as the Coyotes play BizNasty, I guess I didn't say much there. Still, in the last rounds of your draft, what kind of quality are you expecting?

Cory Conacher, Tampa Bay Lightning

Another "small player is underestimated, yet still thrives despite the lack of opportunity" story. If you want to know what I think Conacher will do, take a look at what David Desharnais did in 2010-11.

Paul Postma, Winnipeg Jets

I had Postma on this list when I was making notes earlier in the week. Then I removed him, thinking he was too buried when it comes to the power-play picture in Winnipeg. Then Zach Bogosian had that wrist surgery. Now I think Postma could flirt with 30 points - perfect for a late round.

The lucky picks

Insert horseshoe here. If you take any of these players, they could pan out for you. One or two of these players will be the 2012-13 version of Adam Henrique, Carl Hagelin or Matt Read. But most of these players will be this year's version of Paul Byron or Stephane Da Costa.

Emerson Etem, Anaheim Ducks

Many prognosticators have Etem making the team and making a splash. I'm not one of them. Still a year away in my books. But if he does make the team, it won't be to shore up the Anaheim penalty kill. This guy will be there because he's scoring and they can't hold him back any longer. You'll know early on if this late rounder is a dropsy or a steal.

Sami Vatanen, Anaheim Ducks

Vatanen reminds me of Tobias Enstrom. Remember all the hype Enstrom got before crossing the pond and making an impact as a rookie? Me neither.

Dougie Hamilton, Boston Bruins

Actually, Hamilton may be miscast here as some eager poolies will take him earlier. But his roster spot is not a certainty and there is no need to rush him.

Leland Irving, Calgary Flames

If the Flames do bite the bullet and trade Miikka Kiprusoff, it will be because Irving seized the No.2 job and showed by December that he can be a starter. Like most rookies in this section, he's a long shot.

Jeremy Welsh, Carolina Hurricanes

The college star signed with Carolina just in time to play the final game and although he got his ass kicked at the faceoff dot, losing nine of 13 draws, he did not look out of place otherwise. He would be best used as the second or third-line center, but will compete with Zach Boychuk for a job. Getting on the team as a winger will be tough, given the Hurricanes' summer acquisitions.

Ryan Murphy, Carolina Hurricanes

Murphy made such a splash last year that he made the team. He was eventually sent back to junior when the 'Canes couldn't get him into the lineup. It will be just as difficult to crack the roster this year and there is no real rush either. Even if Murphy does make it, he's fourth on the PP pecking order so an injury to one of the other guys would be needed (I'm looking straight at you Joni Pitkanen).

Reilly Smith/Scott Glennie/Radek Faksa/Austin Smith/Alex Chiasson, Dallas Stars

There is room on the Dallas roster for a rookie forward, but there are several decent candidates. These five players should be phased into the NHL over the next 18 months, but it will be training camp performance that determines this season. Faksa is thought to be one of the most NHL-ready prospects in the 2012 draft, while Glennie is said to have really come along over the second half of last season. The other three players each turned pro in the spring after successful college careers.

Drew Shore, Florida Panthers

A great Calder dark horse, with his only weakness being the depth of NHL roster. Shore turned pro after posting 99 points in his last 82 WCHA games and then posted three points in eight AHL contests. If he makes the Panthers he's one to watch.

Jacob Markstrom, Florida Panthers

As with most rookie goaltenders, Markstrom's impact will require a bit of help in the forum of an injury to the starter.

Charlie Coyle, Minnesota Wild

One of the best prospects in the world, Coyle is a potential first-liner with tons of offensive skill. However the signing of Zach Parise hurts Coyle's shot at making the team this season, unless he outplays the likes of Granlund. He's in tough and will probably have to wait a year.

Jonas Brodin, Minnesota Wild

Brodin is a favorite of mine, but any big splash that I figured he would make kind of fizzled when the Wild signed Ryan Suter. If he makes the team he'll be eased in.

Mika Zibanejad, Ottawa Senators

Zibanejad has the skill set to make this team on a checking line, so in all likelihood the points will be low. As always, injuries hitting the roster would quickly change this.

Jaden Schwartz, St. Louis Blues

The lineup is finally healthy and they've added Tarasenko, which means that the spot that Schwartz had last year is no longer available. He's too skilled to completely count out though.

Mark Barberio, Tampa Bay Lightning

The AHL's Outstanding Defenseman from last year was hoping to run some of the power play for the big club. The signing of Matt Carle turned Barberio from a promising rookie to a likely depth guy, at least for 2012-13.

Jordan Schroeder, Vancouver Canucks

Ryan Kesler's surgery and projected recovery period opens the door for a two-month trial for a player such as Schroeder to seize. What he does with that will determine his fantasy value early.

Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg Jets

The addition of Olli Jokinen to the lineup means the Jets won't have to rush Scheifele. So if he makes this team, he earned the spot - and generally that means a big rookie season. Bottom line - boom or bust for 2012-13.

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Dobber is the resident fantasy hockey know-it-all for Puck Daddy, and founder of Dobber Sports - which includes DobberHockey, DobberProspects, DobberFootball and DobberBaseball. You can follow him on Twitter @DobberHockey

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If we're being fair, the most essential aspects of Canuck fandom are pessimism and self-loathing. In the 41 years of this franchise, very little has gone our way and it's gotten to us. We've become oversensitive. Our fuse is short. It can make us our own worst enemy, such as that one time we rioted.

And also that other time.

Our ever-increasing pessimism has made us a tough fanbase to please. Mark Messier, Canadian hero? We hate him. Nevermind that he was voted the Canucks' most valuable player in 1999-2000. He's the worst. Roberto Luongo, the best goalie to ever play for the Canucks? Get him out of here. The 2010-11 team that went to the Cup Final? Blow it up.

But there's a bright side to our blind pessimism. The moment something manages to wriggle out from under it, we love it unconditionally. We deify it. So help us if you ever say an unkind word about that thing. Don't even think about it, or we'll mess you up. We're crazy, remember. We destroyed our own city once twice.

And you stay away from Trevor Linden.

Player

Did I mention we love Trevor Linden? Because we love Trevor Linden. And not just for his hockey ability. He's also a stud. Our men tell our women they're looking "Trevor Linden good" -- that's how much we love Trevor Linden.

Vancouver's love for Trevor Linden goes beyond hockey for a number of reasons, foremost of which is that hockey alone couldn't earn him that special place in our hearts. Linden was excellent -- a heart and soul guy -- and he very nearly dragged the Canucks to a Stanley Cup Final in 1994. But he's hardly the franchise's best player. Markus Naslund is the Canucks' all-time leading scorer. Linden's third on that list, and he'll be fourth by the end of next season (if it happens).

Even at his prime, Linden wasn't the best. In terms of pure skill, Pavel Bure was way beyond him. But there's a reason Linden's jersey is retired and Pavel's isnt.

Linden just clicked with this city. He was and still is active in the community. He played a rugged, two-way game. He gave his all every night. He put Jeff Norton through a pane of glass. He played 16 seasons for the Canucks, bleeding blue and green and white and red and black and maroon and darker blue. When it comes to essential players, there is no other choice.

Season

This one's going to raise a few eyebrows, what with its recency and the sour taste it still leaves in people's mouths, but the 2010-11 season had it all.

Daniel Sedin won the Art Ross, Ryan Kesler won the Selke, Alain Vigneault was nominated for coach of the year, Mike Gillis was GM of the year, Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider won the Jennings, the Canucks led in almost every team category, the team won the Presidents' Trophy, and they came within a game of winning the Stanley Cup. That's a damn good year, and the fact that this selection is going to be met with criticism is absurd.

Sure, there's 1994 to consider, a year that's had just enough time to go from "thing that happened" to "legend", but that Canuck team went on a flukey run. For most of the season, they were a middling, unimpressive team. When it comes to a whole season, nothing beats 2010-11.

Granted, there was a bit of a ruckus afterwards, but technically that happened after the season was over. So it doesn't count.

Game

Saturday, June 11th, 1994. It was Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, and with the Rangers leading 3-2, the Canucks needed the win. Lucky for them, everything went their way. Jeff Brown scored the first goal. Early in the third, he scored the third, giving the Canucks a 3-1 lead. Then, late in the third, Geoff Courtnall scored, but the play continued, and the Rangers scored to make it 3-2. After review, Courtnall's goal was counted, and the score suddenly changed to 4-1.

Reviewing this game now, two things stand out: 1) holy Hell, was there a lot of hooking back then. 2) Trevor Linden played the greatest game of his career.

Game 6 was also the moment Linden reached sainthood. Heck, there's even a photo of the exact moment it happened. At the end of the game, an iconic photo was snapped. In it, an exhausted, beaten-up Linden rests on Kirk McLean, hardly able to move. Later we'd learn he had two broken ribs. But it didn't seem to matter. "He'll play, you know he'll play. He'll play on crutches," said Jim Robson.

If there were an essential photo category, this would be it.

Goal

It's tempting to make this Alex Burrows's goal from the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs, but no discussion of essential Canucks moments is complete without a Pavel Bure goal.

Bure's best was the double overtime winner over the Calgary Flames in Game 7 of the first round of the 1994 playoffs. The Canucks had gone down 3-1 in that series before clawing their way back with two straight overtime winners. And then Bure made it three after getting in behind the Calgary defence:

Good thing I'm already sitting down.

Trade

Markus Naslund for Alek Stojanov. Because the Canucks got Naslund, who wound up being one of the best players in franchise history, and the Penguins got some guy named Stojanov.

Unsung Hero

Thomas Gradin was inducted into the ring of honour in January of 2011, so he's been somewhat sung, but he doesn't get nearly enough credit for the trail he blazed in the late 1970s, as a European NHLer and as a Swede in Vancouver.

Gradin was the Canucks' first European player and his success primed this city to embrace Swedish stars in bulk. We've done so in recent years, with stars like Patrik Sundstrom, Matthias Ohlund, and Swedish captains Markus Naslund and Henrik Sedin.

Gradin has continued on with the Canucks as a Swedish scout and was instrumental in the drafting of Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, and Alex Edler.

Franchise Villain

Did I mention we don't particularly care for Mark Messier out on Canada's West coast? Seriously, our feud with the first ballot hall of famer is still ongoing. Earlier this summer, he managed to claim another six million dollars from the team. He haunts Vancouver even still.

It all began in 1994, when Messier's Rangers defeated the Canucks for the Stanley Cup. But it didn't end there. Not by a longshot.

Not content to simply break the hearts of Vancouverites from afar, Messier infiltrated the room, signing in Vancouver in 1997. He immediately took the captaincy from Trevor Linden -- who, as I mentioned earlier, we would prefer you not mess with -- and he took the number 11, which had been unofficially retired  since former number 11 Wayne Maki died of brain cancer in 1974.

Taking a letter from a god and a number from a dead guy won't win you many friends, but these are things that can be overcome if you play well, and Messier did not. Now, he didn't play terribly, but 60 points in year 1 made it Messier's worst season since his rookie year. And the team, believed by many to be a Messier-type away from contention, instead finished dead last in the Pacific Division. Then all that grave-robbing and Linden-disrespecting really mattered.

It still matters, dammit.

Fight

The greatest fight in the history of the Vancouver Canucks? Gino Odjick versus the St. Louis Blues. And the officials. And clothing.

My favourite part is when the official tries to grab his jersey, but forgets there's no jersey and gets a handful of pec. Then Odjick pushes his hand away like, "Don't touch me, man, I'm practically naked."

Coach

Mike Keenan. Just kidding.

I'm going to get crucified for this, but... Alain Vigneault.

Sure, Roger Neilson has a statue outside the arena. And sure, Vigneault's recent extension wasn't exactly met with glee. He definitely has his critics. They say he switches up his lines too much, that he doesn't adjust quickly enough in the playoffs, that he gets outcoached, that he plays favourites, that, secretly, the Sedins are the coach of the team, and that he broke Cody Hodgson's back on purpose.

But these are all unsubstantiated claims, and if it's empirical evidence you want, AV's got it. He's got the most coaching wins in Canucks history, both in the regular season and the playoffs. He's got two more Presidents' trophies than any other Canucks coach. He's been nominated for the Jack Adams thrice and won once. Also, his laughter is infectious:

And here he is laughing at the suggestion that Kyle Wellwood was trying really hard in a game.

Never change, Vigneault.

Broadcaster

Jim Robson. Absolutely nobody in Vancouver has ever called a game like he did and it's not even close.

Arena Behavior/Tradition/Trend

Towel Power is a great tradition, and it comes from a great story. In Game 2 of the 1982 Western Conference Finals in Chicago, the Canucks got what coach Roger Neilson felt was the short shrift from the officials. After having a goal waved off, they were whistled for four consecutive penalties. After Denis Savard scored on the powerplay, putting the Blackhawks up 4-1, the Canucks' coaching staff decided to lobby some kind of protest. Tiger Williams suggested throwing sticks onto the ice.

But Neilson, a craft sort, opted instead to place a towel on the end of his stick and wave it in mock surrender. The act was not appreciated, and he was ejected from the game.

It was appreciated in Vancouver, however, and when the series headed back there for Game 3, fans were armed with white towels to show their support for the team. The tradition continues to this day.

And so: the next time you claim Canuck fans are all a bunch of tinfoil-hatters, know that any conspiracy theory we espouse has nothing to do with you. We're simply trying to rally the base.

Arena Food

Yikes. The food in Rogers Arena is decidedly unmemorable. Your best option is to hit up a Japadog stand on Robson during the walk to the arena.

Swag

I'm resisting the urge to say a car flag.

It's the Flying V jersey. What an ugly, ugly, ugly thing. But it's not just a jersey. It's a metaphor for this team. When it's at its ugliest, and it often is, we celebrate it. We embrace it. We wear it. The Vancouver Canucks -- as disgusting as they've looked for many, many years -- are ours. Heck, they used to wear this jersey, that's how incompetent they are.

But a true Canucks fan doesn't just cheer for the team in the rare moments they're winning and looking good. A true fan cheers for them when they're awful, and they look even worse. That's what wearing the Flying V is all about. It's like those monks that whip themselves in the back to show their devotion, but for hockey.

Previously On Puck Daddy

The Essentials: New York Islanders edition

The Essentials: Boston Bruins edition

The Essentials: Colorado Avalanche Edition

The Essentials: Dallas Stars Edition

The Essentials: Washington Capitals Edition

The Essentials: Anaheim Ducks Edition

The Essentials: Montreal Canadiens Edition

The Essentials: Detroit Red Wings Edition

The Essentials: Ottawa Senators Edition

The Essentials: New Jersey Devils Edition

The Essentials: Phoenix Coyotes Edition

The Essentials: Florida Panthers Edition

The Essentials: Los Angeles Kings Edition

The Essentials: Carolina Hurricanes

The Essentials: Pittsburgh Penguins

The Essentials: San Jose Sharks

The Essentials: New York Rangers

The Essentials: Edmonton Oilers Edition

The Essentials: Tampa Bay Lightning Edition

The Essentials: Columbus Blue Jackets Edition

The Essentials: St. Louis Blues Edition

The Essentials: Buffalo Sabres Edition

The Essentials: Philadelphia Flyers Edition

The Essentials: Chicago Blackhawks Edition

The Essentials: Toronto Maple Leafs Edition

The Essentials: Calgary Flames Edition

The Essentials: Nashville Predators Edition

On Thursday, we unveiled the player and team ratings for the Eastern Conference teams in NHL 13. For this year's edition, EA has changed the way they handed out the overall ratings for players, as well as teams.

How are the NHL 13 player ratings different from NHL 12?

EA: Last year, overall ratings reflected a player's effectiveness based on their player type (ex. Sniper, Enforcer, Grinder, etc.). NHL 13 Overall ratings are based on a player's overall skill based on their position.

Why the change?

EA: It was a fan-requested change that ensured that overall ratings were more representative of a players skill level in real life. A players who is 90+ will feel drastically different than one who is rated 65.

Examples: NHL 12 Parros was an 81 as his rating was based on his player type — enforcer, meaning that he was an above average enforcer. In NHL 13 Parros is an 69 overall based on his skill level as a forward. Chris Neil was an 82 (Grinder) last year, this year he's a 78. With this new overall ratings system, his rating didn't drop as significantly as Parros because he's still a skilled player who can check and score effectively.

For team ratings:

"We changed the team overalls for continuity. If you look at our 'potential' rating system and how we break down the each of the six skill ratings, it is all star based and we wanted to be consistent."

After the jump, the player and team ratings for the Western Conference.

(Click the team name for player rating graphic)

Anaheim Ducks (Offense: 3.5, Defense: 4, Goalies: 4): Corey Perry/Ryan Getzlaf (88), Bobby Ryan (86)

Calgary Flames (Offense: 4, Defense: 4.5, Goalies: 4.5): Miikka Kiprusoff (87), Jay Bouwmeester (86), Mike Cammalleri/Mark Giordano/Jarome Iginla (85)

Chicago Blackhawks (Offense: 4, Defense: 4.5, Goalies: 4): Jonathan Toews/Duncan Keith (90), Marian Hossa (89), Patrick Sharp (87)

Colorado Avalanche (Offense: 4, Defense: 4, Goalies: 4): Paul Stastny/Matt Duchene/Erik Johnson (85)

Columbus Blue Jackets (Offense: 3.5, Defense: 4, Goalies: 4): R.J. Umberger/Jack Johnson/Fedor Tyutin (84), Brandon Dubinsky/James Wisniewski (83)

Dallas Stars (Offense: 4, Defense: 4, Goalies: 4.5): Jamie Benn/Derek Roy/Kari Lehtonen (86), Loui Eriksson (85)

Detroit Red Wings (Offense: 4, Defense: 4.5, Goalies: 4): Pavel Datsyuk (95), Henrik Zetterberg (89), Niklas Kronwall (88)

Edmonton Oilers (Offense: 4, Defense: 4.5, Goalies: 3.5): Ryan Whitney (85), Taylor Hall/Nick Schultz/Jordan Eberle (84)

Los Angeles Kings (Offense: 4, Defense: 4.5, Goalies: 4.5): Jonathan Quick (90), Mike Richards/Drew Doughty (87), Simon Gagne/Anze Kopitar/Jeff Carter (86)

Minnesota Wild (Offense: 4, Defense: 4, Goalies: 4.5): Zach Parise (90), Ryan Suter (88), Niklas Backstrom (87), Mikko Koivu (86)

Nashville Predators (Offense: 4, Defense: 4, Goalies: 4.5): Shea Weber, Pekka Rinne (89)

Phoenix Coyotes (Offense: 3.5, Defense: 4.5, Goalies: 4): Zbynek Michalek (86), Mike Smith (84), Keith Yandle/Derek Morris (83)

San Jose Sharks (Offense: 4.5, Defense: 4.5, Goalies: 4): Joe Thornton/Patrick Marleau (88), Dan Boyle/Brent Burns (86)

St. Louis Blues (Offense: 4, Defense: 4.5, Goalies: 4.5): Alex Pietrangelo (87), Jaroslav Halak (85), David Backes/David Perron/T.J. Oshie/Kevin Shattenkirk (84)

Vancouver Canucks (Offense: 4.5, Defense: 4.5, Goalies: 4.5): Daniel Sedin (91), Henrik Sedin (90), Roberto Luongo (89), Ryan Kesler/Dan Hamhuis/Alex Edler (88)

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

It wasn't in celebration of a Stanley Cup, of course -- the 42-year-drought continues -- but Aug. 5 marked an occasion almost as long in the making: In its 34th year, the Vancouver Pride parade welcomed Manny Malhotra and Jason Garrison, the first Canucks ever to march in the event. They were joined by mascot Fin, Patrick Burke and the You Can Play Project. From the Vancouver Sun:

Vancouver Canucks player Manny Malhotra walked side by side with members of the Vancouver Cutting Edge, the only gay hockey club in western Canada. On his wing were a fleet of photographers as well as Patrick Burke, founder of the You Can Play organization, dedicated to eliminating homophobia in sports.

"It's paramount that equality in sport, and beyond, becomes the norm. Everybody has the right to play the game they love," Malhotra said. He joins teammates Ryan Kesler, Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin to become the fourth Canuck to lend his support to You Can Play.

Here's a video of Malhotra and Co. moving down the street:

Of note: That's probably the closest the CBC will get to the Hockey Night in Canada theme song ever again.

Fin, the Canucks' mascot, won't get nearly as much attention in all this, but his involvement really puts things over the top for the Canucks. This wasn't just a few players deciding to go on their own (although they were hardly coerced); this was an organization sending out a full delegation, making a statement against intolerance in sport as a franchise.

It's a bold, unprecedented step by the Canucks, and one I hope other sports franchises have the guts to follow.

By Cam Charron

A team from Southern California won a championship. It doesn't matter which one, in which league, in which sport. Every celebrity, from the most famous A-lister to the local Santa Ana weather guy, wanted in.

The Staples Center prominently features three teams in the four major sports. Two of those didn't win a championship this year, leaving celebrity fans like Jack Nicholson and Ice Cube and Selena Gomez in bitter disrepair. With the Boston Celtics losing in Game 7 to the Miami Heat, the Red Sox missing the playoffs and the Patriots losing in the Super Bowl, even Bill Simmons was going to have to admit that a team he casually follows wasn't going to win anything.

But along came hope. A team generally known for a few C-listers. Wil Wheaton, a man known to many of us only because we were unfortunate enough to be caught watching TV with nothing but reruns of "The Big Bang Theory" on the dial. The guy who played Chandler in the most unfortunate, overrated sitcom in the history of television was also prominently on display all season.

At this point, you're asking yourself "Greg, why the hell aren't you actually talking about the Kings?" Well, for one I'm not Greg, and for two, I'm actually quite tired of talking about the Kings. I like the Kings, don't get me wrong. They're an excellent hockey team with a real shrewd management group who put together a team with 20 good pieces, signing or trading for their best players far below retail value.

There are the obvious Kings jokes: Two thirds of their second line are drunken party boys who were never supposed to successfully deal with the temptations they'd face in Los Angeles. The other member of their second line is fat, lazy and loves pancakes. Their coach resembles "Sloth" from "the Goonies" and nobody can actually find the country of origin of their star player on a map. The other is that their captain is statistically the best diver in the National Hockey League.

Career-altering addictions and geography aside, the Kings were relentless. The team was known for its star power in the past, featuring guys like Marcel Dionne, Wayne Gretzky and Luc Robitaille; but those three were all famous for not bringing the Stanley Cup to Los Angeles. Ironically, in the land of stardom and glamorized excess, the most successful team the Kings had ever was also its most economical and its most boring.

Frankly, I don't necessarily look at things like "boring" when I judge whether a team is good or not, or interesting to watch. There were lots of interesting characteristics about the Los Angeles Kings this season: their unflappable goaltending, their propensity to trade for any superstar on the market, their play-driving, high-scoring No. 1 centerman and their puck-moving defense.

Evidently, people covering the team didn't find as many fun things about this team as I did. One night, after writing a post about the post-Jeff Carter trade dominance of the Kings, I did a search on Getty Images for an appropriate picture about the Kings. My search for "Los Angeles Kings" yielded thus:

Mainly, pictures about celebrities, like the guy who played Chandler in "Friends," who was such a B-lister he was only the second-most famous person in the '90s to hook up with a girl named "Monica."

I hope the Kings become a dynasty. I really do. I like watching Jeff Carter and Mike Richards and Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty. I like how good they are, I like that a team found success after acquiring players without regard for their past or their character, just what they can do on the ice.

[Related: Video: Kings' Stanley Cup win may boost hockey's popularity in Southern California]

More importantly, I like how easy it is to make fun of the people who cover them. We all remember when the local NBC affiliate threw up a logo of the Sacramento Kings accidentally when discussing the major events at the Staples Center one glorious weekend in May:

The error wasn't the only one made among with many others in the Los Angeles media, bandwagoning to earn the respect of a few passionate, hardcore, longtime Kings fans after the Clippers and Lakers met their fates in the NBA's second round.

I think the best part of this clip is not that the attractive (probably) failed actress Liz Habib makes a number of different mistakes in her likely first go-round with hockey highlights but that she began her clip by showcasing Alyssa Milano in the crowd at the Staples Center.

That's not all the mistakes that were made by a bunch of media folks pretending to be versed in hockey. Jonathan Swift is a good example, but my favorite may have been Mike Dunsmore getting all this great, pro-American, anti-Canuck tirade from whom he thought was Ryan Kesler, but turned out to be Kevin Bieksa.

So when an obvious Photoshop pops up (courtesy of The Royal Half, I believe is where I first saw it), people think it's real:

Eric Gagne, of course, set a consecutive save record with the L.A. Dodgers back in the early 2000s.

We remember Jack Johnson, the former third overall draft pick, a man Rudy Kelly described as a player who "doesn't do anything to positively affect a play when he's on defense; he's generally in the right place but he's not actively doing the things he needs to do to end that offensive possession. He's a buck-toothed pylon, basically."

[Related: Jay Hart: After 8,200-mile trek, 'Keepers of the Cup' hand it off to the Kings]

This is a player whose own GM called him a star athlete but "awful as a hockey player" two years before he traded him away for one of the better players in the league. "You had no idea what position he was playing. But he had always been the star and he always got his numbers."

We remember Jack Johnson because Jack Johnson was the final piece of the Kings' puzzle. The removal of Johnson and subsequent addition of Jeff Carter, done a couple of months before the Los Angeles local media realized that Jack Johnson was more than a singer-songwriter, set this team on an unstoppable course going forward. Despite being an eighth-seed, the team was never an underdog.

We remember Ryan Smyth, the well-coiffed poster boy for rhinoplasty, who decided last offseason that "maybe I don't want to play in Los Angeles" and accommodated a trade off the Kings. The removal of Smyth's 23 goals and $6.25M cap hit allowed for general manager Dean Lombardi to make a trade for Richards the next time that Philadelphia's Paul Holmgren drunk dialed him.

We remember Smyth because he was so much of a detriment to the Kings' cap situation that they had to trade him not once, but twice, for players that the Edmonton Oilers didn't really want. Smyth, the grizzled veteran, is still without a Stanley Cup while, like Johnson, his exit paved the way for the Kings to win.

And thank God they did, because there are a bunch of Kings fans who needed a Stanley Cup after 44 years.

There are some great Kings fans out there; one a Toronto lawyer I watched three of the games with. Despite the Kings' looking at every instance like they'd win the series, she was still beset by bitter memories of Zigmund Palffy at one time being the star player on the strip. This is a team that was so bad through their history that they don't even have memorable playoff chokes or disappointments.

In the 2000s, the Kings goalie with the most wins and shutouts was Felix Potvin. The most goals and points belonged to Alex Frolov. Nothing against Potvin and Frolov personally, but they the hockey equivalents to Chandler Bing in how good of a character he was on TV, except they played for a lot less money.

So Congratulations to the Kings.

[Related: LAPD: Kings fans 'well-behaved' outside Staples Center after team's Stanley Cup Final win]

Congratulations to a fantastic cast of players brought aboard, and a systematic coaching staff that kept them in check. Congratulations to Darryl Sutter for winning a Stanley Cup-clinching game on his fifth try.

Congratulations to the bandwagoning local media who found the next trendy event to hijack.

Congratulations to Jack Johnson and Ryan Smyth, who were key players in reverse to one of the more impressive Stanley Cup teams in years. Congratulations to the players who were brought aboard this club after some other team decided that they weren't good enough to win anymore.

More importantly, congratulations to the passionate L.A. fans that supported the team despite being so bad for so long whom finally have a reason to cheer. I'm more than willing to do a few shots with you should our paths cross.

Congratulations to Will Ferrell, who memorized the entire "Los Angeles Kings#History" page in one of "Hockey Night in Canada's" most awkward interviews ever. With any luck, you'll be recognized as Geoff Cartier or Miles Richards, players on the only line in hockey that require a designated skater.

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"When it's done well, it's very hard for the referees, because if you fall down near the boards, or you drop your stick or you throw your head back, you're putting the referee in a very tough situation," he said.

Before blocked shots became the soapbox topic du jour in the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, diving and embellishment were being hotly debated. Brad Marchand's embellishment earned inspired a lowlight reel on YouTube. Ryan Kesler's tumbleweed dive against the Kings became a point of ridicule.

Like Tippett said: Every team, including his, attempts to draw penalties. And some players are better at it than others.

Who is drawing the most penalties in the 2012 NHL playoffs? Glad you asked.

All of these numbers are via Behind The Net's tabulations for the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs. They're for players with at least 10 playoff appearances this postseason, and the penalty figures are for even strength.

* Tied with Kyle Chipchura, Brooks Laich and Brayden Schenn.

Seven of the top 10 are still playing. Last season, five of the top 10 players in postseason penalties drawn appeared in the conference final — Keith Ballard and Ryan Kesler of the Canucks, and Ryan Malone, Dominic Moore and Steven Stamkos of the Lightning.

(Because you're bound to ask: Shawn Thornton drew the most penalties for the Boston Bruins in the 2011 players at even strength with 1.4; Brad Marchand was eighth at 0.7.)

Back to 2012 -- the Kings also have three of the top 10 players in drawing penalties while shorthanded: Dustin Brown (3rd), Trevor Lewis (4th) and Rob Scuderi (6th).

So that's penalties drawn; now, what about penalties taken at even strength (based on at least 10 games played)?

* Tied with Steve Bernier, New Jersey Devils.

Obviously, these numbers are greatly affected by ice time. Last year's leader in penalties taken? Ben Eager (to make his team shorthanded) with 7.4(!) per 60 minutes thanks to his paltry ice time.

Prust of the New York Rangers leads the playoffs with 10 minor penalties, followed by Derek Morris (9) and Zac Rinaldo (9).

On diving: Having watched nearly every game of the postseason, there's no question that Dustin Brown can get a little Hollywood when someone's defending him. There's also no question that Ryan Callahan's been lighter on his skates in this postseason than I ever recall him being.

That said, both of these players — and others — earn their penalties drawn through hard work in the attacking or defending zones. These are belly-flops at center ice. The "embellishers" frequently force opponents into making borderline plays and then add the exclamation point.

Tippett's point is taken: There's a dishonesty to it. But that doesn't mean it's incredibly effective as a tactic in the NHL.

Thanks again to Behind The Net for its work.

Watching Saturday's Capitals/Rangers game was an exercise in masochism.

Sitting through that game was a test — not unlike that delivered unto Abraham — to see just how much you actually like watching hockey. Two teams playing hockey not so much against each other but rather at each other, or, to put it another way, in defiance of every hockey fan's patience. In that game, four goals were scored on 32 shots. That was between both teams, and not just one, in case you were wondering.

Certainly, convention states that playoff hockey is more defensive by nature than the regular season. And though you'd be a fool to subscribe to the belief that defensive hockey is boring hockey, even the most stoic men would have been reduced to tears by the kind of temerity it takes to dare people to sit through 60 minutes of whatever that was on Saturday afternoon.

But one team, at least, flatly refuses to play anything like boring hockey. That would be the Philadelphia Flyers, whose efforts have thrilled all viewers not openly supporting their opponents, and enlivened what is otherwise shaping up to be a rather drab final few rounds of the playoffs.

(Coming Up: Pierre McGuire as Habs GM; trading Patrick Marleau; Jagr vs. Brodeur; Matt Greene's unlikely goal; Predators' revenue troubles; Nail for Staal?; Landeskog graded; Columbus addresses its goalie needs; Alex Ovechkin controlled by Rangers; in praise of Danny Briere; the Winnipeg Jets are dogs; and the future of Tim Thomas.)

There are eight teams left in the playoffs, and they finished first, second, third, fifth, ninth, 10th, 20th and 21st in the league in defense this season. The two outliers are Philadelphia and Washington, respectively.

But unlike the Capitals -- who, perhaps wisely, have abandoned all attempts to actually attack their opponents' nets -- the Flyers continue to play only the firewagon-est of hockey, because it's the only reasonable way ahead.

The exploits of Ilya Bryzgalov in the regular season and now the postseason have been, shall we say, adventurous and well-publicized. As a result, despite having to stick with their $10 million man (because they sure as hell can't fall back to Sergei Bobrovsky), they're not going to trust him to do anything but keep them in games, not win them. And, in allowing a 15th-in-the-playoffs 4.14 goals per game, who can blame them?

The winning, therefore, falls to the team's prodigious forward corps of deadly snipers, wizardly playmakers, and steely grinders. All of them combine to fill the nets at an alarming pace: 4.86 goals per game, more than anyone in the postseason. They do it mostly on special teams, but that's because they have to. They both draw more penalties than anyone in the Eastern Conference and commit more per game than any as well. They've scored 13 power play goals in seven games — five of which they've won, you'll note — and adding three shorties.

The game yesterday afternoon showed just how good the Flyers are at playing this style of hockey, which is uniquely theirs. They came out flatter than Blackhawks' power play in the first period and got pushed around their own rink by what had to be a fairly tired Devils team, but likely got screamed at by Peter Laviolette in the intermission, meaning they would start actually trying to score. And score they did, with four goals in the final 45 minutes to cover for Bryzgalov, who gave up three five-hole goals in the game. The first two came midway through the second period, and just 37 seconds apart, and after that, even the most casual of observers had to feel the tentacles of this devastating attack were now sufficiently tightened around the game, come what may.

The breakdowns that led to the New Jersey goals, which eventually forced overtime, were perhaps inevitable for a team like this. And it's fine that they came because in the end, the Flyers seem like they'll always have enough goals in them to advance past New Jersey.

It's likely that this won't work against the winner of Washington and New York. At some point this insane run-and-gun style has to stop working because you can't score at least four a night forever, or at least, you wouldn't think so.  Those teams work more of a rope-a-dope, and they'll happily let the Flyers punch themselves out shooting into shinpads and catching gloves, then hit back with a devastating counter.

But at least when — or rather if — it happens, the Flyers will go down swinging, which is more than you can say for anyone else left standing.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: Hey are the Ducks ever gonna sign this Justin Schultz kid, or what? If they don't do it soon, it'll be like a Blake Wheeler-to-Boston situation after that holdout with Phoenix, insofar as they will likely get nothing for him unless they trade his rights.

Boston Bruins: Yeah, Tim Thomas is basically gone. Or is he? Tuukka Rask says he's up for one more year of backing up the 38-year-old, at which point Thomas' contract will expire and Rask will be The Guy going forward. Bad news though, Bruins fans, Greg Zanon might be back.

Buffalo Sabres: Marcus Foligno is pumped to spend all of next season with the big club, where he had 6-7-13 in 13 games at the end of the season. He also had 2-1-3 as the Rochester Americans' lost in a three-game sweep to the Marlies, though making the playoffs probably won't be something he has to worry about in Buffalo next year either.

Calgary Flames: The Flames have a pair of good prospects at the WHL Championship this year. Sven Baertschi is obviously one of them, and the other is goaltender Laurent Brossoit of the Edmonton Oil Kings. Who says the cupboard is bare? Oh right, everyone.

Carolina Hurricanes: Justin Faulk will play for the US at the upcoming World Championships, because he is a great guy.  "It was an easy 'yes,' and I don't think I could ever say 'no,'" he said. "It's an honor every time to put on the jersey, and I'd do it every time they ask." Legendary attitude.

Chicago Blackhawks: The Blackhawks will probably seek a little help on the blue line this summer. This site targets Dennis Wideman. To shore up the defense. Dennis Wideman. Oh excuse me, that's NHL All-Star Dennis Wideman.

Colorado Avalanche: Gabriel Landeskog pulls an A grade for his rookie season, and apparently the only thing that kept him from getting the A+ he deserved was that he's "not super fast." Something to work on, then.

Columbus Blue Jackets: "We need a different look in goal," Scott Howson said. "We need better play from that position. I told Steve in our exit interviews (earlier this month) that we're going to have a different look at that position next year, but that right now, nobody can predict what form that's going to take."  Smell ya later, Steve Mason.

Dallas Stars: Seven Stars are playing in the World Championships, perhaps most notably Kari Lehtonen, and Joe Nieuwendyk is trying desperately to spin it as being a kind of playoff experience.

Detroit Red Wings presented by Amway: Patrick Eaves hasn't played an NHL game since Nov. 26 when he suffered a concussion, but he skated a few times during the playoffs and is sure he'll be ready for next season. Good news for sure.

Edmonton Oilers: This is the best headline of the weekend for sure: "Should the Edmonton Oilers trade their top pick for Jordan Staal?" Hoo boy throwing Nail Yakupov in with Crosby and Malkin doesn't seem fair, does it?

Florida Panthers: Scottie Upshall getting called out on the carpet by Kevin Dineen at the Panthers' garbage bag day. Good news is he's only signed for three more seasons with a cap hit of $3.5 million per oh wait that's terrible news.

Los Angeles Kings: Things I never thought I would see -- Matt Greene scoring a shorthanded goal in the second round of the playoffs against the St. Louis Blues. In fact, that was his first ever NHL shortie. The only other time he scored a man down since he began playing junior hockey in 2000 was with the Iowa Stars in the AHL in 2005-06.

Minnesota Wild: U of Minnesota sophomore forward Erik Haula won't be signed by the Wild this summer, as they would prefer he continue to improve his game without actually paying him to do so.

Montreal Canadiens: The Habs interviewed Pierre McGuire for their GM job. Please hire him. Signed, every hockey fan.

Nashville Predators: The Predators still aren't turning a profit despite selling out all the time and getting assistance from the local government, according to team officials who are, I'm sure, in no way posturing ahead of the new CBA. "Oh that's this year?" they probably said while doing a pretty good impression of incredulity.

New Jersey Devils: Marty Brodeur and Jaromir Jagr were both drafted on the same day in 1990, and this is now the sixth time their teams have met in the playoffs in the 22 or so years since. "I would appreciate the greatness if I didn't have to face him," Jagr said.

New York Islanders: More Isles-to-Brooklyn talk. Don't they know Gary Bettman already said it wouldn't happen?

New York Rangers: Alex Ovechkin's first game against the Rangers: no points, one shot on goal, two blocked, two wide, a minus-1 in 21:03. In short, good work, Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh.

Ottawa Senators: The Senators are probably going to have to spend a considerable amount of money in the offseason. Among players whose contracts are expiring: Erik Karlsson, who should get a million years, and a billion dollars.

Philadelphia Flyers: As if we needed more reason to love Scott Hartnell. Guy makes the game fun.

Phoenix Coyotes: Poor Mike Smith. Good thing it ended up not mattering.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Pittsburgh is no longer the city of champions (come for the woe is us bemoaning, stay for the picture of the sad fan). Say, just spitballin' here but wouldn't that be Boston? What with all the trophies in the last decade or so.

San Jose Sharks: Should the Sharks trade Patrick Marleau? Yes. But who would take him? A team looking to get to the cap floor, maybe, given that he's pulling $6.9 million against the cap the next two seasons. And even if someone would take him, does he waive his no-movement clause?

St. Louis Blues: Alex Pietrangelo got boarded pretty good on Saturday night (no major penalty though!) and didn't practice Sunday. He's day-to-day with an upper body injury, but, says Ken Hitchcock, "Just don't be writing him off yet."

Tampa Bay Lightning: More on Tim Thomas: Might the Bolts be interested? It makes a lot more sense going forward than Luongo.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Yes, the Leafs should have given an offer sheet to Steven Stamkos. Same for every other team with the cap space and necessary picks to do so. It's dumb that they don't, but was never going to happen ever. By the way, does Stamkos actually get the Leafs into the playoffs?

Vancouver Canucks: Can't go around expecting that Roberto Luongo trade any time soon, says Mike Gillis. Yeah, because there's a trade freeze on until the end of the playoffs.

Washington Capitals: The statistics suggest that yes, Alex Ovechkin is broken, and while there's no good theory as to why that happened, the next Caps coach needs to have a plan for how to fix it. In other news, the sky is blue.

Winnipeg Jets: A no-kill animal shelter in Winnipeg had the bright idea to start naming dogs up for adoption after Jets. Blake Wheeler heard about it and said he would donate a jersey to whoever adopted the puppy named after him. The team's partnership with the shelter has significantly increased adoption rates, and that's awesome. Dogs are awesome.

Gold Star Award

This Danny Briere guy is pretty good once the playoffs roll around.

Minus of the Weekend

The Rangers' and Capitals' styles of play are both predicated on boring everyone to death, and boy did it ever work in Game 1.

Play of the Weekend

Prom season is coming up. Thinking about asking this Claude Giroux shot.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week

User "warmplate" doesn't want just Roberto Luongo out of Vancouver, oh no.

To Tampa Bay:
Roberto Luongo
Ryan Kesler
Mason Raymond - RFA Rights
Keith Ballard

To Vancouver:
Vincent Lecavalier
Victor Hedman
Teddy Purcell
4th Round Pick

Signoff
I like them all. I like everything.

Ryan Lambert publishes hockey awesomeness rather infrequently over at The Two-Line Pass. Check it out, why don't you? Or you can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter if you so desire.

• Oh hi there, 14-year-old Jonathan Quick.

• Does Dale Hunter's job hinge on what happens in Game 7 Wednesday? [ESPN]

• Will Shawn Thornton get into Wednesday night's Game 7? He'd like to, but he's cool either way. Thornton: "I don't give a [expletive] this time of year. Whatever helps the team." [Boston]

• Meet "Team Snubbed", the trio of Philadelphia Flyers snubbed -- snubbed, I say! -- for NHL awards. Seriously, you have no idea how snubbed they are. So snubbed. [Philly]

• Elliotte Friedman's always excellent 30 thoughts. [CBC]

• There's nothing better than reactionary articles following first-round exits. Patrick Kane didn't score even once on the Phoenix Coyotes. He sucks, trade him. [Chicago Tribune]

• Ryan Kesler didn't score even once on the Los Angeles Kings. He sucks, trade him. [Vancouver Sun]

• Darryl Sutter's gospel of success for playoff hockey: "Goaltenders, special teams, top players, unsung heroes and discipline. Write it down and don't forget it." For brevity's sake, I wrote down "Good players play good." That's the same, right? [Los Angeles Times]

• Carrie Underwood plays fill in the blanks with ESPN and changes her stance on playoff beards: "I think playoff beards are awesome because my husband makes one look sooooo sexy!" [ESPN]

• On the historic first round of the playoffs, which showcased hockey's excitement and its dark side. [SI Red Light]

• Ilya Bryzgalov's shirt somehow manages to upstage the Stanley Cup. [Reddit Hockey]

• Ellen Etchingham sees the Stanley Cup and instantly transforms into Madeleine L'Engle. [Backhand Shelf]

• With a trio of delectable Game 7s coming up, it's time to investigate who usually wins these games. [The Globe & Mail]

• Here's a gif of Scottie Upshall punching Steve Bernier in the head. Not cool, bro. [SB Nation]

• Speaking of gifs, Broad Street Hockey's Flyers/Penguins gif bracket rules. [Broad Street Hockey]

• Wherein Mike Gillis suggests the Canucks changed Cody Hodgson's usage in January to inflate his totals and make him look more appealing on the trade market. [PITB]

• Roman Polak fired 88 shots on goal this year and didn't score a goal. Antti Miettinen played 45 games without recording a single penalty minute. Numbers are fun! [The Hockey Writers]

• Revisiting the scary, October 2009 hit that caused the Ontario Hockey League to go no-tolerance on dirty plays, such as Mark Zanetti being suspended for the rest of the OHL playoffs for a kicking motion he made toward a player. [Canoe]

• Kevin Cheveldayoff provides updates on the Winnipeg Jets' top prospects. [Winnipeg Free Press]

• And finally, somewhere, there's a village where the kids think Canadian teams win the Stanley Cup all the damn time.

Hello everyone and welcome to this memorial service for the Vancouver Canucks 2011-12 season.

Boy that was a wild one, eh? It's too bad about the whole "losing on home ice thing." Fortunately, I've been assured that the city took precautions this time, girding itself against the massive amount of water damage that's sure to originate from Jim Hughson's position in the broadcast booth.

Such is life in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, where it's really hard for any President's Trophy winner to advance past an eight-seed that scored six goals in the regular season.

Like, really, really hard. So hard, you guys.

I know it's been said that the Canucks avoid excuse-making like the Sedins avoid defensive-zone faceoffs, but come on everyone, they had a bunch of very legitimate excuses this time around. For one thing, there was Daniel Sedin. He was way, way, way too injured to play in the first three games of the series, which is what made his recovery just in time to prolong the team's prospects ever-so-slightly in Game 4 so miraculous.

It was as if the Hockey Gods themselves reached down from the heavens and made all those clouds swirling in his brain go away all at once, and, at last cobweb-free, he was able to save the team's bacon that one time. Just the one time, mind you. But that has to count for something.

And how about the goaltending situation? That's not easy on anyone. No one seemed to know from one day to the next whether Alain Vigneault would start his franchise goalie or his franchise goalie, and that can't be especially helpful.

Poor Roberto Luongo, who lost two games in this series and will almost certainly be shipped out of town this summer, but hooray for Cory Schneider, who lost two games in this series and will be sticking around. One day, he may even play so well that he gets to sign a big, long extension and enjoying life as the undisputed No. 1 guy until Eddie Lack comes along to show him up and everyone from the team to the media masses on his front lawn with pitchforks and torches, as is the rite for every Vancouver goaltender.

But as Luongo knows and Schneider will likely one day find out, "We Are All Canucks" (until the team scores just four goals to support us over two games and that's somehow our fault). Usually, though, it's helpful if you have Chelsea Dagger to blame.

Honestly though, I know everyone wanted the Canucks to lose this series in the most embarrassing fashion possible (and there, too, they came just short of doing it!), but I don't get it.

What's to hate about this team?

They seem like a real fun bunch of guys, goofin' around, doing boys-will-be-boys type of stuff off the ice, and who doesn't love that?

I mean, Kevin Bieksa did an entire interview posing as Ryan Kesler, and just to keep the gag going, Kesler spent the entire series putting up points like Bieksa. (Although, to be fair to the poor interviewer who got suckered by this good old-fashioned rib, it's tough to know exactly what Kesler looks like since he refuses to be interviewed so often.)

Kesler is, by now, accustomed to embarrassing flops on home ice, but he can rest easy knowing he got the last laugh on all the online haters. Now, tumbleweeds will not only adorn the many animated gifs his diving has been worked into, but will also appear next to his name in the "goals" column over the last 16 games.

Then there was that possible reference to Mike Richards' hard-partying Philadelphia days by Alex Burrows. Some called it classless, but I say, "Who better to joke about lines than a guy who was so bad in the postseason that he had to play on three of them?"

Oh, Alex, you know I kid. You were probably just confused when you put those ice shavings on your stick blade, because they bear a striking resemblance to Similac powder.

Or how about Vigneault saying after the game that "nobody" saw something like this coming. That was a riot. (Oh, oops. Touchy subject.) What a bunch of practical jokers.

The people I feel bad for in all this, though, are the fans. After all, this is a group of people who were expected to be so distraught over the Canucks losing that the team had to put out a video pleading with Vancouver's residents not to burn the city to the ground in the wake of what was sure to be another devastating loss. They were, of course, totally right about that. The devastating loss part, not the embarrassing civic event. You'd think with that type of organizational prescience they wouldn't have signed Luongo — who, by the way, still hasn't lost a first-round series, unlike Cory Schneider! — to that huge deal but that's neither here nor there.

I worry. I really do. When the Kings' social media goons put out the Tweet That Launched A Thousand Complaints, many fans reacted as if the Californian usurpers had personally spit in their faces. That's no way for a fanbase to act, and this is a fanbase that should by now be well-versed in knowing how not to act.

The hard lesson we've learned in this postseason, if nothing else, is that local newspapers will run any type of homerish handwringing screed if it reassures readers that they're not alone in spending their off-days crying into a pillow. Oh no, I'm sorry, the hard lesson is actually that sometimes you have to be the bigger man. Like, for example, if another team's captain, known for big, clean checks, hits your captain with one of those big, clean checks.

What do you do? No, Bieksa and Burrows, you can't just attack him and then fight another player who had absolutely nothing to do with the hit. You turn the other cheek, and maybe if you get around to it, you try to win the game, or at least score a goal. Nonetheless, an important lesson, and one fans can certainly learn from.

If this is the type of fanbase that comes very seriously and dangerously unhinged over a tweet from another team's Twitter account, think what personal hell this five-game routing at the hands of a team that barely made the playoffs has brought crashing down upon them.

Fortunately, the irony of the Canucks losing the series in overtime on home ice because of a neutral-zone turnover and dive from Dan Hamhuis will be lost on them. Because if it wasn't, psychiatrists city-wide would have to clear day-long therapy sessions for Roberto Luongo's various aliases to cover the populace on a basis not dissimilar to triage. Those whose Stan Smyl jerseys are still damp with tears will be treated first.

Luckily for the mental well-being of the $10-Million Man, the city's press has its finger on the pulse of the fanbase — at least when it's not flicking the nearby switch reading "BLAME VIGNEAULT/BLAME LUONGO" from one position to the other without discretion — and was well ahead of the curve. So much so that they've already been publishing in-no-way-embarrassing op-eds, reassuring fans that everything is going to be a-okay, for more than a week now.

So while many across Canada likely do hate the Canucks (entirely out of jealousy!), a great deal more dearly love them with all their hearts and souls. And it's only the dastardly media ginning up hate for the Canucks. For most fans, who know the game better than those ink-stained idiots who watch and think about it on a professional basis, when they think of British Columbia's fabled franchise, they say words like "clean," "exciting," "strong," and "admired" leap readily to mind.

Had the poll been conducted a week or so later, they could have also included "eliminated," and "again."

s/t to Hockey Pains for the video.

Ryan Lambert is a Puck Daddy columnist whose home will be set on fire by angry Vancouver fans — oh sorry, "anarchists" — overnight. You can follow him on Twitter or send him an email written through your angry, angry tears.

And so it was that two long-standing Western Conference powers crashed out of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, bending the knee to upstart franchises in just five games each …

You might not have liked the Sharks or Red Wings in their series against the Blues and Predators, but it was very difficult to see either one crashing out in five, wasn't it?

Now both find themselves at a bit of a crossroads. Detroit, of course, has been hearing "they're too old to keep doing this much longer" forever. But were it not for what even the staunchest of statsphobic old-timers would call a lucky, impossible-to-replicate home winning streak, it's difficult to get excited about the team's prospects going forward. No one on the Wings broke 70 points, and that's the first time since 2003-04 that such a thing has happened. They only had 17 road wins this season, and didn't win once at Joe Louis Arena in the playoffs. Causes for concern, certainly, made no less worrisome by the prospect of Nicklas Lidstrom hanging them up.

[ Related: After first-round elimination, Sharks face uncertain future ]

Make no mistake, this is an old team. Second-oldest in the league behind New Jersey, in fact. The number of players in their top-10 for scoring under the age of 30 was just three, and they weren't exactly three guys you see a guy as apparently smart as Ken Holland building a team around: Valtteri Filppula and Jiri Hudler, who played most of the year with Henrik Zetterberg, and Ian White, who took the majority of his shifts with Lidstrom. That's not to say they're not good players in their own right (well, White isn't), but they are complementary players, and guys like Zetterberg would still succeed regardless of who played with them.

They also have few particularly tantalizing prospects (the result of a decade or so of drafting pretty poorly) and Lidstrom, with his career very obviously on its last legs, simply cannot be the rough-and-ready warhorse at both ends of the ice he has been in the past, and the prospect of Niklas Kronwall playing any more minutes than he already does has to be concerning to anyone who watched this Nashville series.

[ Related: Preds make Stanley Cup statement by eliminating Red Wings ]

Now, none of this is to say that the Wings didn't carry long stretches of their playoff games, and outshoot Nashville significantly in three of the five. They did. But as the series wore on, they also often appeared baffled with how to handle the looks a line led by Martin Erat was giving them, and didn't do a very good job of silencing anyone over the course of five games.

(Coming Up: It's Claude Giroux's world, we just live in it; the end of the Pens; Marty Brodeur is old; Mike Cammalleri gets his sweater; hoping for a Nicklas Lidstrom retirement; the Islanders probably aren't Brooklyn bound; the Coyotes and Blackhawks play a lot of overtime games; Cam Ward is charitable; the Rangers can't score; Tyler Seguin is pretty good; Emerson Etem ignites; and a trade to get Roberto Luongo to Tampa Bay.)

Obviously, it's worth considering that the Red Wings have something like $16 million in salary cap money coming off the books in the offseason, and only have a few guys they'd probably look at re-signing. They also never really got drilled by Nashville until the final game of the series, when you could just tell the Preds had an extra gear the Wings didn't.

But the fact is that most players still look at Detroit as a model franchise they'd be lucky to play for; so unlike other teams, they will likely have no trouble attracting top free agents and staying at least somewhat relevant, though perhaps not at the strength they once showed.

I wouldn't be so sure about the San Jose Sharks.

This is a team whose greatness we all overestimated this past summer, simply out of habit. But throughout the season and into the playoffs, they often looked old, disinterested, out of answers and just not good enough. That was especially true against the Blues, for whom they had no plan offensively, which is a position approximately zero into which people saw them slipping backwards even three or four months ago.

More worrying, though, is that there's no help on the way.

[ Related: Kings eliminate Presidents' Trophy-winning Canucks ]

They have 14 players under contract next season with a combined cap hit of more than $55.5 million, and most of the larger contracts are for guys who are going to be north of 30 (Thornton, Marleau, Havlat, Clowe, Handzus, Boyle, Murray) — not where you want to be such a large portion of your cap money. And if you thought they might be able to bring up low-cost rookies from their system, think again. Hockey's Future ranks their prospect pool at dead last in the league; which, even if you don't put a ton of stock into that kind of thing, should be more than a little concerning. They can't be off by more than, say, three or four slots, right?

The Sharks, it seems, are another Calgary Flames in the making, having mismanaged a roster and thought far too much of their older players to the point that it led to severe roster mismanagement, and neglected their farm system in doing so. But since they began at a higher position, their fall will be less significant than the Northwest Division's discredited franchise.

There two teams are very much in decline and look unlikely to reclaim any former greatness they may have had, at least not within the next few years. But Detroit at least is in a significantly better position than the team that once antagonized it so when the postseason rolled around.

Not that either is enviable at this point.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: After scoring 61-46-107 in 65 regular season WHL games, Ducks prospect Emerson Etem scored 7-6-13 in seven playoff appearances. Shockingly, he's also up for WHL player of the year. He's now with Syracuse in the AHL, and scored one goal in the two final games before the postseason, but has been held off the scoresheet in two playoff games. In summary, he is pretty good.

Boston Bruins: This is the culmination of two fantastic games from Tyler Seguin. He went the first five games of the series without a point but seemed at least dialed in on Saturday. On Sunday, he set up Andrew Ference's crucial third goal, then scored this beauty in OT to force Game 7 on Wednesday.

Buffalo Sabres: Darcy Regier on how to fix the Sabres next season: "We've got to reduce the injury numbers and I think that'll start there." Oh, Darcy. No. That's not the jumping-off point.

[ Nicholas J. Cotsonika: Giroux leads Flyers past Penguins | Three Stars ]

Calgary Flames: Flames AHL affiliate the Abbotsford Heat entered the postseason going 8-1-1 in their previous 10 games, and then walloped Milwaukee in the first game of the playoffs, 6-2 on the road. I'd say the future is bright but I mean come on. To be fair, though, Sven Baertschi isn't even on the team yet.

Carolina Hurricanes: Cam Ward recently put his mask from the past season up for auction to benefit the Special Olympics, and it fetched $6,000.

Chicago Blackhawks: Hey, another Blackhawks/Coyotes game that went to overtime. It's the first series to go to overtime five straight times since 1951. Both teams are aware that it's legal to finish a game in 60 minutes, right?

Colorado Avalanche: Avs governor Josh Kroenke says, hey who wouldn't want to see the team increase payroll this offseason and become competitive? I mean, they're not gonna actually, like, do it or anything, but yeah of course fans want that to happen.

Columbus Blue Jackets: The Blue Jackets need to add leadership in the offseason and will do so by trading their captain so there ya go.

Dallas Stars: Stars prospect Alex Chiasson is already well on his way to a successful pro career after leaving Boston University a year early. He had five points in the Texas Stars' final nine games. He's probably still a year or three away from being a full-time NHLer, though.

Detroit Red Wings: Will Nicklas Lidstrom retire this summer? Jeez I hope so. One of the things you could always say about Lidstrom is that no matter what, he just didn't make mistakes. This season, especially as it wore on and entered the playoffs, he started making some serious mistakes, the most egregious being Martin Erat leading him and two other Wings into the corner for a wide-open goal by Kevin Klein. Don't want to see him enter Chris Chelios territory. That would be truly sad for the second-best the world has ever seen.

Edmonton Oilers: Given Braden Holtby's performance in the playoffs, might that free up either he or Michal Neuvirth in the offseason? And if so, should Edmonton pursue either? I dunno, I don't think either of them have much experience as defensemen at the NHL level.

Florida Panthers: Michael Yormark would really like it if Panthers fans would stop throwing rats on the ice after goals. Yeah, good luck with that.

Los Angeles Kings: Entering last night's game, the Kings' power play was really bad. Despite having the second-most power play time in the postseason, they only had three PPGs. That has to be better going forward.

Minnesota Wild: Three terribly important members of the Wild — Niklas Backstrom, Dany Heatley, and Devin Setoguchi — all had surgery in the 10 days after the season ended. So, another chance to blame injuries for the season collapsing.

[ Related: Are early exits of traditional powers good or bad for the playoffs? ]

Montreal Canadiens: Hey after the Canadiens caught all that bad press for trying to charge Mike Cammalleri for his Habs jersey, they just sent it to him for free. Was it really so hard?

Nashville Predators: Nice of Alex Radulov to finally show up for the series, scoring the opening goal and assisting on this beautifully-crafted eventual game-winner that proved a backbreaker for the Wings.

New Jersey Devils: There can't have been too many people outside the greater Miami area that thought we'd be in this position through five games. But I guess none of us counted on Marty Brodeur being a million years old.

New York Islanders: Aww, the Islanders probably aren't moving to Brooklyn now. But the reason? "It's hard to reach for the team's fan base in Long Island and Queens." The team's what now?

New York Rangers: But I thought signing Brad Richards was going to clear up all the Rangers' scoring problems forever. They've put up 1.8 goals per game in this series. That's bad. Richards and Gaborik are tied for the team lead in points, with three. That's worse.

Ottawa Senators: Chris Neil isn't likely to face supplementary discipline for concussing Brian Boyle. Because you know hey whatever man.

Philadelphia Flyers: What a game by Claude Giroux. What a leader. What a player. This hit on Sid Crosby just six seconds in set the tone for the whole game. And oh yeah, he pretty much demanded to take the first shift.

Phoenix Coyotes: More news on the potential Coyotes sale. The Glendale city government expects a deal soon but has no timetable. They've been saying all of this for years now. How's it all worked out?

Pittsburgh Penguins: Boy if this doesn't symbolize the entire Penguins' defensive series. D does just enough to mess things up for Marc-Andre Fleury, who has no answer for even the softest shots Philly had to offer. Terribly embarrassing all around.

San Jose Sharks: This was the fastest the Sharks have ever been eliminated from the playoffs. Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski finished the series with a combined 0-0-0 line. Not good.

[ Related: Tyler Seguin's heroic play saves season for NHL champ Bruins ]

St. Louis Blues: The entire city of St. Louis acting like they won the Stanley Cup by winning a 2-7 series? Sure, why not?

Tampa Bay Lightning: Looks like the Bolts were planning on selling everything that wasn't nailed down to pick up Cory Schneider, and now are not going to for obvious reasons. Another player in the Jonathan Bernier sweepstakes? Can't wait.

Toronto Maple Leafs: A prominent Canadian figure skater being brought on board to help the Leafs with their skating as a means of replacing former skating coach Graeme Townshend? No, that doesn't lend itself to any jokes at all. Can't think of one. Not a single joke. Nope.

Vancouver Canucks: The Canucks decided to put together their three most, shall we say, outspoken forwards. But what to call a line consisting of Ryan Kesler, Max Lapierre, and Alex Burrows? Besides, "the one that's easiest to hate ever?"

Washington Capitals: Remember when Mike Knuble was benched (granted, because of his bad plus-minus) and everyone was all mad about it? Yeah, so does Mike Knuble. Which is why he's played his ass off ever since. Sometimes that kind of thing works, apparently.

Winnipeg Jets: Know who might end up having a rough summer? Dustin Byfuglien. He still has his trial for drunken boating from last summer coming up in July.

Gold Star Award

Maybe Claude Giroux is the second-best player on Earth now? Maybe bridging that gap with Crosby? His having 14 points in six playoff games might be a pretty good indicator. But then again…

Minus of the Weekend

Marc-Andre Fleury ended the Penguins' playoffs allowing four goals on 22 shots in Game 6, and stopped just 131 of 157 in the series. That's an .834 save percentage, the lowest by any goalie to ever make at least six appearances in a postseason. His 4.63 GAA was the highest among that same group since 1995, and sixth-worst ever. Remind me again what "elite" means, please?

Play of the Weekend

Wonderful goal by Jonathan Toews to keep his team alive.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week

User "Kevin8se7en" is looking for a change.

To Vancouver:
10th Overall
Ryan Malone

To Tampa Bay:
22nd overall
Roberto Luongo
Mason Raymond

Hooray.

Signoff

No more hitting, no more hitting.

Ryan Lambert publishes hockey awesomeness rather infrequently over at The Two-Line Pass. Check it out, why don't you? Or you can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter if you so desire.

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VANCOUVER -- When the red light came on, it was clear that somebody had made a mistake. Either it was Dan Hamhuis, attempting to carry the puck through the neutral zone with Trevor Lewis pressuring him from behind; or it was the official, failing to call Lewis for taking him down.

"I was told that wasn't a penalty," Alain Vigneault deadpanned in the postgame presser.

Regardless of who erred (I'm saying Hamhuis), the Canucks' blueliner lost his footing and the puck, and Jarrett Stoll turned back towards Cory Schneider with possession. Stoll did not err, beating Schneider on the short side to give the Los Angeles Kings the 2-1 overtime victory.

And, just like that, Stanley Cup runners up from a year ago and the reigning Presidents' Trophy winners were eliminated from the playoffs in 5 games.

Nobody in the Canucks' locker room was pointing any fingers on the game-winning goal. Rather, they traced the cause of the early exit a little further back -- to Games 1 and 2, games the team felt they ceded far too easily.

"The first two games we made a lot of mistakes that were not common for us," mumbled Sami Salo. "[We] took a lot of undisciplined penalties and gave them unnecessary momentum."

The Sedins had more to say on the matter.

"These past three games, we played like we did last year," said Daniel Sedin. "For some reason we couldn't do it in the first two. Just overexcited or whatever it is, but if we would have played like we did these last three games it would have been a different series."

Henrik Sedin broke it down game by game.

[ Also: Tyler Seguin's heroic play saves season for NHL champ Boston Bruins ]

"The first game, we took way too many penalties, and the second game, our powerplay cost us the game. If you do that in a 7-game series, you give away two games. [Then] you've got to win 4 of 5, and that's tough when they don't give you an inch."

Did he feel the absence of Daniel Sedin, who returned for Game 4 after missing the first three with a concussion, made a difference?

"We could see that it was a different game," Henrik said of Daniel's injection into the lineup. "But again, if you give this effort and we execute the way we have in the past 3 games, I still think if he wouldn't have been there we would have been in the first 3 games as well."

For the Canucks' captain, it was consistency that got Vancouver to the Stanley Cup Final last postseason, and it was the lack thereof that killed them here.

"Last year, we didn't outplay any teams going to the Final. But we played good enough to be in every game and if you do that, you're gonna get bounces and be in most of the games. You play within your system, you play tight defensively, we've got the skill to take over games. But if you give away 2 games in the series, it's tough to come back."

But the team wasn't taking anything away from the Kings, who got great goaltending from Jonathan Quick and played airtight defensively in front of him.

"Quick didn't miss on a single puck the whole series," said Cory Schneider. "They as a whole group, they're a little underrated, they do a great job of preventing second chances and rebounds."

Schneider gave Jarrett Stoll all the credit on the game-winner as well.

"I saw a 2-on-1 develop, it's my job to take the shooter and I tried to do that, but he had a quick release and made a great shot over my shoulder," said Schneider. "He made a big shot in a big moment."

But if the Canucks had played better from the outset of this series, that moment might not have been so big.

Now the team heads into an offseason full of questions.

Most of the core is locked up, but is it the right core? The Sedins were difference-makers, but Ryan Kesler disappeared down the stretch, going 16 games without a goal. GM Mike Gillis acquired David Booth to give him a running mate, and the two played a strong possession game, but they were unable to generate any offence. Will a full year together allow them to work things out as a duo?

And speaking of duos, the Canucks' goaltending situation is suddenly a mess.

Roberto Luongo is locked into a contract through 2022, but he lost his job this postseason. Cory Schneider ends the year as the starter; will he be the starter to begin the next one? Schneider's an RFA, so he'll need a contract. And if you give him one, what do you do with Luongo?

There will be questions about Alain Vigneault. The coach has led the Canucks to back-to-back Presidents' Trophies but he's failed to get them out of the second round in every playoffs but last. Will that be enough to necessitate a coaching change?

And on the backend, the Canucks have to be wondering about Alex Edler, who was far from the Norris candidate his regular season numbers indicated he was blossoming into. Do the Canucks trust him to be a top pairing guy, or will they look to retool on the backend?

There are a lot of questions for Mike Gillis and, unfortunately, he'll have two more months to work them out than he had hoped.

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During the Olympics, Ryan Kesler came under fire from Canadian fans for saying that he "hated" Team Canada prior to Team USA's round robin matchup with the hometown favourites.

On Friday, this controversy was seemingly sparked up again when the Vancouver Canucks' centre told Mike Dunsmore of Fox Sports that he preferred American fans after the Canucks' Game 4 win in Los Angeles. Dusmore asked Kesler how the Vancouver fans might react to an elimination loss on home ice in Game 5, and Kesler responded thusly:

I'm an American and I like playing in the States. The fans in Canada are great but this is where the real hockey fans are in my opinion. I love the States and this will always be a home for me.

Except it wasn't Ryan Kesler. It was Kevin Bieksa, pretending to be Kesler.

Take a listen:

According to Wyatt Arndt of the Province's Legion of Blog, after the game, Dunsmore approached Bieksa, mistakenly thinking he was Kesler, and Bieksa simply never corrected him.

[ Also: Raffi Torres suspended 25 games for putting Marian Hossa on stretcher ]

The Province's Jason Botchford asked Bieksa about the deception:

"That guy's an idiot. It's his own fault if he can't tell the difference between an all star center and a plug defenceman" explained Kevin Bieksa. "He shouldn't even be allowed in the room."  Bieksa didn't stop there, as he continued to rip on Dunsmore. "He doesn't know who Ryan Kesler is.  Ryan Kesler won a silver medal for them. I did a full 10 maybe 15 minute interview with him, I was telling how I grew up in Livonia."

That's amazing. Also amazing: Bieksa-as-Kesler telling Dunsmore his nickname is "Guzzler". Legendary.

Let this be a cautionary tale for anyone thinking of interviewing an athlete ever: when you approach him, make sure you have the right guy, or you might accidentally wind up inviting one of hockey's elite pranksters into your home, unawares. And you will be pranked.

One final question: How many games will Bieksa get for catching Dunsmore with his head down?

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But, for the moment, these are the 10 skaters having the most disappointing playoffs. Important point No. 1: We are talking skaters, as in non-goalies. Important point No. 2: We limited it to one player for each team listed, because listing multiple disappointments for each team simply isn't fair to San Jose or Boston.

Here are the 10 most disappointing players/skaters in the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs … Make sure to visit this post again tonight to thank us (or condemn us) for the motivation.

Milan Lucic, Boston Bruins

As said, we're trying to limit these to one per team, which made it difficult to select a Boston Bruin. Fact is that Tyler Seguin (zero points, 16 shots), Brad Marchand (zero points, minus-1) and Patrice Bergeron (1 assist, minus-1) have all been busts thus far. But we'll give the nod to Lucic because it's his physical game and offensive zone presence that the Bruins need in order to crack Braden Holtby and the Capitals defense. He stepped up in Game 3 and the Bruins were victorious. But he's been missing in action during the Capitals' two victories.

Dennis Wideman, Washington Capitals

Zero points for a puck-moving defenseman to go along with a minus-4 against his former team. As Joe Haggerty wrote during Game 4 against the Bruins: "Dennis Wideman has now been on ice for every 5-on-5 goal that the Bruins have scored this season. It looks like the Bruins were fully aware of the dead spots in his game, and capitalized when he pinched into the offensive zone as Alex Ovechkin was turning over a puck."

Joe Pavelski, San Jose Sharks

Patrick Marleau will shoulder most of the blame for the Sharks' 3-1 series deficit to the St. Louis Blues because that's what happens to Patrick Marleau in the playoffs. (Ask Roenick.) What's never happened, before this season, is Pavelski going scoreless in his first four playoff games. The Blues did a number on Marleau, Pavelski and Joe Thornton until the line was broken up, and Pavelski's yet to find his stride. He doesn't have a point on 11 shots, although he did hit a couple of posts against his old Wisconsin teammate Brian Elliott.

Patrick Sharp, Chicago Blackhawks

Granted, his one goal — a deflection on a Brent Seabrook point blast in Game 2 — earned the Blackhawks an overtime they would eventually end with a Bryan Bickell goal. But Sharp has pumped 17 shots on Mike Smith — ninth-most in the playoffs — without tallying another point while going minus-2. There's plenty of other blame to go around, and other offensive players not picking up the slack (paging Viktor Stalberg), but Sharp has the ability to be a point-per-game player in the postseason.

Radim Vrbata, Phoenix Coyotes

Vrbata had 35 goals in the regular season and was a plus-24. He's been limited to 1 assist and a minus-3 in four games against Chicago, but he also has an excuse: An upper body injury cost him most of Game 1, and he hasn't been the same since. Also a factor: His partner in crime Martin Hanzal was injured and missed Game 4. So he's been disappointing, but there are reasons for it.

Brad Stuart, Detroit Red Wings

While this is kicking dirt on the grave, given the Red Wings' elimination on Friday, Stuart's feeble 1-assist, minus-5 performance against the Predators shouldn't go unnoticed. It's widely assumed he's played his last game in Detroit, likely joining a West Coast team to be closer to family. After this performance, Wings fans might pay his freight.

[ Video: Marc-Andre Fleury's 'superhuman' penalty kill in Penguins' Game 5 win

Anton Volchenkov, New Jersey Devils

Although he rebounded in Game 4 to bring his plus/minus back to even and playing 16:19, his previous three games of the series were terrible: On the ice for nine of the 10 goals the Panthers have scored during the postseason. Is he finally playing out of it to become the defensive stopper the Devils need?

Chris Higgins, Vancouver Canucks

Both Ryan Kesler and Alex Edler have had their struggles against the Los Angeles Kings, but are trending upward. David Booth has one assist, but he's being elevated to play with the Sedins. That leaves us with Chris Higgins, who has no points, is a minus-3, has seen his ice time drop and is now playing on the Vancouver checking line. This after a 43-point season for Vancouver.

Jason Spezza, Ottawa Senators

The Sens are 2-2 against the Rangers without much from Spezza, who has two assists in the series after an 84-point regular season. Of more concern is that he's given the puck away a team-leading six times.

Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins

How can a player with seven points in five games be a disappointment? Depends on whether you've watched the games or not. Malkin scored three of his points in that Game 4 massacre when he was a plus-4. Otherwise, he has four points in four games, is a minus-2 and was a non-factor in two of them. He needs to be the consistent, Hart Trophy frontrunner he was in the regular season.

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Game 4 Preview (Flyers lead 3-0) Pittsburgh Penguins at Philadelphia Flyers, 7:30 p.m.

It could be tremendously awkward handshake time for the Flyers and Penguins tonight. The Pens will be without suspended James Neal, Arron Asham and Craig Adams, as well as injured defenseman Paul Martin. Said Scott Hartnell: "We've got to have a good start. It's not like they're going to roll over and die just because of what happened. Whoever they put in there, we've got to do a job against their top guys and be disciplined."

Game 4 Preview (Kings lead 3-0) Vancouver Canucks at Los Angeles Kings, 7:30 p.m.

The Kings go for the kill against Cory Schneider and the Vancouver Canucks … although they're less concerned about the kill than they are the power play. But their kill will get tested tonight: Daniel Sedin will return from his concussion to attempt to rally the Canucks back from the brink.

Game 4 Preview (Rangers lead 2-1) New York Rangers at Ottawa Senators, 7:30 p.m.

The Sens are likely without Daniel Alfredsson. But Matt Carkner's back to fill the offensive void. Brian Boyle is popular, according to Rangers Rants: "Artem Anisimov, trapped on the other side of Boyle, treated it with more humor. Then again, Anisimov may be the funniest guy in the room. Anisimov quipped that the media needed to start lining up to get to Boyle and Anisimov pointed to an imaginary line that would run out the door. Anisimov also said he would start to charge $5 for the right to get close to Boyle. And Anisimov also jabbed at his friend, asking Boyle if his tongue was getting sore from talking so much."

Check out previews and updated scores for all of today's games on the Y! Sports NHL scores and scheds page. For tonight's starting goalies, check out Left Wing Lock.

Evening Reading

• Listen to today's Marek Vs. Wyshynski podcast.

• The 30 hottest guys in the NHL, according to Cosmopolitan. On Ryan Kesler: "Hottie Ryan loves his fans—he's big on retweeting them." Sadly, no Chara.  [Cosmo, via Joanna Thomas]

• Ilya Kovalchuk laughed off the New Jersey Devils being nervous about their series, down 2-1: "One game is not going to kill our confidence. It's a good job by them. They didn't do anything crazy or surprising. They were good on the power play and why were they good? Because they were simple. They were shooting the puck from (the point) and a couple good bounces went their way and it went in. So, that's what it's all about. You have to shoot the puck to score goals." [Fire & Ice]

• Brandon Saad will likely get the call for Marian Hossa in Game 4. [Blackhawks]

• Andy McDonald of the St. Louis Blues on NHL discipline: "On the suspension part of it, there's really not a deterrent," said McDonald. "If guys were suspended for 20 games, then I think things would change. I think guys would all of a sudden be cautious when it came to elbowing somebody in the head, or hit somebody when he's unsuspecting or in a vulnerable position. It's a difficult issue. I think the league is trying to get it right, but it's a work in progress.'' [ESPN]

Puck Daddy Reader Comment of the Day: From Chris in Atlanta:

Here's an idea to reduce some of the vicious cheap shots going on in the NHL:

If you are one of the NHL's "established" goons who can make it in the NHL (a la Raffi Torres) you know that you generally have several shots before you have to change your behavior. Your first punishment at worse will be 3-5 games, increasing from there to about a max of 25 games. (Bertuzzi got longer, but didn't serve longer due to the lockout.) But odds are, by the time you hit that plateau you will have already spent 3-5 seasons in the league, and if you change your behavior then, you can still spend another 5 or so years in the league with few if any incidents.

But in the grand scheme of things, at most you will miss a total of 50 games, or about 6% of your income out of a 10-year career.

And you really won't cost your team all that much either. Remember, you're a "marginal" 3rd / 4th line guy. You are interchangeable in the very short-to-medium term. Yes, you could lose your job, but you haven't yet, even though you've bounced around teams.

But overall, the team takes a major penalty which may cost them the game, but otherwise they plug in a healthy scratch or an AHL call up and move on. At the end of the year, no one says a team lost out on the playoffs because a player like Torres made a vile hit that got him suspended.

So change the last part of that equation.

Players who are suspended may not be replaced in the line-up for the length of the suspension up to a maximum of 5 games.

Raffi Torres gets suspended for the playoffs? Dress 11 forwards for the next 5 games. Weber gets suspended for a game (should have) for bashing Zetterberg's head into the glass, you have to try to rotate 5 D-men for game #2.

I'd put a limit of 5 games because the other players can't have to pay for one idiot's outrageous mistake for too long. And no game-to-game carryover powerplays. And goalies are exempt (although it would be cool if they weren't). But players should know that the rest of the team will be a little more exhausted, a little more hit, a little more likely to lose if they do something stupid. And when several teams are in line for the 8th spot, that will finally cut this crap out.

Bold Prediction: The Canucks survive. The Penguins do not.

• Channel 7 news in Miami thinks FIU Panthers beat the New Jersey Devils Tuesday night. That's embarrassing for everybody. [Darren Rovell]

• Marian Hossa won't play Thursday. According to Joel Quenneville, he's at home resting. [Adam Jahns]

• Cory Schneider will start for the Canucks in Game 4. Jason Botchford asks: Is the Roberto Luongo era over in Vancouver? [The Province]

• Has Daniel Alfredsson played his last home game with the Ottawa Senators? [Ottawa Citizen]

• Elliotte Friedman's always excellent 30 thoughts. Interesting to hear about Francois Allaire's frustration: "Here is the scoop on Maple Leafs goalie coach Francois Allaire: He is telling people he is fed up with being made a scapegoat in Toronto and is considering retiring from the league to concentrate on his goalie school. The 'scapegoating' is not coming from inside the organization as GM Brian Burke took pains to publicly defend him." [CBC]

• Bruce Boudreau on the disturbing trend of playoff violence: "I don't think of it as a disturbing trend, I think of it as hockey. To me in sport, is this not want the fans want? It's exciting, it is so competitive. You want as a team, as an athlete of where you grew up to be competitive. It's a rough sport. Twenty-five years ago, people would be saying boo about this but everyone is so politically correct now that everybody is worried about everything." [CBC]

• The worst New Jersey Devils player in their series with the Florida Panthers: Anton Volchenkov. What's his deal? [In Lou We Trust]

• Sidney Crosby, on the Philadelphia Daily News calling him the Cowardly Penguin: "That's one of the nicer things they've said about me here." [Dave Molinari]

• Via Greg D., Brendan Shanahan suspends the pane of glass that took out David Krejci.

• Dennis Seidenberg is pretty excellent. [Boston Globe]

• What's more embarrassing to the Toronto Maple Leafs? Thirty-three percent of their fans saying they're embarrassed to cheer for the team, or the fact that only 3 percent of Toronto Raptors fans said the same thing? When you're 30 percent more embarrassing than the Raptors, something has gone horribly wrong. [Toronto Star]

• Joe O'Connor chats with Walter Gretzky, who has lost nearly 20 years of memories due to a brain aneurysm. [National Post]

• Ryan Kesler is blowing up at the HF Boards. Or at least blowing by. Here are the 6 best Ryan Kesler tumbleweed gifs. [PITB]

• The Daniel Sedin hologram photoshop here is excellent. [The Royal Half]

• The NHL must legislate honor. [Hockey Independent]

• The 15 cleanest teams in the NHL since April 10. [Winging it in Motown]

• Citizens are outraged by a weird, smelly pile of hockey bags that's appeared outside of a home in Toronto. What the heck? [Toronto Star]

• And finally, the third video in Adam Mackay-Smith's fabulous Johnny Canuck series. Even if you're not a Canucks fan, these short films are fantastically done.

The Canucks find themselves on the brink of an historic sweep in Los Angeles Wednesday night. Never in the history of the Presidents' Trophy has its winner failed to win a single playoff game.

Needless to say, when that's the kind of history you're flirting with, someone will be calling for rolled heads, and in the case of the Vancouver media, the Queen of Hearts is usually columnist Tony Gallagher of The Province. Tuesday, he argued that a first-round exit should be reason enough to show coach Alain Vigneault the exit:

Because of his long tenure enjoyed as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, it might be a useful exercise to mount something of a defence for Alain Vigneault after another season whereby it looks all but certain his team is going to come to another crashing, miserable end in the NHL playoffs.

Those who worship the ground the man spits on will doubtless come out of their boots trying to keep him around because he's an easy man with whom to work. So there will be plenty of "save the Presidents' Trophy winning coach" material, and rightfully so because his regular season record is very, very good.

[...] Bar-ring a recovery of historic pro-portions in this series however, it says here this group, however comprised next year, deserves to hear a different voice.

It's worth noting that Gallagher's been after Vigneault all season. In the preseason, he lost it over the linemates Vigneault gave rookie Cody Hodgson. Gallagher called for Vigneault's firing on March 21, just prior to the Canucks winning eight of 10 and the Presidents' Trophy. And heck, even the columnist's tweets seethe with dislike for Vigneault.

You just knew that he was going to return to his agenda with the Canucks on the brink of elimination.

But he might be right. Vigneault has been with the Canucks since 2006-07, and with the team and several members of the core on the verge of taking a step backwards in the postseason for the first time since 2007-08, Mike Gillis could very well get impatient and decide it's time to change the voice, something he has yet to do since taking over the reins as GM of the Canucks.

That said, Gillis has been extremely patient and pressure-resistant with Vigneault in the past when people have called for the coach's head, such as during an eight-game losing streak in 2008-09. Here's hoping he exercises that same patience here, because I disagree with the assertion that Vigneault should be on the hot seat.

There's this curious rhetoric that each of Vancouver's postseason eliminations over the past four years has been due to some failure in coaching, even though anybody with even an ounce of sense could tell you that the 2008-09 and 2009-10 Blackhawk teams had far more depth and were just flat better, and that last year's Bruins were seriously underrated, close to completely healthy, and the beneficiary of a goaltending performance for the ages.

Furthermore, the primary argument for firing Vigneault, as I see it, is that he hasn't been fired yet. This is absurd. I understand that coaching stints don't typically last as long as Vigneault's has in Vancouver, but unless we're afraid the man is going to achieve tenure, that's not a reason to remove somebody that's doing a good job.

The Canucks had their best season in franchise history just last year, and they won a second consecutive Presidents' Trophy this year. How is one first-round ouster enough to get a coach with that kind of track record fired? Two years in a row, maybe. A regular-season regression next year, maybe.

I like Alain Vigneault as a coach because he thinks outside the box. Granted, that's what gets him into so much trouble in the Vancouver market, and will get him into trouble in any other market.

Vigneault doesn't formulate his opinions based solely on the eye test. He clearly employs advanced statistics, and makes a number of his decisions based on underlying possession numbers. Earlier this season, he defended Chris Higgins' play by telling the media the winger was plus-5 in scoring chances over two games, a number that correlated with his Fenwick rating over that stretch.

He was fully aware, from the outset of this season that, at this point in time, Cody Hodgson could only thrive with extremely sheltered minutes, and when he created an environment in which Hodgson thrived, he was panned for failing to give the rookie more ice time, as though Hodgson was succeeding in spite of him.

Any sage coach could see that Hodgson, who was on the ice for 40 percent of Buffalo's goals against after the trade, was an exploitable, defensive liability. But Vigneault was panned for being that sage coach.

Meanwhile, fans hated his decision to play Mason Raymond on the second line ahead of Hodgson, even though the decision was supported by possession numbers. And currently, he's being criticized for his decision to keep Ryan Kesler and David Booth together on the grounds that they have no chemistry, even though Booth's Corsi rating when he's on the ice with Kesler is the best on the team.

Vigneault is a fabulous coach using tactics well ahead of the curve, but his decisions leave anyone who chooses to dismiss advanced statistics scratching their heads. That's fine and well if a team is winning, but when a group projected to return to the Stanley Cup Final finds itself on the verge of being bounced in four, it's a lot harder to defend those tactics.

And it could cost Vigneault his job.

In those 22 games, there have been two players whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct penalties that involved diving: Kris Letang of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first period of Game 2, and Jiri Hudler of the Detroit Red Wings in the third period of Game 1.

Yet to read, hear and see the reaction from NHL fans, the depths of diving in these playoffs is only surpassed by James Cameron in the Marianas Trench. Some of this astonishment-slash-outrage is warranted because there are more than a handful of players that are leaving their skates every time someone blinks in their direction.

Ryan Kesler of the Vancouver Canucks, for example, has been seen somersaulting at center ice in an attempt to draw a call against Mike Richards of the Los Angeles Kings, and later acted like the end boards were slicked with bacon grease in an attempt to draw a call during a game in LA.

On Monday night, it was Brad Marchand's turn to get the Louganis label, called out by announcers and the Washington Post and Capitals Outsider:

(C'mon, that Backstrom cross-check wasn't a dive, was it?)

Wrote Philip Van der Vossen of Capitals Outsider:

"I understand the league has a violence / suspension problem on its hands right now, but they really need to start suspending serial divers as well. Despite what Alan May thinks, nobody really wants our sport to turn into soccer."

And yet we're stuck with a disciplinary process that heavily weighs injuries in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for suspensions, begging for soccer-style embellishment …

But about diving: Are we really going to pretend this isn't an effective tactic for victory in the NHL?

First off, let's establish this: Every team has a dressing room filled with players who drop, flop and dive.

Not every player dives. There are some that see it as an affront of the Game, and they don't traffic in it. And, conversely, there are those who do it habitually.

I think diving is an effective tactic for antagonism. For a player like Marchand, it's part of the total package of pissing you off: NHL players hate going to the box on a play in which the guy they allegedly fouled sold it like a WWE jobber.

There's a difference between diving on a play and feigning an injury. Diving, in my estimation, is embellishing contact to draw a penalty. Rolling around on the ice to milk it, seeing if that two can become a five … that's where I draw my line on unsportsmanlike conduct. Perhaps you draw it elsewhere.

Our friend Bobby Holik draws it at "don't dive":

This is the playoffs and you do not win games by diving or embellishing penalties. I have no problem players pushing the limits. Play tough, play gritty and use all you can to your advantage. I understand, and most fans understand, how much you want to win. Winning is a lot of fun, but diving or embellishing should not be part of any game.

As Andrew Eide wrote on The Hockey Writers, diving in the playoffs is a rite of the postseason:

Asking every team to stop complaining is about as futile as asking every player to not dive. It's still going to happen. Just remember that when you hear it, it probably is coming from the losing team who is desperate to find an edge to get back in their series. Feel free to ignore the complaints.

That doesn't mean you have to ignore the dives, but just don't entertain a coach's self-righteous claims about the other team. Every team has the stain of diving on their hands.

There will be dives in this playoff season and those dives may result in a key power play goal being scored and someone moving on. There will be considerable and understandable outrage. Diving needs to be looked at by the NHL but the answer to the problem is unclear. Perhaps only calling the unsportsmanlike penalty when someone dives would be a start. Or the league could look at suspending a player once they have taken a set amount of dives.

Does the NHL have a diving problem?

No, of course it doesn't. Players have always drawn calls, and will continue to. We just all have collective amnesia about it from postseason to postseason, much like we do with fighting or dangerous hits. We've got the memory of goldfish — each postseason is shiny and new, until it's tarnished.

What the NHL, and by proxy their chronic embellishers have, is a video problem: Every dive, flop, feign or fakery will be captured on YouTube, turned into a .gif and proliferated around the Web. And before you know it, their faces are on a slip-and-slide box.

Would I like to see more diving calls? Of course. Not only because 4-on-4 hockey is a slice of fried gold, but because diving is inherently evil.

But I see it as a necessary evil, and not the scornful act others do. It's only a dive until your team gets a power play — then it's drawing a penalty.

It has never once been said that hockey pundits are ones to give up their long-held beliefs.

Things like wins still matter a lot when it comes to Vezina voting, people still believe most careers were failures unless the player won a Stanley Cup, and the idea that a player can be "clutch" is still valued more than anything else once the postseason rolls around.

Case in point: Marc-Andre Fleury.

All we heard in the run-up to the playoffs was that the Flyers and Penguins were more or less each others' equals as far as the forwards and defense were concerned, and that the difference was in net. Ilya Bryzgalov: Fragile goalie. Marc-Andre Fleury: Big-game goalie. The Penguins, therefore, would win this series, even if it wouldn't be easy.

And now we sit here, nine-plus periods of hockey having been played between these two bitter rivals, and Fleury has been nothing short of shambolic. The stats don't speak for themselves so much as they roar from the mountaintops that this is a goaltender who's in so far over his head that the Roberto Luongo who faced the Blackhawks those few times looks as mentally secure as Fort Knox by comparison.

As netminders go, Fleury has been the worst in these playoffs by several country miles. He's the only one to start all three games and not earn a win (that's for all you old-schoolers out there). The worst save percentage of anyone. Worst goals-against average of anyone.

(Coming Up: Pekka Rinne is OK; James Neal is a punk; the Blues bench breaks; a way to get PK Subban to Edmonton; Bruins stars invisible vs. Capitals; Tortorella doesn't go crazy; huge off-season for Colorado; why Brent Sutter left; will Jackets go for Murray at No. 2?; Wild, Fletcher work on deal; Claude Noel's odd conversation with fan; Mike Green doesn't feel well; and why Canada's getting ready to cry.)

His current save percentage is .798, the lowest of any goaltender to make at least three appearances in a playoff since Jim Carey's worst-ever .744 in 97 minutes in 1996. Currently, his save percentage is bottom-5 ever. His current GAA is 6.34, the second-worst all-time among that same group behind Greg Stefan's 7.39 for Detroit in 1985.

You can chalk at least a good portion of that up to the Penguins' defensive systems completely breaking down in the thoroughest manner imaginable, but at the same time, he is redefining Cloutier-type softies we're used to seeing in the playoffs for a new generation.

How much longer before there are beach balls Photoshopped behind him?

And certainly, this must come as a shock to anyone who entered these playoffs considered Fleury as anything more than a slightly-above-average goaltender playing behind a typically-strong defensive team. Of course, even Fleury's biggest detractors would not have predicted, well, anything like this. But the signs that he's by no means a Great Big-Game Goaltender have been around for years.

If you looked at any of his postseasons at random, the odds are you wouldn't want your goaltender putting up numbers like that. Yes, he was spectacular in the Penguins' run to a Game-7 loss to Detroit in 2007-08, posting a 1.97/.933 line. That playoff, his second in the NHL, went a long way to coloring everyone's idea of his abilities to rise to the occasion like few other in league history. His winning the Stanley Cup the next season despite decidedly sub-average numbers of 2.61/.908 did little to help, especially as he allowed a combined six goals in the Penguins four wins in the Finals (which made it very easy to ignore the 11 against in three losses).

Thus he established his reputation as unimpeachable rock at the back, even as his performances the next two postseasons were shockingly poor. Save percentages of .899 and .891, respectively. Goals-against averages of 2.78 and 2.52. A total of just 20 games played. Disappointing performances for both team and player, who by the way makes $5 million against the cap, and yet none of it stuck to him.

It must be nice for Fleury: Three straight years of subpar performances following a good one and one in which you win the Stanley Cup despite not being good, and you're clutch forever. Doesn't matter how many stinkers you turn in during that time (and if we consider allowing three or more as a bad performance for a clutch playoff goaltender, the answer is 15 out of 23).

But again, hockey types don't usually like to change their beliefs very much, and I'm not sure how many embarrassing goals it takes to change their minds. Maybe this abysmal, all-time-historically-bad performance against the Flyers will dispel the belief that Fleury has been — at any point aside from one spring four years ago — something he's not.

Namely: Good in the playoffs.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: Saku Koivu won't play in the World Championships next month, specifically because he's trying to work out a new contract with the Ducks. This article also reminded me that Saku Koivu is 37 years old, which is pretty amazing.

Boston Bruins: If someone would like to alert Milan Lucic, David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron, Tyler Seguin, and Brad Marchand that the playoffs have begun, the team would really appreciate it. Imagine if someone told you a week ago that Chris Kelly and Benoit Pouliot would be carrying the water offensively.

Buffalo Sabres: "Sabres undone by losing mentality." Also, iffy roster, undue expectations, terrible offseason signings, and a bad coach.

Calgary Flames: Interesting article about Brent Sutter here. You'll recall he listed "philosophical differences" as his reason for leaving the team, which makes this quote terribly fascinating: "I had three years there. You're right that it's a hard thing (squeezing into the playoffs). Jay [Feaster] should be able to bring in his own guy. Jay and I never had a discussion about a rebuild (tearing it down), just getting more young players into the lineup. The word rebuild, though. Never used." So now I officially think Jay Feaster intends to continue trying to get into eighth, which is hilariously misguided.

Carolina Hurricanes: Speaking of NHL guys coaching for Canada at the World Championships, Sutter got the top job, and Carolina coach Kirk Muller will be an assistant, along with Guy Boucher. So, uh, don't expect Canada to play run and gun hockey.

Chicago Blackhawks: Brandon Bollig drew into the Blackhawks lineup as a way to prevent guys like Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane from getting run, but he added some offense as well on Saturday night. He scored Chicago's second goal, and in doing so also picked up his first-ever NHL point. Not a bad way to do it.

Colorado Avalanche: This will be a terribly important offseason in Denver. With Joe Sacco back under contract, will the team increase payroll to pursue big-name free agents? Probably not. Will it wait for its strong youth core to continue improving? More likely. Taking all expiring contracts into consideration, they have about $50 million in cap space and only seven guys signed for next season.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Might Columbus end up drafting defenseman Ryan Murray second overall at the draft in June? They might just. Murray also may or may not have been invited to play for Team Canada at the World Championships, to give you an idea of his NHL-readiness.

Dallas Stars: Brenden Morrow sure hopes he won't be as injured next season as he was in this past one. He played in just 57 games for Dallas, scoring the second-lowest goal total in his career (11). His one worse year, when he scored five, came because he played only 18 games.

Detroit Red Wings: What a shot by Henrik Zetterberg. The no-look is massive. Whoa.

Edmonton Oilers: More Brent Sutter news -- This runout for Team Canada might be an audition for the Oilers' top job. That would be quite the heel turn. Hope he knocks out Jay Feaster and spray paints a yellow stripe down his back.

Florida Panthers: The Panthers say they're still confident in Jose Theodore even after he gave up three on Friday night and two more on Sunday. Makes sense. If it hadn't been for him, the first period would have ended about 6-0.

Los Angeles Kings: Hey at least it occurs to Darryl Sutter that pretty much every home ice team in the playoffs so far has ceded at least one game in their own rink. He'd really, really like it if the Kings reversed that trend since it would mean, you know, that they will have won the series.

Minnesota Wild: The Minnesota Wild are working on an extension for Chuck Fletcher, since if you can't make the playoffs in three seasons, you definitely deserve an extension. But hey, Craig Leipold says, "Chuck's team is coming in next year. The guys who his people have scouted, who his people have drafted, who he has developed are these great, young prospects, and I think the next couple of years are going to be really proud years." Think, or hope?

Montreal Canadiens: Good status update on exactly what the Habs seem to be looking for in their next GM. It seems Marc Bergevin, Julien BriseBois, Francois Giguere and Claude Loiselle are all on the short list. I wonder what those guys have in common.

Nashville Predators: Prior to Sergei Kostitsyn's crucial game-winner yesterday, the Preds' top line of he, Mike Fisher and Martin Erat had combined for a single assist — that on Kevin Klein's beauty goal to make it 2-0 — after going scoreless in Nashville. Can't keep relying on defensemen to score all the goals in this series.

New Jersey Devils: The Devils would like very much to sleep the entire time between the end of one game and the beginning of another. "I think our history over the last half of the season was that when we're rested we play well and when fatigue gets set in a little bit for us we don't," said Peter DeBoer. "So, we want to control that the best we can." Optional skates for everyone!

New York Islanders: The Islanders' AHL affiliate is now running out a number of younger players in an attempt to see if they've got what it takes to make it in the playoffs. Of course, that seems counterproductive to an extent as those kids won't have to worry about the big club qualifying for a few more years at least.

New York Rangers: Congratulations to John Tortorella for not saying dirty words a lot after his team got punished physically (cheap though it may have been) for once. I wonder, though, if he still thinks his team respects other players after that Hagelin flying elbow to poor Dany Alfredsson.

Ottawa Senators: What I loved about the Nick Foligno game-tying goal that forced overtime is that every Senator on the ice touched it in the space of about eight seconds.

Philadelphia Flyers: Please, yes, let's start linking a team that has done well on offense but certainly not defense to a team that got to Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals after two or three playoff games in which you've received precisely no defense. You can never ever start doing that too early.

Phoenix Coyotes: If you haven't been paying attention, Oliver Ekman-Larsson is becoming one of the best young defensemen in the league. Between him, Keith Yandle, Brandon Gormley and so forth, this team is gonna be Marianas Trench-deep at the blue line for the next decade.

Pittsburgh Penguins: The Penguins are all like, "Haha no this isn't great or anything but being down 2-0 after a pair of home games against our archrivals is totally not a big deal." What about 3-0 then?

San Jose Sharks: It's been really great to see this develop from what looked, on the outside, to be only a fairly decent 2-7 matchup, into this one, filled with acrimony and contempt. This one has the potential to get nasty.

St. Louis Blues: Just when you think you've seen it all in the playoffs, the St. Louis Blues' bench literally breaks and needs to be replaced in the middle of a game.

Tampa Bay Lightning: The Bolts recently saw one of their prospects, former college player Cory Conacher, named MVP of the AHL this season. This is notable, though, because Concacher is a 22-year-old rookie. He's just the fourth rookie ever to win the award.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Well sure the Leafs still haven't made the playoffs but they're still the most popular team in Canada so it's all going great for them.

Vancouver Canucks: If the Canucks get bounced in the first round, and then the Senators do as well, at least a few people in Canada might actually cry. Not because they're diehards, but because they're CBC executives whose two biggest ratings draws for the next two months got eliminated two weeks in.

Washington Capitals: Mike Green says he hasn't felt better in two years than he does right now. Someone might want to let his on-ice game know the good news.

Winnipeg Jets: Claude Noel reportedly had a rather revealing conversation with a Jets season ticket holder at a Winnipeg restaurant last week. It all sounds very dubious, especially considering he disclosed, among other things, that Ondrej Pavelec's 68 games played this season was 10 more than Noel would have preferred, he doesn't think Nik Antropov plays with enough passion, and Alex Burmistrov should have stayed in juniors. The team won't comment, for obvious reasons.

Gold Star Award

I guess Pekka Rinne was pretty good yesterday, what with making 41 saves and so forth.

Minus of the Weekend

So many candidates this weekend. Ryan Kesler, Brendan Shanahan, Matt Carkner, Paul MacLean, Arron Asham, etc. etc. etc. Take your pick, I guess.

But for me, no one was a bigger jerk than James Neal, who spent all of Sunday's game looking to cause a problem, and both Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux found out the hard way that he meant it. Each received clear headshots from the 40-goalscorer on consecutive shifts in the third period, and Shanahan better ring Neal up for the remainder of the Penguins' postseason run, short though it may be.

Play of the Weekend

This Kevin Klein goal was pretty nice. Oh wait he's a defenseman. It was awesome, then.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week

User Flameshomer has his think' cap on.

To Montreal:

Paajarvi
1st overall (nail)

To Edmonton:
3rd overall
RFA rights of PK Subban.

I say we go for it.

Signoff
That's all we need here is a good, strong, expensive meal.

Ryan Lambert publishes hockey awesomeness rather infrequently over at The Two-Line Pass. Check it out, why don't you? Or you can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter if you so desire.

Perhaps because for all our bluster about hockey being woven into the country's national fabric, most of our teams play as though they're new to it. Come April, there are typically only a few Canadian clubs to rally around.

The Canucks are one, but it won't happen. You've heard this already, but it's true that this group will never be "Canada's team," at least not in the traditional sense.

Rather than support the back-to-back Presidents' Trophy winners from coast to coast as the country's best hope to win a Cup, many in the country have instead chosen to root for their ultimate destruction.

Now, the hatred isn't unanimous. According to a Maclean's poll, the Leafs, not the Canucks, are Canada's most hated team (although I would suggest the numbers are skewed by asking non-hockey fans. After Alberta, the province that hates the Canucks the most is British Columbia. More than anything, this poll suggests that the only hockey property the country will ever back unanimously is Wayne Gretzky).

But the poll also suggests that, with only 35 percent of the national fan support, more people in the country will be rooting against the Canucks than for them.

The Canucks have become Canada's anti-team.

Now, let's get the nonsense out of the way. This has nothing to do with geography or climate, and the people pushing this lazy and recycled line of rhetoric only out themselves as woefully closed-minded.

It's funny. A large part of Canada's identity is the belief (generally mistaken) that we're more progressive than our neighbors to the south. And then columnists claim that having an oceanic rather than alpine climate somehow excludes you from Canadianness, even though the United States manages to hold itself together despite representation from both those climates, as well as humid subtropical, arid, desert, tropical rainforest and subarctic climates, among others. It makes Canada seem a little behind when it comes to progress, no?

Seriously, if you live in North America and you're giving identical weight to uniformity of climate or geography, you're an imbecile.

You're also reaching for no good reason. You don't have to look outside the room to understand why the Canucks are hated from coast to coast.

It's that core -- the Sedins, Roberto Luongo, Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows. With the talent they have, each would be welcome on any of the league's 30 teams and passionately defended by that team's fans. (I'm a Canucks fan. I like them all.) But, with the personalities they have, remove the fan bias and the villain's role suits each one of them.

Outside of British Columbia, they're easy to hate and they're fun to mock. Heck, the history of hating them is littered with great moments:

***

Alex Burrows

Burrows been has been known to bite fingers, pull hair, spear groins and take dives, although these antics are hardly exclusive to him; he's really no worse than Brad Marchand, Steve Ott, P.K. Subban or several of the league's other high-level pests.

But he plays on the Canucks' top line, which means you don't get the satisfaction of knowing that being a wanker is all he's got. He's a wanker that can beat you, which is why getting the best of him is the quickest way to achieve heroic status. Like this:

Or this big hit from Wednesday night's game.

Ryan Kesler

If you don't know what makes Ryan Kesler hateable, you obviously didn't watch Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. He was all over the ice, either on his feet or off. His tumbleweed dive in the back half of the third period was downright ridiculous, as was his attempt to draw a high-sticking call on Jonathan Quick while interfering with him on Alex Burrows' goal to open the scoring.

That's typical Kesler. On the ice, he's a big, mean, dirty, underhanded jerk, which is why that time Andrew Ladd tagged him was one for the ages:

The Sedins

Let's be clear: the Sedins are classy, quality individuals who have made immense charitable contributions, mind their business, and would prefer to avoid altercations. To my mind, even their diving has been exaggerated. They've been known to go down easily, sure, but to act like it makes them outliers in the NHL is silly. Drew Doughty is one of the league's worst divers. In his case, no one seems to care.

But with the Sedins, it's part of a larger problem people have with the way they play the game: Shying away from the rough stuff, using telepathy and magic, and being relatively pacifistic (and thus, seemingly unmasculine).

The Sedins are alien. They even look like aliens, something even Henrik Sedin once realized upon completion of a self-portrait. They play a sport that has an archetype and they don't fit it at all. Granted, this archetype is propagated primarily by the same people that think the Canadian climate has an archetype, but still. When you don't fit it, you become the other, and nothing makes people uncomfortable like the other.

Their strangely docile approach to the game can be exploited by aggravators, often to hilarious effect. Like so:

And like so:

Roberto Luongo

And finally, there's Roberto Luongo, one of the league's most talented goaltenders, but also a guy with a tendency to get blown up on the national stage. Luongo's biggest issue is that people constantly hear he's an elite goaltender, but when they tune in for the big games, about half the time he gets shelled. He has the appearance of not being clutch in a culture that celebrates clutchness like it's a characteristic and not just a narrative device. That doesn't compute.

Moreover, he's entirely mockable. He makes hilarious faces, and he once broke down and cried after a loss, two things that led to this great and simple little website.

His sense of humor is dry and often misunderstood, especially if you're looking for something to justify your dislike. Consider his tire-pumping joke, which became twisted into a needy bid for love, or his quip about success versus the Eastern Conference, which came off like abhorrent and mockable arrogance.

Heck, he's so hateable Canuck fans even sort of hate him.

***

You put these guys together and you have a recipe for dislike so strong it can actually make other unlikable teams, well, likable.

The Boston Bruins? You'd think they were cherubs, what of the spell they put the continent under while vanquishing the Canucks. By the following fall, with a little distance from the Canucks, it had worn off and everyone hated them again.

The Los Angeles Kings? A team with Mike Richards and Jeff Carter of Dry Island, two guys many see as entitled team-ruiners, one of whom moped his way to a trade out of Columbus? Drew Doughty, a training camp holdout?

Why, one game versus the Canucks, the Listerine of the NHL, will wash that distaste right out of your mouth. Just gargle and spit.

Once hated, the Los Angeles Kings just became Canada's team.

Header image taken from Canucks Hockey Blog.

Consider that Holmgren reconfigured his locker room last summer for two reasons: To expunge Mike Richards and Jeff Carter from a toxic environment, and to change the makeup of his Philadelphia Flyers roster into what he believed was a more competitive playoff team.

The biggest puzzle piece added was Ilya Bryzgalov, the bear-fearing space cadet acquired with the cap savings the Flyers created minus Richards and Carter.

For good stretches of the season, he looked more sieve than savior between the pipes, and those doubts carried through the first 20 minutes of Game 1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. But instead of continuing the collapse until he was pulled — such is the way of the Flyers playoff goalie — Bryzgalov hunkered down, stopped 15 shots and was the backbone of the Philly rally.

When Carter was shipped to the Columbus Blue Jackets, two players came back the other way: Sean Couturier, acquired with the Jackets' top draft pick, who played 16:47 tough minutes (more than the Flyers' other rookies) in Game 1; and Jakub Voracek, who made the game-winning goal happen in OT and is earning "Jagr-level attention."

(Ed. Note: As was pointed out by a reader, Brayden Schenn also had a hell of a Game 1 for the Flyers, coming over in the Mike Richards trade.)

Again, one game; but valentines are being penned for Holmgren's bold moves and remaking of the locker room dynamic.

Richards ended up in Los Angeles where, like Bryzgalov in Philly, there was more talk about not meeting expectations than being a foundational player for a title run.  Consider that his points-per-game average (0.59) was his lowest since 2007; and, in fact, was lower than the player the Flyers acquired for him (Wayne Simmonds, 0.60).

In Game 1 against the Vancouver Canucks, however, Richards had perhaps the most impactful performance by a skater in the young 2012 postseason: one goal, two assists and a physical, agitating game that distracted the 'Nucks.

From the LA Times:

Canucks Coach Alain Vigneault matched Ryan Kesler, a Selke Trophy winner as the NHL's top defensive forward, against Richards but might switch that Friday. Vigneault said the Canucks need answers for Kopitar's line, for Penner, "who was a powerful force down low in our own end," and for Richards, who played "one of the best games I've seen him play since he's been in L.A. and not just offensively but physically, also."

Richards was flattered. But his ego, unlike his scoring, is in check.  "It was nice to have a game like that, but you're only as good as your last game and it's only one game," he said. "It's time for us to turn the page and look forward to [Friday] night. We did some good things that we can take, but there's also some things we have to improve on."

Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi acquired Richards because he was "universally recognized as one of the finer leaders in the game and one of its elite competitors."

A little hyperbolic at the time, but Game 1 didn't disprove it.

San Jose Sharks GM Doug Wilson, meanwhile, so his playoffs-inspired acquisition shine as well: Martin Havlat, who opened the scoring with a power-play goal and ended it with a double-OT one-timer against the St. Louis Blues.

Said Wilson, when Havlat was acquired for Dany Heatley last summer:

"He's played extensively in the playoffs," said Wilson. "That's why he plays the game. He's a hockey player that wants to play in big situations, and that's a piece that we think is an important part of his makeup."

Havlat now has four goals and six assists in his last nine playoff games.

Heatley, meanwhile, had an outstanding regular season for the Minnesota Wild but won't show up in the playoffs. You know: the norm …

So these are three happy general managers.

Meanwhile, there's this other guy who traded for Jeff Carter to help the Flyers, traded Jeff Carter to help the Kings, traded Antoine Vermette to help the Coyotes, lost a draft lottery this week and has a franchise player demanding a trade … maybe you've heard of him ...

As the Official LA Kings Twitter Feed trolled last night: "Richards and Kesler share words, looks like a gust of wind sent Kesler tumbling."

Although we also appreciate Drew Doughty's assessment of the play at the 26-second mark. Unless he's just pretending to roll some dice …

Meanwhile, check out the analysis from Thomas Drance on the Kings' Twitter trolling last night and why, even for a Canucks Army blogger, it was genius marketing.

Now that we know all 16 participants, here are the final odds for each team before the puck drops:

From Bovada:

Pittsburgh Penguins 4/1
New York Rangers 11/2
Vancouver Canucks 11/2
St. Louis Blues 15/2
Boston Bruins 8/1
Detroit Red Wings 12/1
Nashville Predators 14/1
Philadelphia Flyers 14/1
Chicago Blackhawks 16/1
San Jose Sharks 18/1
Los Angeles Kings 20/1
New Jersey Devils 25/1
Washington Capitals 30/1
Florida Panthers 35/1
Ottawa Senators 40/1
Phoenix Coyotes 40/1

You know, throwing $100 on the Coyotes at 40/1 and hoping Mike Smith stays hot isn't such a bad idea.

After the jump, Conn Smythe Trophy odds and those wacky prop bets.

Moving on, here are the favorite for the MVP of the playoffs:

Evgeni Malkin (PIT) 11/1
Sidney Crosby (PIT) 11/1
Daniel Sedin (VAN) 16/1
Henrik Lundqvist (NYR) 16/1
Henrik Sedin (VAN) 16/1
Roberto Luongo (VAN) 20/1
Tim Thomas (BOS) 22/1
Brian Elliott (STL) 25/1
Marian Gaborik (NYR) 25/1
Pekka Rinne (NAS) 25/1
Brad Richards (NYR) 30/1
Claude Giroux (PHI) 30/1
Jaroslav Halak (STL) 30/1
Marc-Andre Fleury (PIT) 30/1
Pavel Datsyuk (DET) 30/1
David Perron (STL) 35/1
James Neal (PIT) 35/1
Jimmy Howard (DET) 35/1
Alexander Radulov (NAS) 40/1
David Backes (STL) 40/1
Henrik Zetterberg (DET) 40/1
Ilya Bryzgalov (PHI) 40/1
Jonathan Toews (CHI) 40/1
Ryan Kesler (VAN) 40/1
Alex Ovechkin (WAS) 45/1
Anze Kopitar (LA) 45/1
David Krejci (BOS) 45/1
Ilya Kovalchuk (NJ) 45/1
Joe Thornton (SJ) 45/1
Milan Lucic (BOS) 45/1
Patrice Bergeron (BOS) 45/1
Antti Niemi (SJ) 50/1
Jonathan Quick (LA) 50/1
Kris Versteeg (FLA) 50/1
Marian Hossa (CHI) 50/1
Martin Brodeur (NJ) 50/1
Martin Erat (NAS) 50/1
Mike Smith (PHO) 50/1
Patrick Kane (CHI) 50/1
Ryan Callahan (NYR) 50/1
Jaromir Jagr (PHI) 60/1
Jason Spezza (OTT) 60/1
Nicklas Backstrom (WAS) 60/1
Ray Whitney (PHO) 60/1
Scott Hartnell (PHI) 60/1
Tyler Seguin (BOS) 60/1
Patrick Marleau (SJ) 65/1
Stephen Weiss (FLA) 65/1
Tomas Fleischmann (FLA) 65/1
Zach Parise (NJ) 65/1
Andrei Kostitsyn (NAS) 75/1
Jeff Carter (LA) 75/1
Logan Couture (SJ) 75/1
Mike Richards (LA) 75/1
Patrick Sharp (CHI) 75/1
Patrik Elias (NJ) 75/1
T.J. Oshie (STL) 75/1
Valtteri Filppula (DET) 75/1
Daniel Alfredsson (OTT) 80/1
Shane Doan (PHO) 80/1
Alexander Semin (WAS) 85/1
Braden Holtby (WAS) 100/1
Erik Karlsson (OTT) 100/1
Milan Michalek (OTT) 100/1
Radim Vrbata (PHO) 100/1

Some good value to be found there including the likes of Marc-Andre Fleury, Pekka Rinne, David Backes, and Jonathan Quick.

Now comes the fun part with the various prop bets:

How many points will be scored by the point scoring leader in the 2011 NHL Playoffs?

Over/Under: 29.5

Will Sidney Crosby miss a games in the 2012 NHL Playoffs?

YES +150, NO -200

Who will start more games in the 2012 NHL playoffs?

Roberto Luongo -800
Cory Schneider  +500

How many times will Roberto Luongo get pulled from a game during the 2012 NHL Playoffs?

Over/Under: 1

How many games will the Stanley Cup winning team play in the 2011 NHL playoffs?

Over/Under: 23.5

How many games will go to overtime in the 2011 NHL Playoffs?

Over/Under: 17.5

There were 22 games that went into overtime during the 2011 playoffs. Let's hope we hit the over on that prop.

Check out Bovada for more.

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

It's a shame this rematch of the 2010 Western Conference Quarterfinals has to take place without Shane O'Brien and Wayne Simmonds. Those two made things interesting the last time around. Who will provide the double gun action this time?

Los Angeles has had an underwhelming year. Projected by many to take on elite status in the West, they've failed to play to their potential all season, hovering around the middle of the pack and needing 81 games to clinch a spot. They may be an eighth seed, but if they can put it all together in the second season, they'll hardly look like one, especially versus a team they match up well against.

Coming off a second-consecutive Presidents' Trophy win, the Canucks are the heavy favourites here. But this series has upset written all over it. Under Darryl Sutter, LA plays a style not dissimilar from what the Boston Bruins utilized to knock off the Canucks in last year's Stanley Cup Final: Tough, bruising, agitating hockey, a lockdown defence, Vezina-calibre goaltending, and a healthy dose of clutch n' grab.

The Canucks have made upgrades specifically to deal with a weakness to this style of play, loading up on defencemen and defensive centres for fear of getting into a tight, low-scoring, see-who-breaks-first series. They get to test their mettle right away. Will the changes pay off?

Here is your Canucks vs. Kings preview, complete with Zombified observations …

Vancouver Canucks (1) vs. Los Angeles Kings (8)

April 11: Los Angeles at Vancouver, 10:30 p.m.
April 13: Los Angeles at Vancouver, 7 p.m.
April 15: Vancouver at Los Angeles, 10 p.m.
April 18: Vancouver at Los Angeles, 10 p.m.
April 22: Los Angeles at Vancouver, TBA*
April 24: Vancouver at Los Angeles, TBA*
April 26: Los Angeles at Vancouver, TBA*

*If necessary.

Much of the Canucks' potency up front will depend on the health of Daniel Sedin, who skated with the team Monday but remains questionable for Game 1 with a concussion. If he's in the lineup, the Canucks' first line contains two Art Ross winners, which is ideal. Without him, Henrik Sedin still gets his points, but the first line's identity as a puck-retaining, cycle monster is gone, as is the conundrum of how to defend two Sedins.

The rest of the Canucks' forward corps(e) (zombies!) is spearheaded by Ryan Kesler, David Booth, and Chris Higgins. When the three play together, they generate shots on goal aplenty. Spread over two lines, as Alain Vigneault seems to prefer, they spearhead a middle six of relentless forecheckers who work to create turnovers and beat teams in transition.

The Kings have some excellent forwards as well -- Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Justin Williams -- but they don't score with nearly the same potency as Vancouver. LA's 2.26 goals per game average was 29th in the league. Anze Kopitar is their offensive standout, scoring a team-high 76 points in 2011-12. Unless Jeff Carter is on his game, they lack any true snipers, scoring most of their goals in the dirty areas and on rebounds.

But that's where Los Angeles can make their mark on this series: physicality and grit. Their group up front is much more equipped for that sort of game than Vancouver. Each of their four lines is built to punish, from Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar on the first line to Dustin Penner and Jarrett Stoll on the third. If they can turn the games into grind-it-out affairs, they could seize the advantage.

The Kings are going to dump the puck in and attempt to punish Canuck defenders, create turnovers, and go to the net. The Canucks will attempt to limit this by possessing the puck for long stretches and break down the Kings' defence with their cycle game.

ADVANTAGE: CANUCKS

The Canucks' top four consists of shutdown pair Kevin Bieksa and Dan Hamhius, and the more offensive-minded duo of Alex Edler and Sami Salo. Both pairings can create offence. While the forwards took a step back this year in terms of their production, this defense put up 181 points, the most it ever has in the Mike Gillis era.

Expect Sami Salo to be attacked relentlessly by the Kings. He's famously fragile and not as quick to turn as he once was. If he can't go, rookie Chris Tanev likely draws into the top four, and the Kings would no doubt prefer an exploitable rookie over a playoff veteran.

The Canucks, similarly, will be doing chop-licking aplenty at Slava Voynov, who has quietly put together a strong rookie campaign with the Kings. He'll play on the second pairing with Willie Mitchell, which should see a healthy dose of the Sedins.

But the Kings' bread and butter is their pairing of Drew Doughty and Rob Scuderi. Doughty has taken a step back this year but he can still be an elite defenceman in this league and he picked the Canucks apart two years ago. If he isn't, however, the Canucks have a major edge. Their group simply has more impact.

Keep an eye on both Voynov and Tanev. Both are smooth but utterly hittable D-men. I predict each gets rocked about once a game.

ADVANTAGE: CANUCKS

When the Zombie Apocalypse happens, the Canuck most likely to survive is Alex Burrows because he will literally do whatever it takes to survive. The guy is dirty. Plus, Patrice Bergeron will tell you that he's already got a killer zombie impression lined up to help him fake his way through a horde.

When the Zombie Apocalypse happens, the King most likely to survive is Willie Mitchell. That guy is a freaking warrior. He'll have zombies on leashes by week 2. (Least likely to survive: Dustin Penner, who's the nice guy you wound and leave behind for the zombies to devour while you make your getaway.)

The Canucks employ a goaltender named Roberto Luongo. You might have heard of him. He's an excellent netminder, maybe one of the league's best, but he could use Magneto's helmet -- it's very possible to get into his head. On the bright side, Cory Schneider has been excellent all season. If Luongo struggles, the Canucks won't hesitate to send out the backup, whose numbers are better and whose flakiness is far less storied. Vancouver's goaltending situation should be harder to crack this year.

The Kings, meanwhile, just have a Vezina candidate in goal, no big deal. Jonathan Quick was second this season in GAA with a 1.95, 5th in SV% (.929), and 1st in shutouts with 10. He's been getting it done all year when his team hasn't, and there's no reason to suspect that won't continue.

ADVANTAGE: KINGS

The Canucks are the horde of zombies outside the house near the end of the movie. No matter how well you fortify, they're going to get in eventually. Do you have enough ammunition to take them all down?

The Kings are Big Daddy, the undead gas station attendant from Land of the Dead. Massive, smart, and capable of putting it all together at any moment. So help you if this team learns how to cross the river and operate weaponry (i.e. score).

Alain Vigneault is a former Jack Adams Award winner and three-time nominee that trusts and knows the players in his room completely. He's coming off a Stanley Cup Final appearance and he knows his team inside and out after years behind the bench. He can be a little slow to adjust.

Speaking of adjusting, Darryl Sutter's been to a Stanley Cup Final as well, but that was before the lockout. And his post-lockout playoff experience is limited to one first-round exit in 2006. Can he coach his players to the next level in the new NHL?

ADVANTAGE: CANUCKS

The Canucks' power play scored 57 goals on 288 opportunities. That 19.8 success rate was 4th in the league. Their 6th-ranked penalty kill was successful 86.0% of the time, allowing 40 goals on  286 opportunities.

The Kings had the slightly better penalty kill, allowing 38 goals on 293 opportunities, good for 4th in the NHL at 87.0%. Their powerplay was sub-par, however, scoring 49 times on 289 powerplay opportunities, 17th in the NHL at 17.0%.

ADVANTAGE: CANUCKS

In order to defeat the Canucks, you play them physical, get the team rattled, and frustrate the Sedins. The Canucks are in a no-win situation there. If they don't respond, you can keep pounding on the twins to frustrate them. If they do, they're frustrated.

In order to defeat the Kings, you play a whistle-to-whistle game. Avoid the rough stuff, play north-south, and force them to play from behind where they have to let down their defensive guard.

In short, the officiating will have a major impact on this series, and stuff will get missed. I'm setting the over/under on Hollywood conspiracy articles coming out of Vancouver at 2.5.

Canucks in 6. The Kings have some excellent pieces but they don't have the depth and, until they show otherwise, they don't have the scoring. This team has underachieved all season and now they go up against a team they would have had a hard team beating even if they were on top of their game. Expecting them to overachieve now seems unlikely.

Do something different this year. At the cost of an extra 10 minutes. Pick up a nice playoff draft list, such as the one I'm selling over at DobberHockey (I'm also running a free playoff pool there, to get you in the mindset). Then do a bit of research on dark horses and recent trends.

Better yet, let me do that for you. Here is my take on the Western Conference playoff outlook:

Vancouver Canucks (1)

The obvious: Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Ryan Kesler,  Alex Burrows, Alex Edler, Kevin Bieksa.

Dark horses: Corey Schneider will get the call faster than he did last year, if Roberto Luongo has similar struggles. ... Assuming Zack Kassian recovers from his upper body injury, he will get an opportunity to use his big frame to really make a splash. ... Max Lapierre would make a decent final round pick on your team if you are building around Vancouver as one of your four teams (I generally draft players from four teams, depending on the size of the pool). He could be a sleeper if the team goes deep. He had six points in his last seven games after just 13 in his first 75.

Could let you down: Ryan Kesler, with two points in his last 12 games, has had a tough time offensively this season. The slow start could be attributed to his missing training camp recovering from hip surgery, but what about the slow finish?

Keep in mind: Whenever the Canucks are in the postseason, Burrows occasionally gets moved off of the Sedin line. Generally, this means he'll slip from being a 60-point player to being a 40-point player, so he does carry some risk… Daniel Sedin is skating on his own. Or not. Another confusing concussion situation. I wouldn't be drafting him in the first several rounds, those picks are too important.

St. Louis Blues (2)

The obvious: David Backes, TJ Oshie, Alex Pietrangelo, Kevin Shattenkirk, David Perron and Andy McDonald.

Dark horses: Chris Stewart and Patrik Berglund each had terrible seasons. I would have been less surprised if each of them tallied 68 points this year than I am that they combined for 68. Each of them boasts a large frame that could see them thrive in playoff games. Either one will be available in the later rounds, either one could tally two points in 12 games en route to a second-round elimination. But either one could also post a point-per-game. ... Alex Steen has four points in six games since returning from a concussion and is probably one of the better Blues to draft, though his 28-point season will let him slip a few rounds to you.

Could let you down: Given his bigger contract and the fact that he's "supposed" to be the starter, Jaroslav Halak should be the guy in Game 1. And from December onward, he has been the second or third best goalie in the league. The problem is, "backup" Brian Elliott has been tops. If the goaltender that St. Louis goes with does not break down, then he'll start all the games. The problem is — picking the right one. ... As I cautioned above, Berglund and Stewart and their terrible production could be the real deal. ... Rookie Jaden Schwartz made a splash, scoring a game winner in his first NHL game and posting three points in just seven contests. But he's been scratch a few times down the stretch and his ice time is down under 10 minutes.

Keep in mind: Carlo Colaiacovo was a healthy scratch twice in the last four games and pointless in his last seven. ... Jason Arnott had six points in nine playoff games last year. Now 37, his usefulness in regular season leagues has been waning, but there still may be something there for the postseason.

Phoenix Coyotes

The obvious: Ray Whitney, Radim Vrbata, Shane Doan, Keith Yandle

Dark horses: Mikkel Boedker is blessed with a lot of talent that we have yet to really see. He finished the year with four points in four games, so if the top line is snakebitten he could step in to fill the void.

Could let you down: After two years with Phoenix, Lauri Korpikoski has two points in 11 playoff games — and is a minus-10. ... Antoine Vermette only tallied 10 points in 22 games after joining the 'Yotes. ... Yandle should be a good pick given his 10 points in 11 playoff games. But he finished the campaign with just two in 11 and had just one power-play point in the final 18.

Keep in mind: Mike Smith has been a wall. In the last four games of the regular season, he allowed just one goal. Considering Chicago's netminding has at times been akin to a doggie door flap, the 'Yotes may do better than you think…

Nashville Predators (4)

The obvious: Martin Erat, David Legwand, Mike Fisher, Shea Weber, Ryan Suter and, of course, Alexander Radulov.

Dark horses: Matt Halischuk has five points in his last six games despite minimal ice time. However, he's been scratched several times down the stretch as the Preds try to make room for all of their forwards, so there is some risk.

Could let you down: Sergei Kostitsyn is pointless in nine games. Hey! That's when Radulov came back on board. ... Craig Smith finished the season with a three-point game, but prior to that he had just two points in 21 games and was scratched eight times. ... Colin Wilson has been a frequent healthy scratch. He also has just one point in nine career postseason games.

Keep in mind: Patric Hornqvist and Andrei Kostitsyn each tallied six points in nine games since Radulov re-joined the squad. ... Not only is Radulov Nashville's top offensive gun, but he has eight points in 10 career playoff games with them back when he was a rookie and sophomore.

Detroit Red Wings (5)

The obvious: Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Valtteri Filppula, Johan Franzen, Jiri Hudler and Nicklas Lidstrom.

Dark horses: He's pointless in his last six and he may not see a lot of ice time, but then again Gustav Nyquist has really impressed in limited action. If Dan Cleary is out for any length of time, Nyquist could see enough action to solidify his spot — though I would take him no earlier than the final round, and only then if I'm building around Detroit as one of my four teams. ... Niklas Kronwall has 38 points in 74 career playoff games.

Could let you down: Lidstrom has three points in his last 12 games and is coming off of a recent ankle injury. The future Hall-of-Famer will still get his points, but bet on Kronwall to get more. ... Ian White has two points in his last 16 games and was a healthy scratch last week.

Keep in mind: The playoffs are what put Franzen on the map after 59 points in 51 playoff games over three years. But last season he managed just three points in eight games. ... Todd Bertuzzi has 17 points in his 23 playoff games with Detroit.

Chicago Blackhawks (6)

The obvious: Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Viktor Stalberg, Duncan Keith

Dark horses: Dave Bolland has been a playoff stud going back to his junior days with London. He takes the offense to another level. ... Andrew Shaw came out of the woodwork this season and has become a solid contributor. He has the work ethic needed to achieve results in the playoffs.

Could let you down: Corey Crawford finished with a save percentage of 0.903. And while Ray Emery's was slightly worse, Emery also carried a reputation as a clutch goalie who gets the wins when he needs them. The situation makes me too uncomfortable to draft Crawford. ... Not that Michal Frolik's 15 points would tempt anyone to draft him, but if your pool is deep enough and you want another Blackhawk — look elsewhere. Anywhere.

Keep in mind: Jonathan Toews is out with a concussion, but he'll be back tomorrow. Or next fall. The "Toews will be back soon" story has been a headline in Chicago papers for a couple of weeks now and at some point this will be start being compared to the "Sidney Crosby is skating" stories we were blessed with last April. ... Andrew Brunette missed the last three games with a lower body injury.

San Jose Sharks

The obvious: Joe Thornton, Logan Couture, Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski, Dan Boyle and Ryane Clowe

Dark horses: Martin Havlat has just 27 points in 39 games, but he struggled with getting off the bench in one piece a knee injury. He has 28 points in his last 26 playoff games. ... Brent Burns has 28 points in his last 53 games, which is a 43-point pace. That's where you should consider him, and not the 37-point guy that he actually was.

Could let you down: Antti Niemi has been so inconsistent that he makes Jonas Gustavsson look like Henrik Lundqvist. Not really, but he hasn't been as reliable as the Sharks would like. Meanwhile, Thomas Greiss has been very solid in limited duty and I can see a situation developing like J-S Giguere/Ilya Bryzgalov circa 2006 in Anaheim. That was the year that JSG went 3-3 and temporarily lost the starting gig to Bryzgalov. ... Michal Handzus no longer has the legs and has been a healthy scratch often down the stretch.

Keep in mind: The jokes about Joe Thornton's terrible postseasons are plentiful, but statistically he hasn't been bad at all. He had 17 points in 18 games last year and 64 in 74 overall as a Shark. ... Couture has 13 points in 19 games since the team traded his buddy Jamie McGinn.

Los Angeles Kings (8)

The obvious: Anze Kopitar, Justin Williams, Dustin Brown, Mike Richards

Dark horses: Drew Doughty has a star-caliber name that would hardly qualify him as a "dark horse". But after a 36-point season he'll go lower in drafts than he should, considering he has 11 points in 12 career playoff games. ... Dwight King is not a future first liner by any stretch, but occasionally they do play him with Kopitar. His big body (6-3, 234) is perfect for planting in front of the net on the PP.

Could let you down: Jeff Carter (ankle) is still not officially on the Game 1 roster as of yet. His terrible year has been well documented, and the problems that he's had with his feet/ankles are more than a little concerning. Pass…

Keep in mind: Since Carter was acquired, Richards has 13 points in 21 games. That is to say, his crappy production didn't budge.

• Via Chris Turek. Well, at least the Leafs got their name on a Cup …

• Philadelphia Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov has a chip fracture in his right foot. He's out Thursday but reports are the Flyers think he's going to be fine. When asked about the injury, Bryzgalov said "the chip iss so small and the foot iss huMANGous beeg, you know?" [CSN Philly]

• An interesting blog from Kerry Fraser that reveals the NHL's new standards for goalie interference while at the same time reminding us all that he just made up [expletive] as he went along while refereeing in the NHL. Still looking for that part of the interference rule that states a goalie being "content with the position he assumed within his goal crease" nullifies an illegal screen. [TSN]

• Kris Letang is day-to-day with not-a-concussion while Ben Lovejoy could miss a month with a knee injury for the Pittsburgh Penguins. [Tribune]

• Your Quebec City hockey rumor update: "Former coach and current radio analyst Dany Dubé, a wise and plugged-in hockey man, mentioned on Radio-Canada on Monday that a Phoenix Coyotes player of his acquaintance had been advised to "go and learn French" by someone in the organization." [Globe & Mail]

• The Washington Post asks if a Washington Post article made Alex Ovechkin turn into Alex Ovechkin again. [WaPo]

• Barry Trotz could capture win No. 500 in his NHL coaching career. Said former Pred Jason Arnott: "A lot of coaches are intimidating and you can't approach them and have a different attitude about them, but he tries to bring fun to the game when he comes in every day and tries to be a part of the group." [Tennessean]

• Jesse Spector on which playoff teams have the soundest goaltending tandems. [Sporting News]

• "Has Ron MacLean Become Too Agenda-Driven on Hockey Night?" Steve Lepore wonders if the CBC host has too many opinions to be effective. [Puck The Media]

• Down Goes Brown presents a hockey fan's guide to Wrestlemania. [DGB]

• Olivia Munn has moved on from Brad Richards and is dating … Robocop. [WENN]

• Speaking with JD himself, John Davidson, about the St. Louis Blues' success. Miss that guy on the mic. [Hoffman]

• Dwayne Roloson gets the nod for the Tampa Bay Lightning against the Boston Bruins. Why did Sebastien Caron come back to the NHL again? [Lightning Strikes]

• Ryan Kesler of the Vancouver Canucks got a shout out on "The Secret Circle," which is a CW show about witchcraft. Dude, Kes-lurk their coven! [Pass It To Bulis]

• Mirtle has all of the Masterton nominees thus far. [G&M]

• Dean Brown on Erik Karlsson for Norris: "I know it is difficult to get some writers to consider a skinny, 21 year old Swedish kid over a future hall of famer or a giant,  but Karlsson's performance this season has dwarfed both of their achievements and he should be the Norris Trophy winner in a walk." [Team 1200]

• Nick Cotsonika on Erik Karlsson for Norris: "Karlsson's defensive game is legit enough that it puts his all-around game at a Norris level when combined with his immense offensive output. His performance is a main reason why the Senators — who finished 26th last season and were picked to finish as low as 30th this season — have been one of the biggest surprises of the season. The Sens are seventh in the Eastern Conference, going into Monday's game with the Jets, and fighting to hold onto a playoff spot." [Y! Sports]

• What the number 9,997,359 means to Alex Ovechkin. (Note: Not his cap hit.) [Japers']

• Mike Knuble of the Washington Capitals apparently didn't hear his coach say tonight would be "like the seventh game of the playoffs", as he told DC101: "It's not like a game seven or anything, but you know, they're obviously a team that's right with us, right here. They talk about these four-point games, that can be two points we get, two points they won't get." [RMNB]

• Nerd Alert: a stathead look at the Sabres vs. Capitals. [Die By The Blade]

• Nice work here by Tapeleg as he asks the Colorado Avalanche to open its press box to alternative media, given the Denver Post's monopoly. [Jerseys and Hockey Love]

• This is fun: Philadelphia Flyers beat writer Tim Panaccio meets @faketimpanotch, his Twitter parodist. And it's not who you'd expect it to be. At all. [CSN Philly]

• Finally, Ron Greshner beats up a 13-year-old kid. Well, not really, but he does school him in the art of hockey fighting.

• From the Boston Bruins Fan, a reaction to Henrik Sedin's claim that the Vancouver Canucks were known as "The Diving Bunch." Point 1: How dare you put American Hero Ryan Kesler in this mix. Point 2: #TonyGallagher4CousinOliver

• Renaud Lavoie of RDS reports that Daniel Sedin has a concussion and will miss at least two weeks. Bottom line is that Sedin's headed back to Vancouver. [The Province]

• Good piece from Thomas Drance about the "elbow for an elbow" society in the NHL. [Canucks Army]

• Darren Dreger reports that the NHL could start relocation wheels in motion for the Phoenix Coyotes as early as next week. "Officials on the ground here in Arizona were not aware of any new drop-dead date in the three-year-old Coyotes saga. But they acknowledge some progress needs to be made on a sale before the summer. If a deal can't get done, the Coyotes could be gone with Quebec and Seattle as leading candidates." [Biz Journals]

• Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell and Jaromir Jagr have been one of the best lines in hockey this season. Who gets the credit for putting them together? It may not be who you think. Unless you were like, "Paul Holmgren," in which case it's actually who you thought. [Frequent Flyers]

• Todd McLellan's message for the San Jose Sharks: "When you're up to bat in the bottom of the ninth, the walk is great. It's kind of the safe play," he said. "But I'd like to see somebody hit the ball. We'll take the single, we'll take the double. Those are the kind of players we want right now." [Mercury News]

• Darryl Sutter says it's no time for the Los Angeles Kings to be patting each other on the tushies about their success. After the win over the Sharks, "We didn't even talk about it. We had a really good second period and took it to them, and we won the game. Richie [Mike Richards] scored a big shorthander and we scored a power-play goal in the third and we had a really good second period, and that's why we won the game. We need to have a better start tonight than we did in the last game, and we'll go from there." [LA Kings Insider]

• Craig Anderson is back for the Ottawa Senators on Friday. [Sun]

• Ben Eager smashed a camera in the Vancouver Canucks penalty box. The Canucks informed the Oilers they had to pay up the $13,000 to replace the camera. The Oilers then docked Eager's pay for the camera's cost. And now the NHLPA is stepping in for Eager. Remember when his biggest concern in the penalty box was boobs? [ESPN]

• BREAKING: Sidney Crosby is good at hockey. [Tribune]

• Joffrey Lupul is up for the Masterton. What, no Lombardi? [QMI]

Is Joel Ward a bust? [Japers' Rink]

• Under-reported story: That Marc Staal hasn't been Marc Staal since his injury. [Blueshirt Banter]

• Howard Baldwin on the future of the Connecticut Whale: "There is one more season left on the Whale's lease deal with the XL Center, and that is next AHL season, 2012-13. We remain totally committed to negotiating a long-term agreement that makes financial sense for the Whale to be viable at the XL Center for years to come, as we continue our steadfast pursuit of our goal of bringing the Hartford hockey market to its greatest possible level of prominence. That is the long-term vision, and we are optimistic that a deal can be reached soon that affords us not only that chance for long-term success, but also a better financial situation for the year remaining on our existing deal. Regardless of whether or not any accommodation is made for next season, however, we are one-hundred percent committed to fulfilling the last season of our agreement, and guaranteeing that the Whale will play at the XL Center for the 2012-13 AHL season. We will honor our commitment to the great hockey fans of the Hartford market in good faith, and we will pour every ounce of our collective energy into good-faith negotiations to secure a long-term business deal that firmly solidifies, and enhances, the future of pro hockey in downtown Hartford." [Whale, and previously from the Courant]

• Bourne goes to the white board to diagram your team's most popular power play breakout. [Backhand Shelf]

• P.K. Subban is playing well with Andrei Markov. Well, until his next injury at least. [Gazette]

• Jamie Benn is worried he's a marked man after the Shane Doan elbow. [Sports Day]

• Not Totally Hockey But Sorta: The Concussion lawsuits facing the NFL may have been a catalyst for its hefty penalties against the New Orleans Saints for their bounty system. [Rovell]

• The appearance of Semin is no guarantee in Philadelphia tonight. [Capitals Insider]

• The Sidney Crosby vs. Jonathan Toews tale of the tape. [Committed Indian]

• Why the nuclear option is not an option for the Calgary Flames. [Matchsticks and Gasoline]

• The Detroit Red Wings have sent Doug Janik down to Grand Rapids, which means good things (we assume) for the health of Nicklas Lidstrom and Jonathan Ericsson. [Red Wings]

• Finally, this is cool: "linesman Paul Carnathan gives you a behind the scenes look at a game (Pink in the Rink, 2/25) from an official's perspective."

Kesler was given a two-minute clipping minor at the time, with Michael Russo of the Star Tribune speculating that it could earn more:

Ryan Kesler could face supplemental discipline from the NHL. He attempted a Brad Marchand-esque low-bridge clip aimed at Cal Clutterbuck's knees in the second period. "I was surprised," Clutterbuck said. "I mean, normally you just go shoulder to shoulder, and that's that."

And Cal Clutterbuck is a man who knows his hits.

The NHL Department of Player Safety, however, has chosen not to punish Kesler beyond the minor. Their take: Not every illegal hit is a suspension, and that the Kesler clip on Clutterbuck was "not overly vicious" but a play they'll remember down the line if Kesler does it again.

Bryan Reynolds of Hockey Wilderness, a Wild blog, predicted Kesler wouldn't face the Shanahammer:

Kesler received only a minor penalty in the game. This is due to the fact that Clutterbuck was not injured on the play. The NHL rarely suspends players based solely on their actions. There almost always has to be an injury, and even then, it has to be so overt that if they don't suspend them it is going to wind up the lead story on Sports Center.

You all know what a joke the Department of Player Safety Jokes is. If you're banking on Ryan Kesler being suspended for a game with playoff implications against the Chicago Blackhawks ... you're cracked. The hit was dirty, and in 99 cases out of 100, the player making that hit sits for at least a game. Don't count on it this time.

Our question: Would the outcome have been different if there had been an injury?

Prior to this week's GM meetings, word started to trickle out that the 30 general managers of the NHL were doing the unthinkable: considering the reinstatement of perhaps the single worst, most pointless, counterproductive, and counterintuitive rule the sport of hockey has seen in last 30 years at least.

That's right, it's the return of the red line.

Nick Costonika talked about such a change at length the other day, getting some very choice quotes from guys on both sides of the issue.

The reason for this proposed change, according to advocates of building a wall in the middle of the neutral zone, is that it will slow the game down and make it safer. Concussions are bad!!!!, after all, and anything the league can do to protect players from getting them is of the utmost importance — except, Jake Voracek and Kris Letang recently learned, when it's not.

So the solution is to outlaw stretch passes that, in theory, make the game faster and allow guys to sail through the neutral zone at Mach 3 and get clobbered into next Sunday by 230-pound defensemen.

And yes, by all means, let's do that. When and if that were to ever actually happen. In much the same way that outlawing fighting isn't going to prevent guys from getting these terrible brain injuries because so few guys actually get concussed during them, reinstating the two-line pass won't prevent concussions because two-line passes, as far as I've been able to figure out, have never actually caused one.

You can say allowing stretch plays encourages players to create a faster and therefore more dangerous game, but that's like outlawing steak because a guy choked on it in a restaurant where no one knew the Heimlich.

(Coming Up: Will Columbus trade top pick?; Kings are in trouble; dissecting Brian Burke; Tuukka time will wait for six weeks; Johnny Oduya is working out; Jeff Skinner's nasty snipe; Bruce Boudreau vs. refs; Chris Stewart scored a beauty; fun with Folignos; what's wrong with Alex Ovechkin?; Giroux does the Datsyuk; Grant Besse's awesome night; and a way to get Antti Niemi back to Chicago.)

In fact, why not look at the Joe Thornton hit that concussed David Perron. The pass that he got caught watching came from inside his own zone when he was skating over his own blue line. So let's take out the one-line pass as well. Make everyone tic-tac-toe it through the neutral zone. And in fact, why not take out the forward pass, while you're at it? That would make sure everyone's good and safe forever, because the league will fold because no one will watch or go to games because the sport will be boring as hell.

The other reason it's stupid, of course, is that it's quite literally designed to increase the amount of offense seen league-wide. Now, my understanding of the causes of the lockout — or at least the thing everyone says is the cause of the lockout (not unlike how idiots say slavery was the reason for the Civil War) — is that there just wasn't enough scoring.

"People don't like 2-1 and 3-2 games, they want to see 4-3 and 5-4!" Remember?

The removal of the red line solved that problem, at least for a while; scoring has dipped back to pre-lockout levels in the past two years. And so everyone in the NHL's corridors of power thinks the solution to this is to bring back a rule that very much engendered every hockey fan's least-favorite four-letter word: "Trap."

To put it another way: If Ken Hitchcock thinks a rule should be instated in the NHL, it's not going to be conducive to more scoring, is it?

Proponents say that bringing back that terrible, awful, no good, very bad rule will have a positive and downright thrilling effect for fans, as well. Specifically, that it'll bring back a focus on skill. (As though the ability to thread a stretch pass from one blue line to the other is somehow not a skill.)

"All the rule changes we made we designed to increase the skill level, but it's become a slap shot from the far blue line and a guy chips it in and you go chase," Steve Yzerman said over the weekend.

Hey, Steve? Yeah, hi. Ryan Lambert here. You know why you see that all the time? Your coach plays the 1-3-1, and that's the only way to beat it. All the crybaby garbage kicked up by the Flyers earlier this year was result of that. I'm sure you remember. Also, you're against no-touch icing because "it bores the game." Uh huh. Well then. No cognitive dissonance there!

There is, for any rational observer of the game, no good reason to bring back a rule that, in case we all slept through the lockout, no one liked. Its possible reintroduction should be viewed for what it is: An attempt to look proactive on the concussion epidemic without actually doing anything to solve it, and making the "product" worse in the process.

The illegal two-line pass was the dumbest rule in pro sports when it was eliminated, but bringing it back now would lower that bar considerably.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: Anaheim lost to Dallas 2-0 on Saturday and instead of being upset that his team was shut out, Bruce Boudreau was steamed with the officials. "If that penalty on Lehtonen by Getzlaf was a penalty, I'll be a monkey's uncle," Boudreau said. "Even the Brookbank penalty, there was two guys battling. Why do they choose our guy? Both equally doing the same thing. I could go on and on. I said it [last week] in L.A. and I'm now sounding like a whining little crier. But it's not good enough." Well he got part of it right.

Boston Bruins: Tuukka Rask spoke to reporters for the first time since injuring his groin and said that of the "four-to-six-weeks" prognosis he got, he'd expect to be out closer to six, confirming what Peter Chiarelli said earlier this week. Bad news for the Bruins. Tim Thomas hasn't been sharp lately.

Buffalo Sabres: More Sabres forwards injured. Yes, again. Thomas Vanek sat out Saturday's game, and both Matt Ellis and Patrick Kaleta picked up knocks during it, and didn't return to action. Vanek remains doubtful for tonight's game against Montreal.

Calgary Flames: Matt Stajan has three points in his last two games. He had nine in his previous 45. Now granted, those games were against Montreal and Winnipeg — not the stiffest competition — but still, look out Evgeni Malkin.

Carolina Hurricanes: Pretty solid individual effort by Jeff Skinner to score his second in a 4-2 win over Tampa. What a shot.

Chicago Blackhawks: Think Johnny Oduya is working out okay for Chicago since he was picked up in a trade? He had a goal and an assist on Friday to pick up his first points for his new team, but he's also stepped up his defensive game, playing more than 20 minutes a night. Chicago has lost just one game out of five since he came aboard, and that was to St. Louis. The teams it has beaten are no slouches either: Toronto (okay, one slouch), Ottawa, Detroit and the Rangers.

Colorado Avalanche: The Avs picked up a shootout win over the Oilers on Saturday and San Jose got shut out by Phoenix, moving Colorado into the eighth and final playoff spot, and the team most people assumed would be a juggernaut in the West into ninth. Granted, though, the Avs have played three more games than the Sharks. But still.

Columbus Blue Jackets: A Montreal writer (not always the most trustworthy source, I understand) says Columbus is expected to trade the No. 1 overall pick at the draft. But with Nail Yakupov possibly out a while with a concussion, will they get the value they're probably looking for? Didn't matter where Jeff Carter was concerned, right?

Dallas Stars: Brenden Morrow returned to the Dallas lineup on Saturday after missing his previous 18 games, scored a goal in a 3-0 win but also took three minor penalties against Anaheim to broaden the gap between the Stars and Sharks in their division. The only team left in Dallas's vicinity is Phoenix.

Detroit Red Wings Presented by Amway: Don't look now, but the Red Wings have won just three of their last nine games and still have a number of players dealing with injuries. And they have one road win since Feb. 4. Over Columbus. Which shouldn't even count. Their road record is 16th in the league.

Edmonton Oilers: The Oilers re-called Linus Omark last week and apparently it's terribly important that he step up his game. He has just one point in eight games this season after putting up 22 in 51 last year.

Florida Panthers: Yesterday was the first game of a critical four-game home stretch for the Panthers that could really help to solidify their playoff spot. They were 16-9-8 at home headed into those games.

Los Angeles Kings: The Kings are outside the playoffs right now and things don't look even a little bit easier going forward. Their next seven games are against Detroit, Anaheim, Nashville, San Jose, St. Louis, Boston and Vancouver. Yikes.

Minnesota Wild: The Wild are going to host Minnesota North Stars night on March 29 in an effort to distract their fans from the fact that they're missing the playoffs for the fourth straight season. "Remember how much you guys liked Neal Broten!?"

Montreal Canadiens: PK Subban was an absolute wrecking ball Saturday night in the Habs' 4-1 win in Vancouver. Ryan Kesler got perhaps the worst of it, though Roberto Luongo probably would have said the same thing if he ever saw the shot on Subban's goal.

Nashville Predators: Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn are really doing quite well together in Nashville. Andrei scored two goals in a win over Detroit, and Sergei had the primary assist on both of 'em. The first was particularly Sedin-like.

New Jersey Devils: Anders Nilsson looked primed to pick up his second straight shutout against the Devils, but then with the score 1-0 Islanders and time running out, David Clarkson and Marek Zidlicky scored 14 seconds apart to ensure a New Jersey road victory.

New York Islanders: Saturday afternoon, the Islanders announced they had signed Owen Sound Attack undrafted free agent Mike Halmo. Saturday night, Halmo proved just how much he wanted to fit in with the team responsible for the sideshow act against Pittsburgh last season, gave Nail Yakupov a serious concussion. Same old Islanders.

New York Rangers: Prior to yesterday's game against the Islanders, the Rangers had lost three straight and allowed Pittsburgh to get a real close look at what the top of the conference might look like. All teams go through slumps like this at some point in the season, of course, but Evgeni Malkin has to look like the tyrannosaur in Jurassic Park in their rearview mirror right now.

Ottawa Senators: The Sens' Nick Foligno didn't know how to react when younger brother Marcus scored late in the third period to tie the game for his Sabres. "I was happy and pissed off at the same time," Nick said. "It was definitely a weird emotion. Now that the game is over, I'm definitely, as a brother, really happy for him." Ottawa went on to lose in a shootout.

Philadelphia Flyers: Turns out the kids still love Jaromir Jagr, as he was ranked the 18th-best player in the league by his peers. What's baffling, though, is that Zach Parise barely cracked the top-30.

Phoenix Coyotes: Since Dave Tippett took over behind the bench for the Coyotes, they've won 94 of the 110 games in which they've scored the first goal. Remember, division rival Dallas fired this guys.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Here's a really damn interesting point: Sid Crosby's contract is up at the end of next season. What on earth do you pay him? For how long? Whoa, that's a noodle-scratcher.

San Jose Sharks: "Time's not running out until game 82 is played and the buzzer's gone," said Todd McLellan, who has a rather tenuous idea of how time works, after his team's 3-0 loss to Phoenix. The Sharks have won three games in their last 15.

St. Louis Blues: What a goal by Chris Stewart. What a goal what a goal.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Is it time to give Dustin Tokarski a run-out as the team's No. 1 goaltender? He couldn't possibly do any worse than Tampa's other options at this point, right? Oh what's that? He gave up three goals on 25 shots against Carolina on Saturday? Hmm.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Great profile of Brian Burke in the Globe and Mail, but at some point doesn't everyone get sick of the media dissecting every aspect of his life like he's a frog in a 10th grade biology class?

Vancouver Canucks: Chris Higgins has been fighting staph infections for the last two months and is only now starting to feel better. He mostly played through them, which is an odd combination of horrifying and baffling.

Washington Capitals: It's time for another "What's wrong with Alex Ovechkin?" article. This time, he's not carefree any more.

Winnipeg Jets: When the Jets miss the playoffs this season, they're going to lean heavily on the injury excuse. I mean umm, they're dealing with a lot of injuries right now. Jeepers it's tough out there.

Gold Star Award

Grant Besse of Benilde-St. Margaret's in Minnesota — Jack Jablonski's teammate — led his team to a state Class AA title victory 5-1 over Hill-Murray, an upset in a postseason run in which the team was the underdog in every game.

How good was Besse? He scored ALL FIVE of his Red Knights' goals, and THREE of them were shorthanded. Bananas, feel-good, out-of-the-movies stuff right there.

Minus of the Weekend

Hey Boston Bruins I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job or anything but maybe stop giving up 2-0 first-period leads to your opponents. You did it twice this weekend. It's not a good idea.

Play of the Weekend

I really try hard not to give this to a shootout move ever, but sometimes Claude Giroux forces your hand.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week

User "Blackhawkswincup" has a good sense of player value.

To Hawks
D Douglas Murray (2.5M x 1 yr)
G Antti Niemi (3.8M x 3 yrs)

To Sharks
D Niklas Hjalmarsson (3.5M x 2 yrs)
G Corey Crawford (2.66M x 2 yrs)

Signoff

What sin are you referring to, Mr. Bandy? My sin of drilling?

Ryan Lambert publishes hockey awesomeness rather infrequently over at The Two-Line Pass. Check it out, why don't you? Or you can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter if you so desire.