There have been already 12 deals today including the biggest one seeing Tampa center Brad Richards shipped along with netminder Johan Holmqvist to the Stars for Mike Smith, Jussi Jokinen and Jeff Halpern.

As I am at work, it’s very hard to update everything. But I did manage to find time during lunch break to list these deals and analyze them on my Hitting Back site.

So please feel free to check it out.

I’ll try to have more later as I’m extremely busy today including a big concert tonight!

See ya’ll later!

When the eastern time zone clocks strike 3 p.m. this afternoon, the hockey world will know what teams are contenders and what teams have conceded the season. Who will make the biggest splash? Montreal? Ottawa? A surprise team like the Blackhawks? I don’t know, but I know it will be fun.

What will the Rangers do? Paul Mara is out for two weeks, and they have some forward at depth. Do they bring in a defender or even two? Ron Gainsey? Nick Boyton? Brian Campbell?

How about the Islanders? With Mike Comrie signed to a new one-year, $4 million deal, he stays put. Ruslan Federtanko could be the next Fishstick signed. Do they move some other veterans for youth? Or do they feel they can still make a splash in the playoff picture?

The Devils keep on winning. What do they really need to be a better team? Honestly, any move that they do make will probably be really small. Maybe a little defense help, but even that isn’t a necessary move.

I regret that I will be unable to blog until well after 3 today, which is really unfortunate because I was looking forward to it. I’ll weigh in later on today when everything is done though.

Enjoy the craziness. Update your browsers frequently and I’ll catch everyone later.

If you’re an avid Back To The Future fan, then yesterday was your day when it came to the hockey scene as two former bitter Western rivals turned back the clock to a decade prior.





Back then, the best rivalry in the game was between the Red Wings and Avalanche featuring some epic playoff battles resulting in Cups for both franchises. Well, it’s been a while since these teams had that sort of magic going. Maybe with yesterday’s moves, they’re trying to rekindle it in hopes of a big Spring.





First, former Colorado star center Peter Forsberg decided after all that he wanted to comeback, reversing course to re-sign with the Avalanche where he had his most success. It was there where Peter The Great became one of the best players in the league helping lead the Avs to their first Cup in 1996 and also being part of that second championship five years later even though he missed the final two series.



For a decade, Forsberg lit up the highlight reel teaming up with captain Joe Sakic to form a dynamic duo. Following the lockout, the Swede left the thin air for the Flyers where he played the last two injury riddled seasons due to a bad right foot.

Not long ago, it looked like a Foppa return to the NHL wouldn’t occur because the 34 year-old pivot recently concluded that he wasn’t where he needed to be for that to happen. Well, I guess a lot can change in a week. Especially when the Avs are waving lots of cash at their former superstar in the hopes that a less than 100 percent Forsberg will be able to get them back to the postseason after falling short last year.

Currently, the Avalanche rank 10th in the ultracompetitive Western Conference trailing eighth place Nashville by four points and the upstart Coyotes by one. The Blue Jackets are only a point in back of the Avs and five out while the Blues are six behind the Preds.

With 19 games remaining, Colorado is paying Forsberg a pro-rated one million for basically a six week rental. If it were a full season, he’d make five million.

It’s certainly no guarantee that the Avs will make the cut but with Sakic finally healthy along with leading scorer Paul Stastny plus a motivated Forsberg, that should give them a leg up on the competition.

Colorado will visit Calgary later tonight and plays Vancouver twice in the next week. Plus the pesky Kings and defending champion Ducks. Certainly nothing easy about the upcoming schedule.

While the Avs are going Back To The Future, Doc Brown and Marty McFly also might want to make a visit to the Joe Louis Arena where the Wings will be welcoming back the comebacking Darren McCarty.

The 35 year-old former member of The Grind Line will get a second chance at the NHL after a battle with alcohol and drugs which left him bankrupt. The Wings gave him a tryout with the AHL’s Grand Rapids and IHL’s Flint Generals.

With the team struggling lately having dropped seven of eight due to a ton of injuries which has kept out Nicklas Lidstrom, Dominik Hasek, Chris Chelios, Dan Cleary and Niklas Kronwall, Detroit GM Ken Holland decided his club needed to do something despite continuing to lead the league with 89 points (six more than red hot Dallas).

They’ll hope the gritty and physical McCarty still has something left to reenergize the Original Six club who he once helped win three Cups with in 1997-98 and 2002.

At the very least, it should be intriguing to see how he fares. Wishing him the best of luck and hoping he makes the most out of this opportunity.

Boyle re-ups with Lightning: With the 3 PM deadline approaching, Tampa Bay and much coveted defenseman Dan Boyle decided they wanted to remain together. The Bolts and Boyle agreed to a brand new six-year contract extension worth a reported $40 million.

The 31 year-old has three goals and eight assists for 11 points in 17 games this season. During his nine-year NHL career with Florida and Tampa, the Ottawa native has tallied 76 goals and 203 assists for 278 points in 503 games.

Most of that production has come with the Bolts. In 374 games since GM Jay Feaster acquired him six years prior, Boyle has totaled 239 points (65-174-239). That kind of reliable production was a big part of the franchise’s only championship in 2004.

He’ll be continuing to run the power play and log big minutes instead of being dealt elsewhere.

Prospal To Flyers: The same day, Feaster also unloaded forward Vaclav Prospal to the Flyers in exchange for defenseman Alexandre Picard and a conditional 2009 draft pick.

The recently turned 33 year-old Prospal returns to where he began his NHL career a decade ago. After stints with Ottawa, Florida, Tampa, Anaheim and again Tampa, he’s come full circle and will try to help the depleted Flyers make the playoffs.

After a disappointing 2006-07 in which he scored just 14 goals and 55 points with a dreadful minus-24 rating, the veteran Czech has bounced back with a strong season notching 29 goals, 28 helpers for 57 points in 62 contests with the Bolts.

With the Flyers’ best forward Mike Richards sidelined due to a torn hamstring, GM Paul Holmgren needed to do something to upgrade his roster. This is a solid addition.

Jackman re-signed: The St. Louis Blues also made some news yesterday re-signing defenseman Barret Jackman to a four-year extension. The 26 year-old injury prone physical defenseman was thought to be on the block but instead St. Louis Team President John Davidson opted to retain him.

Following a solid 2006-07 in which he attained career highs in assists (24) and points (27) as well as got into his most games (70) since his rookie season, the British Columbia native has struggled. In 58 contests, he’s 2-6-8 with 63 penalty minutes and a minus-12 rating.

One Blogger’s Reaction: With Boyle and Jackman staying put, the defensemen to look for who could get moved later today are Buffalo’s Brian Campbell, Toronto’s Bryan McCabe and Tomas Kaberle along with LA’s Rob Blake.

We’ll have more on the deadline at some point today as I’ll be quite busy. Hope our other bloggers contribute to what should be a fun day!

It was a great afternoon for the Devils. In particular, All-Star netminder Marty Brodeur, whose 37 saves were the difference in a 2-1 overtime triumph over the Caps at Verizon Center.

With his team outshot 28-10 and outchanced by plenty through 40 minutes, the three-time Vezina and Cup winner stood on his head robbing Alexander Ovechkin and other Capitals including Alexander Semin and rookie Nicklas Backstrom point blank to keep the game scoreless.

The Devils finally came with a better effort in the third and were rewarded with the game’s first goal when team captain Jamie Langenbrunner converted on a 5-on-3 power play just 39 seconds in for his 11th. Paul Martin and Patrik Elias notched assists.

However, the Caps finally found a way to beat Brodeur when Semin took an Ovechkin feed and went to the backhand for his 19th just 1:53 later to tie it.

If the Capitals were the superior team in the first two stanzas, then the same couldn’t be said for the final 20 of regulation as the Devils got plenty of shots (18-10) and chances on Washington backup Brent Johnson. The former Blue was up to the task much like his counterpart earning his team a valuable point to get within five of the first place Hurricanes.

In OT, it would be mostly Washington as Ovechkin tried to stickhandle through every Devil. He also setup one quality opportunity for top defenseman Mike Green but a terrific pokecheck by Brodeur thwarted his backhand deke attempt keeping the extra session going.

Remarkably despite the Caps dictating the play, they got no total shots on Marty in the OT while the Devs finished with three including the winner.

Off a two-on-three, John Madden wouldn’t give up the puck forcing a sharp angle shot on Johnson which rebounded out to Elias. The crafty left wing patiently waited before firing a shot off the post. A hustling Madden then slipped Shaone Morrisonn’s check and backhanded one thru Johnson’s five-hole for the winner sending FSNY basketcase announcer Mike Emrick into a screech of epic proportions.

Doc’s a great play-by-play man but he sounded like an annoying child there. It was a great win for the Devils nonetheless and allowed them to grab the conference’s top spot by a point over the idle Sens. According to the FSNY production truck team of Roland Dratch and Larry Gaines, it’s the first time they’ve led the East at this point in seven years.

I’m not really sure what the significance is. Their team always wins the division and usually finishes at or near the top of the conference.

As a former researcher though, production teams love those kind of stats. So, it stands to reason why they used it.

Meanwhile, the Pens and Sharks needed a shootout to decide the winner. In it, all three San Jose shooters easily beat frustrated Pittsburgh netminder Ty Conklin. The best part had to be when Jarkko Ruutu slowly walked in before somehow going to the right hand to put the puck upstairs on Nabokov. For a guy who gets underneath the skin of opponents, he has some skill to go with it as I’ve never seen him miss in a shootout. No wonder Michel Therrien selected him over NHL leading scorer Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora.

It was all for naught as veteran pivot Jeremy Roenick made it three-for-three in the skills competition by easily picking the five-hole on Conklin to give the Sharks their second consecutive win of what’s been a very tough Eastern road trip.

For the Devs, it meant they now lead the Pens by two points with each team having 19 games to go.

If the video of Brodeur’s big game comes out, we’ll be sure to put it up.

The Rangers aim for their second straight win as they host the Panthers now. Lenny did a quick preview. To any normal puck fan who read my drunken post last night, I apologize.

To the loser who posted under Anonymous because they have something stuck up their ass and have never made a mistake in their pathetic life, go to Hell! Anyone who can’t put their name behind something is spineless and obviously doesn’t have a lot going for them.


Enjoy the games people! See ya later.

Unfortunately, due to extensive amounts of work, this post is a little on the rushed side. Sorry for that.

- Marcel Hossa has been recalled for tonight’s game and will skate on the fourth line along side Blair Betts and Ryan Hollweg. Colton Orr sustained an “upper body” injury last night, yet no one knows how or when it occurred. Hopefully he’s not out too long as he provides some much needed grit and grind to the game.

- Paul Mara is out tonight with a head injury. It may not be a concussion, but it may be broken facial bones. Neither is good news, so bringing in a defenseman over the next two days may be imminent. Jason Strudwick plays in his place tonight.

- Glen Sather said that Jaromir Jagr is going nowhere. He is focusing his efforts on resigning both Jagr and Sean Avery, which is good news for both of them. If Jagr sticks around, Marty Straka may hang around as well next year.

- Henrik Lundqvist will again get the start in net. Renney was happy with how he looked yesterday and hopes he can continue to be impressive tonight.

Enjoy the game. I’ll check in later or tomorrow.

With a lot of hockey taking place this weekend, I figured I’d bring back my total randomness and give you a little insight. So, here goes:

1.Some HNIC announcer pointed out that Detroit doesn’t have much offensive depth up front outside of Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Holmstrom. Well, you don’t say. It’s much easier to conclude that when Lidstrom, Rafalski, Chelios, Hasek, Cleary and Kronwall are out. How many teams can play good hockey when so many key contributors are out including Detroit’s best player? There’s no doubt that they could use a little more toughness up front. Maybe Darren McCarty’s comeback pans out. You sure hope so.

2.How bad is the Devils radio cast? It’s already sad enough that they have the worst announcers in the overmatched Matt Loughlin and Sherry Ross but they were just about to go to commercial and screwed up. God. How can a successful franchise that’s won three Cups and produced such great players like Brodeur, Parise, Elias, etc. have such an awful radio broadcast?

It was a much better listen when John Hennessy and Randy Velischek were calling games. Sure. Velischek accentuated the positives but he was a decent analyst and Hennessy was a real play-by-play man. Isn’t it about time the Devils scrap this failed experiment? Loughlin’s a solid studio host where he worked extremely well with Stan Fischler in the infamous Matt & The Maven segment which always were a blast. Ross is a much better hockey writer for the Daily News than color commentator.

3.For NBC to be airing golf today instead of hockey is a joke. The network’s done an admirable job in its third season covering the sport. The team of Mike Milbury and Pierre McGuire is a big improvement. They’re really good and not afraid to pull punches. However, with the trade deadline looming, you’d think the NHL’s network TV station would have some games on. It’s disappointing.

4.Coach of the year candidate: Barry Trotz, Nashville. This guy is just a phenomenal coach. He loses his No.1 goalie along with arguably his best defenseman because of the franchise’s uncertainty and still has this team in the playoffs if the season ended today. Oh. He still has good players. J.P. Dumont has been terrific and Alexander Radulov is an emerging star. Jason Arnott has assumed the leadership role and played very well. His best hockey since he helped the Devils win their second Cup. Still, with Chris Mason and Dan Ellis sharing the No.1 goalie duties and an alright blueline which has seen Shea Weber miss a lot of time and no Steve Sullivan up front, this team is overachieving. Trotz really deserves a lot of credit. Especially if they get in in an extremely tough West.

5.Say this for the Kings. They might not be making the playoffs this year but they sure boast an exciting crop of young forwards which will make them an improved team for the future. If Jonathan Bernier develops into the top netminder the franchise expects, they’ll be much better. Patrick O’Sullivan has joined a talented roster which features Anze Kopitar, Alexander Frolov, Michael Cammalleri and Dustin Brown. Jack Johnson will get better on the blueline. He made a great hustle play yesterday to allow his team to rally from four down to force OT before falling on Patrick Sharp’s rebound goal.

6.Did anyone have Sharp leading the Hawks with 29 goals including an NHL best seven shorthanded?

7.Brodeur’s stoning the Caps here. He’s made at least four great saves including a big one on league leading finisher Alexander Ovechkin.

8.Do the Canucks have enough scoring to make the playoffs let alone go far? Mats Sundin sure would look good playing alongside countrymen Markus Naslund, the Sedins and Mattias Ohlund.

9.Where will Marian Hossa land?

10.He won’t get much recognition but Rick DiPietro has been extremely valuable to the Islanders. The stats say otherwise but anyone who watches that depleted team as they grind their way to stay in this race knows better. How about nominating him for the Vezina alongside Brodeur and Roberto Luongo? It won’t happen.

11.I’ve been pushing him for a while but Andrei Markov needs to be up for the Norris even if it’s going to Lidstrom.

12.Hidden superstar: Ryan Getzlaf. If you see any of the Ducks, then you know why. He just does it all. The definition of a power forward who makes teammates better and strikes fear into the opposition.

13.How are the Canes still winning without Rod Brind’Amour and Justin Williams? Plus they unloaded Cory Stillman and key cog Mike Commodore to the Sens. That’s a great coaching job by Peter Laviolette.

14.Paul Martin won’t be up for the Norris but he’s having his best season and really means so much to the Devils’ success. A very solid skater who’s extremely smart in his end. Now he’s finally jumping into the play and finding offense.

15.When Jaromir Jagr decides to play, he’s still pretty tough to stop. Too bad his confidence in his ability to score is shot.

16.Who would you rather have? Daniel Briere or Derek Roy? Looks like the Sabres made the right choice.

17.Underrated defenseman: Meet Mike Green. Don’t let him wind up or you could pay the price.

18.Jonathan Toews has really raised his level since returning to the Hawks.

19.How does Radim Vrbata have 27 goals in The Desert?!?!?!?!?!

20.Wayne Gretzky’s done an unbelievable job with the ‘Yotes. Remember when they were a laughingstock? Not anymore.

21.The Sharks still don’t look like they have enough scoring to win more than a round.

In case you missed it last night, the Rangers got a big one-goal win in Buffalo. It wasn’t pretty but it didn’t have to be as neither team which entered tied with 68 points played the kind of D which allowed for it to be a lowscoring game.

Instead, it was literally back and forth action keeping you on the edge of your seat with each team taking turns carrying the play. Jaromir Jagr snapped his goal drought by neatly deflecting home Fedor Tyutin’s left point shot to put the Blueshirts out in front.

It didn’t last long as the Sabres cameback thanks to an Ales Kotalik blast off some poor defensive coverage. It was the first of two goals for him. Rookie forward Nigel Dawes would put his team back ahead with a sneaky wrister top shelf past Ryan Miller’s glove. It was his ninth.

However, Buffalo got the next two 6:06 apart in the second off the sticks of Jason Pominville and Kotalik. Just when it seemed the Sabres had the momentum, the Rangers came right back on the next shift with Michal Rozsival setting up rookie pivot Brandon Dubinsky for the equalizer only 34 seconds later. It was a huge goal because it allowed New York to relax and get their game back.

Though the Sabres generated a few dangerous chances in the third, they wouldn’t find that fourth goal on Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist. If he struggled with the puck and maybe gave up one questionable one earlier, the 25 year-old Swede made up for it by flat out stoning red hot Buffalo sniper Thomas Vanek on a breakaway. Sprung by an excellent breakout pass, Vanek tried to go stick side but Lundqvist stood tall blocking it away.

Not long after, Sean Avery was the beneficiary of a dreadful giveaway by Kotalik. He might have been his team’s best offensive player earlier in the crucial contest but a blind backhand up the middle to Brendan Shanahan resulted in Avery’s deciding tally. Shanahan’s shot deflected right to a cutting Avery who easily put home his 10th with Ryan Miller out of position anticipating Shanny’s blast which never came.

From there, the Rangers steadied to do a solid enough job defensively. In particular, Shanahan was terrific in the final seconds keeping a puck alive in the corner without using his hand wasting at least eight seconds.

Lundqvist finished with 26 saves as his team improved to 4-0-2 in their last six. They’ll look to continue putting up points later tonight when they return home to host the Panthers.

A few notes about this game now that I’m able to:


-Dubinsky finished with a goal and a helper. Since Tom Renney changed the lines sticking Jagr back with the rookie out of Anchorage, Dubi has seven points (3-4-7) in the last four contests. He really looks like a more confident player now. It’s no surprise anymore that it’s the former 2004 second round pick who has been his team’s best player lately. He’s a point-a-game in his last 11 and has 17 points (8-9-17) and a plus-11 rating since Jan.12.

-Rozsival contributed two assists. He’s really stepped up his game lately and has four assists in the last two games. Most notably, Rozy is playing more physical in his end. Maybe he’s feeling better.

-Marek Malik and rookie Marc Staal struggled last night. They’ll both need to be better tonight. Especially with Paul Mara getting hurt and leaving yesterday’s game. If Mara’s out a period, it could impact what the Rangers do at Tuesday’s deadline. They could step up their hunt for another defenseman. Perhaps Dan Boyle or Tomas Kaberle? The price will be hefty.

-Dawes continues to look more confident out there. He’s meshed well with Scott Gomez and is using his speed and grit to create chances. Twelve of his 18 points have come since Jan.12. If the kid from Manitoba ever consistently gets on the scoresheet, he’ll develop into the kind of player which will allow the club to keep him around as part of the plan.

-Both Tyutin and partner Dan Girardi were strong on the blueline breaking up plays and playing physical. They both were recently re-signed by the club and are proving why. Girardi’s plus-minus is now minus-six. While that’s not great, it’s a nice improvement from where the second-year find was a month ago.

-Avery finished with the ever popular Gordie Howe hat trick. He has really played well since returning. He’s factoring in offensively and is very active. It just might be the best hockey of his career. The pest has five goals in the past five contests and over that span is plus-five. If he continues performing this way, it’s going to be impossible for the Rangers not to get him re-signed. It’s going to cost.

-The Panthers are coming off a stunning OT win over the Flyers last night. Since nobody could understand what I wrote last nite, I’ll just rehash what happened.

Antero Niittymaki was four seconds away from a huge shutout which would’ve snapped his team’s inexplicable nine-game skid. Instead of getting the win though, somehow the Flyers didn’t clear the zone allowing a desperate Florida club to setup a last second shot by defenseman Jay Bouwmeester. With captain Olli Jokinen standing in front, Niittymaki allowed the puck to go through him for the tying goal at 19:56. In OT, David Booth drew a penalty with his speed. He’s really a nice player. Off the next draw, Jokinen stepped into one blasting it past Niittymaki inside the right bar for the crushing winner sending a stunned Philly crowd home.

Sure. They got a point and at least went ahead of the Isles due to more wins and an extra game left. But how the heck did they lose? They dominated most of the game and were stellar defensively until the closing seconds. Losing their best player Mike Richards on top of it with a torn hamstring hurts big time. They’re now 0-8-2 in their last 10. You have to figure Paul Holmgren will be aggressive trying to upgrade the roster. With Peter Forsberg out of the loop, might he go after Brad Richards as a replacement?

Stay tuned.


There are more games going on today with the Devils in the nation’s capital to play the Caps. We’ll have some updates later.

The last time the Rangers played Buffalo, they chased Ryan Miller in the first period. Here’s to hoping they can do that again tonight when the Chris Drury and the rest of the Rangers return to Buffalo.

This will be Drury’s first time in Buffalo since he jumped ship to the Rangers over the summer. It will be interesting to see how the Buffalo fans react to him. I’m going to put money on him getting more jeers than cheers, even though he was a fantastic player for them.

Buffalo will be a little shorthanded tonight, as Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy, Jochen Hecht and Paul Gaustad all missed practice with illnesses and injuries. Should be interesting to see which ones dress and which ones don’t. Whoever dresses may not be at 100%, which the Rangers should try to exploit as much as possible as well.

Henrik Lundqvist is back in net tonight, but might be watching Stephen Valiquette from the bench tomorrow, which seems to make sense. Tom Renney wouldn’t commit to it, but I’d go for it. Valley has been good enough to earn a few more starts down the stretch.

One thing that is for sure is the Petr Prucha is out tonight and most likely tomorrow as well. He has been subjected to little contact over the past week and with Ryan Callahan filling in nicely, Renney doesn’t have to rush him back into the lineup. Look for Marek Malik to get the start on defense as well, with Jason Strudwick the most likely to end up in the press box. Should the Rangers have suitors for him at the deadline, Malik has to be showcased. Strudwick isn’t going anywhere, and could use a couple of games off.

Speaking of deadline, this Tuesday is coming fast. Whether the Rangers make a move or not could be contingent on this weekend’s games. Two wins could ease the souls in charge of making moves (Glen Sather) but two wins may cause a rash slew of moves. Win or lose, the main consensus seems to be that the Rangers need a power play quarterback (Dan Boyle) and/or a big physical blueliner (Nick Boynton). I can’t say I disagree with either of those options. We don’t need offense as much as defense, so we should concentrate on that. Unless we can snag Marion Hossa for Marcel Hossa (even swap, no?), there’s no use even exploring a deal to get him. Montreal seems to have an upper hand on landing him, and I’d rather not part with all the youth and picks it would take to pick him up for three months. Boyle will be expensive, but not overwhelming, Boynton would probably cost us someone in the system, but maybe Don Maloney will give us a break. Please, no Martin Ruchinsky. I’m so tired of him not scoring for us. I like him not scoring for the Blues.

I was able to catch the third period of Devils v. Islanders this afternoon. Spirited third period by the Devils, which led to a 4-2 win. Rick DiPietro looked foolish on the third goal, but there was nothing that could have been done on his part to prevent the fourth. Bruno Gervais blew his coverage and left Brian Gianta with free reign of the crease.

Enjoy the game tonight. I’m heading out now to cover a women’s hockey game here for the newspaper, so I’ll have to record the game. I’ll watch it when I get home around 10 and weigh in tomorrow.