The Devils picked a pretty rough time of year to go into a five-game losing skid. I guess the playoffs excite everyone.
Mark Everson has an interesting solution, though: Move checking center John Madden (and his 19 goals) from the checking line to the top scoring line with Brian Gionta and Patrik Elias. While Devils coach Brent Sutter has tried to make the Devils less of a line-matching team than in previous seasons, Madden has primarily been a checking center, even as he moves toward the best offensive season of his career. Obviously, Sutter is worried about sacrificing defense for the prospect of offense, but at this time of year, it's good to remember it doesn't matter if you lose by one goal or ten goals.
Madden's got speed and size. At this point, Sutter has less and less to lose by seeing what Madden can do with Elias and Gionta.

Ted Montgomery has a look at NHL draft busts. I'm not sure what the hook is for the story since we're right in the middle of the push for the playoffs, but I kind of don't care. I'm fascinated by athletes not living up to high expectations.
Interestingly, two of the bust picks mentioned in the article (Jeff Jillson and Jamie Lundmark) now now play together on the AHL Lake Erie Monsters. It's like an All-Disappointment team (depending upon your perspective). Also, the Lake Erie Monsters have a goalie with the best goalie name ever: Mike Wall. If I were an NHL goalie, I would totally change my name to that. Or at least my last name.
Also, Boston Bruin Mark Savard has a broken bone in his back and the Bruins are saying he'll miss at least one more game? Apparently I greatly overestimated the severity of the broken back injury or Savard is the toughest man alive. When I read the story, I was waiting to read that his career was over. So that's great news for the Bruins, since Savard basically sets up goals for everyone else.

TSN's Bob McKenzie conducted an informal survey of GMs and found most are against no-touch icing. I was shocked, because players rushing to beat an icing call always seems so dangerous, and I thought GMs would want to protect their players. Some GMs said that injuries are just a part of the game, which I suppose is true. Apparently the USHL has a hybrid icing policy, where refs can blow their whistles for a no-touch icing when there's any danger of an ugly collision, but also have the latitude to let a skater beat out the icing call.
It seems a little complicated, but if it protects players, it might be worth exploring.
Also, what is it about retirement that makes NHL goalies go crazy? See also: Hasek, Don and Vanbiesbrouck, John.

Wow. What happened to the Stars? How does a team pick up Brad Richards and get worse? They're 1-7-0 in their last eight and Sergei Zubov still isn't quite ready to rejoin the lineup (login info.). I'm not saying coach Dave Tippett is panicking, but but he's starting to juggle lines. When a team is slumping, new lines can be a breath of fresh air, but they can also send the signal that the coach is scared and is trying to figure out some kind of magic formula for a team to start winning.
Of course, if Tippett does have a winning formula in his new lines, I suspect the Blues might be interested in it, also.

How good and how intriguing are the San Jose Sharks?
Tim Panaccio of the Philadelphia Inquirer actually dedicated his Sunday column to them (login info.). And as most people on the West Coast know, the East Coast papers rarely mention Western Conference teams this soon before the playoffs.
But the Sharks are an interesting team. People are starting to notice. The Sharks getting Brian Campbell (along with their acquisition of Joe Thornton) took a solid team and made them something special. They move the puck, they've got speed, but there's a defensive sensibility. Basically, it's a great forecheck that knows the value of a disciplined backcheck. I'm leaning toward the Sharks as my Stanley Cup winner pick.