With Calgary's 6-2 thumping of the Habs, the GM of the Severed Heads got something he has seen little of all season long - more than a single point in a game from his goaltender.
If I were GM of the Lightning I wouldn't trade Vincent Lecavalier to Montreal for a package including Mike Komisarek. However, I would trade Martin St Louis to Pittsburgh for a package including Ryan Whitney.
There are Ohlund for Gionta rumours everywhere. Ignore them.
Pity the Leafs. Everybody knows they are going to tear down the team before the trade deadline, and that Nik Antropov is one of the key pieces to be moved. So Brian Burke goes and throws Antropov under the bus by publicly bitching about his performance and explaining why he won't extend a contract offer to him. Way to raise his trade value.
Curious how Penguin watchers are all screaming about how Crosby needs a winger to maximize his potential, but are utterly silent about Malkin's equally bland wingers. I have trouble believing this silence is because they think Ruslan Fedotenko and Petr Sykora are amazing.
Jay Bouwmeester simply must be traded, and because he is the biggest dominoe out there until he gets moved everybody who thinks they are in the trade talks for him will wait until he goes somewhere before any movement really occurs.
Mats Sundin appears to be alive and well in Vancouver after a slow start.
The lack of contract offers to the Sedin twins is a pretty good indication that they will be on the market if the Canucks aren't a mortal lock to make the playoffs.
If Calgary is going to make a move it will be sooner rather than later. Sutter has a history of pre-emptively striking before the market heats up - which means his moves will occur at least a week before everyone else. The only piece of the puzzle he might move for contract reasons is Cammalleri. Coincidence that Cammalleri is red-hot right now?
Of all the WD2 moves that happened, the most important might be the Knights Templar selecting Scott Clemmensen-G NJ. With Brodeur still out Clemmensen has been getting a lot of starts behind the excellent Devil's defensive system and producing Brodeur-lite numbers. Given the Highlanders were hoping to run with an all-Devils goaltending core down the stretch the loss of Clemmensen means that the kilted-dirt-farmers are forced to rely on much less worthy goaltending and then worry incessantly about whether Brodeur is fully ready even after he returns. It was a move that helped the Knights in the short term, but positively devastated the Highlanders for the stretch drive.
Speaking of Clemmensen, he does seem to be the answer to the age old question about Brodeur - best goalie of all-time or great goalie in an awesome defensive system? It's the latter.
What happened to Jonathon Cheechoo? Once upon a time this guy had 56 goals and this year he'll be lucky to get 30 points.
As far as ressurections go, Patrick Marleau's has been pretty awesome. Me thinks it may be because he has landed a role working as a wing with Joe Thornton. Which also answers the question about what happened to Cheechoo.
If you had to build your team around either Jeff Carter or Mike Richards who would you take? For me the answer is Richards despite Carter's new found goal scoring prowess.
I don't care how good Chara is defensively the Norris should go to Mike Green. We haven't seen his like in a long, long time, and it's beyond refreshing to have a D-man score at a 30 goal+ PPG pace.
All the whining about the Senators offense and especially the play of Jason Spezza is misguided. The problem isn't the top-line, its the blue-line (and the goaltender - but Elliot may actually be the answer for that). None of the D-men except journeyman Kuba will ever be mistaken for a puck mover, and their cement footed passing in the defensive zone is absolutely strangling the teams offense.
Some things never change. Like the fact there is a goaltending controversy in Philadelphia where Niitymaki is now the starter over the struggling Biron. The only person who didn't see that coming was Bob Clarke.
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