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By Dmitry Chesnokov

Sergei Bobrovsky is the favorite to win the Vezina Trophy. His 2.00 GAA and .932 save percentage season nearly led the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for only the second time in team history. He may be the cover model for NHL 14.

Ah, yes: He’s a restricted free agent this summer. Translation: Sergei Bobrovsky is going to get paid.

The question is: Who’s paying him?

Columbus GM Jarmo Kekalainen said the two sides haven’t made any progress on a new contract. According to the Columbus Dispatch, the Blue Jackets will extend a qualifying offer to Bobrovsky by the end of June to retain his rights. After that, he would be open to an offer sheet from another NHL team.

But there’s another suitor.

Some time in April, SKA St. Petersburg decided to go after Bobrovsky. I was told the money they are willing to offer is very good.

Getty ImagesBy now, you’re probably saying to yourself, “Hey, I know who the finalists are for the Mark Messier Leadership Award, but where and when can I see who actually wins this heralded trophy in 2013?”

Wonder no more, fare citizens: The NHL announced on Friday that in lieu of an off-season spectacle in Las Vegas to celebrate the best of the best of the truncated season, the NHL Awards will be handed out during the Stanley Cup Final on two made-for-TV specials featuring the League’s game analysts.

Which sounds like there will be a distinct lack of Chaka Khan, Def Leppard, Nickelback and the Real Housewives of Orange County. Which makes us sad.

The day John Tortorella criticizes Brad Richards for being a $60-million bust during the 2012-13 season will be the first day he does.

So Thursday night after the New York Rangers’ thrilling Game 4 OT victory to stay alive against the Boston Bruins – a game for which Richards was a healthy scratch, after being benched as a fourth-liner in Game 3 – Tortorella offered a defense of his fallen star:

Said Torts:

“Brad Richards is a hell of a hockey player. He has had struggles here. It continues. Me putting him in that role does not help him. So I’d rather have him out and identify how we’re going to run our fourth line.

“So none of ya’s, don’t put words in my mouth, it’s not blaming Brad Richards. I’ve already heard enough of that crap already, as far as this is concerned. He’s a hell of a hockey player that’s having a hell of a time. So I need to make decisions for what I feel is right for this team to win tonight’s game, and that’s why I made that decision.

“This is a Conn Smythe winner. A guy I’ve grown up with. A guy I love as a person and a player, but I have to make that decision regarding this. So kiss my ass if you want to write something different. It’s not about blaming that guy. I don’t want anybody to pile on him. This is my decision and I make it for the hockey club.”

Obviously, you feel for Torts, having to make these decisions on a player with whom he won a Stanley Cup and a player that chose the Rangers as a free agent because Tortorella was there. They have a long relationship as player and coach. Neither imagined this day would come.

But they were the right decisions: Richards had one point in 10 games, was terrible on the power play and clearly didn’t fit on the Rangers’ fourth line. Richards goes out, the Rangers score on the power play and the fourth line played great in limited minutes. This is not a coincidence.

Hearing Tortorella defend Richards as “a hell of a hockey player that’s having a hell of a time” makes you wonder: If he’s still the coach in 2013-14, might Richards get another chance to turn this around before a buy-out, or is he a goner?

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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.

The Dallas Stars are scheduled to unveil their super secret new uniforms and logo on June 4 at a special fan event, featuring everyone from owner Tom Gaglardi to star forward Jamie Benn. So, naturally, it appears the logo may have leaked nearly two weeks before the event. D'oh!

On Thursday, Stars fans began reporting on a new addition to the team’s iPhone wallpaper selections on its official app.

The speculation is that the circle logo on the left will be a shoulder patch on the new sweaters, with the ‘D Star’ logo as the new primary one for Dallas. But there's also a chance the Stars will follow in the tradition of the Wild, Blues and Panthers and do a traditional circular crest with the logo inside of it; a.k.a. the logo above ...

... which bears a passing resemblance to this. Will Starbucks be to the Stars' logo as Fishsticks were to the Islanders?

Tom Cruise watched top gun and legend Anze Kopitar, far and away their best forward, make it rain, man, and help push the Sharks into oblivion as the Kings won this war of the worlds with their eyes wide shut. [NHL Video]

No. 1 Star: Jimmy Howard, Detroit Red Wings

The Red Wings goalie made 28 saves for his second career shutout, as Detroit won Game 4 over the Chicago Blackhawks, 2-0. He was especially good in the third period as the Blackhawks turned on the offense. Detroit leads the series, 3-1.

No. 2 Star: Derek Stepan, New York Rangers

The Rangers needed someone to make a play. Stepan did, twice. He stripped Zdeno Chara of the puck and scored to tie the Boston Bruins in the third period, 2-2. After Tyler Seguin’s goal gave Boston the lead again, Stepan set up Brian Boyle for another tying goal on the power play, where the Rangers were the worst team left in the postseason. New York won Game 4, 4-3 in overtime, on a Chris Kreider goal. Here’s the Stepan strip-and-score, helping the Rangers stay alive in the postseason.

Getty ImagesNEW YORK, N.Y. -- Henrik Lundqvist called it "the ugliest goal I've ever seen," but to the New York Rangers it was so, so beautiful. Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask's slip in the second period allowed Carl Hagelin to score the easiest goal of his career and turned Game 4 around.

“It gave us some life," said Rangers head coach John Tortorella. "It’s funny how it works, huh?”

From that moment on, the Rangers played inspired hockey and woke up a Madison Square Garden crowd who grew restless after the Bruins took a 2-0 lead 7:41 into the second period. The energized arena reached its peak 7:03 into overtime when Chris Kreider redirected a Rick Nash pass to give the Rangers a 4-3 win, staving off elimination yet again:

The Rangers fought off elimination for a third time this postseason and will attempt to do so again on Saturday in Boston facing a 3-1 deficit.

GettyThe Chicago Blackhawks’ history-making season is slipping into the same abyss that swallowed up other Presidents Trophy winners who couldn’t fulfill the promise of their regular-season success.

The Detroit Red Wings won Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals, 2-0, to take a 3-1 lead and push the Hawks to an elimination game back in Chicago on Saturday.

The unraveling of the Blackhawks continued in Game 4.