We'll never know for sure what effect it could have had on Monday's game at the Saddledome, of course, but what if a team had the option of choosing that a minor penalty be assessed to the opposition instead of accepting a penalty shot? Maybe, just maybe, it would have been the difference between a win and a loss for the Flames in their crucial contest against the Detroit Red Wings.

In the second period, with the Flames leading 1-0, Flames winger Curtis Glencross sprinted off on a partial brekaway while killing a penalty. He was hooked by Jason Williams on the play, which reuslted in a penalty-shot call instead of a two-minute infraction that would have wiped out the rest of Detroit's man advantage.

Glencross was stuffed by Jimmy Howard, the Wings went back on the power play and Pavel Datsyuk promptly scored the equalizer. The end result of that titanic momentum shift was a 2-1 Red Wings that keeps the Flames in ninth place in the Western Conference.

The Flames were starting to feel pretty good about themselves after a four-game winning streak but two losses in 26 hours has them gasping for air once again. A cruel twist of fate perhaps, but also the wages of the sins committed during that dreadful three-month stretch of hockey turned in by the Flames in December, January and Fenruary.

Tomas Holmstrom, who was doing his human eclipse routine on the Datsyuk goal, tipped in the game-winner with 1:19 to play in regulation. Craig Conroy scored the only Calgary goal. In addition to accounting for the hosts' offence, Conroy provided faceoff-dot wizardry (he was 12-for-12) and timely bleeding (he took a high stick that give the Flames four-minute power play).

Even if the penalties were few on the night, the Flames got clobbered on special teams. They whiffed on their four power-play chances and looked awful doing so. They also came up empty on Glencross' penalty shot. Meanwhile, the Red Wings capitalized on their one and only man-advantage opportunity.

Flames lines

Bourque-Stajan-Iginla
Hagman-Langkow-Kotalik
Dawes-Conroy-Moss
Nystrom-Mayers-Glencross

Defence pairings

Giordano-Sarich
Bouwmeester-Staios
Regehr-White

Three Stars

1. Tomas Holmstrom
2. Craig Conroy
3. Drew Miller

Fight Card

There was nothing doing in this category.

The Big Save

Miikka Kiprusoff preserved a 1-0 Flames lead in the first period by making a pad stop on Drew Miller from point-blank range and then smothering the rebound as it slid dangerously through the slot.

The Big Hit

Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom, many strides away from the relative safety of his home in the slot, was streaking down the left wing in the offensive zone when he was steamrolled by Flames blue-liner Mark Giordano.

What It Means

Calgary misses out on a chance to leapfrog the Red Wings for the eighth and final playoff position in the Western Conference. The Wings earn a split of the four-game season series.

What's Next

The Flames are back on the road as they travel to Denver on Wednesday to face an Avalanche team they have dominated in every way but the scoreboard so far this season.

Welcome to the Game Day Fire Drill, for this, Calgary’s 69th game of the season on March 15, 2010.

This is a make-or-break game for Calgary.

Win and regain eighth place with an eye toward overtaking Nashville for seventh. Lose and slip ever-closer to the scorching-hot Blues for 10th, and who-knows-what after that.

This is the fourth and final meeting between these two teams and Calgary has taken the last two 7-2 on aggregate, which is encouraging. But the thing is that what made the Flames so successful on that little winning streak of theirs was the absence of what cost them the game last night. Calgary played 240 straight minutes, more or less, which was a novel and exciting interesting approach to the sport, at least for this team.

Last night, not so much. The first 20 minutes consisted almost entirely of what makes a person a successful spectator: standing around, watching, not involving yourself in anything. The last two periods of that game were far more successful because the Flames, surely inspired by Staios, played the style that won them four straight games. The hole was too deep, but still, there were positives.

Obviously another good effort tonight would go a long way toward solidifying a playoff spot. So let's try for that then.

Who

The Calgary Flames (34-25-9 for 77 points. Ninth in the West, third in the Northwest) and the Detroit Red Wings (32-23-12 for 78 points. Eighth in the West, third in the Central).

When

7:30 p.m. Mountain time and 9:30 p.m. Eastern time. All other time zones should not really understand what they're advertising.

Where

Pengrowth Saddledome, Calgary, Alberta.

Calgary is 17-15-3 at home this year, and just beat Detroit last week. The Red Wings are 14-13-7 on the road, and have won six of their last eight games.

What (to hate about the Red Wings)

Tomas Holmstrom — Goaltender interference machine, hysterically overrated by Detroit fans, just like every other Red Wing that ever came through the organization.

Niklas Kronwall — Wonder which Flame he's going to attempt to cripple tonight.

Chris Osgood — Sucks.

Why

Because Staios will stop this skid before it starts! Enjoy the game and ride Steve Staios to victory in the comments section.

There's a chance Nigel Dawes will return to the Calgary Flames lineup tonight against the Detroit Red Wings, which leads some to wonder, "Where the heck has he been?"

Since suffering an injury prior to the NHL's Olympic break, and adding in a little healthy time in the press box, Dawes has played just once in the last 17 games for Calgary. A good portion of those games were because of injury, but he has not seen game action since the team has returned from their two-week sabbatical. So just where, or what, is his role going to be? And what should it be?

I wrote a piece on "Where Does Backlund Fit" a couple days ago. I guess this could be another in a line of "Where Does ______ Fit?" Depending on where Dawes slots in, I wonder what the pulse is from the FN faithful on a guy like Dawes. Numbers wise, Dawes has been streaky. He has 10 goals and 26 points in 52 games for the Flames. But lately, he's had trouble finding the net, without a goal in the last 18 games he's been a part of.

I think Dawes still adds some value. If he ends up taking the place of Chris Higgins in this game, that's just fine. He does have the ability to add offence (albeit, just like the rest of this team, not consistently). Higgins is a game-time decision with a reported lower body injury, and Dawes had chemistry earlier this season with the center of that line, Daymond Langkow. If instead they shuffle up the fourth line and put Dawes in somewhere there, I think that's just fine. His production is pretty good for a fourth line, and he can play physical when he wants to. Or if the Flames decided to take out Kotalik and put Dawes in, I think most would be fine with that, especially after a rather invisible performance from Kotalik Sunday in Vancouver.

Dawes should be hungry to get back in and prove that he belongs as an everyday player. When his motor is running, I think he's a very effective player on this team. However, that motor needs to be running on a regular basis. Maybe some extended time out of the lineup will help that come true.

The Abbotsford Heat have won a boatload of games recently, launching them back into the AHL playoff race. The starter for the club over the recent winning streak? David Shantz, a 23 year old free agent signing who was picked-up to fill out the organizations bottom-end. He began the season in the ECHL.

Shantz's recent play has brought him SV% up to a very mediocre .908. Matt Keetley, the oldest of the wannabe puck stoppers, is currently playing in the ECHL himself. He sports the best save rate amongst Flame goalie prospects this year at .912. Leland Irving -  former first round draft pick Leland Irving - has also spent time playing his trade in the ECHL this season has seen his sophomore SV% sink to .907 in the AHL.

The Flames struggling goalie futures, and their subsequent dance between leagues caused Jonathan Willis to take a look at Calgary's goalie hopefuls recently. It's not the prettiest picture. Not mentioned in the piece, however, is the departed Kevin Lelande, a guy I started tracking last year after the org dealt him for a 4th rounder. My conclusion at the time was the Flames had probably dealt away their best goalie (future) asset.

Time has done nothing to dissuade me of that opinion. This year, Lalande is the starter for the Blue Jackets AHL affiliate Syracuse Crunch, and although his SV% has fallen to a career worst .911 (yes...that's the worst save rate of his pro career thus far), glancing at the Crunch's other puck-stoppers is revealing:

Dan Lacosta:

26 GP, 3.96 GAA, 0.882 SV%

Danny Taylor:

4 GP, 3.66 GAA, .870 SV%

Lalande has been head-and-shoulders better than his brethren in Crunch colors this year. One can make the educated guess that Syracuse is a fairly lousy team (they are - second last in the AHL Eastern Conference) based on these numbers and that Lalande's .911 SV%, while middling relative to his prior results, is impressive given the circumstances.

There's little utility in this sort of hindsight hand-wringing, I know. That said, I find it both interesting and informative to evaulate the decision making of the management team and I think it's fair to assign pass/fail type grades to moves when you're a few years removed from them. And, aside from Kipper, everything this org has done crease related since the installation of Sutter (or, as some would argue, since Vernon left) has been a failure to one degree or another. It's not a huge black mark since a lot of NHL teams have troubles evaluating and handling goaltenders, but it is potentially worrisome for a team that is heading into the twilight seasons of it's established (and expensive) starter.

Glancing at the stats page is often a poor substitute for actually watching the game.

That wasn't the case last night, however. All you need to know about the contest is contained in the statsheets: the Flames were outshot 20-6, outchanced 15-2 and down 3-0 after the first 20 minutes. And, in truth, that's all you'd need to know about the game because it was all over but the cryin' at that point. 

The Flames clawed their way back in the final two periods, but the hole was too deep at that point. Unfortunately, it turns out that spending an entire period running around like panicked princesses looking for a lost tiera before the grand ball is fairly harmful to the prospects of winning. Who knew?

The first was punctuated by Canucks scoring chances, Flames penalties and Miikka Kiprusoff making desperate, diving saves from each corner of his crease. The one thing the game summary doesn't tell you is the fact that things could have been even worse in the first had Kipper not stood on his head.

As mentioned, the Flames settled down in periods two and three. Part of that, of course, is Vancouver "playing to score" and sitting back to protect the lead, which is a tendency of most teams in the league. Sutter made some alterations in the third period with the team desperately chasing, including elevating Curtis Glencross who was one of the more consistently active forwards. The Flames pulled within two thanks to a rare Robyn Regehr goal, but couldn't make a dent otherwise. They ended up dominating the possession stats and outchancing the Canucks 15-6 the rest of the way, but it wasn't enough.

Flames Lines

Bourque-Stajan-Iginla

Higgins-Langkow-Kotalik

Hagman-Conroy-Moss

Glencross-Nystrom-Mayers

Defence Pairings

Staios-Bouwmeester

White-Regehr

Sarich-Giordano

Fight Card

Aside from a few post-whistle tussles, this game was fisticuff free

Three Stars (as picked by me)

1.) Sedin (pick one)

2.) Ryan Kelser

3.) Curtis Glencross

The Big Save

Although it didn't matter to the final outcome, KIpper's diving stick save on a Samuelsson wrap-around in the first period was a thing of beauty.

The Big Hit

Mark Giordano crushed everyone favorite Canucks Alex Burrows along the boards.

What it Means

The Flames remain in 9th place below the Detroit Red Wings. Despite going 4-0-1 in their last five contests, the Flames have made up precisely zero ground in the battle for the final playoff spot.

What's Next

The aforementioned Red Wings visit the 'Dome tonight in what could prove to be the game the makes or breaks the Flames season.

Welcome to the Game Day Fire Drill, for this, Calgary’s 68th game of the season on March 14, 2010.

At this point can we all just agree that whatever changes Darryl Sutter has made have been incredibly helpful to the Flames at least in the short term?

I'm trying not to get too high on this Flames team because it's not entirely unlike when Don Waddell traded Braydon Coburn and a whole slew of draft picks for a couple weeks of Alex Zhitnik and Keith Tkachuk because a) he'd guaranteed a playoff berth to the fanbase and needed to deliver and b) he wanted to keep his job.

There were some awful, awful personnel decisions made with the Phaneuf, Jokinen, Staios and Toskala trades (i.e. why bring like half these guys on board?), especially considering that three of the most of the players acquired — Staios, Hagman and Kotalik — are signed next year for a total $8.5 million and not especially good.

But at the same time, results are results. The Flames are 4-0 since the deadline and that's obviously very good. Certainly it created a positive spike in the Flames' chances to make the playoffs and has the team actually playing well for the first time in what feels like months. No longer do you have to watch entire games through the cracks between your fingers. And it certainly woke up Jarome Iginla, who has four goals and seven points in the last four games. So far there's very little to dislike about it.

But at what cost next year? Cross that bridge when we come to it, I guess.

Who

The Calgary Flames (34-24-9 for 77 points. Ninth in the West, third in the Northwest) and the Vancouver Canucks (42-23-3 for 87 points. Tied for third in the West, first in the Northwest).

When

8 p.m. Mountain time and 10 p.m. Eastern time. All other time zones should find new reasons to love Jeff Bridges.

Where

GM Place, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Calgary is 17-9-6 on the road this year, and are 3-1-0 against Vancouver this year. The Canucks are 24-7-1 at home, and undefeated there since Jan. 11.

What (to hate about the Canucks)

They, too, don't have Steve Staios — Steve Staios is literally the best player in Calgary Flames history.

Alex Burrows — As irritating as he is given his normal style of play, he is, perhaps, even more irritating because he scores a bunch of goals alongside the Sedins (he's got 31 right now) and is by extension the mega-deal of the century. You know how much he's getting paid per season through 2013? A paltry $2 million. Imagine if Sutter could get deals like that.

Mikael Samuelsson — He, like Burrows, is a steal. He's getting paid $2.5 million this season and has 3o goals, one fewer than Jarome Iginla.

Why

Because Staios commands it! Enjoy the game and ride Steve Staios to victory in the comments section.

I know that Kent here at FlamesNation and a few others have wondered about the decision to not have Mikael Backlund in the Calgary Flames lineup the last three games, and to instead dress Craig Conroy. It's an interesting debate, because Backlund is a player who has shown he can be a useful player at this level. But the question is, if the coaching staff isn't going to use him, should he remain at this level?

As it was explained to me today, there might be a reason for a little reluctance to send Backlund back to Abbotsford. Once the NHL trade deadline passes, a team is granted four recalls from the American Hockey League. Once those recalls have been used, you're limited to emergency recalls, which are not easy to get apparently. So, the worry would be: send him to Abbotsford because the Flames aren't using him NOW, then run into injury issues and burn one of the recalls. Perhaps the injury woes from the end of LAST season are still fresh in the minds of management.

I guess I understand the thinking, but at the same time it seems odd. Backlund turns 21 on St. Paddy's Day (March 17). He's playing in his first professional season, and has shown great improvement in doing so. Would it not be better to have a guy like that playing meaningful games as opposed to sitting and watching? Sure, you get the practice time, I understand that. But you wonder if it might not be better for a guy like that to be in actual game action.

I'm clearly not a scout or well-versed in player development. I'm going solely on things I've read and heard before from people in the hockey world. As such, it seems as if the feeling is game action is important at the transition stage a player like Backlund is in.

To be honest, I don't have a real problem with Conroy being in the lineup. If that's what the coaching staff wants to go with, that's fine. In a lot of ways, you could probably argue Backlund and Conroy are a wash right now. My real wonder is if a guy like Backlund is better suited in the AHL right now as opposed to the NHL.

If you're a big fan of broken Plexiglas and people throwing themselves in front of speeding rubber, then Thursday night's all-Canadian contest between the Flames and the Senators at the Saddledome was for you.

Some Jacques Clouseau-like repair work on the Saddledome glass resulted in a lengthy delay to the the start of the contest and maybe that's why the majority of the game had all the allure of a week-old egg-salad sandwich.

Meanwhile, the Flames followed up their most important victory of the season to date — Tuesday's comeback effort in Detroit — with a pretty sloppy performance, but they did so well in the closely related blue-collar categories of shot-blocking and penalty-killing that they pulled out a 2-0 win over the Sens. It was the Flames' fourth straight dubya.

The blue-line tandem of Cory Sarich and Mark Giordano in particular was in self-sacrificing mode as each d-man seemed intent to give Miikka Kiprusoff a run for his money in the race to stop the most pucks. Between them, Sarich and Giordano accounted for 11 of the Flames' 30 blocked shots. Kiprusoff, incidentally, made 33 stops for the shutout.

In addition to drawing assists on Jamal Mayers ice-breaking goal — the ex-Leaf's first as a Flame — Curtis Glencross and Eric Nystrom played integral roles in a Calgary penalty-killing unit that survived five straight Ottawa power plays.

Chris Higgins also beat a goaltender for the first time since joining the Flames (his first Calgary marker was an empty-netter to ice Tuesday's contest at the Joe Louis Arena).

Flames lines

Bourque-Stajan-Iginla
Higgins-Langkow-Kotalik
Hagman-Conroy-Moss
Nystrom-Mayers-Glencross

Defence pairings

Giordano-Sarich
Bouwmeester-Staios
Regehr-White

Three Stars

1. Mark Giordano
2. Cory Sarich
3. Miikka Kiprusoff
4. The Saddledome workman who finally suggested they use a replacement pane that was the same size as the hole in the seamless glass

Fight Card

Everyone was more or less on their best behaviour and the fists were kept holstered.

The Big Save

The combination of a crossbar, Ottawa forward Peter Regin's wayward shooting and perhaps, just perhaps, the very edge of Miikka Kiprusoff's pad resulted in a whiff on a wide-open chance at the Flames net in the third period.

The Big Hit

Ottawa's Milan Michalek had a full head of steam rushing into the Flames zone in the second period but he was abruptly cut off at the pass by little Calgary blue-liner Ian White's solid jolt.

What It Means

For a third time in a week, the Flames (34-24-9) responded to a Detroit victory earlier in the day in an easterly time zone by recording a win of their own. Calgary thus stays one point ahead of the Motowners. It also means the Flames finished the season 5-0 in their spiffy vintage red sweaters.

What's Next

Jarome Iginla returns to the scene of Canada's recent Olympic triumph on Sunday and he'll have the rest of his Calgary buddies with him as the Flames take on Jannik Hansen and the Vancouver Canucks.

Welcome to the Game Day Fire Drill, for this, Calgary’s 67th game of the season on March 11, 2010.

It may be too much to hope for, but wouldn't it be nice if the Flames could win their fourth in a row? Don't see any reason why they wouldn't.

Since winning 11 in a row — wait what — Ottawa is just 4-4-1 against the Maple Leafs, Flames B.S. (Before Staios), Capitals, Red Wings, Islanders, Rangers, Hurricanes, Maple Leafs (again) and Oilers. Not exactly the toughest competition, but they did beat the Caps.

For one thing, Calgary's offense looks near-competent again, and what a pleasant change of pace that is. A whopping 14 goals in the last three games against teams that are currently second, 10th and 19th in goals allowed per game? Sign me up for that. Plus they're not even playing poorly defensively to make up for the strong offense (not that they're playing especially well but you see my point). Only allowing 28 shots a game against New Jersey, Minnesota and Detroit is solid enough that you're giving yourself an excellent chance to win.

It's almost like this team wants to sneak into the playoffs after all. Couldn't have said that a week ago. 

Who

The Calgary Flames (33-24-9 for 75 points. Eighth! in the West, third in the Northwest) and the Ottawa Senators (37-25-5 for 79 points. Fifth in the East, second in the Northeast).

When

7:30 p.m. Mountain time and 9:30 p.m. Eastern time. All other time zones should be hostile about their celibacy.

Where

Pengrowth Saddledome, Calgary, Alberta.

Calgary is 16-15-3 at home this year, and are 7-1-2 against Eastern Conference teams this year. The Sens are 14-16-1 on the road, but handed the Flames their only regulation loss to a team from the East on Feb. 9, 3-2.

What (to hate about the Senators)

They also don't have Steve Staios — If you had told me that trading for Steve Staios would have GUARANTEED an undefeated record, I would have demanded that Darryl Sutter trade for him years ago. See, this is the reason he might get fired at the end of the year: lack of foresight. The math is real simple: The Stavior + Calgary = Wins. Boom.

Alex Kovalev — I just find him to be bothersome, though that's just personally. I would bet that he's very unlikeable if you are, say, a teammate of his.

Mike Fisher — Remember all that talk about how he should be on Team Canada for the Olympics. You guys are lucky you didn't saddle yourselves with him. He's not very good at all.

Why

Because Staios says so! Enjoy the game and ride Steve Staios to victory in the comments section.

The NHL GM meetings wrapped up yesterday, and to no one’s surprise they came up with a recommendation that will punish headshots — or at least some of them. Thankfully they found a way to word the rule so it won’t punish or deter players from making big, clean hits.

"A lateral, back pressure or blindside hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and or the principal point of contact is not permitted. A violation of the above will result in a minor or major penalty and shall be reviewed for possible supplemental discipline."

This wording is great because it allows players going straight on towards another player to deliver a blow. I was concerned they would word it in a way that might deter players from delivering a hard check. I’m all for getting rid of cheap head shots, but I do think the puck carrier still has to keep his head up and hopefully the game never loses that element.

There are still some grey areas that need to be worked out. Is a blindside hit a two-minute penalty, a five-minute major or will it be one or the other accompanied with a game misconduct? These wrinkles will be ironed out over the summer, but expect this rule to be in place next season.

It is long overdue and the players clearly needed some guidelines.

A few other rule changes were tabled, and I don’t see why they won’t be approved by the competition committee and board of governors this summer.

• The GMs want the first tiebreaker at season's end to be changed to regulation and overtime wins, and not overall wins as is currently the case. Basically a team that is dominant in the shootouts, won’t win the tiebreaker.
• The NHL wants the American Hockey League to go to a four-man officiating system in 40 per cent of AHL games. The AHL currently uses three-man system for all games. This is really the AHL’s decision but considering the NHL has agreed to financially back it, I don’t see why the AHL would balk at it.

There were a few other rule changes presented on Tuesday by various GMs that didn’t make it out of the boardroom.

The Islanders proposed that the top seven teams in each conference make the playoffs, while the eight through fifteen seeds would have a play-in tournament in each conference. This is idiotic. Basically the regular season would come down to a one-game do-or-die format. Why play 82 games? That was a horrible idea by the Islanders.

Once again some Einstein thought a tweak to the all-star game would make it better. Memo to the NHL or anyone who thinks the all-star can be meaningful, IT CAN’T, nor should it.

The all-star game is a meaningless, fun game, but someone actually proposed that the two leading scorers or leading scorers in each conference, at the all-star break, would draft their own teams. I’m not making this up. This was actually put on the table as a viable option.

I don’t understand why people expect the all-star game to be intense, when many regular season games aren’t that intense. The all-star game is a reward for the stars of the league. They get recognition for a good start to their season, they get to mingle with other stars of the league, and most importantly the big sponsors get to meet the stars of the game.

Nothing will ever make the all-star game meaningful, so can we please stop trying.

The other proposals at least had some validity to them.

Changing the overtime formula to four minutes of four-on-four and if no goal was scored then they would play three-on-three for four minutes. The NHL would like to see more games decided in overtime rather than in shootouts. The AJHL currently uses this formula and the three-on-three is highly entertaining. I think the NHL might re-visit this idea in the future.

The final proposal was a challenge flag. The NFL and NLL currently use a coach’s challenge flag, but I’m not sure how it would be effective in the NHL. Right now any questionable goal is reviewed, so what exactly would coaches challenge? Would they challenge missed offside calls, or questionable penalties?

I’m not sure the NHL needs a challenge flag. Do you? Would any of these rules changes make the game better?

The headshot issue needed to be addressed, but one rule that should be changed is touch-icing. I don’t see the benefits of having touch icing. Sure there are a few exciting races for the puck where the forechecker gets there first to avoid the icing call, but is it really that exciting? We’ve seen some horrendous injuries because of these races, and I don’t see the reward outweighing the risk.

I’d be all for getting rid of the instigator rule, but I don’t see that happening unfortunately.

Ice woman of the week

Meagan is a three-year veteran on the Dallas Stars Ice-Girls. She loves horseback riding, snowboarding and herding cattle in helicopters. I wonder if she herds the cows while wearing her goaltending equipment.

Random thoughts

• Tonight the Windsor Spitfires host the Plymouth Whalers. Taylor Hall v. Tyler Seguin and Cam Fowler will also be on the ice. The Oilers, Bruins, Blue Jackets and Islanders will have three of four scouts/management types in attendance, and other teams will be there as well. If you are interested you can watch it at http://livestream.ontariohockeyleague.com/
• Back in late January I wrote the Canucks needed to be at least .500 on their NHL-record 14 game road trip, they finished 8-5-1 after a shootout loss in Phoenix last night, if they wanted to win the NW. They did better than that, and now with ten of their final 15 games at home and a five point lead on Colorado it looks like they should get home ice in the first round. I still think Mike Gillis should have added more than Alberts and Stastny, but the Canucks are Canada’s best hope to win a Cup. It’s safe to say that won’t happen, and Lord Stanley will reside in the US for another season.
• I loved hearing Vinny Lecavalier rip the league for not suspending Matt Cooke. “He’s been doing this his whole career, hurting guys. He knew exactly what he was doing. He knew exactly he was going to hit his (Savard's) head. He’s got no respect for players and they (NHL) are protecting the wrong guy.” Cooke is a gutless puke in my mind. But I think it is more a lack of fear than a lack of respect. If Cooke knew he’d have to fight a guy or risk being jumped he’d think twice before delivering another blatant cheap shot.
• Looks like the Oiler curse doesn’t leave a player once he departs Edmonton. Denis Grebeshkov took a shot in nards, and needed surgery to supposedly remove one of them and is out a month. Steve Staios is -3 in three games with the Flames. Lubomir Visnovsky has two goals in three games with the Ducks, but they’ve lost all three and now the Ducks are seven points out of a playoff spot. Should the Oilers perform an exorcism of their dressing room at the end of year? I don’t think it can hurt.
• Nothing like jumping the gun. Hockey Canada was in an uproar about losing Sidney Crosby’s glove and stick. It turns out the glove was in Patrice Bergeron’s bag, and the stick was packed in a truck and sent to Toronto. You’d think that asking other players to check their bags would have been the first thing to do, rather than offer a $10,000 reward and basically accuse someone of stealing the items.
• So Sidney Crosby didn’t go on the David Letterman or the Today Show. Who cares? Do you really think having Crosby in that forum will boost hockey’s interest amongst Americans? Crosby would be better served to go on SNL and be funny or poke fun at himself. Getting interviewed by Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira would be a kin to Elisabeth Hasselbeck going on Off The Record. I doubt sports fans would all of a sudden tune into The View after seeing her. Crosby is not the most personable guy, so put him on SNL and maybe we’d see a lighter side of him. Non-hockey fans would be more enticed by that that seeing him with Letterman or Lauer.

Leaders through the season

Here are the top ten in pts, goals, assists and other stats.

Goals:
44: Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby
41: Steven Stamkos
39: Patrick Marleau
35: Marian Gaborik
34: Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk
31: Alexander Semin, Anze Kopitar, Zach Parise, Jarome Iginla and Jeff Carter

Assists:
62: Henrik Sedin (first week Thornton hasn’t lead since week two)
61: Joe Thornton
55: Martin St. Louis
54: Nicklas Backstrom and Brad Richards
50: Ovechkin and Paul Stastny
49: Patrick Kane and Mike Green
47: Ryan Getzlaf

Points:
94: Ovechkin
88: H. Sedin
84: Crosby
80: Backstrom
79: St. Louis
78: Stamkos
77: Thornton
75: Patrick Kane
72: Brad Richards
70: Marian Gaborik

Plus/Minus:
+42: Ovechkin
+37: Jeff Schultz
+32: Backstrom, H. Sedin and Daniel Sedin
+31: Mike Green
+30: Alex Burrows
+28: Christian Ehrhoff
+27: Alex Semin
+23: Jonathon Toews

***Patrick O’Sullivan has a big lead for the green jacket sitting at -32. Shawn Horcoff has dropped to -27, while Rod Brind’Amour is -24 and Steve Staios is -22. Staios is -3 in three games with the Flames***

PP Goals:
17: Stamkos
16: Heatley
13: Anze Kopitar, Mike Richards and Gaborik
12: Crosby
11: Ovechkin, Backstrom, Marleau, Ryan Kesler, Evgeni Malkin and Ilya Kovalchuk

Hits:
257: Ryan Callahan
256: Cal Clutterbuck
240: Dustin Brown
217: Stephane Robidas
207: Steve Ott and Brooks Orpik
197: Chris Neil
195: Matt Greene, Brendan Morrow and Mike Fisher

Shots:
312: Ovechkin (22 shots this week)
278: Jeff Carter
274: Parise
240: Crosby
233: Phil Kessel
232: Marleau
231: Malkin
229: Henrik Zetterberg, Alex Semin and and Lecavalier

Quote of the week

I had Windsor head coach Bob Boughner and Plymouth bench boss Mike Vellucci on my show this week. Both had some interesting comments on Hall and Seguin.

Boughner on Hall’s best strength and what he is working on:

“I’ve had him since he was 15 and his best attribute is his skating. He is extremely hard to knock off the puck, and has NHL explosive speed right now. He has a wide wheel base which makes him hard to knock of the puck. And his hunger for the puck is immense. He’ll go into the dangerous areas, he’ll crash the net as hard as I’ve seen anybody and if it is a 50/50 battle for the puck he’ll come up with it.”

Boughner on how Hall is handling the pressure of being highly touted?

“He is a really confident kid who doesn’t get shaken easily and he loves being that go-to-guy and the guy to make a difference. In that regard he is handling it no problem. In the other way he has done some great things. He asked me if he can do his own community visits instead of doing team visits because it would mean more. He’s bought tickets out of his own pocket and he spends time going on hospital visits that we don’t even know about. He tries to give back in his own way and he doesn’t need or want the media there. He just likes giving back.”

Boughner on the concerns that Hall skates with his head down too much and he might get hurt in the NHL.

“I think that is overblown, but I can see why people would say that. He’s got a target on his back every night and teams are looking to finish him and they’re looking to put as much abuse on him as they can. Taylor’s one of those guys who doesn’t shy away from it. He does get hard some nights and I think its cause he isn’t afraid to go to the dangerous areas. Sometimes he does look down at the puck, but he’s gotten a lot better at it and just when you think you have him he gets low to the ice and duck around checks. I’ve seen him get hit hard, but he’s always got up and went right back at it and he isn’t easily intimidated.”

What do you like about Seguin’s game?

“He’s a great player. I had him at the U-18 this summer for team Canada. He’s more of a puck distributor, while Taylor is more dominant at fishing loosing pucks and going to the net harder and winning battles. Seguin is more a playmaking centre. He sees the ice extremely well, and isn’t afraid to shoot from anywhere and he is a great skater. Hall is more of a take it himself type of player while Seguin is more of a distributor.”

Mike Vellucci gave me his thoughts on both as well.

What has been the biggest improvement in Seguin’s game this season?

“The biggest improvement is his finish. This year he has worked on being a more well-rounded player, not just an assist guy, but being able to score too and we’ve seen that with is 47 goals and 58 assists. He’s a well-rounded hockey player. He knows how to play in his own end, but just like any young guy you need to harp on him sometimes a bit more to make sure he does. He’s been involved in 43% of our goals this year, which is a very high number.”

How is Seguin dealing with all the fanfare and attention?

“He’s a level-headed kid. He actually deals with the media very well. He’s well-spoken and articulate and I know he wants to be the number one overall pick. That is his goal as is winning a championship this year. He wants to go the first pick and he hasn’t shied away from it. It’s something he is putting in an effort to make happen. He’s worked hard this summer to get there. He put on some weight, improved his foot speed and worked extremely hard and wanted to start the season strong. And he did. Taylor Hall has been tabbed number one the last three years, while not many people knew who Tyler was and he was out to prove he was every bit as good and as talented and wanted to be number one.”

What does he need to keep working on and improve to be successful in the NHL?

“Like most kids, strength is the biggest thing. I don’t have to harp on him that much, because he is in the weight room, not just with our team, but on his own and before practice. We work on little things. Where to be positionally, how to save your strength instead of skating all over and keep circling and do a little more stops and starts. He makes coaches look good, so really we work on strength, conditioning, consistency and also his defensive play.”

I asked him to compare Hall and Seguin.

“They are different no doubt about it. Taylor Hall is an exceptional player and his speed is dynamic. When the puck is on his stick everyone is trying to catch up or they are standing there watching him. He is dominant. Tyler has good speed as well, but he sees the ice so well and he controls the game. When the puck is on his stick he can slow it up and speed it up. Hall is a year older and will probably be more explosive his first couple years in the NHL, but I think Tyler Seguin will be a very dominant forward for several years as well.”

Sounds like both players are determined to be stars in the NHL, and it will be interesting to see which one has his name called first June 25th in Los Angeles.