Jordanv78 : yeah, that was a cap move and a good deal for Pittsburgh. They needed a faster, puck moving defenceman so I think both teams are happy overall with the trade. Scuderi will be a depth guy through the playoffs that will be solid when they need him.

The thought to move Daley initially was also a cap move as well as clearing more playing time for some of these developing young D men in the Hawks system that have done well when called upon. But somehow turned into getting another D man back.

Like I said earlier though, it's good overall to have a veteran with cup experience on your roster in the playoffs and at the very least gives you position to deal him again if needed.

Was good to see the Hawks get back in the W column last night with the 4-0 shutout of the Oilers at the UC. Was a great game from start to finish, and Corey gets back after a bad game So 3 out of his last 4 games have been shutouts. He's playing well.

The Toews Hossa Teravainen line was just unstoppable last night and did most of the damage in last nights game. 3 points for each! 9 combined points! Great production from that line.

Jordanv78 : yeah. They've been pretty good so far. I would expect better considering the point streak that Kane had but still safely in a playoff spot in the West.

I can't believe the run Calgary is on. They've beaten Dallas twice in their 7 game winning streak along with some other solid teams. Finally playing more like the team they were last year. And this time around it's not all come from behind wins which is a good sign.

So the Hawks have been playing great over the past couple games. Won 2 games in back to back nights. The first one against the Sabers went into a shootout (first Hawks shootout all year) Kane dazzled the home town crowd becoming the first American-born player in NHL history to score 20-plus goals in each of his first 9 seasons.

Only 3 other active players from any country can say that. Jaromir Jagr, Alex Ovechkin and Tomas Vanek.

At the same time, he scored his 225th career goal tying Doug Wilson for 14th all time in Hawks history.

Also, for anyone tracking. Kane has now picked up a point in each of his last two games after his streak was snapped ;-)

Almost forgot! The Blackhawks have a tough test tonight on the road in Dallas against a Stars team that has come out and shocked the NHL. Sure I thought they would compete for a playoff spot, but I didn't think that they would be where they are by any shot. I still have my doubts about them in the playoffs, but they have been exciting, that's for sure.

Bleh, Calgary went on a 7 or 8 game winning streak only to lose a bunch of games in a row now.

Still, it is nice to see that they are playing at a level better than last in the West. I don't think Calgary is really ready for a proper playoff run yet but give it another year or 2 and I think Calgary is poised to become a possible contender. Not a favorite by any stretch but a solid team every year. Gaudreau and Monahan are starting to emerge as real first line players (especially Gaudreau) and will likely carry the team for years to come. Just need a proper goalie and there is an actual chance of doing well.

I got a birthday coupon for one of the sites that I get my sports tickets from, so I'm finally going to go to my first islanders game sometime around my birthday or when I get my check in the middle of the month. The islanders have been great, their 47 points is 2nd best in the conference. I don't see any reason to believe why they wont make it to the eastern finals. With some luck they could even make it to the finals but then whoever wins the west would be tough.

zanderlex : well.... regular season success and playoff success are NOT the same thing.

Look at Los Angeles. They are an average regular season team most years but in the playoffs they are a beast. Same with Chicago a lot of years. Those 2 teams have won 5 of the last 7 cups.

Not saying I don't want them to do well because I really like the Islanders but a lot can happen between now and then that can change their chances.

My Canadiens are in such a deep slump right now it's not even funny. It's upsetting going from that team leading the charge 9-0 at the beginning of the season and then dropping off to the 5th seed in their conference. I thought at the beginning of the season that we had enough pieces where we didn't have to rely on Price as much as we have the last few seasons, but clearly I was wrong.
Without Price we're just an average team, we need that 1 more piece in the puzzle, whether its requiring a top 6 forward, or even moving Subban to forward and letting Tinordi come in to take up a spot on the Defensive line.
I haven't really jumped in the "fire Therrien and Bergevin bandwagon yet, but if we don't get at least to the second or third round of the playoffs this year, with a healthy Carey Price, the higher ups are definitely going to have to make a move. If only Montreal was smart enough to hire a good coach that didn't speak french..

Domdof : at least you guys beat Boston convincingly yesterday. I never get tired of Montreal versus Boston. Those games are always good. Especially when Montreal wins.


I'm also going to mention the WJC because Canada just got eliminated by the Finns. Seriously bad team this year for Canada. No discipline at all. Too many penalties in that game. Disappointing but not a surprise. Can't win every year anymore now that Europe has caught back up with Canada and the US in these tournaments.

Yea I never miss an opportunity to watch the Habs play the Bruins, although there is a bit less of a flare now that Lucic is with the Kings. I'm just hoping Chara gets the hell out of the league soon because every single time I see him on the ice I just want to vomit. He has pissed me off for years, even before the Pacioretty cheap shot. 

It was sort of upsetting that we lost to Finland as well, like you said the Europeans are definitely stepping up their game and giving it there all, which I actually enjoy. Watching Canada/US ran away with it every year sort of gets boring. So seeing other countries be in the running to actually win is nice to see.

Domdof : yeah, I haven't liked Chara for years either.

Well, to be fair the WJC is more up in the air than Olympics are. Canada pretty much expects to win every time when we are at the Olympics. The other tournaments are less in our favor.

Still, it sucks to not even get to a medal game.

I don't know how I've just missed this thread or thought that one didn't exist, because as a Miami fan this is the sport I definitely have the most to cheer for right now (okay so they're the FLORIDA Panthers, fine, but their stadium is in Sunrise which is closest to Miami, so it's totally a Miami team. That's...how it works. I think. Right?).

I can't believe the streak we're on right now. Ten games and counting, including a seven-game home sweep?

Panthers are playing pretty lights out right now behind Luongo, Jagr, and our young guys as well. The defense during this whole stretch has been brutally solid, and thanks to the Canadians slumping, we're slowly starting to get a lead within the division. Honestly, though, the Atlantic division is the only division that's still closely wound and has plenty of chances for a new team to come out on top. Right now, first and second are only separated by five points, which is two and a half games (every other division has first and second separated by at least four whole games), with a lot of the season left to play. I'm not blind; I don't think the Panthers will keep this top division spot, and I really doubt we'll get far in the playoffs if we end up making it, but this is still a huge step forward for the team. I'm excited.

SWTerra : Yea the Panthers seem to be the team this year that is shocking everyone and their grandmothers. Last year was Calgary, now it's Florida's turn. They were one of my picks for bottom 3 in the east this season and I was COMPLETELY wrong. They're playing great right now, they even look like a second round playoff team at the moment which is a big jump for them compared to recent seasons.

Did you guys hear that Drouin may be on the block? If so we may have another Kessel situation, this time at the trade deadline. The only difference in is the asking price, it'll probably be about 2-3x more then what the Leafs got for Kessel, even though in my opinion they're practically the same player. Amazing offence, doesn't play defence. Can't wait to see what happens with Drouin and what kind of return Tampa will get for him.

SWTerra : not sure how you've missed it for so long either but I'm glad to see another fan (and from a totally different area of the league).

I'd love to see the Panthers do well this year. They've finally got a strong team top to bottom. Goaltending has been the main issue since Luongo left for Vancouver but now that he is back (and playing like he used to) I can see the Panthers doing well. Maybe not 1st in their division but easily making the playoffs.

I honestly like seeing new teams making the playoffs every few years. Sure teams like Chicago are at their peak right now but go back 10 years and they were in the bottom of the standings. I'm ready for some new blood to push for the championship now instead of the same teams the last few years. Not that I'm upset about Chicago doing well the last few years but I've never been a huge fan of multi-year dynasties. I enjoy not knowing who is going to win.

Although I am a Blackhawks fan and thus probably a LITTLE biased, I disagree regarding the dynasty comment. In today's NHL, with the Salary cap, it's so hard to continuously win. It's almost like the league punishes teams for winning with the current structure, so that means that teams have to rebuild huge key pieces to their teams CONSTANTLY to continue winning. This makes what Bowman does every year that much more impressive that the Hawks have been able to compete for the cup for the past 5-6 years consistently.

Sure it helps that they were able to draft guys like Seabs, Keith, Kane, Hjalmarsson, Toews and Crawford, but there's been a lot of pieces mixed in over the years as well.

My thoughts regarding the NHL since my last post -

With two assists last night, Patrick Kane is now at 59 points and sits at NUMBER ONE in points in the NHL. He is Number ONE in Assists (36), Number One in PP Goals (12) and tied with 3 people for 2nd in TOTAL goals. One behind the leader Benn. Kaners' having a monster season and has gained a little distance the past several games in the points race.

Hawks are currently on a 4 game win streak and looking good. Playing the 2nd game of a home and home back to back against the Pens tonight. Should be fun!

Seems like the Hawks are starting to hit their stride. Even though losing Kruger for a few months hurts the 4th line (which has always been a strength in past years they won the cup) Guys like Anisimov, Panarin, Danault (and others) have really stepped up. Seems like the team is starting to Gel. Considering all the pieces they moved around, this is really good news.

Crawford already has 6 shutouts at the half way point. Been playing great hockey this season. Only 3 goalies since 1975 have had 11 or more shutouts in a season as far as I know. Hasek, Lundqvist, and Brodeur. (Hasek and Brodeur did it more than once I believe) I could see him getting close to that if he still keeps playing the way he has been. If he plays around 30 more games, I could see him getting another 4-6.

I guess I can't be too upset. I just read that Sydney Crosby isn't on an all-star team. I know he had a rough start of the season, but come on. He's one of the most popular players in the NHL. How do you not put him on a Roster?

I get the NHL is in a bad spot here trying to reward PERFORMANCE for THIS season, but let's be realistic lol

geeogree : Yeah, that's always a very fun thing to watch unfold. Unless I'm talking about teams that I'm rooting for, I always love to see upsets. It's fun to watch the unexpected unfold (and even more fun to watch it with your own team; I just wish it had happened to the Dolphins, but oh well). I mean, heck, that's the entire selling point for stuff like March Madness, so it's clear it's a bandwagon that many people can get on.

So the Hawks won the 2nd of the back to back tonight against the Pens. That makes 5 wins in a row for the Hawks. They beat them pretty soundly tonight. Another 2 goals for Panarin tonight too. 4 goals in 2 games against the Pens. His top shelf lazer beams have Fluery very frustrated.

Kane got another assist tonight. leading the league with 60 points. He has 10 points in his last 5 games.

Here's a crazy stat. Kane has only NOT SCORED in 5 of the 42 games he's played.

Hawks now have the 2nd best record in the west I believe.