Don’t worry if you missed last night’s Blackhawks-Senators game. Apparently a lot of Canadians did, too, as the game was shown on the not-widely-available TSN2.
Can you imagine if the Blackhawks still didn’t broadcast their home games? This might have been a game practically unseen by anyone outside of the United Center.
Obviously, the Senators didn’t want [...]

We always talk about the NHL coaching carousel but some coaches do seem to evolve. Chicago coach Joel Quenneville, who always seemed a little too player friendly to me, has taken to benching players and it seems to be working.
Colorado’s Tony Granato, who replaced Quenneville in Colorado after being replaced by Quenneville (an extreme version [...]

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. I’ve been on the phone with Richard Simmons since Friday, so I’m feeling much better.
You know who’s not feeling so well? Brendan Shanahan. It seems all of the teams that might have wanted him are now playing so well, they really don’t need him. The Flyers are suddenly [...]

The Avs lost 4-1 to the Flames last night, with one unlikely hero emerging for Colorado: the much maligned goalie Peter Budaj.
Adrian Dater said it might be the worst Avs game he’s ever seen. Budaj at least kept it close.
The Avs can’t expect the calvary to come any time soon: there’s no update on when [...]

I’d love to know the Versus ratings on last night’s Red Wings/Penguins game. It seemed liked everyone was watching it. The Wings blew a three-goal lead and were pretty much single-handedly beaten by Pittsburgh’s Jordan Staal.
Staal has a lot of offensive talent for a natural shut-down center and he struggles with balancing the offense [...]

So the wheels really seem to be falling off the Sean Avery Experiment in Dallas.
This week’s mailbag with Stars beatwriter Mike Heika is practically all questions from fans asking about how and why Avery is ruining the team. Heika is very good about not putting the Stars troubles on Avery, but Avery’s salary does make [...]

How about those Blackhawks? They’ve yet to lose at home this season, including last night’s big 6-2 win over the Avs.
One of the reasons for Chicago’s success? Coach Joe Quenneville’s Detroit-style offense, that features a lot of shooting defensemen. The defense either scores or creates rebound opportunities for the forwards. As I see more and [...]

What are the Blackhawks going to do? They got their first win of the season last night, with “backup” Nikolai Khabibulin in goal. While the Chicago victory had a lot more to do with the offense finally clicking and defenseman Brian Campbell shaking himself out of an early malaise, Khabibulin had a very strong game. [...]

I like the beginning of the NHL season because you get to see interesting people as offensive leaders. Right now, on NHL.com, you can see Keith Tkachuk as the NHL’s leading goal scorer and Aaron Voros as the NHL’s point leader. I’m not sure that’s going to last a whole season.
In New York, one of [...]

I kind of wish I was an NHL defenseman this season. They sure seem to be in short supply.
The Lightning are expected to sign Marek Malik this week. Malik was unsigned at the start of this season but I guess teams are getting more desperate. Malik was pretty immobile last season. I can’t imagine what [...]