No. 1 star: Dwayne Roloson(notes), New York Islanders

Usually, goalies who give up three goals aren't going to be the No. 1 star. But those goalies usually don't face 61 shots. In fact, Roloson's 58 saves in the Islanders' 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs are the most since Ron Tugnutt's 70-save game in March 1991, according to the AP. (Phil Kessel(notes) had 12 on his own.) Not bad for a 40-year-old. Josh Bailey(notes) had the game-winner in overtime, after the Leafs rallied from a 3-0 hole. 

No. 2 Star: Marian Gaborik(notes), New York Rangers

After the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets took a 2-0 lead, the Rangers used a John Tortorella timeout "just relax" chat and exploded for seven straight goals in a 7-4 victory. Gaborik had two goals (18 on the season) and two assists, including a beautiful helper on Sean Avery's(notes) second of the night. Also beautiful: Michael Del Zotto's(notes) Leetch-like solo effort for goal No. 3.

No. 3 Star: Patrice Bergeron(notes), Boston Bruins

Four goals for the Bruins, four assists for Bergeron, including two primary helpers on power-play goals by Mark Recchi(notes) and Blake Wheeler(notes). The Bruins won their third in a row, 4-2, at the St. Louis Blues.

Honorable mention: On another night, Jeff Deslauriers's shutout for the Edmonton Oilers (36 saves) makes the cut for the top three. Oilers win, 4-0, over the visiting Phoenix Coyotes. ... Mike Fisher's(notes) deflection of Chris Phillips'(notes) pass gave him his 10th goal of the season and the Ottawa Senators a 4-3 overtime win over the Washington Capitals. The Sens have won four in a row, rallying from a 3-1 deficit. ... Nathan Horton's(notes) errant stick earned him a minor penalty in overtime for the Florida Panthers, and Sidney Crosby(notes) cashed in a rebound off Evgeni Malkin's(notes) shot for 3-2 win for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Thomas Vokoun had 42 saves for the Panthers in their fancy new uniforms. ... Martin Erat(notes) scored two goals, including the game-winner, as the Nashville Predators won their sixth in a row with a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Pekka Rinne(notes) turned away 16 shots in the third. ... Jamie Benn(notes) and Brad Richards(notes) scored power-play goals and Marty Turco(notes) turned back 22 shots for a 2-0 Dallas Stars win over the Carolina Hurricanes. ... David Jones(notes) had two goals and Craig Anderson(notes) needed to make 17 saves in the third to preserve a 5-4 Colorado Avalanche victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. Danny Briere(notes) had a four-point (2 goals, 2 assists) night for the Flyers. ... Jarome Iginla's(notes) goal with 18 seconds left tied the game, but the Anaheim Ducks won in the shootout on a Teemu Selanne(notes) goal, 3-2. Jean-Sebastien Giguere(notes) made 41 saves for his first win of the season. ... Finally, Brian McGrattan(notes) overcame his awful hair with a giant punch that knocked down George Parros(notes).

Did you know?: Corey Perry(notes) extended his point-scoring streak to 15 games with an assist against the Flames.

Dishonorable mention: Pascal Leclaire's(notes) tremendous good luck continued, as the injured Senators goalie was hit in the jaw by a deflected puck on the Ottawa bench, forcing him to the locker room. ... Rick Nash(notes) was a minus-4 with zero points for Columbus. ... After Steve Mason(notes) was pulled following four goals on 18 shots, the Rangers scored on their first two shots against Mathieu Garon(notes). ... Ray Emery(notes) was yanked by the Flyers after yielding four goals on 17 shots ... Finally, an odd scene in which Vesa Toskala(notes) appeared to ask out of the Leafs' game after giving up three goals on 15 shots turned out to be a groin injury that forced him out in favor of Jonas Gustavsson(notes). Who knew deafening boos could injure one's groin?

Unless Colin Campbell and Co. needed nearly a full business day after Laraque's morning hearing to deliver a verdict, it's your classic end-of-day dump for news that's bound to be vetted, debated and decried by a great numbers of fans and pundits.

EJ Hradek of ESPN wrote that "if the league wants to clean up these types of plays, they can send a message by tagging Laraque with a double-digit suspension." Adam Proteau of The Hockey News wanted an example made of Laraque:

Time has taught us to expect the NHL will abdicate its responsibilities in providing a reasonably safe workplace through the application of supplementary discipline. But if the league ever did decide to grow a pair and use Laraque as the cautionary tale that makes players think twice before reacting knee-first, fist-first, head-first, skate-first or butt-end-of-the-stick-first, I'd break out a line in all seriousness that I don't normally use unless there's extreme sarcasm involved: Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

The outrage from Red Wings fans on this is justified, because they saw some fourth-line goon take out a guy who's fourth in average ice time (21:18)  for Detroit and an essential part of their blue line. I'm not one who believes in the eye-for-an-eye Wheel of Discipline, so the duration of Kronwall's injury is immaterial to me. The intent of Laraque to injure him isn't; neither are Laraque's previous offenses. Based solely on that, Laraque deserved more than five games.

But not because the NHL needed to make "an example" of Laraque.

Intentional knee-on-knee hits aren't the epidemic hits to the head are. They're illegal and injurious. They'll always be illegal and injurious. And they'll always be suspendable. Whatever Laraque was given here, it wasn't going to deter someone from doing it again.

Hits to the head, open-ice blindside hits ... if you want them out of the NHL, then legislation and/or supplemental discipline can actually make a difference at this point in history. But a suspension for a knee-on-knee hit isn't a deterrent against the actions of other players; it's keeping a cheap-shot artist off the ice, if only for a few nights.

Preview: Boston Bruins at St. Louis Blues, 8 p.m. EST. OK, so a three-game winning streak isn't exactly shattering NHL records. But for two underperforming teams like the B's and Blues, it's a pretty big deal, and one of them will have a three-gamer for the first time this season after tonight. Marc Savard(notes)? In! Tim Thomas(notes)? Backup! T.J Oshie's dad? Still blogging!

Preview: New York Islanders at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7 p.m. A bittersweet moment, as the savior of the Maple Leafs franchise steps onto Air Canada Centre ice wearing some other team's jersey.

Preview: Philadelphia Flyers at Colorado Avalanche, 9 p.m. It's the triumphant return of fan favorite Ian Laperriere(notes) to Denver. The Avs are on a 3-6-1 plummet while the Flyers have lost their last two on the road. Mile High Hockey sets the bar for the home team" If the Avalanche lose in regulation tonight, they could get passed by as many as 3 teams in the standings (Columbus, Calgary and Phoenix)." Watch The Game Live Via Hockey Night on Y!

Check out previews and updated scores for all of today's games on the Y! Sports NHL scores and scheds page.

Evening Reading

• If you'd like to know who the Player of the Decade was for the 2000s, you may want to check back here in the morning.

• Five games for Georges Laraque(notes). More in a bit on this. [TSN]

• In a trade that threatens to create a vowel shortage on the new wire, the Minnesota Wild traded Benoit Pouliot(notes) to the Montreal Canadiens for left wing Guillaume Latendresse(notes). The latter player is already excited to meet the Minnesota media, which is usually a sentiment shared by Habs players who don't live up to their potential in Montreal. Now watch him become the next Mike Ribeiro(notes) ... [AP]

• Finally, Sergei Kostitsyn(notes) has come back to Montreal. [Habs]

• Analyzing the Peter Mueller(notes) trade rumors that made the rounds on the HNIC Hot Stove. [Five For Howling]

• Elliotte Friedman's massive column with the 30 items at the end really is one of the best reads in hockey every week. [CBC Sports]

• Interesting moves in the NCAA concerning Michigan, as Robbie Czarnik leaves for the Plymouth Whalers and goaltending recruit Jack Campbell appears headed for the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL "at some point." [WCHB]

• The Tampa Bay Lightning are getting in on the Black Friday sales. Not in, like, a half-off Ryan Malone(notes) kind of way; in a ticket kind of way. [Raw Charge]

Puck Buddy Comment of the Day: From 'CC' in the Puck Headlines today -

I think I speak for millions when I say that whatever other lousy things happen to me today, I can fall back on having seen "Bettman" and "resign" in the same sentence.

Amen to that.

Bold Prediction: Florida beats Pittsburgh in the Panthers' spiffy new uniforms.

Ryan's an RFA next summer, looking for a raise after his entry level contract expires. He's followed his Calder-quality rookie campaign with 15 points in 21 games this season; a decent total on a disappointing hockey team, but no where near the pace of linemates Ryan Getzlaf(notes) (22 points) and Corey Perry(notes) (27 points, and a criminally underreported 14-game scoring streak that has him tied for fifth in the League in points.)

But as an RFA on the team that drafted him, Ryan's leaving Anaheim doesn't seem all that likely, as least to someone following the Ducks from the other coast. That was until OC Register columnist Randy Youngman dropped this nugget at the end of a column on Sunday night:

If the Ducks continue to struggle, most likely trade bait will be forward Bobby Ryan, who has been inconsistent this season (15 points in 21 games) after contending for NHL Rookie of the Year honors last season.

Trade bait? When Anaheim Calling did its "who are the scouts looking at on the Ducks?" post last week, Ryan's name didn't come up. The notion that the Ducks would move him, even as their season slips deeper into mediocrity, hasn't exactly been voiced all that often -- well, until now.

Still, the suggestion gets you wondering ... would the Ducks be better off trading Ryan, with his value still relatively high and before having to commit significant salary (and years) to a player that's gone from failing to meet expectations to becoming a future NHL start to failing to meet expectations again?

If the Ducks need to seriously retool, is trading Bobby Ryan one way to dramatically achieve that goal?

It's hard to see Ryan leaving the Ducks for financial reasons. But we're sure the same was said about Chris Pronger(notes) as some point in the recent past, too ... and now he's on the verge of an "historic" Norris Trophy bid.

Puck Buddy Will, a.k.a. "hockeymaster4789" (sounds like a cyborg Lou Lamoriello unleashes to make players with fat contracts disappear) decided to waste the better part of a morning to meet that challenge, a least for the last two seasons.

What he found are a couple of examples in which a player in the penalty box at the end of the 4-on-4 helped win the game for his team in the shootout; and yes, one of those examples is a certain goaltender for the Dallas Stars pictured here.

Here's what Will found for the 2009-10 season:

When the winning team ended the game a man down:

October 31: Florida 6, Dallas 5 - Bryan McCabe(notes) for elbowing, Rostislav Olesz(notes) wins it.

When the losing team ended the game a man down:

November 21: Nashville 4, CLB 3 - Rick Nash(notes) for hooking, David Legwand(notes) wins it.
November 12: DAL 3, San Jose 2 - Kent Huskins(notes) for hooking, Stephane Robidas(notes) wins it.
November 11: Chicago 3, Colorado 2 - Wojtek Wolski(notes) for cross checking, Patrick Sharp(notes) wins it.
October 30: Pittsburgh 4, CLB 3 - Jakub Voracek(notes) for hooking, Sidney Crosby(notes) wins it.
October 24: Boston 4, Ottawa 3 - Anton Volchenkov(notes) for tripping, Patrice Bergeron(notes) wins it.
October 20: Montreal 2, Atlanta 1 - Slava Kozlov(notes), 5-min major for checking from behind, Scott Gomez(notes) wins it.
October 6: Carolina 2, Tampa Bay 1 - David Hale(notes) for tripping, Sergei Samsonov(notes) wins it.

For 2008-09:

When the winning team ended the game a man down:

April 11: PHX 5, ANA 4 - Shane Doan(notes) for holding (actually, Andrew Ebbett(notes) was already in the box for tripping, so it would have been 3-on-3), Viktor Tikhonov(notes) wins it.
April 8: CBJ 4, CHI 3 - Fedor Tyutin(notes) for hooking, Fedor Tyutin wins it.
March 24: TOR 3, WSH 2 - Pavel Kubina(notes) for hooking, Jeff Hamilton(notes) wins it.
March 19: ANA 3, PHX 2 - Chris Pronger(notes) for holding, Bobby Ryan(notes) wins it.
February 24: LAK 2, MIN 1 - Sean O'Donnell(notes) for slashing, Drew Doughty(notes) wins it.
February 16: DAL 3, CBJ 2 - Marty Turco(notes) for tripping, James Neal(notes) wins it, Marty Turco in net.
January 21: BOS 4, TOR 3 - Martin St. Pierre(notes) for tripping, Michael Ryder(notes) wins it.
December 11: PHI 6, CAR 5 - Philadelphia bench minor for too many men, Simon Gagne(notes) wins it.
November 18: MIN 2, PIT 1 - Brent Burns(notes) for high-sticking, Marek Zidlicky(notes) wins it.
November 8: PIT 4, NYI 3 - Mike Zigomanis(notes) for high-sticking (double minor), Petr Sykora(notes) wins it.
October 21: BUF 3, BOS 2 - Teppo Numminen(notes) for hooking, Thomas Vanek(notes) wins it.
October 20: PIT 2, BOS 1 - Jordan Staal(notes) for slashing (Marc Savard(notes) was already in the box for hooking, so it would have been 3-on-3), Evgeni Malkin(notes) wins it.
October 10: BUF 2, MTL 1 - Jaroslav Spacek(notes) for tripping, Ales Kotalik(notes) wins it.

When the losing team ended the game a man down:

April 9: NSH 4, DET 3 - Henrik Zetterberg(notes) for hooking, Jason Arnott(notes) wins it.
February 14: EDM 3, LAK 2 - Jack Johnson(notes) for hooking, Sam Gagner(notes) wins it.
February 13: BUF 6, SJS 5 - Christian Ehrhoff(notes) for kneeing AND Marc-Edouard Vlasic(notes) for slashing, Derek Roy(notes) wins it.
February 10: LAK 4, NYI 3 - Bill Guerin(notes) for hooking, Jack Johnson wins it.
November 18: CHI 3, PHX 2 - Ed Jovanovski(notes) for high-sticking, Jonathan Toews(notes) wins it.
November 12: COL 2, VAN 1 - Alexander Edler(notes) for hooking, Marek Svatos(notes) wins it.
November 7: CBJ 4, MTL 3 - Tomas Plekanec(notes) for hooking, Kristian Huselius(notes) wins it.
October 18: MIN 1, TBL 0 - Andrej Meszaros(notes) for hooking, Antti Mietten wins it.
October 17: NYR 1, TOR 0 - Mikhail Grabovski(notes) for hooking, Fredrik Sjostrom(notes) wins it.
October 13: STL 5, TOR 4 - Pavel Kubina for tripping, Brad Boyes(notes) wins it.

If penalties carried over to the shootout, there would have been some pretty good players that wouldn't have been options in the skills competition. Zetterberg, like Nash on Saturday, had his shootout attempt against Pekka Rinne(notes) and the Nashville Predators despite the penalty (though he was unsuccessful).

On the other hand, it appears the majority of the penalized players were defensemen, and ones that aren't exactly known for their shootout prowess. (No disrespect intended to Sean O'Donnell.)

Thanks to Will for his quick (and god-willing, accurate) research. The bottom line: Close the loophole on this shootout oversight. That this situation played out 23 times last seasonis reason enough to address it.

• Fancy pants! George Richards gives us a teaser of what the new Florida Panthers third jerseys will look like by showing us their spiffy new bottoms. The new duds are set to debut this evening. [On Frozen Pond]

• Georges Laraque(notes) had his hearing with the NHL this morning for his knee-on-knee hit with Niklas Kronwall(notes) that'll sideline the Detroit Red Wings defenseman for at least a month. According to TSN: "Because the meeting was still considered an in-person hearing by the NHL, the league can suspend Laraque five or more games if it so chooses." [TSN]

• Brian Burke appears willing to take veteran defenseman Brent Sopel's(notes) contract from the Chicago Blackhawks, provided the 'Hawks kick in a draft pick in the salary dump. Spector has more on Fadoo. [Globe & Mail and Toronto Sun]

• San Jose Sharks center Joe Thornton(notes), Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price(notes) and Ottawa Senators center Mike Fisher(notes) have been named the NHL 'Three Stars' for the week ending Nov. 22. [NHL]

• Speaking of Fisher, he had an interesting chat with the Sun about his celebrity relationship with Carrie Underwood, ranging from marriage plans to Regis Philbin calling him a "good-looking brute." Which has to be somewhat life-fulfilling. [Sun Media]

• Making excuses for the Ottawa Senators' attendance issues this season. [Cornwall Standard]

• NHL Fan Association co-founder Jim Boone has asked Gary Bettman to resign in an open letter to The Hockey News, and for some reason it's getting some play today. It's sarcastic "go out on top" tone clashes with its occasional indictments of his tenure as commissioner, making it ineffective as a call to action. The logic behind the NHL becoming as chaotic at the top as the NHLPA for the sake of labor peace is lost on us. But hey, give it read; maybe you think it's the rhetorical right hook to the jaw that could be delivered three dozen ways based on Gary's fumbles. [THN]

• Preparing for the glories of "Uwe Krupp Night" at the Pepsi Center for the Colorado Avalanche. He played three seasons with that Avs; or nearly two more than that No. 77 hanging from the rafters. [All Things Avs]

• Mike Rathje(notes) and the humungous salary cap loophole Puck Stops Here believes the Philadelphia Flyers continue to exploit. [TPSH]

• Looking at Daniel Carcillo's(notes) first 40 games with the Flyers. After a rocky start, he's starting to come along. And no, we didn't go with "Rocky start" because of Philly. [The 700 Level]

• Markus Naslund(notes) on returning from retirement to help "save" Modo in Sweden: "They were in dead last place and they were struggling financially. It's just one of those things where both me and Peter felt that it was a good thing to do." [CP]

• Fun with stats: "Because of the vagaries of the NHL's OT/SO system, even though Montreal has played just as badly as Toronto, they're tied for 8th in the East with 23 points, while Toronto's in last place with 14 points." [Behind The Net]

• The Edmonton Oilers are falling into bad habits, and Pat Quinn is not a happy man: "You don't have to be a giant to play hard in this game and we had some guys that didn't work very hard. It's evident, they can all see it ... If we learned from that and say 'I'm going to make some changes,' then we have a chance. But we abandoned the game plan, we lay a game plan out and we go where they want. 'Breakouts?' We're too skilled to worry about getting in the right spots, 'I'll just take the puck around myself, and oops, by the way I turned it over.' It was an awful easy game for them (Blackhawks) to play tonight." [Sun Media]

• Jay Feaster gets p'wned. [Five Hole Fanatics]

• From the Images We Found While Searching for All-Decade Art Dept: "PHILADELPHIA - MAY 02: A fan of the take a ride on the Zamboni during the game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Buffalo Sabres in game six of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2006 NHL playoffs on May 2, 2006 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Sabres defeated the Flyers 7-1 and advance to the Semifinals." A.K.A. the most outstanding duo for the Flyers since Lindros and LeClair. [Len Redkoles/Getty Images]

• Phoenix Coyotes Assistant General Manager Brad Treliving announced today that the Club has relieved Greg Ireland of his head coaching duties with the San Antonio Rampage, the Coyotes' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, effective immediately. [Coyotes]

• Should the Carolina Hurricanes move Eric Staal(notes) to the wing when he returns? And if so, will he call Jordan in Pittsburgh to learn about the effectiveness of guys named Staal playing out an unnatural position? [Canes Country]

• Bruce Boudreau isn't looking to use injuries as a crutch for the Washington Capitals' recent struggles. [Capitals Insider]

• Steve Begin(notes) of the Boston Bruins recalls the "freaking cold" that was the Heritage Classic in preparation for the 2010 Winter Classic at Fenway. [NHL]

• As he does so well, George Malik collects your NHLPA news and views from the weekend. [Snapshots]

• Crap-tastic news for Minnesota Wild fans: Brent Burns(notes) has another concussion. [Russo]

• Finally, a goal controversy from the NCAA ranks, as North Dakota's Brad Malone appeared to tie the game against Denver but the goal was waived off. Well not so much a controversy as a reminder that for all the "intent to blow" stuff from last weel, replay still serves a purpose. [WCHB]

But our therapist keeps asking us to learn to live with the shootout, so we've offered some suggestions here and there to improve it.

Sometimes it's about increasing the fun factor, like the "superstar provision" discussed recently. Other times, it's bringing some level of competitive fairness to the proceedings, like our contention that the NHL should increase it to five shooters for each side.

But there's a complete, total, absolute, change the League should have already made to its overtime format but hasn't; something that was on display in the Columbus Blue Jackets' game against the Nashville Predators over the weekend.

Why are players serving penalties at the end of the 4-on-4 OT allowed to participate in the shootout?

Puck Buddy Cory S. explains:

At the end of OT, Rick Nash(notes) still had time left in his penalty but was allowed to participate in the shoot out?

Now, I am by no means a fan of team games being decided in a shootout (that's another ongoing debate), and of course the fans/League want to see their stars on the ice for the shootout, but I have to say I think its highly unfair for a player who has been penalized to still be allowed to have a turn in the shootout when his penalty has not yet expired. In this case, it had no impact on the outcome, but surely it would have left a rather bad taste in the Preds fans mouths had Nash scored the winner. It would be interesting to see just how many penalized players with time remaining to serve have then gone out to score in the shoot out.

Well, until we find some poor college kid to be a Puck Daddy intern, no dice on that research project. But Cory's main point stands: Why should Nash, one of the Jackets' most lethal shootout performers who ended up scoring against Pekka Rinne(notes) on Saturday night, be allowed to participate if he's technically still in the box? It's just another oversight that pushes the shootout from a reasonable mechanism for determining a winner into a sideshow.

Why hasn't this been addressed by the League? As Cory notes, the NHL wants Rick Nash in the highlight reel, so why endorse something that would keep him out, right? Stu Hackel of the New York Times wrote about this loophole in our "5 Ways I'd Change The NHL" feature last summer, and suggested a compromise:

The offending player could end up being a shootout hero who has escaped serving a full penalty because, chances are, the guy who committed the penalty is pretty good or he wouldn't be on the ice in that situation. So if a minor penalty occurs inside the last two minutes, the offending player and his team should still be penalized by making the fouling player be the last guy in line to take part in the shootout for his team.

How about this instead: If a player is serving a minor penalty at the end of the 4-on-4 OT, he has to sit out the first three rounds of the shootout but can participate if it goes beyond that. If he's serving a major (a rarity in OT), he can't participate at all.

Either way, it's a simple change that should be made; but since neither the players nor the GMs have any intangible reason to lobby for it, we're guessing it won't be made.

Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.

Prior to the start of the season, everyone was just brimming with optimism. Hockey was, after what felt like a painfully long summer, almost back. The glee was palpable.

As so many pundits do, I made what I called 20 bold predictions (where "bold" usually either meant "sarcastic" or "painfully obvious" but occasionally bordered on "somewhat daring").

Now that every team in the league has played at least 20 games and we're more than a quarter of the way through the season, I figure it's as good a time as any to see how those predictions are coming along.

My guess: Not well. Feel free to hold me accountable.

[Coming up: Your ol' pal Lambert looks at his miserable failures, Anaheim needs to hire new doctors, Kyle Okposo(notes) loves him some mediocre AHL players, the best ever fight between two French Canadians, St. Louis will keep but maybe not keep Alex Pietrangelo(notes) (I swear), Rick Nash(notes) goes on a European Vacation, the top 10 reasons it hurts to watch the Avs, and Evgeni Nabokov(notes) doesn't like your line of questioning.]

1. John Tavares(notes) will be a big disappointment and only score 40 points.

I got chirped on Twitter for this prediction a week or so ago. The kid is by far the Isles' best player and has 19 points from 23 games. Great call, stupid.

2. The Coyotes will make the playoffs but the Ducks won't.

The Ducks are 15th in the West, the Coyotes are tied for sixth, and just two points out of third. Lookin' good on this one.

3. Someone actually challenges Alex Ovechkin(notes) for the Rocket Richard.

Granted Ovie's missed some time, but Dany Heatley(notes) leads him by two (18 to 16), Marian Gaborik(notes), Jarome Iginla(notes) and like five other guys are within three of him

4. Vesa Toskala(notes) gets his job taken from him before November. Possibly by a koala.

His line is 3.82/.869. Enough said.

5. Alex Kovalev's(notes) stay in Ottawa is an unmitigated disaster.

He has the same number of goals and one more point than Jarkko Ruutu(notes). You figure it out.       

6. Brent Sutter will strangle Dion Phaneuf(notes) to death, or at least decrease his minutes significantly.

They got in a shouting match last week, so it counts!

7. The Lightning will still be really bad.

If the season ended today, they'd have a playoff spot, and that's with Vinny Lecavalier being genuinely bad for most of the season. D'oh.

8. Mike Green(notes) will win the Norris despite his haircut getting progressively worse throughout the season.

He leads defensemen in points and he's not a minus-12 or something. Chris Pronger(notes) has probably been the best defenseman in the league (18 points, plus-13, dragging Matt Carle(notes) kicking and screaming along with him), so count this as a loss, I guess? You tell me.

9. Marian Gaborik will miss at least half the season (I didn't say it had to be a shocking prediction).

He's only missed two of 22. That's not half, but I still have time here. Too early to tell but a loss for now.

10. Patrick Kane(notes) will beat up an airline pilot, a train conductor and ship captain and help the Blackhawks win the division. Meanwhile Jonathan Toews(notes) will make a series of hilarious faces.

Patty's been on his best behavior, but I present this in defense of my Toews predication:

Also the Blackhawks are killing it. Good call by me.

11. The Flyers will set a franchise low in match penalties (with 128).

I looked at all their box scores and I didn't see any yet this year. Crazy!

12. Cal Clutterbuck(notes) will finally dump the visor to earn Don Cherry's respect.

Looks like this isn't going to happen. Sissy.

13. Dany Heatley will lead the league in power play goals and make the Sharks power play hum along at 26 percent.

He's got a two-goal lead over Gaborik (9 to 7) to pace the NHL, and the Sharks' power play is currently at 25.5 percent. I'm very proud of myself for this ultra-specific guess.

14. Regardless of how well the season finishes, Red Wings fans will be aggrieved by some perceived slight.

Ask a certain G. Wyshynski about this one.

15. Bob Gainey will get the ol' heave-ho.

Hasn't happened yet but it's looking possible. I feel good about this one certainly, but it's a push for now.

16. Mike Comrie(notes) will have a pretty good year, like 60 points or something.

Comrie had eight points in 16 games (so on pace for 41 then), but now he has mono and will probably miss significant time as a result. Oops.

17. Buffalo will miss the playoffs and both Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier will be fired. No, I'm kidding, of course they won't be fired.

Buffalo doesn't look especially likely to miss the playoffs, no.

18. Evgeni Malkin(notes) will walk away with the league lead in points. Sid Crosby will barely crack 90 like the lay-about that he is.

Geno's not exactly swimming in points (19 in 16 games), but Crosby's on pace for less than 80. Push.

19. Marty Turco(notes) will cost an otherwise good Dallas team a playoff spot, and will keep his starting job regardless.

Dallas isn't bad or anything (though they are currently out of the playoffs on a tiebreaker), and Turco's only playing so-so hockey. Wanna call this one a push?

20.  The Central will be the best division in hockey.

The Atlantic, Northeast, Pacific and Central all have three teams in the playoffs, so I guess not. And the Atlantic is the only one without a team in the bottom five. Make of that what you will.

Anyway, I counted it all up and I'm considering myself 8-8-4. I'll take .500.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: So Ryan Carter(notes) missed four games with a bruised foot and didn't seem to be getting better. They ran a second x-ray and found out the foot was broken. He's out another month. But it begs the question: How the hell did the first x-ray miss a fracture?

Atlanta Thrashers: After Matt Cooke(notes) clearly slew-footed (sleeeeeeeew) Ilya Kovalchuk(notes) on Saturday, the two fought, but Kovalchuk was given the instigator penalty and the gate. He picked up 19 penalty minutes on the play. The Thrashers got a late goal, but they ended up losing 3-2.

Boston Bruins: Great news for the Bruins -- Marc Savard(notes) should be back tonight after missing five weeks with a broken bone in his foot. And that extension should be signed this week.

Buffalo Sabres: The Sabres got pretty well trounced by the Senators on Saturday, sure. But things aren't so bad, at least not now. This is the first time they've had a three-game losing streak this season, and one of those was in OT. It's not all doom and gloom just yet is my point.

Calgary Flames: I'm not sure what's more amazing. That Jarome Iginla has 12 goals in his last nine games and is two off the league lead after a sluggish, ineffectual start, or that the Flames are 7-1-2 on the road despite being utter dross at home.

Carolina Hurricanes: What'd I tell you last week? The Canes have either won or gotten a loser point in four straight. Oh yeah, it's all turning around.

Chicago Blackhawks: I'm saying it right now -- This is the best team in the league. They've won their last seven games, scoring 27 goals and allowing just 11. Their wins over both Calgary and Edmonton Thursday and Saturday were effortless. Effortless I say!

Colorado Avalanche: This list of the top 10 reasons the Avs game was brutal to watch made me laugh. "7. Chris Stewart(notes): 0 shots in the last 4 games. That's an average of roughly zero per game." Perfect.

Columbus Blue Jackets: It's been confirmed that the Blue Jackets have been offered one of the slots to play in Europe at the start of next season.

Dallas Stars: Stephane Robidas(notes) had some kinda night Saturday. Two goals, two assists. That's a career high for points in a game. He also had eight hits(!) and two blocked shots. Brad Richards(notes), meanwhile, only had four assists. What a bum.

Detroit Red Wings: Remember how people thought Pavel Datsyuk(notes) was having a bit of an off season and had a slow start and all that? Yeah, he has 16 points in his last 14 games, including a goal and a shootout winner on Saturday.

Edmonton Oilers: Here's how bad it got in Edmonton Saturday night -- Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers gave up three goals on the first six shots he faced, and some were actually wondering if he'd get the hook. Why that's strange: The Oilers were without Nikolai Khabibulin(notes) and had to call up Torrie Jung, a goalie from the WHL's Edmonton Oil Kings. Jung's stats? He's 5-11 with a 3.29 GAA and a .903 save percentage.

Florida Panthers: How's this for a turnaround? Florida won two of its first 10 games, and is now on a hot streak, winning eight of 11, including beating the Red Wings, Sabres and Rangers to get above .500.

Los Angeles Kings: Speaking of turnarounds, the Kings went from pretty damn good to losing five of eight in a hurry. Terry Murray's solution to this problem is a long, hard practice. No days off if you're playing like garbage, I guess.

Minnesota Wild: It's very strange that Andrew Ebbett(notes) gets put on waivers so often. Granted he has jut one point this season, but the Wild are Ebbett's third team this season already. He scored 32 in 48 with Anaheim last year, he's defensively responsible and he's a center. What's not to like about the guy?

Montreal Canadiens: This is a very Georges Laraque(notes)-type shift right here. High-stick a guy in the mouth? Check. Knee-on-knee hit? Check. He's getting suspended for sure.

Nashville Predators: David Legwand(notes) had a good Saturday. Goal, assist, shootout winner, and a son. Aces.

New Jersey Devils: So decimated by injuries are the Devs (I can think of five off the top of my head) that defenseman Matt Corrente got his first game in the NHL on Saturday, but not on defense. The Devils dressed seven defensemen in the game, which is why Corrente got a go at right wing.

New York Islanders: It's not every day that a sensational young forward like Kyle Okposo goes far out of his way to praise a 36-year-old career AHL journeyman, but the kid falls all over himself to praise Mark Wotton of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Sounds like the guy made a hell of an impact on Okposo in just half a season. Great to have guys like that in the organization.

New York Rangers: It says here that the Rangers lose all the time because they lack passion. If true, that's on John Tortorella, who should be able to pump the boys up more than, say, a Tom Renney did.

Ottawa Senators: Gotta wonder how long Pascal Leclaire(notes) will be out after getting hurt in the second period on Saturday. They say he's "sore" but they said that about Alex Ovechkin too, so who knows? If he misses even a week, that's not going to be very helpful to the Sens.

Philadelphia Flyers: What a heavyweight tilt on Friday night. Briere. Vlasic. Should've headlined UFC106.

Phoenix Coyotes: Dave Tippett likes rewarding good play with additional ice time. This is apparently some sort of novel approach to hockey.

Pittsburgh Penguins: The Pens' new arena is coming along swimmingly.

San Jose Sharks: Someone was dumb enough to ask Evgeni Nabokov if beating the Ducks on Saturday made it any easier to swallow losing to them in the first round after winning the Presidents Trophy. "Thanks for the reminder. So what does it mean?" Nabokov said. "Honestly, I don't like those questions." Noooooo kidding.

St. Louis Blues: "Alex Pietrangelo is here to stay, but it's not guaranteed he will stay." That is one confusing lede that basically means the Blues will keep him around so that his rookie clock starts after he plays his 10th game. But they might send him back to juniors at any point. Or something. I dunno.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Said Rick Tocchet of Zenon Konopka(notes), who hasn't score a goal in three seasons and is without a point this season but has apparently been positioning himself well and just not finding the net: "I don't think he's a natural goal scorer." That's why he gets big money.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Some Leafs fans are wondering just when, exactly, Brian Burke is going to start calling up some kids to get them time in the NHL. Y'know, since they're not going to make the playoffs anyway.

Vancouver Canucks: Hooray, Daniel Sedin(notes) is back!

Washington Capitals: Bruce Boudreau admitted Alex Ovechkin came back from his shoulder injury too early, and said Ovie would play better come the Ottawa game tonight. Well, I'd hope so.

Play of the Weekend

You saw it yesterday. You'll see it again at the end of the season. So why not watch it once more before then?

David Perron(notes) what is up? (By the way, Stamkos' was better.)

Gold Star Award

Dany Heatley and Joe Thornton(notes) combined for five goals and six assists this weekend. The Sharks won twice. That'll work, eh?

Minus of the Weekend

What's going on with the Caps? Losses to Montreal and freaking Toronto? Only three goals in those games? That's not how you win a division. I wouldn't have guessed playing without Alex Semin would hurt that badly.

Perfect HFBoards trade proposal of the week

User coolbean04 really wants to pry Eric Staal(notes) from the Hurricanes so he can.. ahem, help the Rangers.

Dubinsky, Sanguinetti, a 1st round pick (say it's around 10th overall)

This is contingent on the Rangers finding someone to take Michal Roszival off their hands. Good luck with that.

Start with the misdemeanors and then we're gonna push right on through to the lighter treasons.

Ryan Lambert publishes hockey awesomeness pretty much every day 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.

No. 1 star: Steven Stamkos(notes), Tampa Bay Lightning

The 2008 No. 1 overall pick continued his breakout year as his 15th goal of the season in overtime gave the Lightning a 4-3 win over the Atlanta Thrashers. Currently tied for fourth in the NHL in goals scored with Jarome Iginla(notes), Stamkos, along with Ryan Malone(notes), is carrying the Lightning offensive load as Vincent Lecavalier(notes) and Martin St. Louis(notes) struggle with a combined nine goals. 

No. 2 Star: Antti Niemi(notes), Chicago Blackhawks

The 26-year old Finn backstopped the 'Hawks to a 1-0 win in Vancouver by making 30 saves for his second shutout of the season. Chicago swept the Western Canadian portion of their roadtrip and will finish things up with three games in California beginning Wednesday at Anaheim. With the win, Niemi improves to 4-1-1 on the season.

No. 3 Star: Antero Niittymaki(notes), Tampa Bay Lightning

Making 28 saves on the evening, Niittymaki won his sixth game of the season and his 15th straight over a Southeast Division opponent. Atlanta rallied back with three goals in the third period, but was unable to record a shot in overtime before Stamkos won it. Niittymaki currently owns the NHL's best save-percentage at .936.

Honorable mention: Martin St. Louis had three assists including one on Stamkos' overtime winner ... Stephane Veilleux(notes) and Kurtis Foster(notes) both scored their first goals of the season for the Lightning ...  Evander Kane's(notes) seventh goal for Atlanta puts him in second place behind New York Islanders forward John Tavares(notes) among rookies ...  Bryan Bickell(notes) scored the winner for Chicago 1:12 into the third period. It was his first goal in over two years ... Roberto Luongo(notes) did all he could for the Canucks making 16 saves, but was let down by his offense ... Ben Eager(notes) and Rick Rypien(notes) discussed the MLS Cup Final in their own special way:

Did you know?: With his win against Atlanta, Niittymaki is now 15-0-0 against the Thrashers in his career. (AP)

Dishonorable mention: Atlanta ended their homestand by losing their last three games ... Not a good weekend for Thrashers captain Ilya Kovalchuk(notes). A day after earning 19-penalty minutes against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Kovy couldn't beat Niittymaki on seven shots and finished a minus-3 ...  Even with the win, Joel Quenneville couldn't have been happy that the Blackhawks were 16-for-42 in the faceoff circle.

He returned on Nov. 9; the Blackhawks haven't lost a game since then.

So they roll into Vancouver tonight to face a Canucks team that's won two in a row and gets Daniel Sedin(notes) back from injury to play on a line with brother Henrik and Alex Burrows(notes).

It's a heck of a matchup between two increasingly bitter conference rivals -- and hey, you can watch the game live via Hockey Night on Y! -- but that's taken a back seat to Toews vs. Mitchell in the pregame hype.

From the Chicago Tribune:

"I'm not looking for any retribution," Toews said. "I want to play a great game and show them something like that isn't going to change the way I play."

The Oct. 21 hit at center ice was considered clean, but it upset many of the Hawks and afterward several indicated they would remember it the next time the teams played.

Coach Joel Quenneville doesn't expect his team to respond drastically. "Our priority will be to win the hockey game and nothing else," Quenneville said. "Getting even on the scoreboard is the best way to get even."

The Canucks expect much the same, via Canwest:

"It's just hockey, it was on the ice, it was a clean hit," said Mitchell, who's spoken to Toews since the incident. "Ask Jon about it, he'll tell you that, too."

Head coach Alain Vigneault said he thought the two teams will have more pressing business Sunday night.

"At the end of the day that was just a clean hit," said Vigneault. "It was a hockey hit. There was no intent to injure on Willie's part. It was just part of the game. Our focus is going to be on two points and I think that's what their focus is going to be on."

Sure. Two points. Just win the game. Not like there's any previous bad blood between these teams, right? Should be fun.

If you read the Puck Headlines every weekday, you've no doubt seen Ryan Kennedy's name before. He's a writer and editor at The Hockey News, and one of those columnists that will generally provide a take on the League's big issues and players that hasn't already been regurgitated throughout the rest of the media. Which is a good thing.

He's also a gear-obsessed, hockey culture guy; his latest venture at THN is a special lifestyle magazine called Fully Loaded, which features the best in hockey streetwear, NHL gear and hockey equipment.

Good writer, good dude. Here are five reasons why Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News loves hockey:

1. Fighting

We have a very tight-knit crew in the offices of THN, but nothing sets off the screaming like the fighting debate. As one of the resident hawks (it's not hard to figure out who the doves are), I maintain that fighting is part of the fabric of the game. Sure, maybe the sport can survive without it, but we all grew up watching fights and that's how we fell in love with the sport. It would be like taking the cheating and dullness out of soccer.

Plus, I just like it.

I love watching fights, and I YouTube them almost every morning. In the us-against-them current that runs through sports, only hockey really comes through in terms of avenging perceived evils against your favorite squad. The instant justice of Wendel Clark destroying Marty McSorley in the 1993 Western Conference final after McSorley's elbow on Doug Gilmour is one of the highlights of my hockey-watching youth.

2. The World of Hockey

Researching Europe for various projects leads to a never-ending source of unintentional comedy, generally provided by Google translator. Alex Ovechkin(notes) had 13 washers in his final year with Moscow Dynamo. Kitchener's Gabriel Landeskog is listed on native Swedish websites as "Gabriel County Forest." Karpat Oulu's cheerleaders are known as the 'Baby Beasts," while KHL St. Petersburg fans are entertained by the "Soul Sisters." Also, there's a team in Latvia called ASK Ogre. Not even a Google translator on that one; that's just what they're called (Ogre is a city).

3. Jerseys

As the resident 'Jersey Hound' at THN, I give a shout-out to a different team sweater every issue and the research for that is very fun. The hockey sweater provides the best canvas of any pro uniform and now that we're out of the pastels from the end of the 20th century, teams are generally looking good.

In my searches, I've found a Chicago Black Hawks sweater so old it doesn't even have red in it, the first-ever Boston Bruins jersey (it's brown, not black) and a picture of Martin Brodeur(notes) rocking a Utica Devils (AHL) uni.

Also, as I point out every time I get the chance, I tracked down a picture of the Springfield Indians jersey Snoop Dogg wore in the "Gin and Juice" video -- a jersey so rare because the Indians were only affiliated with the Hartford Whalers for a short time, and the Whalers only went to darker colors (which influenced the Springfield jersey) for a shorter time.

The fact Snoop Dogg wore that particular sweater practically bends the cosmos in terms of probability.

4. Maple Leaf Gardens

It really was something to experience. Even as a child my knees went flush against the railing in front of my seat and the trough bathrooms were an intimidating prospect. But what I'll never forget (besides a lot of losses and moustaches) is that brief time in history when smoking was banned, but not in the stairwells between floors. That meant that as soon as you turned the corner, an almost literal wall of cigarette smoke would confront you as you made your way up or down. Since I was still a kid, I'm glad smoke rises. I also bootleg recorded a Nine Inch Nails concert there in Grade 10.

5. Working at The Hockey News

At this point, I've literally interviewed hundreds of NHLers. Lil Jon called my house. Don Cherry left a message. I've talked metal with Jere Lehtinen(notes) and Drew Stafford(notes). I've been to every rink in the Northeast Division, plus Detroit and Pittsburgh, where I covered Game 6 of the final last year. I've seen games in the WHL, OHL and AHL. I saw Steven Stamkos(notes) and John Tavares(notes) face off in junior and watched Drew Doughty(notes) single-handedly end a game in Guelph on an end-to-end solo rush with six seconds left.

I know I have one of the best jobs in the world, which is why I push copy every day, just livin' the dream.

 

No. 1 star: Stephane Robidas(notes), Dallas Stars

After Brian Rolston(notes) opened the scoring for the New Jersey Devils, it became the Robidas Show for the rest of the first period: Primary assists on goals by Warren Peters(notes) and Mike Ribeiro, and then a power-play goal of this own. Tom Wandell's(notes) goal in the third gave the Stars the lead again after a Devils' rally, and it was Robidas that finished off the scoring with his fifth of the season for a 5-3 Dallas victory. It was the defenseman's second career two-goal game and first four-point night.

No. 2 Star: Jarome Iginla(notes), Calgary Flames

Iggy now has 15 goals on the season, 11 coming in November, as his hat trick helped the Flames to a 5-2 victory at the Los Angeles Kings. As usual, Iginla's contributions to the win went beyond the score sheet, as Coach Brent Sutter said he was "just rock solid in a lot of areas."

No. 3 Star: David Perron(notes), St. Louis Blues

Perron's two third-period goals finished off the visiting New York Islanders, giving the Blues a 4-1 victory. But St. Louis's leading goal-scorer (9 goals) merits a star because of this stellar, between the legs move that's one of the best highlights of the season:

Honorable mention: Pavel Datsyuk(notes) had a goal, and he and Henrik Zetterberg(notes) scored in the shootout to give the Detroit Red Wings a 3-2 win at the Montreal Canadiens, spoiling a two-goal night from Michael Cammalleri(notes). ... Hell of a road trip for the Florida Panthers: Wins at Buffalo, Detroit and then Madison Square Garden on Saturday night with a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers. Tomas Vokoun(notes) made 32 saves; Marian Gaborik(notes) netted his 16th for the Rangers. ... Not sure what's the stranger sight: The Carolina Hurricanes nearly playing 60 minutes of good hockey in their 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, or Chad LaRose finally scoring his first of the season. ... Filip Kuba(notes) had a four-point night and the Ottawa Senators scored five consecutive goals in their 5-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres; one that came after starting goalie Pascal Leclaire(notes) left with a lower body injury after a second-period collision with Jochen Hecht(notes). ... After the Phoenix Coyotes may have gotten away with an off-sides call, defenseman Keith Yandle(notes) scored the game-winner in a 3-1 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers. ... A 45-save effort from Steve Mason(notes) still couldn't earn the Columbus Blue Jackets two points against the Nashville Predators, as Mike Santorelli(notes) and David Legwand(notes) scored in the shootout for a 4-3 win in a divisional showdown. ... Jonathan Toews(notes) scored twice, Patrick Kane(notes) once in the Chicago Blackhawks' 5-2 win at the Edmonton Oilers. Dustin Penner(notes) scored his 13th in the loss. ... Joe Thornton(notes) followed his brilliant four-assist night on Friday with another assist and the game-winning goal past Jonas Hiller(notes) (33 saves) to give the San Jose Sharks a 3-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks. Dany Heatley(notes) scored his 18th. ... Niklas Hagman(notes) scored in regulation and in the shootout, as Vesa Toskala(notes) stopped 31 shots in the Toronto Maple Leafs' 2-1 victory over the visiting Washington Capitals (despite Alex Ovechkin's(notes) 16th of the season). Must have been the rally caps:

Did you know?: Chicago coach Joel Quenneville moved past former Oilers coach Glen Sather into 14th place on the NHL's career wins list with 497 victories. (AP)

Dishonorable mention: Martin Skoula(notes) (2 goals) and the Pittsburgh Penguins were able to hold off an Atlanta Thrashers rally for a 3-2 win, but it was made easier when Ilya Kovalchuk(notes) was ejected for instigating a fight while wearing a visor at 6:52 of the third. It's either a dishonorable mention for Kovalchuck, for his ill-advised fight; or, as Coach John Anderson claims, it's a dishonorable mention to the officials for giving him the instigator when Matt Cooke(notes) was accused of sparking the incident. ... Yann Danis(notes) was yanked for the Devils in favor of Marty Brodeur. ... Georges Laraque's knee-on-knee hit was as dishonorable as they come. ... Blair Betts(notes) dislocated his shoulder again and will miss a month for the Flyers. ... Finally, no video yet, but Wade Belak's(notes) two-handed spear to Jared Boll's(notes) most sensitive of areas wasn't pretty.

Here's the hit, which came after Laraque had already been whistled for a high stick on Darren Helm(notes) that got him a double-minor:

The three penalties Laraque earned resulted in two power-play goals for the Red Wings, so there was some measure of revenge (to go along with winning the game in the shootout, 3-2). The question is now whether there will be something more coming Laraque's way, as everyone from the Detroit media to Don Cherry called it dirty. Laraque, however, was defiant after the game, according to the AP:

"There were four refs on the ice and they didn't call anything," Laraque said. "If they called a match penalty it would be different. There was no intent. There was no reason why I would try to go and hurt him. It was a pure accident, that's why they called it tripping, so I'm not worried at all."

George Malik has more. As he points out, it's a significant player for the Wings with a previous history of knee injuries; factor in that Laraque has a suspension history, and it's likely we'll see something more from the NHL.

But beyond the mandatory criteria for the NHL Wheel of Discipline: It's a dirty hit that deserves further sanction, and that's the case whether Kronwall was injured or not. Laraque's got a reason to worry here.

 

(No, the first decade of the 21st century doesn't technically end until 2011. Save your bellyaching. But we've had nine NHL seasons and one stolen from us since 1999-2000, and Yahoo! Sports has decided it's time to rank the best and worst of the last "decade." Enjoy, and snark freely in the comments.)

Let's get this out of the way right off the top: This isn't a list of the best individual teams that didn't win a Stanley Cup.

This isn't a list that will feature the 2000-01 New Jersey Devils, 2001-02 Carolina Hurricanes, 2002-03 Anaheim Ducks, 2007-08 Pittsburgh Penguins or 2008-09 Detroit Red Wings -- those four teams (or franchises) got their rings this decade.

This list is about the franchises that have excelled this past decade, but for one reason or another came up short in their quest for a title. Listed here are President Trophy winners, conference champions and annual Cup contenders that couldn't finish the job. They hold the fan bases that had their high expectations dashed by a less than fruitful spring.

With that, our 10 best teams to never win a Stanley Cup this decade are ...

10. St. Louis Blues

It seems so long ago, but the Blues were one of the NHL's best teams at the turn of the century. A President's Trophy winning season in '99-00 ended in shock as the San Jose Sharks knocked out the Blues in seven games during the opening round. The Blues would make the playoffs the following four seasons before three years of hardships and major overhaul occurred which ended a playoff streak that had lasted since 1980. Playing in the Central Division alongside the Detroit Red Wings is never easy, which explains the four straight second-place finishes.

Now under new ownership and with John Davidson as team president, the Blues are stable in the front office and developing an on-ice product around youth.

9. Washington Capitals

While the basement days during the middle of this decade might be remembered more by fans, earlier in the decade the Caps were playoff guests two out of the three seasons after their Stanley Cup appearance in 1998. The Jaromir Jagr(notes) acquisition from Pittsburgh should have been a boost for the franchise (especially after the back of pucks sent to the Penguins in exchange), but the Czech native's poor attitude derailed the Caps after just one playoff appearance in his Washington tenure.

Like the lean years seen in Pittsburgh, Washington's tough times paid off in the long run as they were able to draft Alex Ovechkin(notes) and Mike Green(notes) among the rest of the current supporting cast that has brought the franchise back to "contender" status.

Four Southeast Division titles, five playoff appearances, but just once have they advanced past the first round (last season). With a solid core and budding young goaltender, there's good reason to believe that the dark days that haunted the franchise post-Jagr will not return for a long while.

8. Buffalo Sabres

Light in the playoff appearances (three), Buffalo was among the NHL elite for a two-season span in 2006 and 2007. President's Trophy winners in 2007, the Sabres have survived new ownership and the combination of Darcy Regier and Lindy Ruff running things in a market that isn't known to be one of the "haves" when talking about economics in sports.

7. Calgary Flames

Times were tough for the Flames until Darryl Sutter was hired during the 2002-03 season as head coach and took over the GM responsibilities the following year. Sutter's big move was acquiring goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff(notes) from San Jose, which helped carry the team into the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals against Tampa Bay. Calgary eliminated three division champions en route to the Cup final that season.

The Flames haven't been able to get out of the second round since 2004 and are on their third coach since the 2006-07 season. Just one division title banner hands from the Pengrowth Saddledome rafters, but Sutter has transformed the team who had missed the playoffs seven years in a row up until the 2004 Cup.

6. Vancouver Canucks

It took the hiring of Marc Crawford to being the turnaround of a Canucks team that missed the playoffs three straight seasons heading into the 1999-00 season. The Stanley Cup winning coach with the 1996 Colorado Avalanche molded the franchise, along with Brian Burke's help, into annual contenders and playoff qualifiers. Gone was Pavel Bure, the team's star player and taking up the reigns in the scoring department were Markus Naslund(notes), Brendan Morrison(notes) and an emerging Todd Bertuzzi(notes) - before, you know, this happened.

The decade saw six playoff appearances for Vancouver with the Canucks only advancing out of the first round three times. Vancouver finished with five 100-point seasons, three Northwest Division titles and former GM Dave Nonis and current man-in-charge Mike Gillis have brought in Roberto Luongo(notes), signed the Sedin twins to long-term deals, drafted wisely and set the franchise up to be contenders in the future.

5. Dallas Stars

A year after winning the first Stanley Cup in franchise history, the Stars found themselves on the losing end of a heartbreaking series-winning goal by Jason Arnott(notes) as the New Jersey Devils won in 2000. Dallas followed up the loss with five more wins and four more points before getting knocked out by the St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference semifinals.

Transition came during the 2001-02 season with Ken Hitchcock being replaced by Ron Wilson for the final 32 games of the season. It would be the first season since '95-96 that the Stars didn't win the division title or make the playoffs. Dave Tippett would take over behind the bench for the 2002-03 season and lead them to the playoffs over the next five seasons. 

4. Boston Bruins

Most notable about the Bruins regular-season success early in the decade was that it was followed by a first-round exit in the playoffs -- twice by the Montreal Canadiens. Boston was one of those NHL teams that failed to recognize how the "new" NHL was going to play in the post-lockout era. Youth was ignored and old, veteran players were relied upon to carry the Bruins.

Two months into the post-lockout NHL also spelt the end for the Joe Thornton(notes)-era in Boston as he was shipped to San Jose. The struggles Boston went through immediately after the trade paved the way for Tim Thomas(notes) to grab the No. 1 goaltending job. After two seasons at the bottom of the Northeast Division, Boston made their way back to the playoffs in 2008 and followed that up with a 116-point season, third best in franchise history. Even with obstacles in front of him, Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli has managed to work around the salary cap and pull off shrewd moves to keep Boston competitive for the long-term.

3. Ottawa Senators

Filing for bankruptcy in the middle of the 2002-03 season didn't hamper the Senators from claiming the President's Trophy, but the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference Finals would deny their run to the Stanley Cup. With the exception of last season, Ottawa has made the playoffs every season and won three division titles.

The Senators were well on their way to a possible Cup in 2006, but Dominik Hasek's(notes) injury at the Winter Olympics in Turin dashed any hopes as the Buffalo Sabres eliminated them in the second round. 

2. Philadelphia Flyers

Aside from one aberration of a season (2006-07), the Flyers have been in the "contender" category for almost the past two decades. Eight playoff appearances in nine seasons, two-time Eastern Conference finalists, three division titles, and five 100-point seasons. Safe to say, Philadelphia has been able to maintain their success this decade, but have yet to find their way back to the Stanley Cup Finals.

The torch that Eric Lindros(notes) carried into this decade was given to Simon Gagne(notes) for a brief period before Jeff Carter(notes) and captain Mike Richards(notes) ran with it. The "Broad Street Bullies" moniker hasn't left Philadelphia as evidence by the nightly physical play (and numerous suspensions over the years) inside Wachovia Center.

1. San Jose Sharks

Year after the year, the Sharks have been a popular pick to win the Cup. Having been loaded with talent throughout their roster, their shortcomings in April have undermined a decade of regular season success. Four division titles, a President's Trophy, four 100-point seasons and nine playoff appearances make the Sharks the best team to never win this decade.

Months after a disappointing first-round exit at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks, Sharks GM Doug Wilson went out and traded for Dany Heatley(notes) to add to the already dangerous arsenal.

That's been the consistent thing for San Jose, just when you think they're ready to take a step back, they reload and force their way into contender talk whenever predictions are being thrown around.

Not just because they were one game under .500 and near the bottom of the conference standings, but because their positive momentum was again anchored by bad injury news, as his linemate Brian Gionta's(notes) broken foot shelved him indefinitely.

"Much didn't have to be said tonight. It was a real good team, on the road," said Cammalleri, whose power-play goal in the third period gave the Habs a 3-2 win in D.C.

"Usually, it's the team that's the most banged up that sacrifices the most. The bumps and bruises feel good when you get a win."

There wasn't a chance to ask Cammalleri's linemates Scott Gomez(notes) and Travis Moen(notes) about that theory after the game; both were injured in the win, and are questionable for tonight's game against the Detroit Red Wings back in Montreal. So for a team that's shown signs of consistency recently, the roster shuffle could be on once again.

"I got used to it," said center Tomas Plekanec(notes), whose line with Andrei Kostitsyn(notes) and Max Pacioretty(notes) produced a goal and was arguably the best in the game. "For most of the season, I played with almost every single winger on our team. But obviously it would be better for us to have constant lines."

Especially when the top line looked as promising as it did for Montreal, albeit briefly.

The chatter had been that Glen Metropolit(notes), the feisty checking forward, was going to get an audition with Gomez and Cammalleri after Gionta's injury. But it was Moen who got the start with the top-liners, scoring a second-period goal to tie the game at 1-1 on an assist from Cammalleri.

"I thought Travis really helped the other two," said Coach Jacques Martin. "He gave them a good presence at the net. He's been having an excellent start for our team. Played well on every line I've put him on."

At 6-2 and 215 pounds, he's a more physical presence than Gionta, which gave the Montreal first line a different dynamic.

"Tonight what you saw right away was Travis get in on the forecheck and really create some turnovers for us," said Cammalleri. "It helps a lot for us, because our mentality is that we don't have to make a great play coming into the zone; we just have to get it in and let him do his thing. Create our chances from inside the zone, which is a much more consistent way to play hockey."

But again: Consistency can live or die on injuries, and the Canadiens have battled through a few, significant ones, especially on the blue line. Yet as much adversity as injuries create, they also create a sense of desperation and altered expectations, even when you're wearing a Montreal Canadiens sweater.

"It seems to me we're kind of scared ... well, scared isn't the right word. We respect other teams when they have a superstar like Ovechkin and score the most goals in the league so far," said Plekanec.

Carey Price(notes) (32 saves), who was outstanding late in the game while playing a stretch without his goalie stick, said being a wounded team against a first-place opponent changed their focus. "The thing about being an underdog is that expectations aren't as high," he said. "I guess it kind of takes the pressure off."

So like so many other teams in this injurious season of NHL hockey, the Canadiens will lick their wounds, count the bruises and see who shows up in the lineup for their next game.

Even if it means Cammalleri skates with some new faces.

"Who knows? It's part of hockey that lines change from practice to practice, game to game."

Period to period?

"Shift to shift," he said with a laugh. "So, you never know."

No. 1 Star: Dany Heatley(notes), San Jose Sharks

Coach Todd McLellan stacked his best players on the same line against the Philadelphia Flyers: Heatley, Joe Thornton(notes) and Patrick Marleau(notes). The result? A 6-3 win over the Flyers and a hat-trick for Heatley. His first goal was on a patient 2-in-1 with Thornton; so was his second goal, set up by Jumbo Joe (4 assists on the night) while shorthanded. He completed the hat trick with a power-play goal in the third. Heatley now has 17 goals on the season, best in the NHL.

No. 2 Star: Owen Nolan(notes), Minnesota Wild

Nolan scored the game-winning goal with just 67 seconds remaining on a quick shot in front of Marty Biron (26 saves) after an Eric Belanger(notes) pass. It was his second of the night, having opened the scoring in the first on another feed from Belanger. Good win for the Wild, rallying with two goals in the third for the 3-2 win over the visiting New York Islanders. 

No. 3 star: Scott Clemmensen(notes), Florida Panthers

The Panthers keeper stopped 39 of 40 shots, more than a few of them above average, in Florida's 2-1 overtime victory at the Detroit Red Wings. Bryan McCabe's(notes) second of the season 40 seconds into overtime was the difference, but it was Clemmensen that kept the Panthers in the game for only their second win ever at the Joe.

Honorable mention: Tomas Plekanec(notes) had a goal and an assist, and Carey Price(notes) (32 saves) was both lucky and good in the final few minutes, as the Montreal Canadiens scored a big road win, 3-2, over the Washington Capitals. ... Patrice Bergeron's(notes) seventh of the season, a redirection of a Zdeno Chara(notes) shot, gave the Boston Bruins a 2-1 victory in overtime at the Buffalo Sabres. Milan Lucic(notes) scored his first of the season earlier in the game. ... Christian Ehrhoff(notes) had two goals and Henrik Sedin's(notes) 13th was the eventual game-winner in the Vancouver Canucks' 5-2 win over the slumping Colorado Avalanche, who are now in a 1-4-1 slide. 

Did you know?: The Flyers are winless in San Jose since Nov. 15, 1999. (AP)

Dishonorable mention: Among the injuries this evening were Montreal's Scott Gomez(notes) and Travis Moen(notes); Washington's Tom Poti(notes); Buffalo's Drew Stafford(notes) (a lower-body injury that will keep him out against Ottawa on Saturday) and Cory Stillman(notes) of Florida, who was crunched by Brad Stuart(notes) and was helped off the ice. Said Coach Peter DeBoer: "Stillman's got a knee injury and is going to be out a while." ... Kent Huskins(notes) still found a way to be a minus-3 despite the Sharks scoring six goals. ... Finally, Shane Hnidy(notes) earned 17 minutes in penalties for this fight against Tim Jackman(notes) of the Islanders. It probably wasn't worth it:

That relationship has been severed by the team, according to the OC Register, which reported that police said 'Mike V.' was arrested and cited for fighting in public for his part in the wild fan brawl over Scott Niedermayer's(notes) stick. Video of the fight was posted here on Friday morning.

We were tipped off earlier today that the "little girl" Niedermayer referred to in his awkward postgame interview on Fox Sports was in fact Vallely's daughter, and that Vallely became physically involved when another fan attempted to snatch the stick after Niedermayer tossed it to her over the glass.

Curtis Zupke of Ducks blog confirmed those details and that Vallely, 39, had been arrested, though police said "none of the parties involved wished to press charges."

Zupke writes that the Ducks were doing a bit of damage control today:

A link to Vallely's blog had been on the Ducks' official Web site. The link was taken down by Friday afternoon. Ducks spokesman Alex Gilchrist said that Vallely was not an official employee of the organization, but that the Ducks have terminated their relationship with him.

The Ducks are evaluating the practice of players handing their sticks to fans in the stands, Gilchrist said. The tradition began this season.

Puck Buddy Bredan emailed us about Mike V participating in the fight, telling us that he's obviously cut his hair (and we imagine had a shave since this George Parros(notes) photo in 2007) and that the Web is littered with clips of him involved in other fights.

The Ducks incident is already up on Mike V's Wikipedia page, whose references to Powell Peralta in 1987 have made us feel about as old as watching John Carlson(notes) (D.O.B.: Jan 10, 1990) skate for the Capitals tonight. Sigh.

Preview: Philadelphia Flyers at San Jose Sharks, 10 p.m. EST. The big news here, according to the Sharks, is Coach Todd McLellan putting together the mega-line of  Patrick Marleau(notes), Joe Thornton(notes) and Dany Heatley(notes). McLellan told Working The Corners: "Things may be going great for (the Thornton line), but if it's not going good for the other three lines, we can't leave them out in the dark and have a one line game." Aw, who cares about those other nine guys; play these dudes for 60.

Preview: Boston Bruins at Buffalo Sabres, 7:30 p.m. EST. No Marc Savard(notes) for the B's tonight, as it appears Monday against the St. Louis Blues is the target date for his return. The Sabres are coming off a humbling 6-2 loss to the Panthers that left them frustrated, although it produced Ryan Miller(notes) quote gold: "They just played boring until they got a lead and then they played more boring." There's a live blog of this on NESN, if that's what you're into. Watch The Game Via Hockey Night on Y! 

Preview: Colorado Avalanche at Vancouver Canucks, 10 p.m. EST. The Avs are ending a three-game road trip, the Canucks are starting a five-game homestand. Vancouver curb-stomped them the last time they played to the tune of 8-2. Watch The Game Live Via Hockey Night on Y! 

Check out previews and updated scores for all of today's games on the Y! Sports NHL scores and scheds page.

Evening Reading

• Sean Avery(notes) molds and shapes young minds. [Rangers]

• Florida Panthers third-jersey cuteness via Litter Box Cats, and George Richards has an artists rendering of what we might expect from the new duds. You know, they're not bad, but we need to see the real McCoy. Not making the same mistake we did with those Thrashers thirds. [On Frozen Pond]

• The New Jersey Devils lose Dainius Zubrus(notes) for about a month with a leg injury.  [In Lou We Trust]

• Uh, it doesn't sound like Derek Dorsett(notes) is willing to let bygones by bygones with James Neal(notes). [@aportzline]

• In case you haven't heard, Adrian Dater of the Denver Post has resigned ... from Twitter. [All Things Avs, and an interesting take from Hockey Wilderness]

Puck Buddy Comment of the Day: On our Harry Truman jersey story, we have a tie between ...

Fur: "I think that jersey is going to 'bomb.'"

... and ...

James S: "Totally Enola Gay!!"

Puck Daddy: Hockey blog and history blog! The more you know ...

Bold Prediction: St. Paul native Kyle Okposo(notes) scores for the Islanders at the Wild.

Last week I talked about some of the great traditions in college hockey, and the common theme to all of it was fan interaction. College hockey has great fans but, as I alluded to, sometimes the fans can go a little too far.

Personally, I'm more than a little comfortable with profanity, and chants featuring the word [expletive], [expletive] or even [expletive] don't bother me. I get it, it's college-age kids having a good time and being vocal in support of their team at a college sporting event. If it were up to me, I'd let the kids go crazy, say whatever they want.

But the problem is that probably the biggest percentage of college hockey attendees are families. Families have little kids. Parents don't like their kids hearing sweary cursey words thrown around liberally. And if they're motivated enough, they can raise a stink and cause schools to do something like this:

"After much public discussion through e-mails surveys of our season ticket holders and communication with our students, we feel we have put together some measures that will enhance the atmosphere at our home men's hockey games," said University of North Dakota athletics director Brian Faison.

"The overriding sentiment from our fans is that they love the energy in the building, but we need to make sure the passion of all of our fans is directed in a positive fashion."

That's an awful long quote that basically says, "Hey kids, your swearing is going to start costing us money, so stop." Similarly, Minnesota-Duluth just had a crackdown on student behavior as well.

(Coming Up: An interview with UMass Minutemen blogger, Fear the Triangle; Fenway Park hockey news; and why Hobey Baker candidate Chay Genoway is out for this weekend.)

It's important to keep in mind that the NCAA is, at its core, a heartless, exploitative moneymaking operation. The only way to affect change is to affect a school's coffers. Some, like me, may not consider it especially fair but that's the way things are. And, it should be noted, a student's money simply isn't as good to a school as a family of four's money and for obvious reasons.

A few years ago, BU told its students that the use of an F-bomb in their "The Song" was unacceptable and it was replaced with the far less interesting "Rough ‘em up, rough ‘em up, BC sucks." But this was, of course, necessitated by BU students chanting "(expletive) you Boyle" at BC's Brian Boyle(notes) while the Eagles were pummeling the Terriers in the NCAA regionals for about five minutes straight.

And that, I think, is the distinction. No one will care about the occasional F-bomb as long as it's a little clever and kind of buried in a song or something. But when it's blunt, it becomes a problem for parents and thus the school and thus the students, who are no longer allowed to have what they perceive to be fun.

So if you want to swear at hockey games, start writing limericks or something. You're not going to win this fight.

(It should be noted, by the way, that most schools are not like this. For every Wisconsin and Vermont, both of which have atrocious student swearing problems that have grown so big as to be uncontrollable by school officials, there's easily five, even 10, schools where there hasn't been and will never be a problem. Most student groups do a good job of policing themselves, and those that don't stand out for exactly the reasons you'd imagine.)

Pop quiz

In which I ask a blogger for a noteworthy team five questions. This week's guest is UMass Minutemen blogger, Fear the Triangle.

1. Is James Marcou the best player ever to put on a UMass sweater?

Marcou certainly has some of the best stick-handling skills and amazing vision I've ever seen. He also has a very good shot which you don't get to see very often because he's so busy trying to set everyone else up. I think a discussion of if he's the best would have to include Greg Mauldin(notes), Jon Quick(notes) and Thomas Pock(notes). Mauldin was certainly talented and one of the better goal scorers in the conference but by being a playmaker Marcou makes everyone else around him that much better, something Mauldin probably did not. Quick is certainly the best UMass player to go between the pipes, but he only had one year as a true starter before leaving early. Pock was a game changer for the Minutemen and is still their only Hobey Baker finalist but the first couple years of his UMass career were a bit of a wash as he made the transition from forward to defenseman.

Marcou, on the other hand, came in from Day One as a freshman and made an immediate impact on this program and continues to be the centerpiece player on the team. If he stays healthy and comes back for his final season he has the chance to rewrite the UMass record books, including records dating back to the Div. 2 era that I never thought would be touched.

At this point he certainly looks to be the best from what I know of UMass hockey.

2. Is Paul Dainton the kind of goalie you trust to get your team to the NCAA tournament?

Yes. Dainton is a very solid goaltender who can be relied on to perform well every night out. The poise and consistency he offers in net I think is important for this team, especially considering that UMass is trying to develop a number of young defensemen this season. He has already surpassed his previous career high in saves twice in the past month. He probably isn't going to wow a lot of people with his play or put up mind-boggling stats but almost every game he's going to play well enough for UMass to win provided they score a reasonable amount of goals to do so. With scoring up this season for the team, that's exactly what has happened.

3. Are you at all nervous that this team still hasn't proven it can win or play consistently in the second half?

Absolutely. To say that inconsistency has plagued the Minutemen in recent years would be an understatement. Inconsistency has defined them. Recent teams have been inconsistent during the season, such as in 2007-2008 where they entered January with a No. 5 ranking only to go 5-13-1 the rest of the way out.

They've been inconsistent from game to game like last year when they followed up a 5-1 drubbing of No. 1 BU with a shutout loss to Lowell at home; and they were especially inconsistent during games last season where they seemingly would take entire periods off. Thus far inconsistency hasn't been too much of a problem. Effort has been there for the entire 60 minutes in most games and they've been able to avoid trap games like the one a couple weeks ago out at Niagara that had all the earmarks of a game last year's team likely would've dropped. Those around the team say the mindset has changed and perhaps it will lead to more consistent play. So far it looks like that may be the case.

4. What do you think the team learned from its split with UNH last weekend?

I think they learned a couple things. First off is that they've been blessed with perhaps an easy schedule to open the season and I think they now know that things are about to get tougher as their next five opponents are all ranked. Even UNH, a team that is supposedly struggling, can beat you on your home ice if you're not careful.

Secondly, I think they learned they have to adjust to different situations better. The team has lost a couple of key players, Rocco Carzo and T.J. Syner, to injury recently and as a result some of the lines have been shuffled. This seemed to create some confusion and overall the offense looked disjointed in both UNH games. They need to learn how to execute no matter who is on their wing. Poor ice conditions slowed the speed-driven team on Saturday. Coming into a stretch of games where four of five will be on the road they hopefully got the lesson that you have to find ways to execute even if conditions aren't ideal or they're taken out of their element.

5. How realistic is home ice in the Hockey East tournament for the Minutemen?

Going into the season I probably projected the Minutemen to finish a little higher than most of the pundits but even I thought it would be tough to crack home ice. My thinking was that the Big 3 of BU, BC and UNH would be joined by Lowell and maybe Vermont and pull away from the rest of the pack early. Well, Lowell has certainly played as well as expected but the rest of Hockey East looks like a complete free for all. I think as long as BU continues to suffer from the injury bug, BC's talented freshmen are slow to develop, and UNH struggles with Brian Foster in net that the door is open for other teams to hang around those third, fourth, and fifth spots all the way up until March.

Whether UMass would be one of those teams instead of a Vermont, Maine, or dare I say Merrimack, it's probably too early to tell.

Extra credit

• Both the UNH/Northeastern women's game and the BC/BU men's game at Fenway on Jan. 8 will be televised by NESN. [HEOnline]

• No real shock here, but North Dakota's star defenseman and Hobey Baker candidate Chay Genoway is out for this weekend against Denver after the brutal hit from behind St. Cloud's Aaron Marvin laid on him last Friday. [Goon's World]

• More info on that Marvin hit, including how the officials kicked the wrong guy out of the game and then, after he had already showered, told him he could come back and play. Marvin, meanwhile, killed some of the penalty he committed. True story. Not a good week to be a ref that has to make an important decision. [St. Cloud Times]

• A poorly-timed profile of BC's John Muse (2.85 GAA, .885 save percentage) getting back on track. [NHL.com]

• Michigan: Still bad somehow. [The Blog that Yost Built]

• After getting about a hundred lucky breaks, bounces and calls last season, BU's really paying for it this year. Chris Connolly, who had four points last weekend, separated his shoulder in practice Thursday, becoming the (I think) seventh regular contributor to miss at least a weekend. Meanwhile defenseman David Warsofsky practices at forward. [Boston Hockey Blog]

• Minnesota's Sam Lofquist has bolted for the OHL. [College Hockey News]

(Hey guys, I'm always looking for links here. If you have a college hockey post on your blog, please send it along to the address below.)

Ryan Lambert writes about college hockey weekly here at Puck Daddy. You can e-mail him here or follow him on Twitter. Lead photo from Tacky Julie on Flickr.

Here's the hit and a TSN roundtable about the hit.

Bob McKenzie, as Bob McKenzie does, nails it: The "optics" of the hit make this a slam-dunk suspension, according to the NHL Wheel of Discipline. High hit to the back of the head, sandwiching Dorsett's noggin against the glass, and then the Blue Jackets player flopping to the ice like a marionette with his strings cut.

Anyone that's been following Colin Campbell's thought process on these things had to know something was coming Neal's way.

Was it malicious? Neal said he had no intent to injure. One can argue he was coming in to split the defenders and not even to hit Dorsett, and that's the argument made by Brandon Worley on Defending Big D. Without the injury, it's a fine and a game misconduct; with the injury, it's a 2-game example made by the NHL.

Worley and Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News both make the point that this is Neal's first disciplinary incident in his two NHL seasons, and Heika thinks the suspension is bad news because of that fact:

He is a player at age 22 who now has a record, and we have seen that the league treats players who have records differently than others. "Repeat offender" will be on his resume for any future hits.

Too true, and the NHL has shown us suspension after suspension that once you're on the Wheel of Discipline, it's not easy to climb off. At least according to the flow chart.

There's a never-ending supply of pure comedic gold when minor league sports teams develop jerseys for special promotional nights. As we saw recently with the Bakersfield Condors of the ECHL and their Michael Jackson-inspired jerseys for "King of Pop Night", the limits on the ridiculousness of how a jersey is presented knows no bounds.

The latest minor league hockey team to show off their fashionista skills will be the Missouri Mavericks of the Central Hockey League this Friday as they host the Tulsa Oilers. For "Truman Night," which will benefit the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, the Mavericks will wear these ridiculously ridiculous jerseys honoring the 33rd President of the United States:

While patriotic indeed, the floating head of the man who was thought to have lost to Thomas Dewey front and center is both eerie and inspirational at the same.

After the game, the jerseys will be auctioned off for fans in attendance and lucky winners will get a photo with the player whose jersey they won.

Stick tap to Jason Cohen of Zamboni Rodeo for the find.

• The Ari Gold Jersey Foul? Llllllllloyd! At least now he'll have something to wear when E rocks his Tavares jersey. [NHL]

• In Year 2 of a four-year contract and being the coach of Brian Burke's U.S. Olympic hockey team, Toronto Maple Leafs Coach Ron Wilson could be spared the axe despite presiding over the biggest disaster in the NHL this season; and, after last night's loss, the worst team in the League. [Sportsnet]

• The Vancouver Canucks are the latest team to fight allegations that they jumped the line for H1N1 vaccine. No word if they attempted to pass Kyle Wellwood(notes) off as pregnant to do so. [Fox Sports]

• Making the case for Ryan Wilson(notes) of the Colorado Avalanche to be suspended for his hit on Ethan Moreau(notes) of the Edmonton Oilers. The "driving upward into the hit" argument is a pretty good one. [Jibblescribbits]

• Meanwhile, James Neal's(notes) hit on Derek Dorsett(notes) of the Columbus Blue Jackets last night (hearing at noon EST) may earn the Dallas Stars winger a suspension; Brandon suggests it has everything to do with bad timing and the current media climate. [Defending Big D]

• How nice of Marty Havlat to wait until after his free-agent contract to begin getting injured again. [@russostrib]

• A rather mind-blowing blog about UFC replacing the NHL in some pubs on a Saturday night in Canada, and whether that speaks to the "de-masculinizing and feminizing" of hockey. Mike Milbury already has this article memorized. [Vancouver Observer]

• Really quality piece by Stu Hackel on Twitter and sports journalism today, looking at the Alan Walsh/Montreal Canadiens dust-up and the recent Dion Phaneuf(notes) screaming match tweet controversy. [Slap Shot]

• The Phoenix Coyotes lost $5 million in October alone, but the Globe & Mail offers some really fun financial news later in this story: "The court filings also revealed that the club had some unusual expenditures in October. It spent $3,500 on Hockey Hall of Fame 'induction tickets', $970 on the Boy Scouts of America 'scout night patches', and $332.67 on 'tattoos' from California Tattoos Inc. New head coach Dave Tippett, who took over after Wayne Gretzky quit, received $31,000 in October." Tattoos? [G&M]

• Looking at a potential Anaheim Ducks sell-off, and wondering if James Wisniewski(notes) and Joffrey Lupul(notes) will be part of the shopping spree. [Anaheim Calling]

• Really interesting editorial in the Ottawa Citizen about girls hockey, and it's current growth in Canada: "A new policy is expected to take effect next year that would reserve prime ice time for minor hockey and allocate it based on registration, not history. That means girls' associations would have equal access to that limited ice time, something that -- more than a century after the first women's game was played in this city -- is long overdue." [Ottawa Citizen]

• Why did Nikita Filatov(notes) go to Russia? Why, obviously as Ken Hitchcock's secret Trojan horse to shed more salary cap space, of course. [MYFO]

• A plethora of interesting numbers at the quarter pole for the NHL. [NHL.com]

• Can softer shoulder pads cut down on concussion-like injuries in the NHL? [Dreger]

• The notion of Finland as an Olympic dark horse is an interesting one. Miikka Kiprusoff(notes), Niklas Backstrom(notes) and Antero Niittymaki(notes) in a tournament format ... hmmmmm. [THN]

• "Cyclone spin kick. That's how we do this [expletive] in Sweden, yo." [Getty]

• For the first time, the Philadelphia Flyers and Philadelphia Sixers are teaming up on a ticket deal in which you get two tickets for each team for $100. (Note: When we visited Philly.com for the story, an auto-play ad for Tampax Pearl started blaring. Adjust speakers accordingly.) [Philly.com]

• Stephen Pepper looks at the various reclamation projects for the Washington Capitals while introducing the poetic headline: "Finding That Dahlen In the Rough." [Japers Rink]

• Inside the numbers for why the Ottawa Senators are seeing empty seats in their arena this season. [Off The Posts]

• Uh, awesome: Milwaukee- Milwaukee Admirals President Jon Greenberg announced today that the Dropkick Murphys will perform in a post-game concert, courtesy of Time Warner Cable and Miller Lite, on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010 following the team's 7:30 p.m. game versus the Chicago Wolves. [Admirals]

• Try as they might, the New Jersey Devils couldn't steal another point in the shootout against Nashville. [Fire & Ice]

• Shean Donovan(notes) may have suffered a season-ending injury for the Sens. [Sportsnet]

• Maxim Afinogenov(notes) has 17 points in 17 games for the Atlanta Thrashers. Buffalo just threw up a little. [Bird Watchers Anonymous]

• Did you know David Booth's(notes) offensive is ice cold right now? You know, what with him being concussed and not playing for the Panthers? Boy, that sure makes him streaky. (Kukla nails another one.) [KK]

• Finally, Erik Cole(notes) and Ian White(notes) both had fairly eventful nights for the Carolina Hurricanes and Toronto Maple Leafs; check out this wicked hip check and a fight:

Of course, Cole and the Canes eventually had the last laugh. Well, those two and the officials.

If were to make an all-injured player all-star team, it's probably Daniel Sedin(notes), Eric Staal(notes) and Marian Hossa(notes) up front; Andrei Markov(notes) and Rob Blake(notes) on the blue line; and Cam Ward(notes) between the pipes. Which is to say that there are some pretty damn good players watching the game form the press box right now (though Hossa and Sedin are nearly back).

This infirmary-on-skates was a topic for both the Globe & Mail and the Sun this morning, as the NHL reaches the quarter pole; with Mike Zeisberger of the latter publication writing that the injuries have a devastating effect on the League's marketing:

For a league thirsting for star power, the assembly line of sidelined marquee performers truly is a punch right in the NHL's P.R. gut. That's especially true south of the border, where, in the absence of a true national television contract (sorry, Versus, but you are no ESPN), big names are crucial in the wooing of fans.

There's no question that the NHL's marketing focus has been star-centric ever since Gary Bettman came over from the NBA, where the name on the back of the uniform might as well be on the front, too.

That's why the NHL flopped and flailed in its promotion of the game during the trap years: How does one market stars when their talent is literally being held back? That's why the NHL has found its stride after the lockout, as the new rules have opened up the offense; players like Sidney Crosby(notes), Evgeni Malkin(notes) and Alex Ovechkin(notes) have become marketable stars; and the shootout provides SportsCenter-ready highlights in games that would otherwise end in a tie. (Though as Puck Buddy Walt wrote over email today: Take the helmets off already.)

So Zeisberger is correct that big names are "crucial in the wooing of fans" because the NHL has set it its marketing up to be that way. But it's that "especially true south of the border" part that we're wondering about: Do star players make a difference in the NHL's popularity in the U.S.? Or is it still about the logo on the front?

One of the reasons Zeisberger's line raised our interest was that it harkened back to something Stu Siegel, new majority co-owner of the Florida Panthers, told us in an interview this week when asked about the impact of star players in "non-traditional" U.S. markets. In this case, we were talking specifically about Ilya Kovalchuk(notes) with the Atlanta Thrashers:

That one superstar, arguably one of the top 10 players in the League. And the market doesn't know who he is, or they're not marketing him properly.

There are few extremely marketable players in the League: Crosby, Ovechkin ... there aren't that many. People look at us and say we don't have any stars on our team. I would argue, "What makes a star?"

Siegel went on to say that David Booth(notes), the injured forward for the Panthers, "is a star or pretty close to that" on a local level for the team. That said: Will the fans who do attend Panthers games not go, or not watch on television, if Booth is out?

Like Siegel said: The players that can have that affect on gate in the U.S. are rare. Crosby is one. Ovechkin is another. On a local level, the absence of Martin Brodeur(notes) from a particular Devils game probably affects the walk-up gate. Are there others locally that do the same?

For television, U.S. fans will make time for Ovechkin or Crosby or Malkin; the Versus ratings back that up. But is, say, Rick Nash's(notes) participation in the Blue Jackets game going to determine whether you watch it or not, as a fan inside or outside of Columbus?

If there aren't a great number of players that swing attendance and/or viewership one way or another, what does? We'd argue that the franchise brands carry more weight with fans than anything else. The Detroit Red Wings coming to town, for example, is a big deal in a U.S. market, and not for any particular player.

Where these theories collide is for teams like the San Jose Sharks and the Chicago Blackhawks, who are winning and entertaining teams with more than a few "name" players. Are we paying, and paying attention, as U.S. fans because of their place in the standings or because of names like Thornton, Heatley, Kane and Toews (and soon, Hossa)?

If Zeisberger is correct, then the NHL does need to work harder to make this generation of stars viable. It needs to be "Steven Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning" coming to down, or "Rick Nash and the Columbus Blue Jackets"; we're not sure the marketing is there yet for casual hockey fans in the U.S.

If Zeisberger is off-base about what "star power" means in U.S. markets, then is the NHL better off marketing teams rather than players?

(UPDATE 8:07 p.m. EST: Pro skater and Ducks blogger Mike V has been arrested for his part in the fight.)

Anaheim Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer(notes) was named the first star of the night after his game-winning, power-play goal in overtime against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. To celebrate with the home crowd, he skated out and attempted to toss his stick to a girl in the front rows near the glass.

That was until some man-mountain reached and grabbed the stick, a vigilante in a plaid shirt butt-ended him with it, and fists started flying between a few fans in the chaos -- all while under the Honda Center spotlights.

As you'll see, Niedermayer and the Fox Sports reporter couldn't exactly avoid the topic after this disturbing scene, making for one awkward opening exchange in their interview:

(Apologies for the taped-from-TV quality, but this clip really captures the fight. A clearer feed can be viewed on YouTube here.)

Before Niedermayer skates away, you can see him having a chat through the glass with a woman holding the stick, perhaps to indentify the intended recipient. Hopefully it's that blonde who starts punching with one hand while holding her beer with the other. That's a hockey fan.

To the surprise of no one, Fox Sports edited out the beginning of the interview in the postgame clip it released.

After seeing this clip, we're sad to see a nice gesture from a star player transform the lower bowl into a battle royal; we're hopeful that no one was injured and that the proper parties have been punished; and we're rather happy that ice hockey isn't played with axes or chainsaws.  

Huselius used special teams to his advantage in Columbus' 4-1 win over Dallas. His shorthanded goal with one second left in the first period and power-play tally midway through the second sunk the Stars. He helped open the scoring by assisting on Rick Nash's(notes) 14th goal of the season in the first. Steve Mason(notes) made 25 saves as the Blue Jackets extended their winning streak to three and have now won five of their last six.

No. 2 star, Chris Phillips(notes), Ottawa Senators

It was a memorable 800th career NHL game for the long-time Senators defenseman. Two goals in 2:03 in the third period were enough to chase Marc-Andre Fleury(notes) in a 6-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Heading into tonight Phillips had scored just once in 18 games. It was a confidence-boosting win for the Sens who will play tough conference games in the next week against Buffalo, Washington, New Jersey, and Boston.

No. 3 star, Cristobal Huet(notes), Chicago Blackhawks

The surging Blackhawks put forth a strong effort against Calgary in a 7-1 rout of the Flames. Huet stopped 27 shots for his 10th win of the season and fifth in a row. Chicago's win in Calgary was the first game of a six-game western road trip. His performance tonight against the Flames was a measure of revenge for Huet after Calgary chased him early in their first meeting of the season back October 13th. The Blackhawks would come back from a 5-0 first period deficit to win 6-5 in overtime.

Honorable mention: Congrats to Atlanta's Nik Antropov(notes) who finally scored his first goal of the season after spending the first month and a half collecting 16 assists ... Michael Ryder's(notes) pair along with Patrice Bergeron's(notes) shootout winner were enough for the Bruins to top the Thrashers. In the loss, Ilya Kovalchuk(notes) and the resurgent Maxim Afinogenov(notes) combined for five points which gives them 19 points together in Atlanta's last three games ... Tuukka Rask(notes) stopped three Thrasher shootout attempts to secure the victory ... The Blackhawks went 3-for-5 on the power-play with Kris Versteeg(notes) popping in two of them in Chicago's win over the Flames ... Pascal Leclaire's(notes) 25 saves, Mike Fisher's(notes) three helpers and Milan Michalek's(notes) 100th career NHL goal helped pile on the Penguins ... Who would have thought that two of the worst teams in the NHL at the moment would have provided us with such an entertaining hockey game? Carolina's 6-5 triumph saw five goals in the third period, including two in the final 30 seconds as Toronto blew an early 3-0 lead. Tim Gleason's(notes) two goals and Tuomo Ruutu's(notes) four assists were part of a wild affair in Raleigh. Ian White(notes) had a busy evening (more on that tomorrow) as his goal with half a minute left in the game gave the Maple Leafs a 5-4 lead until Erik Cole's(notes) response with three seconds remaining sent things to overtime. White also sent Cole flying early in the third period with a beauty of a hip check ... Road warriors no more, the New Jersey Devils lost their second straight away from home in a 3-2 shootout loss to Nashville. Martin Brodeur(notes) and Pekka Rinne(notes) both made 26 saves while Zach Parise(notes) and Jason Arnott(notes) each scored twice ... Ryan Getzlaf(notes) and Teemu Selanne(notes) each contributed a goal and two assists in Anaheim's 4-3 win over Tampa Bay. Corey Perry(notes) extended his points streak to 13 games. ... Scott Niedermayer(notes) and Erik Johnson(notes) were overtime heroes tonight in victories by the Ducks and St. Louis Blues. Johnson's end-to-end effort for St. Louis gave the Blues a 3-2 win over Phoenix ... Steven Stamkos'(notes) acrobatic display won goal of the night honors:

Did you know?: Chicago head coach Joel Quennville is now tied with Glen Sather on the all-time NHL wins list with 496.

Dishonorable mention: Marc-Andre Fleury was not at his best tonight as he allowed five goals against the Ottawa Senators after they opened the floodgates in the third period in their 6-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins ...  After tying things at one early in the second period, the Calgary Flames proceeded to allow six straight Chicago. Miikka Kiprusoff(notes) was pulled before the third period after allowing six goals in 24 shots ... Columbus and Dallas combined for 57 first period penalty minutes including unsportsmanlike calls against Steve Mason and Marty Turco(notes) when the two almost got into a tussle. The lasting moment from the game will be James Neal's(notes) hit on Derek Dorsett(notes) and the frightening way the young winger fell to the ice. Neal will have a phone hearing with the NHL in the morning:

Leafs blog Pension Plan Puppets saw:

- Hagman getting tackled and no penalty being called despite the ref standing two feet away
- The ref watching the puck trickle into the net
- The ref checking his watch
- The ref looking at the dueling banjos in the crowd
- The ref blowing the whistle

This one obviously isn't as egregious an officiating error as the one in the Wings/Dallas Stars game, but it's just as farcical. The whistle blows with the puck well over the goal line, and the referee Ian Walsh is looking at the pile instead of the goal when he blows it (or intends to in his mind). Pretty easy to lose sight of the puck when you're not looking for it in the back of the net, right? 

So this is twice in two nights, and according to NHL VP Mike Murphy it's about a half-dozen of these "Intent To Blow" incidents since the start of the season. Murphy said the NHL will look into the "procedures" for correcting an ill-advised stoppage of play by a referee, and let's hope they do.

If the teams play to the whistle, this is a goal for the Leafs. If the War Room was allowed to overturn the ref's call on the ice in this situation, it might have been a goal, too. (And not just because the War Room is in Toronto. Although it'd probably help. Now, where did I put my tin-foil hat again?)

Preview: Boston Bruins at Atlanta Thrashers, 7 p.m. EST. The Thrashers have won four in a row, and Johan Hedberg(notes) started three of them. But with the Moose scheduled for a Saturday start against the Penguins, it's Ondrej Pavelec(notes) tonight against the visiting Bruins. As for the B's, Milan Lucic(notes) is expected back but Tim Thomas sits with an injury. Marc Savard(notes), by the way, is inching forever closer to that contract extension. Watch The Game Live Via Hockey Night on Y!

Preview: Chicago Blackhawks at Calgary Flames, 9:30 p.m. EST. It's circus-trip time for the Blackhawks, with six road games in 10 days. The Flames have dropped five in a row to the 'Hawks, including that NHL record comeback in October. Oh, and it's Patrick Kane's(notes) 21st birthday, even though he's in a place where he could have legally gotten 'faced at 18. Sigh ... what to get for the man who has everything? Ah, yes: That's it. -- Watch The Game Live Via Hockey Night on Y!

Preview: Toronto Maple Leafs at Carolina Hurricanes, 7 p.m. EST: The two Eastern Conference power outages meet for the second time in less than two weeks. Know what would make this game a hell of a lot more interesting? The threat of relegation. 

Check out previews and updated scores for all of today's games on the Y! Sports NHL scores and scheds page.

Evening Reading

• Oh the Ducks, they are a-changin': 15 NHL scouts were given credentials for the Anaheim Ducks game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. [LA Times]

• Center Erik Christensen(notes) has been loaned to the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League for conditioning purposes. [Ducks]

• Lil' Herb Brooks update. [Sportress]

• More about the Detroit Red Wings and "intent to blow" rule: "LaRue -- with an opportunity to see or be told that no save occurred in the first place -- overrules everything by claiming that what he imagined to have happened initially holds greater power than what actually happened." [Triple Deke]

• Mike Chen has a bit of a different take on the rule and the controversy. [Chen]

• Ottawa Senators winger Alexei Kovalev will play against the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight before "heading to Russia on Friday because of the death of his wife's mother." [TSN]

• Should the Los Angeles Kings be concerned with Jonathan Quick? [BoC]

• Chris Drury(notes) is slowly coming back for the New York Rangers, while Ales Kotalik(notes) is taking over Enver Lisin's(notes) spot on the Marian Gaborik(notes) line. [Daily News]

• Great piece on Olli Jokinen(notes), the "No. 1 centre" who has "count 'em up: that's 4 goals in the past 38 games." Wow. [Battle of Alberta]

• NOT HOCKEY: Roger Ebert reviews "New Moon." As in, "sitting through this experience is like driving a pickup in low gear though a sullen sea of Brylcreem." [Ebert]

Puck Buddy Comment of the Day: We're not going to do a specific comment today; just read all of the folks who took the time to mention their own favorite games of the last decade; we're kicking ourselves for not finding a place for the 5-OT game between Albany and Philadelphia in the AHL.

Bold Prediction: We will receive at least three more pieces of hate mail for that Tin Foil Hat Society comment last night before midnight EST.

That's the beauty of fantasy hockey --  throwing darts can often bring you better results than hours of studying statistics and depth charts.

Of course, I speak to last week's recommendation of considering Andrew Ebbett(notes) (since scratched) and dropping Matt Stajan(notes) (now back on Phil Kessel's(notes) line and doing just fine, thank you) and Radim Vrbata(notes) (let's not go there either). It's enough to drive a man to drink.  As Homer found out (to his dismay) in an early Simpsons episode spoofing fantasy sports -- "when you're right 52 percent of the time, you're wrong 48 percent of the time."

I strive for that 52 percent. With everything in life.

Injury replacement of the week: Andrei Kostitsyn(notes), Montreal Canadiens

Brian Gionta(notes) has a fractured bone in his left foot and the slumping A.K. has already scored a goal in his absence. Kostitsyn has had a hell of a time with things since early spring and fantasy owners have been jumping ship faster than figureheads at the NHLPA.

Are you drunk?

It's Thursday. You know the answer to that already. If there is ever a moment that you should show interest this season in the elder Kostitsyn, it is right now. Granted, six points in 21 games is as impressive as a Gary Bettman press conference, but he's a talented kid who will now get another chance to be a go-to guy.

The Keepers who are on fire...

Niklas Kronwall(notes), Detroit Red Wings: Kronwall's been improving his statistics every year and he has also proven (last season) that he can stay healthy for the full slate of games. He has seven points in his last four contests and has shown in the past that his hot streaks can go for as long as 25 games.

Brad Boyes(notes), St. Louis Blues: He'd been about as effective in the first six weeks as the Coyotes' PR department was back in July. Nothing gets fantasy owners back on a player's bandwagon faster than a four-point game, which Boyes had on the 10th. Sure, he may take a step back this year, but that step won't take him below the 60-point mark. The Blues' offense won't remain this horrible forever.

Steve Sullivan(notes), Nashville Predators:  Something clicks with Sully. You don't know when it will happen, but when it does it's pretty sweet. He has scored three goals in his last two games, which tops his total from the first 17 games. That sound you heard was "click". Now watch him go.

Bobby Ryan(notes), Anaheim Ducks:  There were a lot of poolies panicking over this guy. They couldn't understand how he could post nearly a point-per-game as a rookie and then stumble out of the gates with two points in nine games. Relax. He's not going to finish with a point-per-game as a sophomore and that thought should never have teased you in the first place. He's also not going to get 20 points - no "jinx" is that bad (unless he gets hurt, but I won't go there -- it may curse him). He'll finish in that 62-67 range. His 11 points in the last 10 games are just one of several hot runs he will have in 2009-10.

The Sleepers who are on the wire...

Frans Nielsen(notes), New York Islanders: The 25-year-old Dane has given the Isles some more secondary scoring. You'll never mistake him for Bryan Trottier, but Nielsen does have a bit of upside. He should set a career high of 40 or 45 points come April. Seeing as he has eight of his points (and plus-6) in the last 10 games, he's a good short-term option in a lot of fantasy formats

Anton Stralman(notes), Columbus Blue Jackets: Tons of potential, he just needs to be used properly.  And Ken Hitchcock is world renowned for using his young players properly, right Nikita? Actually, in Stralman's case, Hitch is doing a good job. He has 11 points in his last 15 games and eight of those points have come on the power play. Unless Stralman shows up at the rink wearing a Filatov mask, he'll continue to get the ice time and as such should be a lock for 42-plus points.

Brian Pothier(notes), Washington Capitals:  This is just a short-term suggestion, as Pothier has teased us before. Following up a 35-point season in Ottawa to go to a budding offensive powerhouse in Washington back when they didn't have another option for a quarterback ... and then stumbling to 28 points was as big a letdown as "Transformers 2." But he does have six points in his last six games and they came on the heels of a healthy scratch - which sometimes gives a player the kick in the ass they need.

Jimmy Howard(notes), Detroit Red Wings: Chris Osgood(notes) is hurt and Howard is getting all of the starts. More importantly - he's winning them. He is 3-1 in his last four and sports a 0.903 SP in that span. Not the greatest, but good enough to earn Mike Babcock's confidence. Goalies are always hard to get via the wire in roto leagues, so from that standpoint Howard is a great short-term option.

In a slump, these boys are mired...

Jason Spezza(notes), Ottawa Senators:  It's amazing how many clowns there are out there. The dummies who will jump on anyone for still having faith that Spezza can be a 100-point player, and they believe that without Dany Heatley(notes) he'll be lucky to get even 80 again. Both the peanut butter and the jam can be very good on their own, folks. He's only 26 and we haven't seen anywhere near the season that will be his career best yet. It won't be this year, obviously, but just remember that Vincent Lecavalier(notes) had a disappointing 75 points at the age of 26 - before exploding for 108 the next year. Ride it out.

Mikhail Grabovski(notes), Toronto Maple Leafs: It's another one of Grabby's cold streaks and when the Phil Kessel line is the only line scoring, it will probably be a couple of weeks before he gets back into the swing of things. Frustrating to own. Bench him.

Sergei Samsonov(notes), Carolina Hurricanes: The talent is there -- just watch him with the puck. But for whatever reason (perhaps his wrist never fully healed from back in 2003), he's not beating the goaltender and neither are the players that he dishes to. His ice time is dropping faster than your jaw did when I said Spezza will be a 100-point player. Drop him.

Joffrey Lupul(notes), Anaheim Ducks: One point in eight games makes a great-looking season look very bad in an awful hurry. Teemu Selanne(notes) gets in his last gasp of mediocre-to-decent numbers while Lupul, the understudy, waits in the wings. The two are often linemates, but they don't mesh at all - six of his nine points have come while playing on the top line with Corey Perry(notes) and Ryan Getzlaf(notes) even though he played twice as many shifts on the Selanne line. Next year he'll hit his prime and I still think he'll be a 70-point player.  Bench him.

Darryl Dobbs is the founder of dobberhockey.com, a fantasy hockey community with over a dozen columnists, a daily blog and in-depth fantasy player rankings. His always accurate opinions can also be found over at The Hockey News in their fantasy section.

Mike Murphy(notes), the NHL's Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations, appeared on the NHL Live! radio program today to explain referee how the League let stand Dennis LaRue's epically awful call that robbed the Detroit Red Wings of a goal last night.

From NHL.com write Dan Rosen's transcript of the interview:

"In this particular case what happened is we (in the League's video replay room in Toronto) see the puck in the net and call the video goal judge and say, 'Blow the horn and get the referee over here. We see a puck in the net that hasn't been ruled a goal,' " Murphy said. "At that point the referee comes over and we have a discussion. They came to us and said, 'My intent to blow the whistle was there, I have this play dead before the puck crosses the goal line,' No more needs to be said. Once we hear that, video review is out of the process. It's a call made on the ice and it's a non-reviewable call. It's a whistle blown by the referee and it was blown or the intent to blow it was before the puck crossed the goal line."

Murphy's defending the indefensible here, which is why he gently placed LaRue under the bus today when he later said, "In all cases we want to get the right call. In this case it appears we didn't."

But the more the NHL explains it, the less this is LaRue's fiasco; the League's own ineffective fail-safes against these sorts of blown calls are the reason it looks like a second-rate operation in this debacle.

It's the NHL's fault for removing human beings from in back of the net in favor of technology. Had there been a goal judge in back of the Dallas goal, that red light is flashing before LaRue intends to blow anything. But the NHL felt it didn't need an old man in a blazer to do what cameras could do "better," and the owners felt those extra dollars in lower-bowl tickets were worth ending the decades-old tradition.

But it's also the NHL's fault for not trusting its technology more than human beings -- in this case, their referees.

The play again:

Why do we have video reviews? Because human error happens, whether it's due to speed or poor positioning or an error in judgment. All three of these things occurred on LaRue's folly, yet the NHL considers "intent to blow" a non-reviewable call. Why? Murphy attempted to explain it today on the radio, via Rosen:

"In some cases when you have video review people expect perfection and that's never the case. There are times when we don't want video review to intercede. We don't want video review refereeing a game."

Murphy later did one of those "if we review this, when what about that!" arguments, wondering if video reviews for hooking or slashing are next, which is a preposterous straw-man argument. No one wants that; this mess is different. 

This review is really no different than one that determines if a puck crossed the line on a bang-bang play. It doesn't matter that Dennis LaRue intended the play to be whistled dead because the puck was already over the goal-line when he intended the play to be over.

(Murphy said "the feeling was the save was made and then the puck trickled in"; did LaRue even know it went in? It's something, you know, kind of mandatory for professional referees. There's no scramble in front, no need to protect Dallas Stars goalie Alex Auld(notes) -- even it's a ridiculously quick whistle, there's no way the play "ended" before the puck crossed the line.)

The good news is that the NHL understands this. As Murphy said, this is now three or four times this kind of thing has happened this season, and he wonders if there's going to be a "procedure change" at some point to address it.

Does that mean a chip in the puck to indicate that it crosses the goal line? Maybe one day.

For now, let's just make the logical, palpable change: Allow the War Room in Toronto to overturn obvious blown calls like this; or get rid of the "intent to blow" miscarriages of justice and simply play to the sound of the whistle, rather than the thought of it.

Which is, you know, what they do in pee-wee hockey.

• Why Team Russia should be considered the favorite heading into the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. On a somewhat related note, the Kurtenbloggers said during our radio interview last night that they would trade Team Canada's goaltending for Team USA's. We're in negotiations with the Obama administration and the Canadian consulate to make that happen (suckers!). [THN]

• Close to 14,000 fans overwhelmed security and police as Sidney Crosby(notes) carried the Olympic torch last night in Halifax. No word if Crosby got so caught up in the euphoria of the moment that he forgot to accept the torch being passed by another competitor, as is his tradition. [Halifax News Net]

• Update on ye olde Marc Savard(notes) contract negotiations: Contrary to "an Internet report," the signing isn't imminent and the total payout may not hit $39 million. That said, Dupont doesn't dispute the seven-year term. [Boston Globe]

• An anonymous NHL executive tells the Ottawa Sun that the less-than-capacity crowd for the Battle of Ontario against the Toronto Maple Leafs has "got to be most disturbing for ownership" of the Ottawa Senators. Still averaging 18,151 fans a game in a building that seats 19,153; in other words, around half the teams in the U.S. wish they had these problems. [Sun Media]

• Speaking of the Leafs, the big news today was that they've been unable "to lease an unspecified number of the facility's 152 luxury suites" at Air Canada Centre this season, leaving some to wonder if fans have grown weary of the pitiful product. Again, to clarify: The inability to sell out 152 luxury suites and having average attendance at 1,102 fans less than 19,000 capacity are what passes for attendance problems in Canada during this economy. [Globe & Mail]

• Elisha Cuthbert will be the grand marshal of the Grey Cup parade in Calgary. Wonder who the first choice was ... [Sportress of Blogitude]

• Another quarter-pole look at the Hart Trophy candidates, another complete whiff on including any goaltenders. Not to hate on a much-hated guy 'round here, but can someone please tell me what Chris Pronger(notes) has done in bringing the Philadelphia Flyers to 25 points in 18 games that Ryan Miller(notes) hasn't done in bringing the Buffalo Sabres to 25 points in 18 games, from an impact and leadership perspective? [NHL]

• Not exactly happy times for the Minnesota Wild, via Michael Russo: "Lectures from Richards, smashing sticks against glass, Brodziak chopped stick in half, Koivu threw stick four rows deep." Meanwhile, in New Jersey, the Devils just purchased Jacques Lemaire new slipper socks and sang "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow!" [@russostrib]

• Looking that the NHL teams gaining or losing steam since the opening 10 of the season. That Buffalo Sabres number is an interesting one. [Hockey or Die!]

• Setting the odds for the Chicago Blackhawks' trade bait in order to fit everyone under the cap upon re-signing Kane, Toews and Keith. Dustin Byfuglien's(notes) odds might be a little long; ditto Cam Barker(notes). And are we to assume Kris Versteeg(notes) is off the table? [FanHouse]

• Having finished reenacting the Jeff Daniels bathroom scene from "Dumb and Dumber," Milan Lucic(notes) is en route to Atlanta for the Boston Bruins game against the Thrashers. [Bruins Blog]

• Max Talbot(notes) and Sergei Gonchar(notes) are expected back for the Pittsburgh Penguins, which should offset the 10 other injuries they'll suffer before faceoff tonight. It's been that sort of week. [Post Gazette]

• A Peter Budaj(notes) backer admits that he needs to be better for the Colorado Avalanche, even as a backup. [Jibblescribbits]

• Vince Vaughn waits for someone to make someone else's head bleed during the Flyers/Kings game last night. [NHL]

• The Dallas Stars place left wing Fabian Brunnstrom(notes) on injured reserve with a shoulder injury, retroactive to Nov. 7. [Stars]

• The Washington Capitals recall 19-year-old blue-chip defenseman John Carlson(notes) from the AHL. [Capitals]

• The graphic on this Hurricanes/Leafs preview makes us laugh and gives us vertigo. [Sportsnet]

• Good stuff from Dirk Hoag about a potentially pivotal moment in international hockey: Russia's Kontinental Hockey League getting ready to admit its first Swedish club, Stockholm's AIK. As one blogger points out, Stockholm may be a more appealing destination for NHL players who wish to play in the KHL than some of the other locales. [On The Forecheck]

• DetroitHockey.net with a good look at the Wings getting jobbed last night by the ref; it declares: "This is the kind of play that gives credence to conspiracy theories." [DetroitHockey.net]

• In case you haven't see it, The Chief at Abel To Yzerman has decided that calling a segment of the Detroit Red Wings fan base "the tin-foil hat society" is, in fact, having a deeply-held bias against the Detroit Red Wings themselves. Which is, naturally, what the readership he's built on a foundation of indignation wants to hear. [A2Y]

• And because of this unpleasantness with outraged Wings fans, we're now providing fodder for the Hatfields against the McCoys. [Mile High Hockey]

• We wish Second City Hockey would tell us how they really feel about press coverage of Chicago Blackhawks President John McDonough in local media.. [SCH]

• Bettman bashers: Bloge Salming has a video for you. Some people just like to watch the world burn. Very strong language warning. [Bloge Salming]

Finally, Puck Buddy Evan M. sent over the note:

Saturday you wrote an article about a no goal called in the Leafs game, where the puck crossed the line but the goal was called off because the video wasn't conclusive. Pretty funny because the exact same thing happened to the Sharks in their game Sunday vs. the Blackhawks. Puck crossed, goal called off. And, they both happened vs. Chicago.

Take a gander; it's not clear cut, but it speaks to the need of something more than the instant replay we have no to clearly determine whether the puck was in or out. Last night's debacle in Detroit being the most egregious case.

 

(No, the first decade of the 21st century doesn't technically end until 2011. Save your bellyaching. But we've had nine NHL seasons and one stolen from us since 1999-2000, and Yahoo! Sports has decided it's time to rank the best and worst of the last "decade." Enjoy, and snark freely in the comments.)

You're going to disagree with this list.

It's not a prediction; it's a fact. Think about how many regular season, playoff, international, college, minor league and junior league games have been played in the last 10 years. Think about how many times you walked out of an arena during some random battle between two teams thinking, "That's the best hockey game I've ever seen." Think about the build-up, the storylines, the hype before now-classic (or, at the very least, near-classic) games, and how those contests lived up to them.

The 10 games we've selected here came from editorial debates, chats with fellow fans, some polling of the Twitter puckheads and our own recollections of classic games. We're confident they're all among the best for various reasons: Sometimes because of their context or legacy, and sometimes because they were just fantastically entertaining hockey games.

We imagine the comments will be filled with additions and suggestions, and that's how it should be with this list. Other rankings can be solidified statistically or through other analytical means; this one is a bit more subjective. We all have different frames of reference and criteria for great games; try telling a Team Canada fan that the Swedish gold medal above was a more rewarding game than the Canadians' in 2002.

With that, our 10 best games of the last decade are ...

10. Lightning thwart Calgary's Cup clincher (Stanley Cup Final; June 5, 2004)

Before 2004, the last time a team rallied from a 3-2 deficit in the Stanley Cup Finals was the Colorado Avalanche in 2001, when they finally gave Ray Bourque a ring and defeated the New Jersey Devils.

Before Game 6 in 2004, Bourque famously reached out to the Tampa Bay Lightning with advice on how to extend their series with the Calgary Flames, who held a 3-2 lead and had a chance to win the Cup on Canadian soil in Game 6.

Whatever he said, it worked, as the Bolts won on a Marty St. Louis goal in double overtime, 3-2, and eventually won the Cup in Game 7 at home. The teams traded scores in a four-goal second period; in the third, Martin Gelinas's "phantom goal" will forever live in playoff infamy. That controversy aside, it was a physical and entertaining game symbolic of the rest of this underrated series.

9. Toews nets shootout hat-trick in world juniors (World Junior Championships, Jan. 3, 2007)

A close game that eventually reached an unbelievable overtime followed by one of the most memorable shootouts in world junior hockey championship history.

The U.S. and Canada battled to a 1-1 tie in the 2007 tournament semifinals in Leksand, Sweden, with the late Luc Bourdon(notes) knotting the score at 12:09 of the third. In the 10-minute, 4-on-4 overtime, Carey Price(notes) stopped 12 American shots and the Canadians thwarted a 4-on-3 power play to force a shootout.

International rules allowed players to appear multiple times in the shootout, which ended up going 14 players deep between the rivals. Thus, Jonathan Toews(notes) and Peter Mueller(notes) had a fantastic duel, with Toews scoring on all three of his attempts and Price stopping Mueller to end the heart-pounding game. We're going to look back at this one fondly when some of these players are NHL superstars well into the next decade.

8. Chicago's historic comeback vs. Calgary (NHL Regular Season; Oct. 13, 2009)

How many fans left their seats to beat the traffic as the Chicago Blackhawks surrendered five goals in the first 11:43 of their game against the Calgary Flames this season? All they ended up missing was a six-goal comeback by the home team that tied an NHL record and set a Blackhawks' franchise record. Brent Seabrook(notes) won the game just 26 seconds into overtime, giving Chicago a 6-5 victory in perhaps the wildest regular season game in the decade. At least played indoors.

7. Double hat-tricks for Ovechkin, Crosby (Eastern Conference semifinals; May 4, 2009)

"Sick game. Sick goals by me and him."

That was Alex Ovechkin(notes) after the Washington Capitals' 4-3 win in Game 3 Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, which featured hat tricks from both Ovechkin and rival Sidney Crosby(notes) of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The notion that this showdown between the League's two greatest stars would meet expectations was hard to believe; that they'd blow them away with this mano-a-mano offensive duel was unfathomable. Ovechkin would break the game open by completing his hat trick in the third period; Crosby got his with a defiant goal late in the period.

It was like watching two ballers playing H-O-R-S-E on the playground, and one of the greatest superstar battles in recent memory -- even if the lingering memory is still Sidney complaining about there being too many hats on the ice.

6. Heritage Classic (NHL Regular Season; Nov. 22, 2003)

Obviously, the first regular season outdoor game in NHL history makes this list for the sheer spectacle of it all: The minus-22 degrees Fahrenheit temps with the wind chill; the legends game between Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens greats that looked like "Field of Dreams" if it had been filmed on an Alberta pond; and, of course, the aesthetics of 57,000 fans freezing their behinds off while Jose Theodore(notes) wore a toque over his mask.

Oh, and it was a pretty tight game, too. Richard Zednik(notes) scored the Habs' first and final goals, as Montreal won in the blustery elements by the score of 4-3. His second goal came 1:02 after Jarret Stoll(notes) cut the lead to 3-2.

The Cold War between Michigan State and Michigan in 2001 might have inspired this game; but its success was certainly a harbinger of the Winter Classic juggernaut we currently have on New Year's Day. As a total experience, the Heritage game was a classic.

5. Bruins, Canadiens trade leads in underdog upset (Eastern Conference quarterfinals; April 19, 2008)

The Montreal Canadiens were a 104-point regular season conference champion who entered this series with an 11-game winning streak against the Boston Bruins. The B's were a No. 8 seed that stumbled into the playoffs. The Habs held a 3-1 series lead until the Bruins smacked them, 5-1, at Bell Centre. Expectations were high that the Canadiens would dispatch their pesky rivals in Game 6; they were wrong.

In one of the most brutal, unpredictable playoff games of the decade, the Bruins erased four Montreal leads and scored four goals in the third period for a stunning 5-4 win in Boston. Marco Sturm(notes) scored the game-winner with 2:37 left in regulation. Montreal would go on to win the series, but this game remains an instant classic.

4. Canada defeats US women for gold (Winter Olympics; Feb. 21, 2002)

Yes, love for the ladies.

The context: It was a gold medal game in Salt Lake City, with the Canadian women seeking their first Olympic title (and the first for a Canadian hockey team in 50 years). The stakes, via CTV:

The Canadians had watched the U.S. skate off with gold in Nagano in 1998. Then after eight straight losses to the Americans leading up to the 2002 Games, the taunting was ripe at the Games.

Some U.S. women had scribbled on photos of Canadian players in the athletes' village, and the Canadians heard reports of insulting comments. Rumours fueled the Canadian fire - although they were later proven to be untrue - that the Americans were disrespecting the Canadian flag in the U.S. dressing room.

So yeah, there was some passion heading into this one. Truth be told, it was a fugly game: A penalty-laden affair that lacked flow thanks to a whistle-happy referee (an American, which only fueled Canadian ire). It was a slugfest, if the term can be applied to a fight-less form of puck.

That said, the Canadian women played through 12 penalties and gutted out what was a thrilling 3-2 victory over their bitter rivals. What this one lacked in artistry it made up for in contentious drama.

3. BU's dramatic comeback wins NCAA title (Frozen Four, April 12, 2009)

Any game that legendary Boston University hockey coach Jack Parker calls "the greatest comeback I've been involved in" merits consideration on the list, right?

Down two goals to Miami University with less than a minute left in the NCAA hockey championship game in Washington, D.C., Nick Bonino assisted on one goal and then scored the game-tying goal with 17 clicks left. The title-clinching goal came at 11:47 of overtime, and it was a soul-crusher for Miami: Colby Cohen's shot deflected off a sprawling Kevin Roeder on defense and then floated over the glove of goalie Cody Reichard.

BU won the game, 4-3, in overtime for an instant Frozen Four classic. It was a championship game, so that plays into it being here; which is to say that we offer no disrespect to Holy Cross's "miracle" against Minnesota in 2006, which is a strong honorable mention.

2. Sweden keeps gold from Fins (Winter Olympics; Feb. 25, 2006)

The 2002 gold medal game between Canada and the U.S. will no doubt be remembered more fondly, what with the buried loonie on American ice and the 50-year Canadian gold medal wait finally ending. But the 2006 gold medal game in Turin was simply a better hockey game, and played at the highest level by a galaxy of star players on Sweden and Finland.

The all-Nordic final wasn't exactly what fans had anticipated, but Russia took out Canada and Finland eliminated Russia, while Sweden knocked off Czech Republic. Finland was seeking its first Olympic gold; Sweden was looking to avenge the enormous upset to Belarus in 2002.

The classic battle had a combined 36 NHL players involved, and the game-winning goal was a Hall of Fame effort: Peter Forsberg(notes) won the faceoff, passed to Mats Sundin(notes), who then passed to Nicklas Lidstrom(notes) for the tally early in the third:

Henrik Lundqvist(notes) of the New York Rangers made the lead stand up with some stellar play in the third. No overtime, no last-second heroics. Just two incredible hockey teams playing on an elite level on the biggest stage.

1. Sykora calls his shot against Detroit (Stanley Cup Final; June 2, 2008)

There were longer overtime games. There were more meaningful victories. There were better individual efforts. But as a total package of entertainment, star power and clutch performances, no game better symbolized the post-lockout NHL than this 4-3 triple overtime victory by the Pittsburgh Penguins over eventual Stanley Cup champions the Detroit Red Wings in Game 5 at the Joe.

Goals by Pavel Datsyuk(notes) and Marian Hossa(notes). Moments of great defense, great offense and brutal physical play. Maxime Talbot's improbable goal with 34.3 seconds left in regulation that tied the game at 3-3. Marc-Andre Fleury(notes) stopping 24 Detroit shots in three overtime periods and 55 for the game. And then, at 9:57 of the third OT, Petr Sykora(notes) happened:

Helping to elevate this game to elite status? The fact that Sykora called his shot between periods.

If nothing else, this game helped turn the 2008 finals into thriller, which created plenty of buzz for the 2009 rematch that saw the Penguins take the Cup. But no matter who won this game, the drama and dynamics made it the best of the decade.

Eric Duhatschek of the Globe & Mail, in a very thorough rundown:

"I'm not being ignorant, but those things happen," Sutter said, invoking the what's-said-in-the-dressing-room, stays-in-the-dressing-room defence. "It's no one else's business. It's between players and players, and players and coaches.

"Everyone cares and everyone's involved in a high level of competition, where there's a lot of emotion and intensity," Sutter added. "Those things are going to happen at different times during the year, and that's just the way it is."

Flames Insider got much of the same from Phaneuf:

"Well, to be honest with you guys, what happens in our dressing room behind closed doors is our business, whether it's coaches and players, players and players," Phaneuf told reporters on Wednesday morning. "That's all I'm going to say about that. That's the bottom line."

Phaneuf was a minus-2 with two giveaways in the game. He's a plus-3 overall with 10 points in 19, and the Flames are fifth in the West with 26 points. So one assumes the dust-up isn't part of a larger issue, but potentially focused on that game's mistakes.

Of course, it's only an assumption because Sutter and Phaneuf aren't candid about it. What was interesting in that Dater post, and in a lot of other reaction to this dust-up, was that shouting matches are "stuff that just happens, no biggie." Dater even said that he witnessed "a very loud screaming match between two Avs players in the dressing room last season and didn't write it in the paper."

Are these sorts of intense, postgame arguments non-news? Should they be kept off the public record with respect to the teams? The Calgary media asked about it well after the game; would it have reported it in a game story?

Can Sutter and Phaneuf get away with the "locker room code of silence" in a situation like this? If you're a Flames fans, do you demand they break the code? Or, as Dater and the Flames seem to agree, do you believe these incidents happen and deserve to stay private?

If nothing else, this incident allowed the Bleacher Report to publish a pretty good piece on Dater's initial breaking of this story, with the unintentionally hilarious headline (at least in the context of BR's history with Puck Daddy) of "NHL Blog Ethics 101."

No. 1 star, Michael Frolik(notes), Florida Panthers:
The 21-year-old center, who burst on the scene with 21 goals and 45 points as a rookie last season, kept Florida's recent hot streak intact by contributing his first multi-goal effort of the season. Frolik scored the first of his two goals at 18:21 of the first period to tie host Buffalo. His power-play goal, and sixth marker of the season, at 17:58 of the third period gave the Panthers a 4-2 lead and was one of four visitors' goals scored in the final period. After a slow start, Florida has now won six of nine games.

No. 2 star, Alex Auld(notes), Dallas Stars:
The backup goalie strolled into Detroit and stopped 31 of 32 shots to enable the Stars to halt the Red Wings' three-game winning streak. Auld spearheaded a perfect night on the penalty kill as Dallas snuffed out all four of Detroit's power plays.

No. 3 star, Brian Boucher(notes), Philadelphia Flyers:
The Flyers' backup gave Ray Emery(notes) a rare night off and rewarded the coach's decision by winning on the road. Boucher was up to the task, especially in the third period when Los Angeles managed to slip only one of 21 shots past the goalie. Boucher stopped 37 shots in all.

Honorable mention: Panthers defenseman Keith Ballard(notes) hit the score sheet with three assists, three blocked shots and three hits during 25:08 of ice time. … Brad Richards(notes) and James Neal(notes) had two assists apiece while Stephane Robidas(notes) contributed seven hits and an assist during 23:49 of ice time for the Stars. … Coyotes forward Scottie Upshall(notes) scored the game-winning goal late in the third period just 19 seconds after the host Wild tied the game. Radim Vrbata(notes) scored a goal, added an assist, had seven shots on goal and six others wide for Phoenix. … Patrick O'Sullivan(notes) earned the game-winning goal for Edmonton, which rallied impressively. … Rookie Chris Durno(notes) picked up his first NHL point on the second of Milan Hejduk's(notes) two goals.

Did you know?: The six goals allowed to Florida were the most Buffalo has surrendered in a game this season.

Dishonorable mention: Tough night for Derek Roy(notes) as the Sabres' center was scoreless, a minus-2 and lost nine of 11 draws. … Even tougher night for referees Stephane Auger and Dennis LaRue in Detroit, both bungling Brad May's(notes) apparent game-tying goal early in the third period. … It wasn't much better in St. Paul where Owen Nolan(notes) was whistled for a phantom high stick late.

Thursday night's no-goal against the Dallas Stars makes that nonsense look like a sterling example of proficient officiating. Watch the full video on YouTube; we cut right to the embarrassment here:

Here's a fun parlor game: See how many Red Wings you can name in the time between seeing the puck cross the line and the whistle blowing. Our record is four, and one of them was "Henrik Zetterberg." From Puck Buddy Dustin:

Possibly the worst. Call. Ever. In tonight's Stars-Wings game, midway through the third, Brad May(notes) got a clear goal called back on the old "intent to blow the whistle" rule... only problem is the puck was never in any position where the whistle should have been blown and the sound of the whistle happened about four seconds after the puck crossed the line. Cost the Wings what would have been the game tying goal at the time.

Detroit lost the game to Dallas, 3-1. Wings Coach Mike Babcock on the no-goal, to the Windsor Star: "The guy never meant to blow the whistle ... It was a shot. It was in on the shot. It's as dumb as I've ever seen."

Last postseason, the NHL defended the Watson call and offered an official on-the-record explanation to the media; one hopes they attempt to do the same here, although it would be defending the indefensible. Again, the "intent to blow" rule is one of the most asinine in professional hockey; the notion of "playing to the whistle" is undercut by referees ending plays in their minds before actually blowing them dead. This Detroit farce is, perhaps, the most rancid example of its folly.

Beyond Detroit losing a goal, the worst thing about this situation is that it'll provide further fodder for the tin foil hat society among Wings fans, who are convinced that Gary Bettman and the NHL and the Illuminati and the Stonecutters are all conspiring in some secret cabal to undermine their franchise. Because what business would want one of its most popular, ratings-driving, star-studded franchises to, you know, succeed?

Preview: Dallas Stars at Detroit Red Wings, 7:30 p.m. EST. Jimmy Howard(notes) gets the start for the Wings, as Chris Osgood(notes) wants you to know that he did not, repeat did not, have the flu. But the big goaltending news is that Marty Turco(notes) is sitting in favor of Alex Auld for Dallas ... OK, not exactly big news, considering Turco hasn't exactly played his best hockey in Detroit historically. The Wings don't have a regulation loss at the Joe (7-0-1) and are looking for their fifth win in a row.

Preview: Phoenix Coyotes at Minnesota Wild, 8 p.m. EST. The Coyotes are trying to snap a seven-game road losing streak against Minnesota. The Wild, meanwhile, are trying to preserve their sellout streak by any means necessary, according to Michael Russo. Watch The Game Live Via Hockey Night on Y!

Preview: Philadelphia Flyers at Los Angeles Kings, 10:30 p.m. EST. All eyes on Alex Frolov tonight, as we mentioned earlier. Broad Street Hockey has everything you need to know about this long distance rivalry. Watch The Game Live Via Hockey Night on Y!

Check out the Y! Sports scores and schedule page for previews of the other three games tonight.

Evening Reading

• Sidney Crosby(notes) runs the Olympic torch. [Metro Canada]

• The St. Louis Blues allow fans to narc on rowdy people in their section via text messaging. [Blues]

• Check out former New York Rangers winger Darren Turcotte on Blueshirt Radio this evening. [Blueshirt Banter]

• Good back and forth on the Anaheim Ducks' top line, and whether they're being asked to do too much. [Anaheim Calling]

• It's early in the process, but Theo Fleury(notes) says he wants to pursue charges against Graham James. [Sportsnet]

• Why wasn't Cam Ward(notes) already on long-term injured reserve? [Canes Country]

Puck Buddy Comment of the Day: On the Barry Trotz vs. the arena clock story, here's GT --

"Trotz should know by now that everything moves slower in the south. This ain't fancy like and fast paced Manitoba down in these here parts!"

Bold Prediction: Feelin' a Nathan Horton(notes) goal against Buffalo.

• The Los Angeles Kings will be without Ryan Smyth(notes) for up to a month with "an upper body injury," per Rich Hammond. Smyth is 10th in the NHL in points (23) and one of the primary reasons the Kings are fourth in the West right now. He played 77 games last season for Colorado, but the way he plays the game has had him miss some time in previous seasons.

With injury comes intrigue: Smyth's place on Anze Kopitar's(notes) line now goes to Alexander Frolov(notes), whom you may remember from such posts as "Kings send Frolov message with healthy scratch." He's played better since then, as Coach Terry Murray told Hammond:

"Look, I'm not going to take too much of the credit for taking him out of the lineup. The other part of it, he knows this is a huge year for him contractually as well. Everything that he does, number-wise, is going to be referred to whenever they get into negotiations. So it's very important that he bring his 'A' game every night."

Especially now with Smyth out.

• Small problem for the Montreal Canadiens: Brian Gionta(notes) broke his foot and is out indefinitely, according to RDS. Moving up to the top line in his place was Glen Metropolit(notes), joining Mike Cammalleri and Scott Gomez(notes). Metro's saying all the right things about this big opportunity. Lord knows the guy can shoot the puck.

• As we mentioned in the Puck Headlines, Jay McKee(notes) of the Pittsburgh Penguins is out 2-4 weeks with an infected finger, which is probably as gross as it sounds. (Though why it's a big deal is a mystery; Toronto's been playing with a bum Finger for the better part of two years.) Good news: Sergei Gonchar is about ready to return, and both Kris Letang(notes) and Brooks Oprik are back in practice.

• Finally, the Washington Capitals said that Alex Semin is fighting a sore wrist (MRI was negative), Jose Theodore(notes) could miss this weekend's games due to a personal matter and Quintin Laing(notes) had "metal plates put into his broken jaw during surgery last night" and could miss six weeks.

Metal plates into his broken jaw ... and how was your Tuesday night?

Nashville Predators Coach Barry Trotz was an angry man after Tuesday night's home game at Sommet Center, even after a victory against the first-place San Jose Sharks. You see, the clock operator slipped up twice in the third period in pretty significant ways: Allowing the game clock to keep running and expire after Patrick Marleau(notes) scored with 52 seconds left to cut the lead to 4-3; and then doing it again when there was an icing call with three seconds left.

The delays in correcting those mistakes late in the game had Trotz fuming, according to The Examiner:

"That gave them a free timeout for about three minutes, and that's five guys who can do damage on any given night," the Preds bench boss said. "We have to get it corrected, but it is absolutely unacceptable for a home team."

In the final few seconds of play, the Predators were whistled for icing, but the clock operator had a non-itchy trigger finger again and let the remaining time run down to 0.0. The officials again had to review the replay to determine how much time should have remained when the icing was whistled. Following another delay, 3.0 seconds were put up on the clock.

"It happened twice with three seconds to go," Trotz said. "I think the referees were embarrassed and they just said there are three seconds left. We should have home-ice advantage."

Wait, is he advocating for the fudging of clock management in favor of the home team? In any case, the victory spared the world the sight of Trotz waddling into the referees' room and saying some bad-ass line like, "I'm about to make time fly ..." before unleashing the fury. From The Tennessean:

"I don't think I'm in a good mood to listen to any of their explanations," Trotz said regarding the off-ice officials. "They have to get it right. If (San Jose) scored another goal, I'm sure I'd be out the door and into the officials' room. It's uncalled for. It happened twice. They're going to check the clock again? Are you kidding me?"

C'mon, who could ever kid this face?

Please do join us along with Lyle "Spector" Richardson of Fox Sports and hopefully David "Dave" Pagnotta of The Fourth Period for at 1 p.m. EST for our live chat. Bring your questions, bring your speculation and, above all, bring the funny. We'll supply the cynical answers and abrupt shifts in tone.

• Reminder: Hockey Rumors Live Chat at 1 p.m. EST. Woot!

• Breaking as this was posted: Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Jay McKee(notes) will miss two weeks to a month with a finger infection, and Mark Eaton(notes) left Wedesday's practice early. Wow, the Penguins' blue line is devastated right now. Is Philippe Boucher(notes) really retired? [Penguins]

• As the Chicago Blackhawks close in on contracts for Patrick Kane(notes), Jonathan Toews(notes) and Duncan Keith(notes), Tim Sassone warns of NHL investigations and a cap crisis. Fatal flaw in the analysis: No way Keith will have a $6 million cap hit if he signs a 12-year deal. [Between The Circles, and more from TFP]

• Justin Bourne with a solid blog about head shots and where the players are in this debate: "Where's the uproar from the players? Guys can't want it in the game" [THN]

• Carrie Underwood said that she's not moving in with Mike Fisher(notes) of the Ottawa Senators any time soon because the next person she moves in with will be her "hubby." Thank god she didn't say "until he wins the Stanley Cup." Poor thing will be in menopause, and that's if she's lucky. [People]

• If the season were to end today, ESPN would give the Hart Trophy to Rick Nash(notes), because for some silly reason Ryan Miller(notes) and Craig Anderson(notes) aren't even mentioned as candidates. But Chris Pronger(notes) is. OK then. [ESPN]

• Today is Sidney Crosby's(notes) day with the Olympic torch, which is being covered by at least one Pittsburgh TV station. Our joke on Twitter this morning: "Last torch-passing that got this amount of coverage in Canada was Bret Hart refusing to job for Shawn Michaels." [WPXI and Metro Canada]

• A valentine to the GTG: "Game-tying goal." In our fracked-up NHL standings system, these little buggers are the reason for charity points. [Copper & Blue]

• Kevin Compton, a San Jose Sharks co-owner, calls the Phoenix Coyotes mess "a joke" and says that the owners aren't the ones keeping Jim Balsillie out of an ownership position in the NHL. Of course, the Sharks voted against his request to own the Coyotes. Of course, Compton and Balsillie have had business dealings in the telecommunications industry in the past. [Fear The Fin]

• "Did you hear that, did you hear about the shouting match between Phaneuf and another player. Somebody was screaming at Phaneuf, calling him selfish." Adrian Dater didn't hear it, but heard someone in Calgary media talk about it, so he Tweeted it. And now he regrets it. [All Things Avs, via Kukla]

• The New York Rangers' lack of secondary scoring is becoming a concern. [NHL]

• We'll have more about this later, but the New York Islanders buzz is getting pretty loud. [Hockey Independent]

• Bitter Leaf Fan's dose of reality on the future of the Toronto Maple Leafs will have half the city reaching for the Canadian Club: "On pace for 12 wins, fewest goals for, most goals against and maxed out at the cap. Two top 10 draft picks in the last two years already in the system. Just think, this is where Chicago was in 2005, and where Pittsburgh and Washington were in 2004. Sadly, I can't see a similar upside for a Leaf team with so few options left." [BLF]

• Al Strachan feels he was unfairly fired from Hockey Night In Canada. According to sources? [Truth and Rumours]

• The Saskatoon Blades' 5th annual Toque Toss Night will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 16. "When the Blades score their first goal of the night, fans can throw these items onto the ice to be donated to a host of local charities." Awfully presumptuous there, aren't we Saskatoon Blades? [Blades]

• From Leahy, a "Mario Lemieux autographed Erie Otters/Lemieux Foundation jersey - Pittsburgh Penguins" on auction from the NHL.

• The roof gets blown off Dallas' Reunion Arena. [Razor With An Edge]

• A prediction that Kyle Wellwood(notes) will "bust the slump like it's the zipper on his 2008 jeans." By a Canadian columnist named Guts McTavish. [Sun Media]

• David Legwand(notes), Joel Ward(notes) and Jerred Smithson(notes) > Joe Thornton(notes), Dany Heatley(notes) and Ryan Clowe. At least last night for the Nashville Predators. [On The Forecheck]

• One fan's battle with Verizon FiOS in DC. [Mike Holden, via JP]

• Finally, this save by Carey Price(notes) of the Montreal Canadiens in last night's shootout was pretty remarkable. Or "retardo," as Two-Line poetically put it.

We all know it's been a goofed-up, topsy-turvy season. Star players have been injured. Good teams have gone bad, and teams that were previously thought to be bad have skated out of Calgary with a three-point lead in the Northwest Division last night.

That unpredictability has spilled over in the scoring race, as we take a check of the leaderboard just over a month-and-a-half into the season. How many of last year's Top 20 scorers are currently in the Top 20 this season?

Eight. Which is to say that there are 12 players defying expectations this season, like Mr. Kopitar.

First, a comparison between the leading scorers at the end of last regular season and the ones in the Top 20 as of this morning, with the brighter names on the left also hitting the list this season:

Some of the missing in action from one year to the next are understandable due to injury: Ilya Kovalchuk(notes) of the Atlanta Thrashers (11 games played), Marc Savard(notes) of the Boston Bruins (7 games), Daniel Sedin(notes) (4 games) and, of course, Evgeni Malkin(notes) of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who missed a few games but has 17 points in 14 appearances this season.

That accounts for most of the wounded; what about the rest?

Pavel Datsyuk(notes), Detroit Red Wings (16 points): A snail's-paced start (2 points in 5 games) has finally been shaken off, as Datsyuk now has 12 points in his last nine games. His goal-scoring (4 goals on the season) still needs to pick up, but he's gaining steam with 16 points.

Jarome Iginla(notes), Calgary Flames (17 points): See Datsyuk, Pavel. Four points in the opening eight games caused concern; he quieted them with 11 points in 8 games and now has 12 goals on the season, tying him for fourth in the NHL. Whether he returns to the leader board at the end of the season pretty much depends on Olli Jokinen's(notes) success; but then again, what in Calgary doesn't this season?

Jeff Carter(notes), Philadelphia Flyers (19 points): His 19 points in 17 games puts him right outside the Top 20. By this time last season, Carter had 11 goals on the way to a stunning 46 overall. He has seven right now. One change worth watching: Carter played with a lot with Joffrey Lupul(notes) last season, who left in the Pronger trade; this season, his primary winger man has been Danny Briere(notes).

Michael Cammalleri(notes), Montreal Canadiens (16 points): Again, not a bad start for him, with 16 points in 21 games for what's been a pretty underwhelming Habs team. In fact, he only had 15 points at this time last season. On a line with Scott Gomez(notes) and Brian Gionta(notes), it's not hard to imagine he's going to hit the leaderboard again.

Mike Richards(notes), Philadelphia Flyers (17 points): He has 17 points in 17 games, which puts him right around the 80-point pace he had last season. Now, it's fair to ask why he isn't putting up better numbers with the talent the Flyers have up front and with the best power play (27 percent conversion rate) in the NHL. But it's also fair to say that Simon Gagne's(notes) injury caused a little reshuffling of the forwards that left Richards playing with a few different combos so far. He's done enough offensively to keep the Flyers and Pierre McGuire smiling, though.

Martin St. Louis(notes), Tampa Bay Lightning (19 points): He's got 19 points in 18 games, and helped turn Steven Stamkos(notes) into a Top 20 scorer. He'll be fine.

Alexander Semin(notes), Washington Capitals (17 points): He has 17 points in 18 games, and has shown flashes of the offensive brilliance that landed him on the leaderboard last season. But he's been battling a wrist injury for the better part of two weeks, and it kept him out of the lineup against the New York Rangers last night. Something to watch.

Mike Ribiero, Dallas Stars (15 points): With 15 points in 19 games, Ribiero might not appear to be struggling; but seven of those points game in his first five games. He had 18 points at this juncture last season for a Dallas team that was sinking into the toilet. It's not panic time -- he's a streaky scorer. But with the Brad Richards(notes) line playing well, the Stars need a little more out of Jamie Benn(notes), Brenden Morrow(notes) and Ribeiro.

• • •

The bottom line: Nearly all of these guys are in the hunt again, even as some of their conditions have changed. Clearly, a healthy Kovalchuk or Malkin will get back into the Top 20 in no time. What'll be interesting is if some of the surprises this season -- Rich Peverely, Ryan Smyth(notes) and Dustin Penner(notes), for example -- can keep up their early-season paces.

As well as if we'll be talking about Marian Gaborik's(notes) actual points and goals in April, or what he would have scored had it not been for his injuries. So far, so good for him; the Rangers have to be pleased.

There have been two positive developments for the Boston Bruins in the last few days, which is a welcome change from their pedestrian 8-8-4 start; good for 20 points and 11th in the Eastern Conference, which is a shock to the system for a team that was 11-3-4 at this point last season. 

Good News No. 1: Bill Belichick decided to go for it on 4th-and-2 against the Colts, which caused the mass mobilization of all Boston sports media assets in order to dissect the call down to the quarter-inch. Hence, as Matt Kalman pointed out, there was little-to-no discussion of the Bruins' putrid 4-1 loss against the New York Islanders. 

Good News No. 2: Marc Savard(notes) and Milan Lucic(notes) are both skating and both practicing; they could both return to the lineup this week. Savard hasn't played since Oct. 17 thanks to a broken foot; Lucic hasn't played since Oct. 16 because of a broken index finger. The Bruins record without them: 5-4-4. Their heads have been above water, but treading it has been exhausting.

Will Lucic and Savard spark a team that's looked disinterested in so many situations this season? Or, as one Boston writer asks, are we looking at a Bruins team that's going to need a major change on the ice or behind the bench to turn them into the Stanley Cup contenders many believed them to be in 2010?

Obviously, the offense should improve. The Bruins scored just 11 goals in their eight losses without Lucic and Savard, and only 6 in 7 if you remove the five-goal explosion against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Nov. 14.

Without Savard's vital participation, the power play has sunk to 12.9 percent, which is worst in the NHL. The Bruins were fifth with the man advantage last season. He recently said he's confident he can help boost it.

Kathryn Tappen of NESN, an on-air personality, blogged about the players' potential return this week:

At this point, the best help the Bruins will get is not from themselves, but rather from teammates Milan Lucic and Marc Savard. Expect these two to have a huge impact on the team when they return. Not only will their presence boost the morale and confidence of this team, but their talent is sure to bring a flurry of points.

Savard is a playmaker, bottom line. He's incredibly gifted at getting the puck to his goal scorers, and he isn't too shabby at putting the puck in the back of the net himself. Lucic is a strong force to be reckoned with. He creates space on the ice for his linemates, scores goals and energizes his team night after night.

So things could be looking up as soon as Thursday, when the Bruins take on the Atlanta Thrashers. Unless, of course, the lack of Lucic and the scarcity of Savard aren't really the issue.

Again, the Bruins were one game over .500 without them, which means they were one game under with them. There are problems on this team that go beyond the injuries, and Here We Go Bruins! tried to summarize that vibe:

At first it seemed it was a case of a good team that for some reason just didn't show effort on certain nights and wasn't playing hard 60 minute games every night, thus the extended Win-Loss pattern to start the year off.  But now they are showing consistency, consistent sloppy play and some bad luck on the side.  With the exception of a game here or there I haven't seen anything from this team yet this year that has given me any reason to believe they can rise to the occasion and start playing how they should. 

Which is why James Murphy of NESN is a little doom and gloom about the B's prospects, to the point where he reminds readers that "we're only 12 days shy of the four-year anniversary of the Joe Thornton(notes) trade that shocked the hockey world."

Yes, he believes it might take a move of that magnitude to whip the Bruins into shape. From Murph:

They're approaching that point where either the players will be dealt or the coach will pay the price. That's just part of the way it goes in today's NHL. Obviously, the players don't want to see one of their teammates be dealt away, and they don't want to see their coach -- the reigning Jack Adams Award winner -- become a sacrificial lamb.

There was already a quiet shock wave sent through the dressing room when Chuck Kobasew(notes) was dealt away for cap relief on Oct. 18. The next move, however, won't be made to create more cap space, but rather to try and salvage a season that began with Stanley Cup aspirations.

It's still hard to imagine Julien, a winning coach, paying the price for his team failing to fulfill the potential that management believes it has.

Oh, wait -- no it isn't.

It'll be an interesting six weeks for the Bruins, because we imagine the NHL pictured the Winter Classic at Fenway as a battle between Eastern Conference powers; rather than one playoff team and another more concerned with where the Leafs are in the lottery.

Bradley got the worst of it when trading wild right hands with New York Rangers forward Aaron Voros(notes) in a first-period fight. As he skated off the ice he appeared to ask a linesman, "is this mine?" while pointing at the blood cascading from above his left eye. The answer came in the affirmative, which didn't seem to faze the Washington right wing. That was his last act of the period, but after a little time in makeup he returned to make an impact, scoring the game-winner (video) in an eventual 4-2 win over the Blueshirts. Nice skill play by Bradley, who won a battle with Wade Redden(notes), then used his body to shield the puck from pursuing defenseman Matt Gilroy(notes) before snapping it past Henrik Lundqvist(notes) at 15:09 of the third.

No. 2 star: Carey Price(notes), Montreal Canadiens

Price actually bit on Matt Cullen's(notes) fake in the sixth round of the shootout, but a desperation pad save stopped the puck just short of the goal line, preserving a 3-2 Montreal victory. The knock on the Canadiens' third-year goalie has been that he plays just well enough to lose close games, but Tuesday he was at his best in pressure situations. Price made 13 third-period saves to allow Montreal to tie the score, survived a 7-1 Carolina advantage in shots in the overtime and then turned aside three do-or-die shots in the scoreless shootout before a Maxim Lapierre(notes) goal set the stage for the stop on Cullen.

No. 3 star: Mike Fisher(notes), Ottawa Senators

This one was a battle royale early, with six players earning fighting majors in the opening 11 ½ minutes. But the decisive blows were landed by Fisher. He snapped off a team-high four shots, beating Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Vesa Toskala(notes) for the game's first goal and supplying the game-winner late in the second period of a 3-2 Senators victory.

Honorable Mention: Alex Ovechkin's(notes) return after a five-week absence couple weeks off was no joke. He scored his 15th goal of the season on a second-period power-play. … No shortage of star power at the Garden on Tuesday. Marian Gaborik(notes) scored twice for the Rangers to keep pace with AO atop the league's scoring list with 15 goals. … Caps coach Bruce Boudreau notched his 100th career victory. … Toronto's Phil Kessel(notes) scored his fifth goal to extend his points streak to six games. … First NHL points: Washington's Jay Beagle(notes) (assist) and Toronto's Carl Gunnarsson(notes) (ditto). … Colorado's Ryan Wilson(notes) scored his first NHL goal, fittingly burning a Calgary team that traded him in March. … Joel Ward(notes) and David Legwand(notes) combined for six points (goal, two assists each) as the Predators beat San Jose.

Did You Know?: With man-advantage goals by Steve Sullivan(notes) and Joel Ward in a 4-3 victory, the Predators became the first team to score multiple power-play goals in a game against the Sharks this season.

Dishonorable Mention: The Rangers faced an early 21-11 shots deficit and finished with a season-low 20 pucks on net. … No knock on Michael Leighton(notes), but another injury to a goalie was the last thing Carolina needed. He left with a lower-body injury in the second period as the Hurricanes failed to register their first road win on their 10th try. … Speaking of winless streaks, Vesa Toskala (18 saves) dropped to 0-4-2 on the season.

We've not, however, seen a version of the glass jump that Henrik Andersen came up with. The 18-year old winger was celebrating his first goal of the season for Swedish Tier 2 team Leksand when he attempted to channel his inner Ovechkin and things went terribly wrong:

(The Bobby McFerrin soundtrack is a nice touch.)

Andersen, who wasn't selected in last June's NHL Entry Draft, was not injured and Leksand defeated Bjorkloven 4-0 to put themselves atop the standings in Allsvenska. Despite his unlikely future playing in the NHL, Andersen has now made himself a YouTube superstar and guaranteed his addtion to blooper reels around the world. 

stick tap to DayWalk3r for the tip

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Preview: Colorado Avalanche at Calgary Flames, 9:30 p.m. EST. At the end of October, seven points separated these two teams in the Northwest Division. Now, it's down to one. Curtis Glencross(notes) is back for the Flames, and playing with Jarome Iginla(notes) and Olli Jokinen(notes) on the top line. Watch The Game Live Via Hockey Night on Y!

Preview: Washington Capitals at New York Rangers, 7 p.m. EST. The assumed return of Ovechkin on Versus, despite the Caps star being annoyingly coy about his status earlier today. The question the Rangers need to start answering: Is "the recent 4-7-1 malaise might be more representative of this club than the 7-1 start?"

Check out the Y! Sports scores and schedule page for previews of the other three games tonight.

Evening Reading

• Update on the Patrick Kane(notes), Jonathan Toews(notes) and Duncan Keith(notes) contracts: Bob McKenzie reports that Kane and Toews are "believed to be getting five-year extensions, with each of them worth in excess of $6 million per year" and that "Keith's deal is said to be more complicated, perhaps as long as 13 years." Whoa. [TSN]

• All three players issue varying forms of "hey, what contract?" when asked about reports that the Chicago Blackhawks are about to sign all three pending free agents. [Sun Times]

• Meanwhile, if the Toews/Kane/Marian Hossa(notes) mega-line becomes a reality, Sarah Spain has its nickname ready: "The TKHo Line." [No Spain, No Gain]

• Rob Scuderi(notes) and Ryan Smyth(notes) are both still banged up for the Los Angeles Kings, with concern that Smyth could be out a bit with an upper body injury. [Kings Insider]

• Nice post on Dean Arsene(notes), who made his NHL debut for the Edmonton Oilers after a mere 109 ECHL games and 333 AHL contests. Perseverance, thy name is Arsene. [Bangin Panger]

• So what happens to Henrik Sedin(notes) when Daniel comes back? [Canucks Hockey Blog]

• Finally, the Pittsburgh Penguins have created a 30-minute Russian-language radio show devoted to Russian NHL fans that will air each week on the Penguins' new HD radio station (105.9 HD2). What's Russian for Baba Booey again? [Pens]

Puck Buddy Comment of the Day: Stanley Cup of Chowder on the Blackhawks contracts, via Twitter --

They offered Kane $5,999,998.80...but he demanded the extra $1.20

Bold Prediction: Carolina makes it two in a row with a win in Montreal.

There are interviews with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman in which he guards the League's positions with the confident ease of Neo swatting away bullets in "The Matrix," coming off as a corporate communications suit who's trained his nose to avoid the smell of the excrement he's at times peddling.

Then there are interviews in which Bettman gets edgy and defensive; never rattled, mind you, but genuinely perturbed. The discussion becomes less about hockey than about him, and that's when he becomes the worst ambassador for the game imaginable; or as we previously stated it, Bettman becomes "as amiable as a visit from the IRS during a root canal."

It happened in an "Off The Record" interview on TSN, and it happened again in print during a conversation with Macleans.ca that went online today.

The inquisition is tremendous, bringing up the NHL's demographics and the Olympics issue and, for the majority of the interview, the Phoenix Coyotes bankruptcy mess and Canadians' intense loathing of Bettman and the NHL's positions on expansion up north.

The commissioner wins on some points; for example, there's no question that the current NHL product is connecting with younger fans in a way it didn't 10 years ago. He loses on others: Sorry, Gary, but booing you when you hand over the Stanley Cup after the finals is now a tradition and, quite frankly, the Lord's work.

But as this three-question slow-burn by Bettman shows, it was a contentious conversation that had him as offensively defensive as Paul Coffey.

We don't usually excerpt this much from another source, but it's a long interview and this exchange really nails the tension. From Macleans, knee-deep in discussion about Phoenix:

Q: You used the word "covenant" to describe the bargain between the league and its fans. What about the covenant that existed between the league and the fans in Winnipeg, and the fans in Quebec City?

(BETTMAN): We had the same covenant there and we lost in both of those cases. Both teams were struggling. Both needed new arenas and there was no prospect of the arena coming from any source. And the bottom line that differentiates it from all the other cases we've talked about, including Phoenix, was that nobody wanted to own a team there anymore. That's when you reach the end of the line.

Q: But, respectfully, who wants to own the team in Phoenix?

A: Let's back up. We had a prospective buyer and I was attempting to deliver the offer on May 5 when they put the club into bankruptcy. What then happened was [Coyotes owner Jerry] Moyes, in conjunction with others, did everything they could to make the franchise unsaleable. Through the summer, they lost the personnel, there was no selling of any tickets. They were trying to destroy the franchise so it would have to move.

Q: That seems a lot to lay at the feet of Mr. Moyes. Surely if there was a viable fan base in Phoenix those fans would be demonstrating it now. Instead, as few as 5,800 show up to games.

A: With all due respect, what do you know about the operations of the Phoenix Coyotes? Do you know that they lost most of their staff over the summer? Do you know that most of their employees quit? Do you know that they sold virtually nothing because of all of the uncertainty? Do you know that in the bankruptcy court proceedings season ticket holders were being sent information that says you're going to lose your season ticket deposits? That the sponsorships weren't able to be renewed? That they're doing as well as they are, I think, is pretty good. Time will tell whether or not this franchise was actually destroyed over the summer. We believe that it can be resurrected, and if we're right then there'll be a new owner and the team will be there. If we're wrong then we'll have to deal with that.

Me-ow.

"Time will tell whether or not this franchise was actually destroyed over the summer" ... so is that the rhetorical escape pod if the lease isn't fixed and/or an owner willing to keep the team in Phoenix isn't found; especially since it seems the NHL is both working with a soft deadline and not looking to negotiate the lease with Glendale? When the moving vans are taking the last dog sweater to the new home, is Bettman standing there saying "but ...  but ... but ... Balsillie broke it"?

The entire thing is worth a read, especially for the Bettman Haters Club. Thanks to Kukla for the tip.

During his time with the New Jersey Devils (twice), St. Louis Blues, Hartford Whalers, Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers, there were always bigger stars than Shanahan -- but few were embraced by die-hard puckheads like he was.

He had that blend of skill, smarts and brute force that made him a prototypical power forward in the NHL as his career progressed. As of last April, he led all active players in Gordie Howe Hat Tricks -- a goal, an assist and a fight in the same night -- with 17 in his career. Rare is the NHL player with 656 career goals and close to 100 entries on HockeyFights.com. But that's why we appreciated him.

Shanahan wasn't infallible off the ice. There was his chasing of the money as a young player that resulted in Scott Stevens arriving in New Jersey from St. Louis; there were trade demands, like the one that caused his departure from Hartford; there was the unpleasantness at that Florida bar back in 1995; and his abrupt divorce from the Devils this preseason.

Some of the good and the bad of NHL 2.0/post-lockout rules changes can be traced back to Shanahan's leadership and his 2004 "summit," where the shootout was arguably born. His vision for the game was sometimes too radical; 4-on-4 hockey in playoff overtime was nearly pushed through based on his strong support. 

But his charisma, especially as one of the NHL's better quotes, would always win us over in the end, because we understood he was a bit of a rogue. His respect for what makes hockey fundamentally appealing for fans and players alike had some touting him for NHLPA boss and others hoping he'd take over for Gary Bettman.

With his stats, a gold medal and three Stanley Cups, he's a prime candidate for the Hall of Fame; but Brendan Shanahan's contributions to the NHL were more intangible than any stat or trophy. After the jump, a full bio, tribute from the NHL and words from the man himself.

From the NHL:

NEW YORK (November 17, 2009) -- One of the National Hockey League's all-time greatest snipers and one of its fiercest competitors, Brendan Shanahan, announced his retirement today, bringing an end to his 21-year career.

"I would like to thank my family and all of the friends who have helped me achieve and maintain my childhood dream of playing in the National Hockey League", said Shanahan. "I am enormously grateful to all of my coaches and teammates I've had the privilege of learning from and playing along side of, throughout my career. While I always dreamed of playing in the NHL, I can't honestly say that I would have ever imagined that I'd be this fortunate and blessed. I would like to sincerely thank everyone who has helped me fulfill this dream."

Shanahan finishes his career in 11th place on the NHL's all-time goal scoring list with 656 goals. He stands 11th in games played with 1,524, 22nd in penalty minutes with 2,489, 23rd in points with 1,354 and 49th in assists with 698. He is the only player in NHL history to amass more than 2,000 penalty minutes and 600 goals and leads all NHL players with 17 "Gordie Howe" hat tricks. One of the game's all-time clutch performers, Shanahan ranks fifth all-time with 109 game-winning goals. He tallied 237 goals on the power play, also fifth in NHL history, including a League-leading and career-best 20 in 1996-97.

The eight-time NHL All-Star recorded at least 40 goals in six of his 21 seasons and is one of only 11 players in NHL history to have 12 seasons of at least 30 goals. Shanahan's 19 consecutive 20-goal seasons rank second to only Gordie Howe's 21. He eclipsed the 50-goal mark on two occasions, tallying 51 in 71 games with St. Louis in 1992-93 and then reached a career high with 52 in 1993-94, when he also led the League with seven shorthanded tallies. Shanahan was voted to the NHL First All-Star Team twice (1994, 2000) and the NHL Second All-Star Team once (2002). Throughout his career, Shanahan was always one of the League's top ambassadors. He was awarded the King Clancy Trophy in 2003 for his exemplary work in the community. Shanahan enjoyed his finest offensive season in 1993-94, when he established career-highs in goals (52), assists (50), points (102), penalty minutes (211) and shots (397).

 

Appearing in the post-season in 19 of his 21 seasons, Shanahan ranks 35th on the NHL's playoff scoring list with 134 points in 184 games. He ranks seventh with a plus 31 rating, tied for 19th with 12 game-winning goals and is tied for 27th with 60 goals. In 1997, Shanahan placed second on the Red Wings in playoff scoring with 9 goals and 8 assists for 17 points, while helping lead Detroit to their first Stanley Cup in 42 years. In 2002, he ranked second on the team and tied for third in the NHL with 19 points in 23 games, helping lead the Red Wings to their third Stanley Cup in six seasons.

Shanahan began his National Hockey League career with New Jersey, helping a young Devils team reach the post-season for the first time in team history in 1988. He signed with St. Louis prior to the 1991-92 season, led the Blues in scoring in 1993-94 with 102 points and still holds the franchise records for goals and points by a left winger in a single season. After a one-year stint with the Hartford Whalers, Shanahan was traded to the Detroit Red Wings early in the 1996-97 season. He was a key member of the leadership core that guided the Red Wings to three Stanley Cup championships. Shanahan led the Wings in goals or points in seven of his nine seasons in Detroit. He registered his 600th career NHL goal on October 5, 2006, as a member of the New York Rangers and spent two seasons on Broadway after signing with the team on July 9, 2006. He concluded his NHL career with the team that originally drafted him, the New Jersey Devils, during the 2008-09 season.

Internationally, Shanahan has represented Canada in several tournaments. He is one of only 22 players -- one of only four Canadians -- in the exclusive "triple gold" club, which includes those who have won the Stanley Cup and captured gold at the Olympics and IIHF World Championships. Shanahan led Team Canada to its first World Championship in 33 years in 1994, placing second on the team in scoring with seven points in six games. He was a member of the 1991 Canada Cup Championship team, Canada's fifth and final Canada Cup title team. The two-time Olympian represented Canada in 1998 in Nagano, Japan, and then helped Canada capture its first Olympic gold medal in 50 years in 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Shanahan then became only the third player in NHL history to win an Olympic gold medal and Stanley Cup championship in the same year when the Red Wings captured the Stanley Cup in June of 2002. Additionally, Shanahan represented Canada in the inaugural World Cup of Hockey in 1996.

The native of Mimico, Ontario was originally New Jersey's first round selection, second overall, in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft. He amassed 656 goals, 698 assists for 1,354 points in 1,524 NHL matches with New Jersey, St. Louis, Hartford, Detroit, and New York.

Finally, the wit of Shanahan, from an ESPN broadcast in the 1990s:

Best of luck to a fan favorite.

Nikita Filatov's(notes) days of misery with the Columbus Blue Jackets are over -- for now.

His Russian agent said the following this morning to SovSport:

"[Blue Jackets Coach Ken] Hitchcock sticks to defensive hockey, and Nikita prefers more of an offensive game. It is a conflict of interest. Filatov is unhappy that he gets very little ice time."

I reached Nikita this afternoon asking for comments on the story that he was leaving for CSKA Moscow of the KHL, which has since been confirmed by the Columbus Dispatch and the team. Here's what he had to say:

Q. When did you start talking to the CBJ management about going back to Russia?

FILATOV: It was a few days ago. At the end of last week I told them that I want to come back.

When did you tell your agent of your plans?

I told him after about four games into the season. He told me that I shouldn't rush, and that I should wait to play in at least 10 games. As he told me, this is because anything could happen and change.

What are the main reasons of your decision?

There is only one reason. I think this is better for my development to go back and play in Russia. There are more opportunities there to develop as a player and to really compete. At least at this time. CSKA can give me more right now than Columbus, to whom I am thankful. And all I need is to get playing time.

(UPDATE: Filatov responds to some comments by his GM at the end of the post.)

What did the club management tell you when you told them of your decision and your reasons for it?

They told me that they completely share my point of view. They also told me that in the current situation it is actually better for me to go back.

So, they think that it is better to play in the KHL and not the AHL?

There was no talk about the AHL whatsoever. It means that they probably understand that the only correct option for me is to play in the KHL.

The Columbus Dispatch wrote that there was at least one player who asked you to think twice before making a decision.

As far as I know, the Dispatch doesn't have the concrete information. The entire report is based on rumors. That's why I don't think that I should comment on that. I actually discussed it with a lot of guys. And no one told me that I shouldn't leave. Not one of them. Actually, it was quite the opposite. They supported me and told me that I was making the right decision.

Your loan is valid for just one year?

The loan agreement is for half a year. That means it's until the end of the season. And then we'll see.

Did you consider playing 2-3 years in Russia and then come back after having a lot of experience playing under your belt?

I haven't thought about what's going to happen after this season at all yet. I don't like to guess.

You have been a healthy scratch a lot lately. Do you think your style of hockey doesn't fit into Hitchcock's system? Maybe he doesn't see you in his system?

No, I don't think so. He just has his opinion of hockey and of me as a player.

Do you regret Columbus drafted you?

No, not at all. I don't have any regrets. I like everything here - the city, I have a lot of friends here. And of course I like the organization. They are all great guys.

Do you still think you will make it in the NHL with Columbus?

Of course! I don't even doubt that everything will be alright. I actually think that I have already made it because I started the season here. And, even it was very little, but I still played. It's just, of course, I wanted to spend more time on the ice. That's what I will try to achieve next season.

What did the coach and the GM tell you before you left?

They wished me luck and told me that they count on seeing me in camp next year.

UPDATE: Here are a few more words with Filatov after the team responded to the news.

The Blue Jackets GM told the Columbus Dispatch "It's just not happening as soon as we'd hoped." What can you say about that?

I think that I didn't really have a chance. I scored two goals even though I didn't play more than 8 minutes both times. We got scored against two times [when I was on the ice] even though our team is 28th in the league in goals conceded. And I also played with guys on the fourth line all the time. The game is very different. So, what can we talk about?

Why do you think you didn't get a chance to play more and on different lines?

I don't even know. Probably Hitchcock just didn't trust me.

Tell me, why didn't you request a trade and decided to go to the KHL?

I thought this would be the right thing to do. First of all, for me. And also as a matter of respect to Columbus as an organization.

• The blockbuster news of the morning is that the Chicago Blackhawks are close to signing Jonathan Toews(notes), Patrick Kane(notes) AND Duncan Keith(notes) to new deals, well ahead of restricted free agency for all three amigos. We covered the potential signings yesterday, and the mysteries remain: What will Kane and Toews be paid, and how long will Keith sign for when he could be unrestricted in 2011 with a one-year deal. [Tribune, Sun Times, and a witty Photoshop from Windy City Hockey]

• Kane. Toews. Hossa. On the same line. SICK. [ESPN Chicago, via Twitter]

• "Unless he's run over by a Zamboni or something goes awry at the Hair Cuttery, Alex Ovechkin(notes) returns to the ice tonight, when the Caps take on the New York Blueshirts." [NBC Washington]

• JP writes the book on Washington Capitals goalie Seymon Varlamov, and it's called "From Russia Without Glove(side.)" In other Caps goaltending news, Jose Theodore(notes) took leave from the team for personal reasons but Washington Post writer Tarik El-Bashir reports it should only be for one game. [Japers Rink]

• On Carey Price(notes): "At this time a year ago, Canadiens fans were firmly behind their franchise goalie - now they're on the cusp of eating him alive." [Canes Country]

• Math makes our brains hurt, but this piece by Behind The Net on the Toronto Maple Leafs' "percentage odds" of making the playoffs is a brilliant needle for the Toronto Star's hot-air balloon about the Leafs missing the cut. [Behind The Net]

• Attention Canes and Leafs Bruins fans: Top draft prospect Taylor Hall is now ranked No. 2 by Central Scouting for the OHL, behind Plymouth Whalers forward Tyler Seguin. [Hockey or Die]

• "Battle of the Blades" will have a second season on CBC with a new group of ex-hockey players; we demand more Proberts, less Richers. Interesting note that 40 percent of the audience for this show was male. Because no matter how many deny it, men love the idea that some meathead is going to drop a good-looking broad on her face. They don't watch NASCAR for the pit stops and they don't read lad mags for the articles. These are eternal truths. [Truth & Rumours]

• The National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) together raised more than $650,000 in support of Hockey Fights Cancer and other cancer-related organizations during October's Awareness Month. [NHL]

• Buddha uses our interview with the Florida Panthers' new co-managing partner as a jumping-off point for an interesting blog about "non-traditional" hockey markets and attracting fans. [Hockey Wilderness]

• The Colorado Avalanche recall forward Chris Durno(notes) from the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League. He led the Monsters with seven goals. [Avs]

• Hey, remember when Matt Duchene(notes) was kicking ass and looking like a Calder candidate? Yeah, not so much. [Frei]

• Peter Forsberg(notes) and Markus Naslund(notes) intend to play together on Modo for free. Ken Holland just spit out his coffee. [Nucks Misconduct]

• The Battle of Ontario is still the Battle of Ontario. [Sportsnet]

• CHICKEN WINGS UPDATE: There's an app for that. [Rovell]

• Weird Crap One Finds When Searching for All-Decade Photos, Vol. 1: Kelly Buchberger and a Los Angeles Kings fan, 2000. [Getty]

• Have the Anaheim Ducks tuned out Coach Randy Carlyle? Todd Marchant(notes): "Are people not listening to the coach? I don't see that at all. I've never seen that at all. I've never seen where players don't listen to the coach. ... For whatever reason, things just don't work out the way you want them to. They don't work out the way you draw them up." [Ducks Blog]

• The New Jersey Devils Travis Zajac(notes) on losing at the Philadelphia Flyers last night: "We knew we weren't going to win 41 on the road." No one likes a pessimist, sir. [Star-Ledger]

• Lowetide on a top Edmonton Oilers prospect: "I think Jordan Eberle(notes) may be approaching a level where we can begin to talk about him skipping Triple A and making the big club." [Lowetide]

• It's not our fight, but it is an interesting debate in Chicago whether or not to retire Jeremy Roenick's(notes) number with the Blackhawks. Didn't play long enough, never won a Cup vs. beloved player status. [Between The Circles]

• The ESPN doc on Gretzky will be shown on Wed. night on TSN. [TSN]

• Malik with a diagnosis for the current state of the Detroit Red Wings: "The blueprint thus far seems to emphasize a renewed commitment in terms of attention to detail, especially on defense, buying into the concept that, unlike last season, the team cannot simply float for forty or fifty minutes before exploding offensively, and that the supporting cast cannot assume that the now-absent point producers will get the scoring job (or preventing goals job) done for them, regardless of their age or experience." [Snapshots]

• We're big fans of Brandon Worley, and he's now the hockey blog overlord at SB Nation, taking over for Mirtle, who will soon be the best writer on the Leafs beat. And no doubt the tallest. Congrats to all. [Defending Big D]

• Tapeleg presents some easy ways to read copious amounts of hockey blogs. Speaking of which: Do any of you use mobile devices to read Puck Daddy? If so, does it display Ok? [Jerseys and Hockey Love]

• Finally, the Pittsburgh Penguins continue to lead the league in positive PR within their community. [The Confluence]

(No, the first decade of the 21st century doesn't technically end until 2011. Save your bellyaching. But we've had nine NHL seasons and one stolen from us since 1999-2000, and Yahoo! Sports has decided it's time to rank the best and worst of the last "decade." Enjoy, and snark freely in the comments.)

As we continue our rankings of the best and worst in the last decade, it's time to look back at the worst teams that the 2000s have produced.

Sixteen teams make the National Hockey League playoffs every spring. Fourteen start their summer vacation early. And of those 14, a handful place their hopes in a ping-pong ball, thinking that if it lands just right, their future fortunes may change. It's an annual rite and for some franchises, the pain of losing and putting a bad hockey product on the ice takes much longer than anticipated.

Some teams have excuses for poor seasons: injuries, declining production in players, and bad luck all play a part in making a bad hockey team.

While there have been a lot of good hockey teams this decade, there have also been a lot of bad ones.

With that, the 10 worst teams of the past decade are ...

10. 2000-01 Tampa Bay Lightning 24-47-6-5 (59 points, 29th in the NHL)

Three years before they won the Stanley Cup, the Tampa core of Vincent Lecavalier(notes), Brad Richards(notes) and Martin St. Louis(notes) began their first season together. It was a third-straight season of progress and the beginnings of a championship team. Midway through the season, head coach Steve Ludzik was fired and John Tortorella was brought in along with a new attitude to the team. Torts didn't bring about immediate change in the standings, but the seeds were planted, even after a stretch midseason where the Lightning managed just three wins in 21 games.

9. 2003-04 Chicago Blackhawks 20-43-11-8 (59 points, tied for 29th in NHL)

With the recent success of the Blackhawks, it seems so long since they were irrelevant and buried under the tight-fist of former owner Bill Wirtz. Highly touted rookie Tuomo Ruutu(notes) made his debut in Chicago in '03 and brought hope that the youth movement on GM Mike Smith's(notes) watch would eventually pay dividends. Ruutu had a successful rookie campaign with 44 points, but the lack of a consistent presence in net saw six goaltenders between the pipes during the season.

8. 2002-03 Carolina Hurricanes 22-43-11-6 (61 points, 30th in the NHL)

Things should have been rosy for the ‘Canes in coming off a Stanley Cup appearance and losing only Martin Gelinas(notes) as a regular from the lineup in the off-season. However, Arturs Irbe took a step back, winning just seven games after a 20-win season in '02 and there was a regular rotation of Carolina players coming in and out of the trainers' room. At one point, the Hurricanes went 1-12-0-3 in a 16 game stretch and lost both Rod Brind'Amour(notes) and Erik Cole(notes) to injury, derailing any hopes of a turnaround.

7. 2003-04 Washington Capitals 23-46-10-3 (59 points, tied for 29th in the NHL)

Deciding to go with youth was the goal for the Caps in '03-04. Jaromir Jagr(notes), Sergei Gonchar(notes), Robert Lang(notes) and Peter Bondra(notes) were some of the big money makers on the roster who were dealt away in order to let the kids play. At the end of the rainbow would eventually be Alexander Ovechkin and Mike Green(notes) as two of their three first-round picks in the 2004 NHL Draft. In goal, after three 30-win seasons, Olaf Kolzig(notes) won just 19 games as the talent that was once in front of him slowly disappeared.

6. 2005-06 St. Louis Blues 21-46-15 (57 points, 30th in NHL)

The year after the lockout was a funny one. Teams were dealing the effects of the salary cap floor and ceiling for the first team, and trying to mold their rosters around how the "new" NHL was going to be played. The new style of hockey that was brought on by the lockout was meant for younger, faster players, but the '05-06 Blues went veteran heavy. Eight of their ten leading scorers were over the age of 30, including 38-year old Scott Young and 35-year old Doug Weight(notes) who would be dealt later in the season to the eventually Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes.

St. Louis' 25-year long playoff streak came to an end as a new era was ushered in as Dave Checketts bought the team from the Laurie family. Erik Johnson(notes) was the reward for the Blues' third-worst season in franchise history.

5. 2001-02 Columbus Blue Jackets 22-47-8-5 (57 points, 29th in the NHL)

Progress was hoped for in Columbus' second season in the NHL, but their poor showing was rewarded with selecting Rick Nash(notes) No. 1 overall the following June, so it wasn't all bad in the end. Ron Tugnutt and Marc Denis(notes) kept the net warm while '01 first-round pick Pascal Leclaire(notes) finished out his junior career. Led by younger versions of Ray Whitney(notes) and Mike Sillinger(notes) (only on his eighth team back then), the Blue Jackets started out of the gate very slow, winning just one game in their opening 13.

4. 2006-07 Philadelphia Flyers 22-48-12 (56 points, 30th in the NHL)

The summer of 2006 saw plenty of turnover for the Flyers, as they lost Keith Primeau, Kim Johnsson(notes), Michal Handzus(notes) and Eric Desjardins. New team captain Peter Forsberg(notes) was limited by that pesky foot and played just 40 games. Eight games into the season saw turnover in the management sector as GM Bobby Clarke resigned and head coach Ken Hitchcock was fired. The current head coach/GM battery of John Stevens and Paul Holmgren took over, but it wasn't enough to save the Flyers from their worst season in franchise history where they declined 45 points from the 2005-06 season.

3. 2003-04 Pittsburgh Penguins 23-47-8-4 (58 points, 30th in NHL)

Three key stats to point out: Rico Fata(notes) minus-46. Dick Tarnstrom(notes) minus-37. Mario Lemieux coming off a 91-point season: 10 games played. This Penguins team was dubbed the "X-Generation", but the Ramzi Abids, Matt Bradleys and Fatas would not see a long future in Pittsburgh and weren't the seeds that helped grow the franchise into a Stanley Cup winner. Before there was success, there were a bevy of bumps.

Most memorable about the '03-04 season, besides 2003 No. 1 overall pick Marc-Andre Fleury's(notes) NHL debut, was the 18-game losing streak the Penguins went on from Jan. 13 to Feb. 25. Half of those games saw Pittsburgh allow five goals or more.

Yeah, the defense was pretty bad. 

2. 2000-01 New York Islanders 21-51-7-3 (52 points, 30th in the NHL)

A busy summer in 2000 still haunts the Islanders to this day. First, the previous spring saw new owners Sanjay Kumar and Charles Wang of Computer Associates fame take over the team. Next, at the NHL Entry Draft, with the Islanders brass in love with Rick DiPietro(notes), general manager Mike Milbury decided to trade Roberto Luongo(notes) to the Florida Panthers and thus Mad Mike's legend grew. This season would also be young Zdeno Chara's(notes) last in an Islanders uniform, as he was shipped to Ottawa in a deal for Alexei Yashin(notes) at the 2001 Draft.

Islander fans saw eight losing streaks of three games or more, including separate eight and seven game streaks. They finished out of the playoffs for the seventh straight season and had twelve players finish in double digits as a minus.

1. 2001-02 Atlanta Thrashers 19-47-11-5 (54 points, 30th in the NHL)

There was a lot of promise on this Thrashers squad. Dany Heatley(notes) and Ilya Kovalchuk(notes) led the team in scoring as rookies, but the supporting cast couldn't find the back of the net often when the duo weren't on the ice. Like with all bad teams, goaltending was the key issue. Milan Hnilicka(notes) was "the man," but only could win 13 games in 60 appearances. He'd played in just 23 more games in the NHL. Of the 44 skaters who wore a Thrashers uniform, only two, Yuri Butsayev and Ben Simon(notes), recorded plus ratings. The power play was especially brutal finishing 29th in the NHL with a 12 percent success rate.

Falling behind was also a knock against Atlanta who was 1-26-5-1 when trailing after the first period and 0-38-5-2 when having to come from behind after two periods.

Heatley and Kovalchuk combined for 55 of the Thrashers' 187 goals. If either of those two were having an off night, might as well close the curtain.

The Florida Panthers play in a city called Sunrise, a moniker in juxtaposition with the notion suggested by some in the hockey world that the sun is slowly setting on this 16-year-old franchise.

The Globe & Mail greeted Stu Siegel and Cliff Viner, announced at the new majority owners of the Panthers yesterday, with a sobering assessment of the team's fortunes, or lack thereof. That Florida didn't turn a profit under Alan Cohen, missing the playoffs in all eight of his years as majority owner; that Cohen was losing $20 million a year, and that the Panthers owe $80 million to MSD Capital, which is -- cue ominous music -- the same amount to the same investment firm that the Phoenix Coyotes owed before Jerry Moyes put them into bankruptcy and attempted to sell them to Jim Balsillie.

As David Shoalts wrote:

Viner and Siegel, two Boca Raton businessmen who describe themselves as "passionate hockey fans" are not inheriting a situation as bad as the Coyotes, but the Panthers are considered the second-worst financial basket case in the NHL.

"Basket case" is something to which Siegel (pictured middle) might take offense. The quote/unquote around "passionate hockey fans" is, however, the antithesis of Stu Siegel and his roots on Long Island.

"I actually started playing ice hockey the first year the Islanders came into the League in 1972. One of the original Islanders lived across the street from me, rented the house. We always played street hockey when I was younger, and then took on ice hockey," said Siegel, who used to pretend he was Denis Potvin while playing street hockey.

He still plays, as he did at the University of Pennsylvania. In his second year as a Panthers owner, Siegel got into this often difficult business for many reasons, but passion for hockey was prominent on the list.

As he and Viner take over the Panthers as co-general partners, Siegel spoke with us about the Panthers getting the Phoenix label; whether he plans on selling the franchise; winning fans on and off the ice; whether Florida needs a star player to succeed; and a peek into his life as a hockey fan.

But first, we wanted to know if Siegel regretted labeling their taking over the Panthers as a sign of mental instability. 

Q. Now that the quote's been picked up everywhere, do you regret telling the Sun-Sentinel that "we're the only crazy ones that would do this" in taking over the Panthers?

SIEGEL: [Laughs] You know, it was taken a little out of context. I was trying to say that, you know, Cliff and myself are huge Panthers fans and hockey fans. We want to be accessible to the fans and all the constituents. That we want to cheer with them when things are good, we want to cry with them when things are bad.

The crazy thing was that we're crazy about this and crazy about hockey.

If someone says, "Florida is another Phoenix," what do you say to that?

Absolutely not. It's not even a good comparison at all.

Is it because you own your own building?

Well, I don't know the specifics of the Phoenix lease and their situation. And we don't own our own building, but we have operating control over it.

But just from a financial standpoint, a few things: One, we have great support from our ownership. All that's been written about Alan Cohen and the ownership group hasn't been reported accurately. Alan just wanted to step back a bit, and he's still involved in a pretty major way here. He just didn't want to be the guy in charge, day to day. He still holds a stake in the organization. Cliff and myself were natural guys to [take over] since we've probably the most involved owners here.

You're not becoming majority owners to then re-sell the team? You're in for the long haul?

Absolutely, yeah.

How does life change for the organization with the ownership moves?

People [in the hockey media] come down on us, and for good reason. We haven't been in the playoffs since the year 2000. This would be 10 years, nine seasons if we don't make it this year. Deservedly, we just haven't had a winning culture in our organization. Both Cliff and myself feel that we're winners, and we see the organizational issues. Our No. 1 goal is to develop a winning culture, and one that's sustainable over the long term.

When you talk about trying to get the folks in the area excited about hockey, the first thing anyone's going to say is "make a splash": Sign a free agent, retain a free agent. How does creating more excitement for the franchise translate into payroll?

We don't believe that it's how much you spend; it's what you spend it on. I think, overall, there are very few high-impact free agents out there that are available or affordable. Every year, there are only one or two that are on the block.

But we're not going to rest until we build this team into what we want it to be. If you're doing trades, it takes two to tango. In free agency, it gets expensive, and you have to balance [payroll] in this capped world.

It's an interesting concept you've hinted at: That there are very few players in the current NHL that you could acquire and then market to a general sports fan as a gate attraction. Look at the Atlanta Thrashers: They have a legit star in Ilya Kovalchuk(notes), but what does that mean for a general sports fan in Atlanta? Is he Ovechkin to them, or just a guy with a funny name?

That's a good example, right? That one superstar, arguably one of the top 10 players in the League. And the market doesn't know who he is, or they're not marketing him properly.

There are few extremely marketable players in the League: Crosby, Ovechkin ... there aren't that many.

People look at us and say we don't have any stars on our team. I would argue, "What makes a star?" I would argue that a guy like David Booth(notes) is a star or pretty close to that. Had a great season, keeps getting better and better. Unfortunately, he got knocked out a few weeks ago. Great guy, great worker.

But in a market like ours, probably like what Atlanta's seeing with Kovalchuk, it's hard to market a star.

We've made the argument quite often that people don't understand how difficult it is to grow a fan base when you don't make the playoffs. Is it as simple as that for the Panthers in the last decade? Would things be different in the stands now?

I believe so. The more years you go without making the playoffs definitely hurts and dwindles the fan base as people get frustrated.

We're in a really interesting market. The northerners and the Canadians especially refer to this market as a "non-hockey market." I would argue against that significantly.

What's interesting about this market is that not that many people come from here. They all come from up north, so there are tons of Canadians down here and New Yorkers and New Englanders and Philadelpians. There are a lot of people who have hockey in their background and hockey in their culture. We're also a market of snow birds who come down only for the winter, which is great for us because it's hockey season. We're also a huge market for tourism, and when we have games against teams like Montreal and Toronto and New York, we have a huge number of people in our building cheering for the visiting team.

There are a ton of hockey fans down here; we haven't done a good job of converting them into Panthers fans.

The market is ripe. If we were to be successful, I think people would jump on the bandwagon and get involved in it. We haven't given people enough to cheer for on the ice.

Is there anything beyond the lack of success that keeps people away from the team?

While we haven't given people a lot to cheer for on the ice, we also haven't given them much to cheer for off the ice. From a marketing standpoint or a community involvement standpoint, we just haven't been out there as well as we can be.

I joined the ownership group about a year and a half ago, and I immediately took on a role that I thought was lacking: Running the Florida Panthers Organization, which is our philanthropic arm. And I've been working to make it more relevant in the community. We've instituted programs like Stick To Fitness, which helps conquer childhood obesity in local schools.

There's lots of opportunities for us to get out there. Someone just has to help our players to do that. They all really want to do it, but our players are busy; they tend to be young guys, and sometimes they need someone to show them the way.

We had a great little Thanksgiving dinner last week: 10 families, selected from the Boys and Girls Club, and got a restaurant to host a Thanksgiving dinner. A bunch of players, our coach and the Ice Dancers were there. It was a really nice night, just giving back to the community.

Finally, you're on the record as an Islanders fan early in life and a Panthers fan now. Do you own any jerseys that are near and dear to your heart?

I have a whole collection of hockey jerseys. But probably my most near and dear one is my jersey from back in my playing days at the University of Pennsylvania.

Unfortunately, someone during the course of time threw it in the dryer. And it was a jersey that wasn't supposed to go in the dryer; so not only does it not fit over my pads anymore, but it barely fits without pads either.

So you still skate?

Yeah, I still play, in a couple of men's leagues down here. I'm still young. I'm only 46.

I'm younger than Chelios ...

No. 1 Star: Matt Moulson(notes), New York Islanders

Simple concept: Go to the net. It's what Moulson does well, and it's the reason he scored two goals in the Islanders' 4-1 win at the Boston Bruins. Moulson scored on a scramble in front of Tuukka Rask(notes) (17 saves) for the game's first goal, and then deflected home a Richard Park(notes) pass after a Boston turnover for his 10th of the season. It appeared Moulson scored a hat-trick later in the game, but the goal was correctly rewarded to John Tavares(notes). 

No. 2 Star: Vincent Lecavalier(notes), Tampa Bay Lightning

A couple of soft goals against Jason LaBarbera(notes), but goals nonetheless. Vinny's backhander in the first gave Tampa a 1-0 lead, and he ended the scoring with a shot that ricocheted off the goalie into the net. The Lightning win on the road, 4-1, against the suddenly slumping Phoenix Coyotes; Lecavalier, who also assisted on a Marty St. Louis goal, now has four tallies on the season. It was his first multi-goal games of the season.

No. 3 star: Jack Johnson(notes), Los Angeles Kings

The Kings defenseman's power-play goal cut the Florida Panthers' lead to 2-1 in the second, and he would eventually score the lone goal of the shootout to give Los Angeles a 4-3 road win in Sunrise. He nearly had a chance to end the game in the overtime but couldn't control the puck on a breakaway.

Honorable mention: The Philadelphia Flyers played extremely well in front of Ray Emery(notes) (33 saves), at one point rendering the New Jersey Devils shot-less for 12 minutes, in their 3-2 victory that snapped the Devils' 9-game road winning streak -- one win short of tying the Buffalo Sabres' 2006 record. ... Zach Parise(notes) scored his 11th at the buzzer for the Devils. ... Backup Mathieu Garon(notes) made 23 saves before outdueling Nikolai Khabibulin(notes) in the shootout, giving the Columbus Blue Jackets a 3-2 win. Jakub Voracek(notes) had the game-winning tally in the shootout. ... Terrific win for the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-2 over the Anaheim Ducks, as they played without four key defensemen. Matt Cooke(notes) had two goals, Jordan Staal(notes) scored a shorthanded goal and Marc-Andre Fleury(notes) had 23 saves. ... Finally, the pair of Jamie Salé and former Oiler Craig Simpson won the inaugural "Battle of the Blades" figure skating competition on CBC, earning $100,000 for charity. Better luck next time, Claude. 

Did you know?: Don't look now, but the Islanders (21 games, 8 wins) and Rangers (20 games, 11 wins) both have 23 points in the Eastern Conference.

Dishonorable mention: Among the injuries to keep an eye on are Ryan Smyth(notes) (upper body) for the Kings and Peter Mueller(notes) (lower body) for the Coyotes. ... Patrice Bergeron(notes) was a minus-4 for the Bruins. ... Ryan Whitney(notes) was a minus-3 in front of his old fans in Pittsburgh. ... On the day Gary Bettman was in town to work out lease details with Glendale, the Coyotes drew an announced crowd of 9,503. ... Finally, Nikita Filatov(notes) might leave to play in Russia for a while, apparently because the KHL either doesn't require fighting for the puck or its young players to mature.

Here are your Puck Previews: Spotlighting the key games in NHL action, news and views as well as general frivolity. Make sure to stop back here for the nightly Three Stars when the games are finished.

Preview: New Jersey Devils at Philadelphia Flyers, 7 p.m. EST. A win in Philly gives the Devils a 10-0-0 start on the road, tying a Buffalo Sabres' mark from 2006. Ah, the catch: Martin Brodeur(notes) has lost five of six starts against the Bullies and his last three at Wachovia Center. Should be a good one; enjoy it, everyone but DirecTV subscribers.

Preview: Anaheim Ducks at Pittsburgh Penguins, 7:30 p.m. EST. Due to injuries, the Penguins' top defensive pairing right now is Mark Eaton(notes) and Jay McKee(notes), who aren't exactly Lidstrom and Rafalski when it comes to puck-moving defensemen. Fed up by constant visitations by the injury bug, Pensburgh presents the Top 9 Penguins Injuries That Have Yet To Occur. J.S. Giguere gets the nod for the Ducks, and Kyle Calder(notes) is expected to be in the lineup.

Check out the Y! Sports scores and schedule page for previews of the other games tonight.

Evening Reading

• From Kevin Allen of USA Today: "Frightening stat of week: Hurricanes on pace for 43 points. We haven't seen a NHL team under 52 since expansion Atlanta had 39 in 1999-00." [@kausatoday]

• One man's take on the USA Hockey roster for 2010. [Pete Prose]

• Fantastic read by Eric Duhatschek on Wayne Gretzky and his sabbatical from hockey. [Globe & Mail]

• Could Jonathan Cheechoo(notes) of the Ottawa Senators be done at 29? [Kennedy]

• Tuukka Rask(notes) gets the start for the Boston Bruins against the New York Islanders. [NESN]

• Meanwhile, huge start tonight for Mike Smith(notes) as Antero Niittymaki(notes) rides the pine for the first time in six games for the Tampa Bay Lightning. [Bolts Report]

• Interesting marketing pitch from the Lightning, by the way, as they ask for photos from fans around the world. [Raw Charge]

Puck Buddy Comment of the Day: From Mat M., commenting on the "Toronto Maple Lefas" fan photo:

The Leafs spell their name wrong anyway. They should be the Leaves.

True dat.

Bold Prediction: There's a shutout in the Oilers/Jackets game, and Nikolai Khabibulin(notes) pitches it. (Predicted before the game, we'll have you know.)

You can find a bunch of clips on YouTube ahead of tonight's finale at Maple Leaf Gardens, as former Edmonton Oilers forward Craig Simpson, former New Jersey Devils winger Stéphane Richer and former Colorado Avalanche sweetheart Claude Lemieux(notes) will find out who wins the ex-hockey-players-go-figure-skating competition to claim $100,000 for charity.

We wish we could watch it here in D.C., like fans in the northern states can; and yes, more-than-partially because of the babes. Why isn't it on NHL Network U.S., like CBC's "Hockey Night in Canada" coverage?

Well, for starters no one knew it was going to kill in the ratings like it has. Watching Tie Domi and Bob Probert attempt double-axels was good for a certain amount of initial curiosity; no one was sure the audience would hold as it has, and that the product would remain entertaining.

But from what I've been able to gather, there's a difference for the NHL Network between using CBC coverage of live games with current players and simulcasting a show featuring former players in a non-hockey competition. "Battle of the Blades," though entertaining, doesn't necessarily fit the mission for NHLN.

Still ... figure skating, hockey tough guys who played in U.S. markets like Detroit, New York, Chicago and Denver; you'd figure someone would have grabbed this. Maybe importing that sexy hockey wives soap opera scared off Lifetime Network or something.

Oh well, good luck to the competitors. May your sequins shine bright and your pants remain tight. If you want a sense of the show, check out this clip featuring Shae-Lynn Bourne and Claude Lemieux skating to "Hallelujah" ... which Claude actually sings as well.

Heck of a voice for a turtle.

(Emphasis, as always on "this season" for Foppa.)

From the White Towel:

"My understanding is Peter is going to stay and play in MoDo and he won't return to the NHL this year," Canucks general manager Mike Gillis said. "He made it [the decision] because it's more of a day-to-day thing with his foot as opposed to a situation where he's confident he can play.

"I think it's a tribute to him that he didn't want to put himself in a position where he's taking a roster spot and not being an everyday player on an NHL team."

Yeah, imagine a Swedish, past-his-prime hockey star simply taking up a roster spot and not playing to the value of his contract. In, like, Vancouver.

Nucks Misconduct adds an interesting note about what might be helping to keep Forsberg in Sweden:

Rumors now persist that Markus Naslund(notes), club director of Modo will come out of retirement and play with his good buddy. That has not been confirmed, and Naslund has told the Swedish papers recently that he has no regrets about retiring. We shall see about that. Naslund has wanted to play with Forsberg for a long, long time now. It just never worked out at the NHL level.

His flirtation with the NHL and the KHL this year threatened to spawn several dozen "Forsberg is Swedish for Favre" jokes, so it's refreshing to see the definitive answer arrive. But it's also a shame he's not healthy enough for another round in the NHL, because he could have helped several teams, Vancouver chief among them. Just like there's no denying his fragility, there's also no denying his productivity, even at less-than-healthy.

So he'll stay in Sweden, and attempt to show the Swedish Olympic coaches that he won't break down during the 2010 Games should he make the roster. Let's hope he makes the cut; it's about time for another commemorative stamp, right?

Baum-Cohen looks at how teams are faring -- the Atlanta Thrashers are 7-1? -- and proposes a few changes that would increase the fun factor in the NHL's shootout, like expanding to five shooters like the AHL has.

Yet it's this proposal that's grabbed our attention:

Shootouts in many European leagues have three shooters for each team followed by sudden death.  Unlike the NHL, after the third shooter the same shooter can shoot as many times as he wants.  This format would allow, in a tied shootout, Ovechkin and Crosby to battle until one player scored and one was stopped.  It would also prevent a situation where players such as Brad May(notes) and Brooks Orpik(notes) shoot to decide the game. 

What's interesting about Baum-Cohen's "let the stars shoot" proposal is that it's going against the grain for shootouts in North American hockey. Before this season, the AHL would allow teams in shootouts that went beyond five skaters to use those same five skaters again in "extra rounds." But the League changed its shootout rules over the summer, ensuring that "no player may shoot twice until all eligible players have gone once," like in the NHL.

(The AHL told us today that the tweak in their shootout format hasn't dramatically altered the length of their overtime sessions, although it's still a small sample on which to judge.)

As we said at the time:

For entertainment value, does a fan want to see Sidney Crosby(notes) twice or Tyler Kennedy(notes) once? The altruistic format that gets all players involved is attempting to give a shameless exhibition some semblance of competitive fairness. Hell, there might even be more drama to see a player who failed in the first cycle seek redemption in the second five.

If we're going to artificially finish games with skills competitions that are made for tidy conclusions and made-for-TV highlights, then have the best players decide it. Two questions:

1. Pass or Fail: After the initial rounds, the NHL should allow players to have multiple attempts in the shootout at the coaches' discretion and without restrictions.

2. What is your ideal format for the shootout? (Note: "Not having one" is not an acceptable answer.)

• Puck Buddy Bart sent in this photo from the Toronto Maple Lefas Leafs game at Chicago. "I thought you might enjoy this picture of Leafs fans having spelling issues. Mr. 'F' threw up in his cup in third period and the whole crew was kicked out. Stay classy!" Obviously, it's hard to verify that last statement but, uh, yuck.

• Alex Goligoski(notes) is out 2-3 weeks with a lower body injury, joining Sergei Gonchar(notes), Kris Letang(notes) and Brooks Orpik(notes) in street clothes as the Pittsburgh Penguins take on the Anaheim Ducks. Sewickley, PA's own Nate Guenin(notes) is called up for reinforcement. No word if Ray Shero asked the Ducks about renting Ryan Whitney(notes) for the night. [Tribune-Review]

• Joe Sacco called Saturday's game against the Canucks a "must win," and they lost. For a 12-5-3 team that's second in the conference. Coaches make rookie mistakes, too. [All Things Avs]

• There's been a bit of an ownership switcheroo with the Florida Panthers; meet the former minority-now-majority owners at their 1:30 p.m. presser on the Panthers' Web site. [Panthers]

• Interesting Larry Brooks column on Sean Avery(notes) of the New York Rangers, or what Brooks calls A.I.N.O. (Avery In Name Only). "Avery has been playing on tiptoes, as if walking a tightrope. He has largely been a cipher, reluctant to engage opponents. Fact is, Avery has been playing as if afraid that one mistake would consign him to the bench." [NY Post]

• Detroit Red Wings left wing Henrik Zetterberg(notes), Atlanta Thrashers left wing Ilya Kovalchuk(notes) and Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller(notes) have been named the NHL 'Three Stars' for the week ending Nov. 15. [NHL]

• Alex Ovechkin(notes) is fully practicing with the Washington Capitals in anticipation of the team's national television game against the New York Rangers on Tuesday. Even more interesting: He's practicing on the power play in front of the net rather than on the point, with Mike Knuble(notes) out of the lineup. Must be a whole new world seeing slap shots whizzing by his head instead of being the whizzer. [Capitals Insider]

• In defense of the trap. Yes, the New Jersey Devils' soul-crushing, excitement-draining, popularity-dampening defensive system. From a Pittsburgh writer, no less. [Tribune-Review]

• The 12 reasons why The Pensblog dislikes Chris Bourque(notes). Until we see proper documentation, we're considering this 11 reasons and baseless speculation about Creed. [Pensblog]

• Dave "The Hammer" Schultz will enter the Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Fame this evening, and Broad Street Hockey pays him homage: "Dave Schultz may have only been a Flyer for four seasons, but those were four years that defined his career, his life, and an era of Philadelphia hockey." [Broad Street Hockey, and check out our own two-part interview with The Hammer from last year]

• Bobby Clarke believes Eric Lindros(notes) should be a Hall of Famer, which is either a sympathy vote or an attempt to justify trading Peter Forsberg(notes) and a Colorado Stanley Cup for him. [Philly.com]

• George James Malik with his usual sobering, insightful coverage of the latest NHLPA infighting. [Snapshots]

• Interesting column that argues for only one outdoor game in the NHL each season and only on Jan. 1, which misses the Canadian elephant in the room: When, exactly, will the NHL allow a team from north of the border into a television event in which Canadian ratings will not count towards U.S. Nielsen numbers? [Sportsnet]

• This Planet Hockey jersey has to be one of the most horrific things we've ever seen. It's like the lizard aliens from 'V' took over the Blue Jackets' logo. [eBay, thanks to Puck Buddy Jason]

• Lepore presents "Hockey in the Zeitgeist," a feature that seeks to explore hockey references in popular culture. Looking at his list, we're not sure where WWF's  The Goon fits in; all we know is that it better fit in. [Puck The Media]

• Andy Murray gives the St. Louis Blues some nap times. OK, technically it's time off, but we'll assume it was used to cuddling up with their wubbies. [Dispatch]

• Interesting perspective on the Allan Walsh/Montreal Canadiens Twitter flap from Jay Feaster, in the sense that it's a former GM examining the agent's outspoken online actions. [THN]

• Matt Cullen(notes) to the Blackhawks? [Canes Country]

• Spector has mucho trade talk on THN, including his take on the Cullen scuttlebutt. [THN]

• The Tampa Bay Lightning send down Ryan Craig(notes) and defenseman Matt Smaby(notes) to AHL Norfolk. [Lightning Strikes]

• Brent Burns(notes) has probably played himself off the Canadian Olympic team by being rather awful for the Minnesota Wild this season. What, exactly, happened to this guy? [Pucks Gone Wild]

• First-person essays on hockey road trips are money. Here's a New York Rangers fan's adventures in Ottawa. (In Kanata, to be accurate.) We're sure the noose went over well. [Blueshirt Banter]

• Finally, this ice-level fight between Tony Turgeon and Nate Baumbick from the Waterloo Black Hawks at Lincoln Stars game on Saturday offered an interesting view. [Hockey Fights]

Via Capgeek, the Blackhawks have roughly $13.47 million in available cap space after next off-season's free agents come off the books; which is why the majority of hockey pundits have questioned how, exactly, Chicago keeps restricted free agents Kane, Toews and defenseman Duncan Keith(notes).

Yet LeBrun writes to expect new deals for Kane and Toews within the next two weeks. Does that mean we're watching Keith's last season in Chicago?

The timing of the Kane and Toews signings would be interesting. It would establish concrete numbers for next year's payroll; not only for the Blackhawks but for teams looking to snag a high-salaried Chicago player (Patrick Sharp(notes), Dustin Byfuglien(notes)) the team might still have to shed in order to keep their star free agents.

Also interesting: The potential numbers. LeBrun doesn't cite any specifics, but logic would dictate that they're both going to fall between Cristobal Huet's(notes) $5.625 million (the highest non-Brian Campbell(notes) salary on the roster) and the "hometown" discounts ($8.7 million per season) Sidney Crosby(notes) and Evgeni Malkin(notes) gave the Pittsburgh Penguins during their post-rookie contracts.

If it's lower than that, it'll still be in league with something like Phil Kessel's $5.4 million annually over five years. (Anything less, and forget the Indian: Toews and Kane should be committed to a mental healthy facility.)

But as agent Pat Brisson closes in on deals for Frodo and Samwise, it becomes the Duncan Keith Show. Talks with GM Stan Bowman and Keith's agent started before the season, and it'll be interesting to see how those dynamics change once Kane and Toews sign.

As Jessie Rogers pointed out on ESPN Chicago, Keith's in a different position than the other two since he'll be unrestricted in Summer 2011. Does that give him extra leverage with Chicago? Does that make him more or less appealing to an offer sheet as an RFA?

We've been told on numerous occasions by hockey smarties that Keith is the best defenseman on the Chicago roster (leading in TOI at 26:35 and shorthanded TOI 3:37) and, because of that, should take priority over Toews and Kane. But that's the hockey argument; getting the forwards signed is the PR argument, and image has been everything for the Blackhawks during their resurgence -- so 20 Cent and Captain Marvel get done first.

Keith? Like Red Light District opined, we're still not entirely convinced they can keep him, considering the salary cap constraints. It's hard to find anyone on or off the record willing to predict they can retain Kane, Toews and Keith without moving a significant salary. But we'll all have a better picture of this if and when Kane and Toews make bank.

Which was: "I thought they already were."

His answer perplexed me a little, because there's been such a rabid debate over drastic measures regarding hits to the head during this injurious season. We needed new rules, right? We needed new legislation to eliminate checks involving the head from NHL games; from making certain types of hits illegal to nearing a total ban of contact with an opponent's head.

Clark's matter-of-fact answer was a revelation about how some players feel regarding the potential head-shot rule: They're already illegal, but they're just unenforced.

It's a notion that aligns these players with characters like "Mad" Mike Milbury, who feels new rules about hits to the head are superfluous at best and preposterous at worst.

In a way, shocking as it is. Mike Milbury is right; and his concern speaks to an unspoken facet of the GMs' decision, which is whether we can trust the NHL to actually follow through on its own campaign to lessen dangerous hits to the head.

Glenn Healy, formerly of the NHLPA and now with CBC Sports, often cites that 76 percent of players were in favor of a rule against head shots. But how many of them believe, like Clark, that there are already rules in place to deal with them?

Charging, for example, can be called for any blindside hit that's currently being cited as evidence for the necessity of head-shot rules:

A minor or major penalty shall be imposed on a player or goalkeeper who skates or jumps into, or charges an opponent in any manner.

Charging shall mean the actions of a player or goalkeeper who, as a result of distance traveled, shall violently check an opponent in any manner. A "charge" may be the result of a check into the boards, into the goal frame or in open ice.

That's the point Mike Milbury was trying to make on Hockey Night In Canada this weekend, in between ham-fisted logic like "players have always had concussions, so why not today?" From HNIC:

"Yes, people cross the lines, and when they cross the lines they should be penalized. That's in the hands of [NHL VP] Colin Campbell ... if we think head shots have really come into play, give it to the guy who's already in charge of that stuff. The rules are already in place."

Again, there's no arguing with that opinion: The NHL rulebook has, in several places, rules against harmful physical play that could be applied to any head shot. Mike Richards(notes) on David Booth(notes) of the Florida Panthers? That's charging, by the letter of the law.

The problem, however, is that the law is too vaguely defined and NHL disciplinarians are too docile to define it.

That's what made the general managers' decision to stipulate hits to the head as illegal such a landmark decision for the NHL. It's a level of specificity that doesn't currently exist in the rulebook. Whether you believe this is a change for better or worse, clearly spelling out the conditions for that penalty is going to mean less interpretation for referees and League officials; interpretation that typically involves personal biases on what or isn't a "hockey play" determining the judgment.

Whether or not you believe a hitter is trying to make a play, if he makes contact with another player's head and the rule state that it's illegal, what's a ref going to do, right?

Yet there's still concern that a black-or-white definition of illegality for a hit to the head won't be enough to curb them. From William Houston of Truth and Rumours:

Not said by Milbury is that Campbell, the NHL's senior vice-president in charge of discipline, won't do anything. That's not a problem for Milbury, of course, because he describes himself as a "Neanderthal" who likes things just the way they are.

Still, he's correct when we says that for the most vicious of the head attacks we don't need the NHL general managers wringing their hands - and dragging their feet (apologies for the mixed metaphor) - over how to legislate new rules, as they did last week in Toronto.

Had Campbell adequately addressed the issue three years ago, we wouldn't have a problem today.

The GMs' decision to address the head shots was celebrated as positive, overdue progress for the NHL in protecting their players. But cutting through those vibes is the stone-cold reality from guys like Milbury and Houston: We're assuming the officials who haven't been whistling dangerous pen