I have to say, and say completely without sarcasm, that I think Tampa does a nice job with their young players.

Victor Hedman was starting to look a little overwhelmed and outmatched on the ice. Coach Rick Tocchet could have yelled at him or coddled him or told him to figure it out. But instead, he benched Hedman for a game and Hedman found the experience helpful.

Hedman noted being in the press box gave him a different perspective on the game. Literally. Because you can see more from above the ice than on it.

Tocchet also sat Steve Stamkos a few times last season, which seemed to give him some perspective on the game.

In general, I think more NHLers could probably use a night off from time to time. I know the last thing a player wants is to be benched, but sometimes even a night away from the ice can make a huge difference in how a player approaches the game. You see the benefits in baseball, where players tend to get more days off due to the grueling MLB schedule.

Sometimes players learn more about the game, and their game, when they’re not actually playing.

Tocchet should consider starting a foundation to remove the stigma of benchings. It doesn’t have to be a punishment. Maybe instead of saying a player is a healthy scratch, we can start saying he’s a mental health scratch. Or maybe just say a scratched player is on a special vacation.

It’s all in how you spin it.

Yikes! I’m not sure Kings GM Dean Lombardi got the memo not to upset your up-and-coming franchise defenseman.

Lombardi made some comments about Jack Johnson’s play in Michigan, where Johnson played college hockey. Lombardi also made comments about the quality of the Michigan program.

Did I mention they were negative comments?

Now, Johnson is pretty upset by the comments.

Lobardi says he was quoted accurately so I’m not sure what he was thinking. Obviously, Lombardi is entitled to his opinions, but why alienate a player who’s such an important part of your team’s future?

By the way, the interviews, which are really good, are available at Frozen Royalty.

I especially love how Lombardi talks about how much trouble Johnson had with criticism and then proceeds to criticize him.

I doubt Lombardi’s interview will do irreparable damage to his relationship with Johnson, but why complicate things with an important young player? It just seems like a huge waste of time and energy.

Also, check out this trailer for HOCKEY TOWNS, a TV pilot looking for a network. One of the producers describes it as MAN VS. FOOD for hockey.

As one of many hockey bloggers who is also a die-hard Food Network fan, I think there might be a market for this kind of show.

Finally, my column on how the Rangers have lost their balance.

Again.

So has Pat Quinn given up on coaching the Oilers?

Or is he worried about his job?

He’s kind of giving mixed messages.

First, after a 6-0 loss to the Avs, Quinn announce, “You get hit so many times with a right, you’re begging for a left…That’s the reason to draw the line in the sand, again, for ourselves.”

That sounds pretty bad. Right away, your first thought is, ‘Quinn needs to be relieved of his duties. This is just too much to ask of him.’ And then, maybe your second thought is, ‘Maybe the Oilers need to give assistant coach Tom Renney the keys. His defensive systems are perfect for a team that seems completely devoid of talent.’

So a plan seems to be forming, but then Quinn jumps in with “We cannot become a good team just by practicing hard. Just by learning a system. We have to learn about ourselves and those intangibles it takes to play well at this level.”

And the fact that Quinn is talking down system-oriented play seems like a plea to keep his job and not give it to Renney, who is all about the system.

The Oilers have one win in their last 16. There’s a lack of depth that’s been exposed by injuries. Goaltending has been an issue. And let’s be honest: even at 100%, this Oilers team wasn’t going to set the league on fire.

And I get that Quinn is frustrated, but as the team coach, he needs to do something. He needs to make his team feel like he’s at least trying to turn things around. Because this is the kind of slump that doesn’t just go away on its own. The Oilers are bad, but they’re not this bad.

It seems like Quinn needs to decide if he wants to try and help his team get through the season with a tiny bit of dignity, or if he wants to let coaching become someone else’s problem.

But he can’t lobby to hold onto his job while also dropping hints he’s out of coaching options. That’s just confusing to everyone.

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 will protect a one-goal lead, but could get cocky with a two-goal one.

It seems pretty nonsensical; the type of thing a color guy probably brings up to keep the game interesting.

Having said that, San Jose’s 9-1 blowout of the Flames might not be the best thing for the Sharks.

The Sharks, as we all know, don’t have the best playoff record. To succeed in the playoffs, a team needs to know how to play under duress. With just 10 regulation losses so far this year, they haven’t been in that situation very often.

If the Sharks continue to relatively effortlessly roll through games in the playoffs, as they have during this regular season, it’s not an issue. Scoring nine goals in a playoff game should be enough to get them a win.

But if they’re getting played tighter and thinking a nine-goal explosion is just a shift away, that might cause some playoff problems.

So yeah. An eight-goal victory margin is cool and it’s great that the Sharks got their secondary scoring going, but if I’m coach Todd McLellan, I want my team humble yet confident. Huge wins like this make me think the Sharks are just getting set-up for another big flop out of the playoffs.

San Jose could use a nice bit of adversity to toughen them up for the playoffs. I don’t think they’ve had to fight through any yet this season.

Speaking of the playoffs, it’s been a while for the Panthers. Their last playoff appearance was 2000.

If Florida does finally make it in this year, that’ll be a good example of a team that won’t be overconfident in their approach to the post-season.

Question: Can the Ducks and Kings both be good teams at the same time? Can they both be bad teams? Or, my theory here, do they feed off of each other, with the success of one causing the demise of the other, a veritable Western Conference yin and yang?

The Kings recent swoon has coincided with a Ducks hot streak.

But last night belonged to the Kings, who shut-out Anaheim 4-0.

As Helene Elliott points out, the Ducks have always been a second-half team. It’s going to be tough going for Anaheim (and Team Finland), as the Ducks keep accumulating injuries. Teemu Selanne will be out two to six weeks while his jaw heals. Saku Koivu left last night’s loss with a lower-body injury. If I’m Kimmo Timonen, I’m going to wear a mattress out on the ice for the next few days, just to make sure someone can compete for Finland.

It will be interesting to see if the Kings feed off of the Ducks pain and solidify their playoff spot. Or, if my theory is disproved, and both teams finish out of the playoffs.

Speaking of the Olympics, here is my theory on why Chris Drury will actually be huge for Team USA. Hint: It has to do with his being under no pressure since he’s the worst player on the team.

Finally, the worst hockey movies of all time. I actually love MYSTERY, ALASKA and I’m not sure how THE CUTTING EDGE isn’t here, but the rest of these are suitably bad, as promised.

The Ducks have basically said Scott Niedermayer can play in Anaheim as long as he wants, even until the end of time.

Niedermayer isn’t quite so sure he wants to play forever.

I know what you’re thinking. This is the NHL equivalent of TWILIGHT. And you’re right. It is. Except there’s probably more sexual tension in NHL contract negotiations than in TWILIGHT.

But it got me thinking about Niedermayer’s numbers. I took a look and they’re shockingly consistent. It really is almost like the guy isn’t aging. The only potentially alarming thing is he’s a -23 over the past three seasons, but that includes his current -13, which is more a reflection of the Ducks recent struggles than his ability.

But other than that, he’s pretty much been a 50-point defenseman the past six seasons, and before that he was usually good for around 40 points a year.

So yeah. I can see why Niedermayer has the green light to play until he’s a senior citizen.

Teemu Selanne had that kind of consistency and durability, too, but this season has been pretty brutal. He just got back from missing 17 games with a hand injury and then, last night, he broke his jaw on a deflected shot. The Ducks aren’t sure when he’ll be back. It could be a few days or a few weeks. And the Olympics could still be off the table for him.

Unless Niedermayer bites him, that is.

So I guess keeping three goalies on the roster is now officially a trend?

The Flyers are keeping three goalies while Ray Emery prepares to return.

The Flyers literally have nothing else to do with their cap space, so they may as well keep all three goalies.

The Islanders are currently rolling three goalies, with Martin Biron the odd-goalie out with the return of Rick DiPietro. The Islanders are waiting to see if the oft-injured DiPietro can handle the physical demands of the NHL. Once they understand DiPietro’s true status, the assumption is Biron will be moved somewhere else.

If DiPietro seems set, perhaps the Isles will trade Biron back to the Flyers, so the Flyers can go with a four-goalie configuration.

To be fair, the Flyers are being smart. They have the cap space to let Emery rehab close to the team, so they’re taking advantage of the situation. It just has be awkward for goalie Brian Boucher, who’s the dead goalie walking around the locker room.

Also, to the surprise of no one, Jamie Langenbrunner was named Team USA captain.

Zach Parise, Dustin Brown, Brian Rafalski, and Ryan Suter were named alternates. Chris Drury, supposedly named to the U.S. Olympic team for his leadership abilities, was not.

I get that Drury made the Olympic team as a link between the old guard and the new guard. I get he’s there as a mentor more than a player. But it still would have been nice if GM Brian Burke had made Drury’s role a bit more official by giving him an ‘A’.

Finally, my take on why the Oilers can’t afford to trade Sheldon Souray.

Sam Donnellon had an interesting column, writing that the NHL should have a revenue-sharing model rather than a salary cap.

Donnellon makes the case that hockey is similar to baseball, in that individual teams negotiate their own TV contracts. Baseball teams share revenue and have a luxury tax for those who exceed certain levels of salary. In theory, a team that is spending a huge amount on salary is also getting a huge TV deal, so they can send more money to lesser-spending teams. In other words, the more some teams spend on salary, the more revenue they generate, and the more money other teams get via revenue sharing and/or luxury taxes.

Donnellon raises an interesting point. One huge problem with the salary cap is that GMs need to be very skilled. That isn’t always the case in the NHL. And even if they might be skilled, sometimes it can take years to correct the problems of a previous GM (or GMs, in Dallas’ case). Look at Joe Nieuwendyk in Dallas; the poor GM hasn’t really been able to make an imprint there because of how the salary cap limits his moves.

Ratings for the NHL Classic were down this year, which some people attributed to a lack of on-ice starpower. Without a salary cap, perhaps a team like the Flyers would have had some big stars on the ice, as they have in the past.

Or maybe not. Donnellon conflates spending a lot on salary with having great players. Before the lockout, teams spent a ton on players who weren’t always very good. Without the salary cap, teams might be spending more, but there’s no guarantee the teams would be any better.

The NFL has had tremendous success with revenue sharing and a salary cap but within baseball, with only a revenue-sharing/luxury-tax model, there can be huge disparity between the haves and the have-nots. Also, you have teams like my beloved Mets, who spend a ton and still don’t win very much. Toward the end of last season Citi Field was a veritable ghost town. Spending more doesn’t mean spending better or smarter.

Donnellon is frustrated not so much by the cap, but by the inability of many NHL GMs to successfully and skillfully work with the cap. Still, I’d like to see the NHL consider revenue sharing in addition to perhaps a more flexible cap. It would be interesting to see if large market teams took advantage of the flexibility at the upper end of the salary spectrum and if that flexibility translates to wins and post-season success.

And of course, it would also be nice to see smaller-market teams get a little something from their larger-market friends, to help lesser-earning teams remain or become competitive.

Not to be a jerk about the Olympics, but what exactly is the NHL thinking?

The Penguins are obviously already gassed from their successful Stanley Cup run. They beat Atlanta last night, but had dropped their previous five. And now, instead of just focusing on making it to the All-Star break, they’re going to send key players to Vancouver?

Sidney Crosby and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury will represent Canada. Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar will represent Russia. Brooks Orpik will represent the U.S.

Basically, if you asked someone to pick five Penguins you’d want resting and not playing in a tournament in the middle of a season, it would probably be those five guys.

I know players love the chance to represent their country and I know the Olympics is good exposure for the NHL but it seems ridiculous that teams like the Penguins not only play deep into the post-season but then are expected to stock in-season Olympic teams, too.

Detroit, who also played deep into the post-season, is sending seven key players to Vancouver.

Most fans want to see teams as healthy as possible. No one wants to see Pittsburgh or Detroit make an early playoff exit because guys are too tired from a grueling two-year cycle of playing.

Sadly, I don’t have a solution, outlandish or otherwise. If you give Olympic players a week or so off after the games, you’ll have non-Olympians who haven’t played in a month or so. I would suggest coaches rest their Olympians whenever possible, but that’s not always feasible during a season — especially for a team that’s struggling.

The moral of all of this? Don’t make a Stanley Cup run the season before the Olympics.

The Blues firing coach Andy Murray was interesting in that many people are saying Murray’s big issue was being too old to relate to his players.

Murray is 58. He was replaced by Davis Payne, 39.

Jeff Gordon said a bigger issue was Murray’s reluctance to develop the team’s young core, perhaps a side-effect of Murray’s age.

I was curious if Murray’s age was that out of line with NHL norms (see chart below).

With the hiring of Payne as the new Blues coach, the median age of an NHL coach is now 48. So Murray was a bit older than his cohort of coaches.

It’s interesting to look at those older coaches, though. They include Jacques Lemaire, 64, of the Devils, who’s coaching one of the best teams in the NHL.

The cohort also includes Washington’s Bruce Boudreau, 54, who’s done an incredible job guiding a young Washington team.

But you also have to notice Pat Quinn, 66, the NHL’s oldest coach, who seems to have had very little impact on Edmonton, and who in fact, might be more of a figurehead than a coach.

As near as I can tell, though, age isn’t a huge indicator of coaching failure or success.

St. Louis seems to be spinning the coaching move as an age thing, probably because fans want to buy into the idea that a hugely successful team is right around the corner. The fact of the matter is, Murray coached his team beyond their talent to get them into the playoffs last season. This season, he couldn’t repeat the trick.

As Puck Daddy pointed out, the home record and the powerplay were certainly issues for Murray, but I’m sure he could have solved those given a few more weeks. But by suggesting there were age-related communication issues, the Blues have given the fans hope that once players mature a little bit more, the Blues will become a mid-Western Pittsburgh Penguins.

If Davis Payne doesn’t perform for the Blues, expect his firing to be accompanied by an explanation that he was too young for the job and the youthful St. Louis players didn’t take him seriously enough.

Of course, by that time the young St. Louis core will be approaching middle age.