Adrian Dater has an interesting question: do we really know what the big deal is about Swedish goalie Jonas Gustavsson?
I think the big deal is that he’s an unproven free agent, so you have the excitement of a rookie coupled with the track record of a veteran. A young veteran.
I’m pretty curious how he’ll pan [...]

I’m shocked Washington’s Sergei Fedorov would leave the NHL for the KHL.
Sure, his best days are behind him, but he was a pretty important part of the Capitals playoff run, serving as a calming influence on the ice. I really thought Washington would try and keep him and Fedorov would try and stay. After all, [...]

How can you not be impressed by the poise and maturity of the Chicago Blackhawks?
Going into Calgary in game seven, you would think a young team like Chicago would collapse under the pressure and expectations. Instead, they went in and won the first round of the playoffs.
The Blackhawks were aided by Calgary playing without defenseman [...]

In a lot of ways, it’s kind of a relief for a coach to be down 4-1 in a game. It frees the coach up to make riskier decisions, since the game is pretty much gone anyway.
Last night, down 4-1 to the Flames, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville rode his third and fourth line to a [...]

Everyone made a big deal about Alex Ovechkin sitting on the Caps bench to watch the Rangers practice before game three.
Maybe he caught some of a passing drill and decided he wanted to pass the puck, too.
After spending the first two games almost pathologically refusing to pass up a shot, Ovechkin spent game three distributing [...]

Be honest. How many people even remembered Martin Havlat still played for the Blackhawks? I think even people in the Blackhawks organization didn’t remember Havlat was on their roster.
Now, it’s tough to forget, given his two huge goals in a 3-2 win over the Flames.
Chicago basically held on against Calgary, but it was a big [...]

When I saw the Isles won the draft lottery, my first thought was that the NHL should step in and not let them trade it, as the Islanders are a little bit like Jack from JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. If any other GM offers them some beans for the pick, the Islanders are all in.
If [...]

I enjoy checking in on players immediately after they were traded. It’s like watching someone at their first day of work:

Mark Recchi hit the ground running in Boston. It helps that after he was traded to Carolina, they won the Cup. Shockingly, he spent some time in last night’s loss to Phoenix bouncing around the [...]

This year’s trade deadline was basically fantasy hockey. Not a lot of big names moved. It was a lot of second-tier players. The kind you spend a lot of time moving on a fantasy team.
Adrian Dater called it Tuesday: GMs are scared to death of the probability of a shrunken future cap.
Pretty much everyone GM’d [...]

OK. We’re going dim sum style today:

Does anyone else feel the Alex Ovechkin-Evgeni Malkin is either entirely faked or will end with one of them getting shot in Las Vegas?
Flyer Scott Hartnell gets awful stage fright in shootout/penalty shot situations. Unlike a breakaway, where you’re just reacting, with shootouts/penalty shots, you have the opportunity to [...]