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Yesterday, George Richards, who cover the Panthers for the Miami Herald asked the question quite a few teams seem to be asking themselves this time of year: Should Florida tank to move up in the draft?
It’s a valid question. If you’re not going to the playoffs, why not put yourself in better draft [...]

Mrs. PuckUpdate and I love to joke about announcers who warn against the dreaded two-goal lead, what a lot of them call ‘the most dangerous lead to have.’
A lot of times, a team will go up two goals and the announcer will talk about how it’s actually a risky lead to have, since a team [...]

Last night was kind of interesting. There were 10 games played, with four shutouts.
Goalies Steve Mason (CBJ), Ryan Miller (BUF), Ty Conklin (backup; STL), and Nik Backstrom (MIN) each kept the red light off behind them.
So is this a sign defense is back in the NHL? Is the NHL reverting to its pre-lockout lockdown defensive [...]

I’m thinking I need to get into real estate, since that seems to be the best way to track player movement.
Some people say Jay Bouwmeester’s building a house in Edmonton is a clue he wants to play out west.
Marian Gaborik’s buying a house in Vancouver seems to be a clue he’ll sign there as a [...]

So what did Pittsburgh do right in their win over Detroit?
Quite a few things.
Their powerplay was finally effective against the Wings.
They managed to get pucks deep in the Red Wing zone.
They kept the Zetterberg/Lindstrom match-up out on the ice for longer shifts, plus lots of ice time in general.
I think getting the Crosby match-up forced [...]

Brent Sutter is starting to look like another successful graduate of the Mats Sundin Rapid Decision-Making Program. He’s still not sure he wants to coach the Devils next season.
The longer Sutter waits, the less effective he’ll be as a coach if he decides to return. Would you play hard for someone who was that [...]

Last night we saw two game threes go into overtime, with each game ending 3-2.
In Raleigh, the Bruins looked completely out of steam, yet still made it to OT before losing.
In Pittsburgh, the Caps seemed to spend the whole game on the penalty kill. And while the penalty kill was strong, it prevented Washington from [...]

Now that the Rangers have fired coach Tom Renney, Ranger fans have once less thing to chant at the Garden.
The only real surprise in the move was that Rangers GM/President Glen Sather waited so long to make the switch. The team has looked lost for a few weeks and while there are severe problems with [...]

Lately, there’s been a lot of talk about how to protect NHL players. Two weeks ago, Don Cherry was going on about it for like eight minutes. I wish I could follow what he says. I think he might have said something about no-touch icing potentially saving lives, but I’m not quite sure. To be [...]

I’d love to know the Versus ratings on last night’s Red Wings/Penguins game. It seemed liked everyone was watching it. The Wings blew a three-goal lead and were pretty much single-handedly beaten by Pittsburgh’s Jordan Staal.
Staal has a lot of offensive talent for a natural shut-down center and he struggles with balancing the offense [...]