Wow. Martin Erat is out for the rest of the season. That’s tough for Nashville, who really haven’t locked down a spot in the playoffs. Even worse, he was hurt by friendly fire — teammate Shea Weber pulled the trigger. The only good news is that the Predators might call up the beloved Jed Ortmeyer, [...]

Like a lot of people, I’m pretty ready for the playoffs to begin. Sometimes the NHL season seems artificially long, like a movie that needs to be trimmed another 15 minutes.
You really see the length of the season in the way teams start strong, falter, and then regain their form. It’s almost like a record [...]

Adrian Dater has a nice long post deconstructing Avs goalie Peter Budaj.
Dater says Budaj needs the eye of the tiger, attributing the goalie’s playing troubles to a lack of intensity.
A friend of Dater’s says Budaj is a slave to his technique, and I think that’s the heart of the issue. Goaltending systems are designed to [...]

So Larry Brooks says the NHL lottery system encourages teams to tank.
I get why Brooks is frustrated, but there just doesn’t seem much anyone can do. Once a team, a team in any sport, knows it’s not going to the post-season, players are going to give up. GMs are going to look ahead and shut [...]

Mike Heika posed an interesting question this morning: why didn’t Sean Avery work in Dallas?
Heika obviously can’t say for sure. My suspicion is that ultimately, Avery’s salary was a source of jealousy and that kept the other players from embracing him. Salary is a huge thing — especially in a league with a salary cap. [...]

Terry Frei had a great piece comparing Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler’s beef with his new coach to Patrick Roy’s beef with Mario Tremblay.
Roy’s beef famously ended with a trade out of Montreal to Colorado.
Of course, one key difference in the two stories is that Patrick Roy was Patrick Roy, while Jay Cutler is [...]

Tim Panaccio says the Sedin twins are supposedly looking for $7 million each per season.
I don’t begrudge anyone their money, but what team can afford $14 million for two players?
Someone needs to explain the salary cap system to the twins. Unless they’re no longer that into playing with each other. Maybe that’s the whole point [...]

First of all, I would like to formally apologize to the St. Louis Blues. Back in February, I teased Jeff Gordon for suggesting the Blues were heading toward a playoff position. This morning, the Blues are just two games out of a spot, helped by last night’s huge win over San Jose. Imagine if the [...]

So after settling down for a brief period in February, Dallas goalie Marty Turco seems to be regressing, getting pulled in the first period last night, his second hook in six starts. Unsurprisingly, Dallas lost to the Blues, tightening the Western Conference playoff race even more.
Dallas coach Dave Tippett told Bill Nichols before the game [...]

Two fun facts to start today:

The Blues have one first period goal in their last 11 games. But they’re also 7-3-1 during that stretch, so maybe that’s working for them.
Flyers coach John Stevens enjoys baking. I had him pegged as a griller, not a baker.

The baking thing comes up in Anthony J. SanFilippo’s column on [...]