BY THE NUMBERS
17
Points by Ilya Kovalchuk in his last nine games, a surge that coincides with the New Jersey Devils' rise up the Eastern Conference standings. Finally, some bang for that $100-million.
9
Points by which the New York Rangers led the second-place Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference standings, entering play Thursday. For the first time since 1994, the Rangers are in contention for the Presidents' Trophy, awarded to the top overall regular-season team. The last time the Rangers won the Stanley Cup: 1994.
9
Consecutive defeats for the 2010 Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, a string they finally snapped by knocking off the Rangers last Thursday, riding a four-goal first period to victory.
THEY SAID IT
"I don't want to go home in the summertime and hear people say, 'Who do you play for?' and I say the Columbus Blue Jackets and they say, 'Who's that?' or get laughed at. That's not something that I signed up for. We're men. We have a lot of pride."
Columbus Blue Jackets defenceman James Wisniewski, discussing his 30th-place team, which is set to be dismantled again before the trade deadline
TWEET OF THE WEEK
Just saw a Los Angeles Kings' billboard that said, "It's Brown Time." Now that's marketing.
- Visiting Phoenix Coyotes player Paul Bissonnette (@BizNasty2point0) is unimpressed with L.A.'s attempts to sell hockey in the City of Angels. Maybe Rick Nash will help.
AROUND THE RINKS
Surprise. The Tampa Bay Lightning became the first team to identify itself as a seller. Ten points out of a playoff position and with the visiting San Jose Sharks in town, Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman dished off centre Dominic Moore to the Sharks in exchange for a second-round pick. It is the third time in his career (nine different NHL stops) Moore has been swapped for a No. 2. The attraction for San Jose was his playoff pedigree (11 points in 18 games for Tampa last year), plus his versatility. Moore can play centre or wing, and kill penalties. That's attractive to a San Jose team that has auditioned a number of different bottom-six forwards this year, with middling success. Moore's offence hasn't been there, only four goals, none of them at even strength, and 19 points total, but the Sharks believe they have a good book on him, and since this positively has to be the year San Jose makes a playoff splash, they believe he'll be a good fit in their dressing room.
LUCRATIVE RETURN FOR GROSSMAN
The Dallas Stars received second and third-round draft choices from the Philadelphia Flyers, a surprisingly decent return for defenceman Nicklas Grossman, who was playing more than 16 minutes a night for the Stars and deemed expendable because of their blueline depth. Even with new ownership and the promise of more dollars to spend, Dallas is intelligently thinking big-picture thoughts. If the next collective agreement keeps teams tight to the salary cap, then the Stars could be in an excellent position to exploit their financial flexibility. The Stars had the lowest payroll in the league, even before ditching Grossman, and they are just barely above the minimum right now – not a bad position going into next summer, when lots of teams could be looking to dump contracts. With Grossman gone, Adam Pardy gets a chance to play more regularly and Mark Fistric will get a chance to play higher up the depth chart.
FLAMES' PROSPECTS STEP UP
Injuries are part of the reason, but when the Calgary Flames play the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, they will have exactly two players the franchise drafted, T.J. Brodie and Lance Bouma, in the lineup. Both were selected in the 2008 draft, Bouma 78th overall, Brodie 114th. Not bad for any team, but exceptional for Calgary, which has had so much trouble at the draft table in the past 15 years that you'd be hard-pressed to identify the second-best player chosen over that span behind the clear No. 1, Dion Phaneuf. It might be Jarrett Stoll, or Travis Moen, or goalie Craig Anderson, but the Flames didn't sign any of them to a contract. Stoll and Anderson went back into the draft as re-entry players, while Moen turned pro with Chicago, signing as a free agent. It might be Keith Aulie or Matthew Lombardi, both of whom are in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization along with Phaneuf. It may eventually be Mikael Backlund, currently out with an injury. But if anyone thinks the path to rebuilding Calgary is through the draft, they hasn't been paying close attention to how well that has worked for essentially an entire generation.