Off Wing Opinion

A graphic on ESPN 2's broadcast tonight of the Flyers-Wings game from Detroit read as follows:

"The Last Time"
Philly Went To The Finals
21 teams in the NHL
Ronald Reagan was President
Titanic wreckage discovered
First class stamp: $.20
Top movie: Ghostbusters

Indeed, all these things were true when Philly went to the Finals in 1987. Of course, somebody seemed to forget that the Flyers went to the Finals again in 1997, when they were swept by the Red Wings, four games to none. Though they corrected their mistake midway through the third period, it was pretty glaring. Something tells me somebody in the booth got yelled at tonight.

TSN is reporting that the Detroit Red Wings have acquired center Robert Lang, the NHL's leading scorer this season, from the Washington Capitals in exchange for junior winger Thomas Fleischmann, a first round draft pick in 2004, and a fourth round pick in 2006.

Here's the skinny on Fleischmann from Red Wings Central:

STRENGTHS Fast skater with quickness and agility ... excellent stickhandler with terrific 1-on-1 moves ... gritty workhorse who battles through checks to get to front of net ... capable of scoring goals with his soft hands in tight and a quick, accurate shot ... tremendous vision and great playmaker ... good hockey sense and intelligent offensively ... fierce competitor with good work ethic ...

WEAKNESSES
Doesn't always bury his chances when in scoring position ... sometimes looks for the open man instead of shooting ... slender build needs more muscle for Fleischmann to win battles and create open space in the pros ...

PROJECTION
Fleischmann has made a smooth adjustment to North America on and off the ice. He has the speed, moves and hands to develop into a scoring-line player at the NHL level.

Fleischmann is currently plays for the Moose Jaw Warriors of the WHL, where he is the team's second leading scorer with 28 goals and 41 assists.

A pretty good deal, especially considering the Caps rid themselves completely of Lang's contract, get a pretty good prospect, and a pick that's probably going to come at the bottom of the first round in next year's draft. Looks like it's going to be crowded in Portland next season, home of the Caps top minor league affiliate.

As for the Wings, with a farm system that's so incredibly deep, and without knowing when you're going to have another shot at the Stanley Cup, the deal was too good to pass up. Most significantly, this deal will probably allow the Wings to cut down on Steve Yzerman's minutes, and help keep him fresh for the playoffs.

With first place in the Eastern Conference on the line, Philly and Ottawa played to a 1-1 tie in scenic Kanata. But the buzz after the game concerned Martin Havlat, who got a match penalty after taking a swing at Philly's Mark Recchi:

"He's a reckless player and someday someone is going to make him eat his lunch," Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said. "He's going to get it someday, and it's going to be harsh."

Havlat was ejected for taking a two-handed swing at Recchi's head in frustration at the Philadelphia forward's dogged stick-checking.

"He's known for it," said Recchi, who had several stitches on his upper left lip. "It might not come from our team, it might come from some other team, but he will because he's cheap and he does stupid stuff like that. He'd better learn to protect himself."

The best game out West took place in Vancouver, as the Canucks tied the Sharks in regulation, setting up Brent Sopel's goal to win in in OT, 3-2. Sopel had two goals and an assist, scoring the winning goal when San Jose's Vesa Toskala couldn't prevent a rebound off a low shot into his pads by Markus Naslund.

Everyone likes to malign the Southeast Division, and say that the Tampa Bay Lightning benefit greatly by playing in the NHL's worst division. And after beating Toronto 4-3 in Tampa last night (and matching Toronto's season-long point total), one has to wonder what Tampa will have to do to get some respect. Brad Richards had two goals for the Bolts.

In Boston, Montreal's Craig Rivet scored in OT to ice a 3-2 win for the Habs. Montreal remains in seventh place in the East, three points ahead of the Islanders, who lost again to the Rangers, 6-3.

The win marked a successful debut for Rangers interim head coach Tom Renney, as the Rangers swept the six-game season series with the Islanders. Jaromir Jagr and Chris Simon both scored twice for the Blueshirts, but plenty of credit has to go to Rangers defenseman Dale Purinton, who kept his cool when Eric Cairns of the Islanders challenged him to a fight in the first period with the Rangers already up 2-0. The result: a seven minute Rangers power play that resulted in a goal, and salted it away for the Manhattanites.

Back out West, St. Louis and Colorado tied 2-2 in Mike Kitchen's debut as Blues head coach. St. Louis had been down 2-0, but got second period goals from Dallas Drake and Keith Tkachuk to force the tie. Meanwhile in Calgary, Western Division leading Detroit won 2-1 in Calgary. And finally, in Nashville, the Predators got another goal from Steve Sullivan en route to a 4-0 win over Minnesota.

With teams looking to obtain a rugged defenseman, the Ducks announced they won't be parting with veteran Keith Carney.

With CBA Armageddon still looming, another team announced it would lose money this year -- this time it's the Buffalo Sabres, who are projecting a $10 million loss even if the team makes the playoffs. And in Dallas, Stars owner Tom Hicks revealed that he asked Mike Modano and Bill Guerin to defer some compensation in order to keep former Stars defenseman Derian Hatcher in Dallas this past offseason

Pittsburgh's long national nightmare is over. Rick Bowness' has probably just begun.

Ric Jackman scored with 3:12 remaining in overtime, as Pittsburgh snapped its 18-game winless streak with a 4-3 win over the Coyotes in Phoenix. It was an inauspicious debut for interim Coyotes head coach Rick Bowness, who was given the job on Tuesday night when the team fired Bobby Francis. It was the first win for Pittsburgh since January 12th in Philadelphia.

With a chance to climb to the top of the Eastern Conference standings, Toronto bonked once more, getting shutout 4-0 by Robert Luongo and las Panteras de Florida. Luongo had 33 saves, and Juraj Kolnik scored twice for Florida.

Patrick Elias had two goals and three assists in New Jersey's 8-2 demolition of Buffalo. While Jamie Langenbrunner was powering the New Jersey offense early in the season, Elias and his linemates, Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta have been unstoppable as of late. With the win, Devils goalie Martin Brodeur became the first goalie in NHL history to win 30 games in nine straight seasons.

In a Southeast Division showdown, Tampa Bay beat Atlanta, 4-2. Vincent Lecavalier got the tie-breaking goal in the third period to salt it away for the Lightning. It was Tampa Bay's first win at the Philips Arena in eight tries. On the other end of the division, Carolina edged Washington 2-1. Jeff O'Neill got the game winner on a two-man advantage midway through the second period, as the Caps only managed 5 shots in the game's first 28 minutes. Arturs Irbe, who had spent most of the season in the minors, got the win for Carolina.

In Dallas, the Kings and Stars tied 1-1, but the real news concerned Stars center Mike Modano, who left the game in the first period with a groin injury. He's listed as day-to-day. Elsewhere out West, Chicago beat Columbus 4-3 and Anaheim tripped up Edmonton, 4-2.

In off-ice news, the Avalanche acquired center Darby Hendrickson from the Minnesota Wild. Hendrickson, who has played most of the season in the minors, gives Colorado some depth behind Andrei Nikolishin.

And in Vancouver, while Marcus Naslund has returned to practice to skate with the Canucks, GM Brian Burke is trying to start to put some pressure on his bosses to get a new deal done:

Brian Burke says he was just stating facts when he called himself a "lame duck general manager" with the Vancouver Canucks.

Burke also said not having a contract in place for next year isn't preventing him from doing his job with the NHL team.

"All I did was address something factually," Burke said Wednesday. "If people don't like that, too bad.

Tom Benjamin thinks Burke is just a "lucky duck".

And tonight in New York, Tom Renney makes his debut as interim head coach of the New York Rangers. He faces the Islanders his first time out, a team the Rangers have beat five times this season.

UPDATE: In the Washington Post, Jason LaCanfora is reporting that activity in and around the Capitals is starting to boil over. Besides the usual suspects, it looks like winger Mike Grier might be available for the right price. Even better, it seems as if the Toronto Maple Leafs are upping their offer for Sergei Gonchar, something that might have some of my readers pretty worried.

The one morning I forget to read Hockeybird just happens to be the day I could afford to miss it least, as Glen Sather will announce today that he is stepping down as head coach of the New York Rangers.

But before Slats announced he was stepping down, Hockey Rodent had some questions for the erstwhile head coach:

Another of my readers, a Maple Leafs fan named Matt ,apparently thinks I have a Nextel direct connect arrangement with Washington Caps GM George McPhee:

Everyone knows my Leafs want Gonchar. And everyone knows your Caps want Antropov/Stajan/Colaiacovo. Personally, I don't want any of those guys to move. And reports of Toronto needing to ship out two of those three (And a pick!) for Gonchar is insane. Right now, those 3 and Alexander Steen are the only 'sure-fire' NHLers that Toronto has, and even that's never certain.

So what I'm wondering - If you were McPhee, would you consider Tomas Kaberle and a different prospect? Or would it still take one of the three kids? If Gonchar does get here, Kaberle would lose tons of playing time, and he's essentially the same player as Sergei, just not as strong offensively.

Unfortunatley for me, I fear that the thinning crop of available D-men will force Toronto to make a deal that they lose out on big time. Please note I don't consider those three untouchable, but Gonchar (and yes, he's the best offensive d-man out there) is not good enough for the Leafs' future.

After conferring with my sources, I passed this message back, with the hopes it reaches Leafs GM John Ferguson.

Dude -- what are you willing to do to win the Stanley Cup?

You refer to the future, but when was the last time there was a Cup parade down Younge?

To play, you gotta pay. And if you want to obtain the best puck moving defenseman in all of hockey (at this moment anyway), you're going to have to give up some value in return.

This is not a Peter Bondra situation, where essentially Ottawa obtained a 2-month+playoffs rental. Gonchar has got plenty of good years ahead of him. Better yet, he's been to the Finals before (1998), and knows what playoff pressure is like.

You want this guy. If you want the Cup, you need this guy. Pay up.

Here's a reference point. Back in 1996, Colorado GM Pierre Lacroix needed a puck moving defenseman to complement his offense. He had a surplus of forwards, so early in the season when the pressure was off, he swapped a young and vital Owen Nolan for San Jose's Sandis Ozolinsh.

It was a deal that traded quality for quality. Toronto is going to have to make a hockey deal, and come up with a deadline pressure markup if they want to grab Gonchar.

In a way, I kind of envy McPhee these days. He's clearly weathered the worst of the storm with Caps owner Ted Leonsis, who would have gotten rid of him by now if he was going to replace him. Instead, he's getting a blank slate, and a mandate to rebuild the Capitals from the ground up. At the same time, he gets to use some real value (and as individuals moving to new locales, Gonchar, Olie Kolzig, Robert Lang and Brendan Witt all have significant value) to re-stock his minor league system.

After that, he's probably looking at 2-3 seasons out of the playoffs and at the bottom of the league -- and near the top of the draft order when players like Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby are finally ready for prime time.

POSTSCRIPT: Joe Tasca thinks Gonchar isn't worth the price, and Toronto will ultimately balk at acquiring him.

Coaches get fired in the NHL all the time, perhaps more often than any other league in professional sports. But it still doesn't happen often enough that seeing two coaches fired in one day doesn't make you sit up and take notice.

Seeing Bobby Francis get the boot in Phoenix isn't terribly surprising. Sure, he was NHL Coach of the Year only two seasons ago, but since when is that good for guaranteeing your job any longer than just one more season? The fact remains that Phoenix, despite moving into a new arena, and boasting a pretty good young lineup, gradually came apart in the immediate aftermath of Brian Boucher's shutout streak. Once it was over, Phoenix's season was essentially over as well. Losing Ladislav Nagy was definitely a blow, but the die had been cast long before then. Expect to see Francis again soon at another NHL franchise near you (barring the little CBA problem that is).

Plenty of folks are saying that Joel Quenneville's firing in St. Louis is horribly unfair, but I'm having trouble seeing what the problem is. Sure, losing Al MacInnis and Barret Jackman hamstrung the Blues defense, but this was still a team that boasted Chris Pronger, Doug Weight, Pavol Demitra and Keith Tkachuk. They won 20 of their first 30 games and were within striking distance of Detroit, and now they might not even make the playoffs.

For a couple of seasons now, fans of the NHL have been waiting to see something spectacular from the Sedin twins, Henrik and Daniel. And while I've always thought some of those expectations were a bit unrealistic, Daniel is starting to look like an NHL player to be reckoned with. Last night against the visiting Detroit Red Wings, he scored four goals, including one into an empty net to salt away a 4-2 Vancouver win over the Red Wings.

It was a game that had an authentic playoff feel, and I felt sad when I realized we're still more than a full month away from this year's dance. Chris Chelios left the game in the second period with a bruised shoulder, after a collision with Vancouver's Todd Bertuzzi.

We had plenty of playoff atmosphere elsewhere last night, especially in Montreal and on Long Island. At the Molson Center, the Canadiens gutted out another victory, beating Northeast Division-leading Ottawa, 4-2. Michael Ryder had a pair of goals for the Habs. Elsewhere in Montreal, Montreal's team president told the Montreal Board of Trade that the Canadiens were going to have to make the third round of the playoffs this year in order to break even.

As if Bob Gainey's job in Montreal wasn't hard enough already?

Back on Long Island, the Islanders and Bruins tied 0-0, in a game that was delayed for over an hour when the Zamboni shaved the ice inside one of the goal creases too deeply. Despite going ahead with play, the ice was so rough, that Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro clearly had trouble moving laterally more than once during the game.

In Philadelphia, the Flyers vaulted back to the top of the league with a 3-1 win over the (need I say hapless?) Blackhawks. Claude Lapointe scored an empty net goal for Philly, his first since returning from the NHL's substance abuse program. Congratulations, Claude.

And finally, in Colorado, the Flames shutout the Avalanche, 2-0. Colorado is 0-3-1-1 in its last five games at home, scoring only four goals over that stretch. In addition, the Flames acquired forward Ville Nieminen from the Chicago Blackhawks for Jason Morgan and a conditional draft pick. It's good to see Calgary on the market as a buyer, instead of a seller as the season winds down. It's been too long. And in Washington, sources tell the Washington Post that the Caps continue to talk to the Avalanche about acquiring former Vezina winner, Olie Kolzig.

In off-ice news, Eric Lindros has been cleared to begin light workouts as part of his concussion rehab plan. I know Lindros as a mind of his own, but more and more I keep hoping to hear a retirement announcement. In Columbus, the arbitration hearing that will decide whether or not Nikolai Zherdev is a free man or the property of Victor Tikhonov has been set.

All I can say is that if Zherdev loses, I hope the U.S. government plans to give him political asylum. It's clear Vladimir Putin's government is a thoroughly corrupt joke, and that former Soviet hockey czar Tikhonov gets what he wants from him -- including conveniently created induction papers into the Russian Army. Here's hoping the arbitrator sees through their transparent attempt to essentially ransom Zherdev.

With a chance to take the lead in the Eastern Conference, the Toronto Maple Leafs whiffed, dropping a 2-1 decision at home to the Carolina Hurricanes. The gentlemanly Ron Francis scored the game winner for Carolina, the 545th goal of his career, as he passed Maurice Richard for 20th place on the league's all-time goal scoring list. Congratulations, Ron.

But the Leafs weren't the only team to bonk against an inferior opponent last night. With a chance to tie Toronto, the Bruins were shutout by Roberto Luongo and Las Panteras, 2-0. Luongo had 38 saves for Florida in the win.

Elsewhere in the East, the Lightning exploded for four third period goals in a 6-3 win over Washington. And up in New York, the Rangers continued to play out the string, dropping a 4-1 decision to Montreal.

With Curtis Joseph hurting, and Manny Legace needing a rest, the Red Wings gave minor league call-up Marc Lamothe his first NHL start in five years, as the Wings and the Oilers tied, 1-1. Lamothe, who has played in the minors for ten seasons, had 29 saves for the Wings.

Jonathan Cheechoo scored twice, including converting on a penalty shot, in San Jose's 4-2 win over Columbus. In LA, Ian Laperriere scored twice in the Kings' 3-0 win over Nashville. with the two points, the Kings moved into sixth place in the West and back into the playoff picture.

And out in the desert paradise that is Glendale, Arizona, the Ducks and the Coyotes played to a 1-1 tie. After the game, the Coyotes waived hockey's Mr. October, Brian Savage, in a cost-cutting move. Savage, who had 12 goals and 12 assists this year, was due to be paid $3.7 million next season, not exactly what you would call a cost effective contract. And with the Coyotes out of the playoff race, this would seem to indicate that no teams were interested in adding Savage to their roster ahead of the playoffs.

If I were a player over 30 on a team out of the playoff race, I'd take this as a pretty ominous sign.

Elsewhere in the league, Ottawa GM John Muckler said he won't be looking for a goalie at the trade deadline. Steve Sullivan of the Predators and Olie Kolzig of the Caps were named NHL Offensive and Defensive players of the week, respectively.

Finally, you can find the latest from ESPN's John Buccigross, here.

From Arthur Staple, Rangers beat reporter for Newsday:

Vince Lombardi's name graced the board outside the Rangers' dressing room, with an excerpt from the late football coach's winning philosophy. It's a little late for pep talks, though, so perhaps Tom Petty was more appropriate yesterday.

The waiting is the hardest part.

And for those, who wind up on the roster of a playoff-bound squad, even the losers get lucky sometimes.

It's been a long slog, but Ottawa successfully fought off an early season slump, and now finds itself on top of the Eastern Conference following this weekend's action. On Saturday, part of the Hockey Day in Canada festivities, the Senators smothered the Flames 3-1, and then extended Pittsburgh's winless streak to 19 games with a 6-3 win at the Mellon Arena.

The Sens now have 81 points, and lead Toronto and Philly by one point for the Eastern Conference lead.

Dallas tightened its grip on a playoff spot this weekend, notching a 5-1 win over Colorado on Friday, and following it up with a 4-0 shutout of Anaheim in a Sunday matinee. Marty Turco had a fairly easy weekend, turning aside a combined 29 shots in the two wins. Dallas finished the weekend in fifth place with 70 points, only four behind Pacific-leading San Jose.

Hot on their heels is a Nashville team that's desperate to make the playoffs. On Friday, they downed Anaheim 3-2 in OT on a Scott Walker goal, then followed it up on Saturday with an 8-2 win over Phoenix. Nashville is in sixth place in the West, only one point behind Dallas.

With the Flyers skidding, the Devils are still in position to win the Atlantic Division, and they went a long way to making it happen with another two-win weekend. First, they finished off the Rangers, and their season, with a 7-3 win at Madison Square Garden on Saturday (for a post-mortem on the Rangers' season, see Hockeybird). Scott Gomez had two goals and three assists, while Patrick Elias also scored twice for the Devils. Elias scored twice more on Sunday as New Jersey beat Calgary 3-1 at home.

In Washington on Saturday, the Caps rallied from two goals down to force a 2-2 tie with Florida, but the real news was being made in the stands:

Some patrons of MCI Center have complained that signs critical of Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis and General Manager George McPhee have been seized by security personnel during recent games. Some fans have told The Post via e-mail that they will not renew their season tickets because of this practice.

The signs began appearing when the Capitals traded Jaromir Jagr to the New York Rangers, and continued with Peter Bondra's trade to Ottawa. Other popular players, such as Olaf Kolzig and Sergei Gonchar, could also be traded before the March 9 deadline.

Kurt Kehl, the team's director of communications, said the club's policy is to remove signs that are vulgar or offensive, or also those that obstruct the view of other fans. The Capitals had internal discussions prior to Thursday's game about how to handle such issues, and sources said Leonsis was among those who supported the right for fans to express negative opinions.

Season ticket holder Stephen Andrews said that signs saying "Trade Ted" and "Trade McPhee" were confiscated from fans near him even though patrons in those sections said the signs were not bothering them.

Now is not the time to antagonize fans, not when so few of them are still showing up to see one of the worst teams in hockey. Here's hoping the sentiment attributed to Leonsis above filters down to the ushers in the seats.

In the Philadelphia Inquirer, Tim Panaccio takes a look at how the NHL is taking the fight over the CBA to the Web. Click here for a closer look.

The news about Jeremy Roenick isn't good. The Coyotes have dealt Landon Wilson to Pittsburgh -- which has left him wondering who he got angry.

UPDATE: Missed the Kurt Sauer for Martin Skoula swap over the weekend. Keep up with all the trades here with TSN.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman got an unexpected assist in his labor war with the NHLPA today:

NBA commissioner David Stern said the NHL Players Association shouldn't take lightly the report done by former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Arthur Levitt that disclosed that the NHL lost close to $300 million last season and is facing financial disaster. The current collective-bargaining agreement expires Sept. 15. "I can't imagine a person of more reliability on economic matters," Stern said of Levitt. "The union and the owners should have a very strong incentive to make that sport economically rational. They should sit down and (reach an agreement) because the alternative is going to be horrendous."

One note the reporter at the Rocky Mountain News failed to mention: Bettman used to work for Stern at the NBA before he became Commissioner of the NHL.

Then again, if the NHL had a CBA similar to the NBA, I have to wonder if things wouldn't be a little better.

With Peter Bondra out the door in Washington, plenty of folks around the league are asking which of the Caps top dollar players will be next to go.

Which leads to this question from the Hockey Ninja:

Eric, you're a big Caps fan. What is your opinion of Gonchar's defensive abilities. We all know the boy can score, but what about in his own end? I've seen him play a tough physical game, but does he sustain that type of play? Also, does he have a tendency to make mental gaffes?

Ah yes, Sergei Gonchar. Whenever anybody asks me about 'Gonch', I'm reminded of something an old friend of mine once said about Slava Fetisov -- that he had the kind of face you'd expect to see working on an oil derrick in Sverdlovsk.

But fear not, we kid because we love. With Gonch, there's a lot to love on the offensive side of the puck, but when it comes to play in his own end, it's admittedly a mixed bag. I'm sure that plenty of folks are scared by the fact that Gonch's plus/minus stands at -19 right now, but you have to look at it in context. One NHL GM, who declined to be named, said that the Capitals defensive situation could be summed up this way: Gonch is a number one, Brendan Witt is a number six, and everybody else belongs in the AHL.

So, essentially, Gonchar is regularly forced to run the power play, play shorthanded, and log extra ice time against top opposition. As a result, he's averaging almost 28 minutes per game, and has been in the top five in the league in this category most of the season. Over the course of a season, getting to -19 when you're essentially one of the few players holding the team together isn't that difficult.

Basically, he's overwhelmed, and trying to make the best of it.

That being said, Gonchar has always played his best all-around game when he was in a regular defensive rotation with five reliable defenseman, and a partner who knew that his role was to stay at home and hold down the fort -- especially when Gonch wants to do some freelancing. His signature play comes on the man advantage, as the puck is being cycled away from him down low on the opposite wing. At times like this, Gonch likes to go back door, darting in from the point as the defense has its back turned.

When it works, it's a great play. But when it doesn't, there better be a defenseman paying attention. For most of his tenure in Washington, that somebody wass either Witt or Ken Klee. And now that Klee is in Toronto, I think that's where Gonchar might fit best. When he knows he's paired with someone responsible, he plays with a lot more confidence. A couple of years back, Klee was regularly near the top of the league in hits (mostly just tying up folks), and I think that was because he was so fixated on taking down his man when Gonchar was cheating a little in the offensive zone.

Which is why I don't think New Jersey would be a great fit for Gonchar. If Scott Stevens weren't injured, I'd pair Gonchar with him in a New York minute. But without Stevens, I don't know who that logical partner would be. My first thought was Colin White, but I've seen him burned and out of position too many times to think that could really work.

One thing I wouldn't ever question is Gonchar's heart. I've seen him bloodied too many times.

UPDATE: The Edmonton Journal has a good roundup of just who's on the trading block in Washington, and what it might take to pry them loose. The article mentions Zach Parise as the sort of player that would get Washington GM George McPhee's attention, but I can't see New Jersey giving him up. Instead, I think a package of players put together by the Leafs might be superior, as McPhee still has major holes on his blue line.

Just when you think one team might take control of the playoff race in the East, somebody goes into a temporary skid, and another team plays lead dog for a little while. Last night, it was Philly whose skid continued, as they dropped a 4-3 decision to the Bruins at the Wachovia Center. The teams combined for four goals in the first period, and the whole evening had a feel of a late-season game from the 70s. It was the third straight loss for the Flyers, who now share first in the East with Toronto after their 2-1 OT win over Carolina. The pesky Darcy Tucker got the game winner.

Up in Kanata, Peter Bondra scored in his first game with the Senators, but it wasn't enough, as they lost to the Thrashers in OT, 3-2. Shawn McEachern scored a power play goal in OT to clinch the win for Atlanta, who are beginning to show signs of life, albeit too late for it to matter.

At the end of the evening, Philly and Toronto were tied atop the East with 78 points, while Ottawa and Boston were tied for fourth with 77. Tampa Bay, who lost 4-3 in OT to St. Louis, is now at 73 points, but has two or three games in hand over just about every team they trail in the East.

Still reeling from injuries that have left them depleted at center, the Flyers acquired Alexi Zhamnov from the Blackhawks along with a fourth round draft pick, in exchange for defenseman Jim Vandermeer, center Colin Fraser, and a seccond round pick in 2004.

At the lower end of the food chain in the East, Montreal snapped their four-game losing streak, beating Calgary 4-1. That win helped the Habs move into a seventh-place tie with the Islanders, who lost their fifth straight to the Rangers this season, 6-2. And in their first game without Peter Bondra, the Caps beat New Jersey 3-1. Olie Kolzig, believed by most observers to be the next high-salaried player shipped out of D.C., had 43 saves for the Caps.

Out West, Marco Sturm had a goal and two assists as San Jose beat Chicago, 6-3. And in St. Paul, the Wild blitzed the Canucks, 6-2. Marc Chouinard scored twice for the home team, and Antti Laaksonen scored on a penalty shot while the Wild were shorthanded.

In injury news, Flyers goalie Robert Esche may return next week, after recovering from a knee injury, while Ladislav Nagy is facing season-ending surgery in Phoenix. And in a surprise for me, Eric Lindros told the New York Times he's feeling better, and wants to return to the ice soon.

UPDATE: Victor at Publius was at MCI Center last night, and the mood wasn't good.

More often than not, Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post doesn't pay much attention to the NHL. That's ok, as he's still one of the more talented columnists out there. But with the Washington Capitals breaking up their roster to build for the future, Wilbon felt moved to address the issue this morning.

He got one thing right, and he got another thing wrong:

But whenever this sale is over, folks here have to wonder about the future of the Capitals. See, this is the gloom that hangs over the NHL right now because of the work stoppage that's coming after this season because of owner-player differences over a new collective bargaining agreement. Brett Hull and Jeremy Roenick, two of the smartest, most politically aware and economically savvy players in the NHL, are both union guys. But they've both told me in recent weeks it would not surprise them one bit, presuming a really long work stoppage, if the NHL has to come back with fewer than its present 30 teams -- something closer to 22 or 24. Give me one good reason the NHL shouldn't contract the entire Southeast Division, and don't tell me because Tampa Bay is having a good season. Tampa Bay is beating up on four chumps in Atlanta, Florida, Carolina and Washington.

Whenever the NHL does come back, presumably in a scaled-down form, who's to say Washington is a lock to have a team? What, Major League Baseball can do without us but the NHL can't?

First, here's what Wilbon got right: hockey fandom could definitely live without a number of the expansion franchises it's added since the early 1990s. When I put the question to my readers last week, they didn't hesitate to list the teams they'd gladly toss without a second thought.

Every night as I sit down in front of my television, I always make time to check the schedule on NHL Center Ice. I look for the Islanders and Rangers first, and then scan the list for the most compelling matchups.

But more nights than I want to remember, I'm looking down a list of games that includes tilts like Florida-Phoenix, Carolina-Anaheim, or Columbus-Nashville. And on those nights, I can't help but feel a little angry.

How about Dallas-Colorado? Rangers-Flyers? Edmonton-Calgary?

With as many new teams as there are, crowded onto a balanced schedule, there are simply too may games that aren't terribly compelling. If anything, the NHL ought to change the schedule to make sure that inter-and intra-divisional rivals play more often.

Next, think hard about unbalancing the schedule not unlike the NFL. Sure, keep a standard schedule with teams inside your division and conference, but base a part of the intra-conference schedule on where team's finished in the previous season. That would create more compelling intra-conference matchups between the strongest teams.

On the other hand, here's where Wilbon got it wrong. So far this season, the Tampa Bay Lightning are 6-6-0-3 in 15 games against Southeast Division teams. So, while the Lightning's massive lead in the Divisional race is due in part to the way their opponents are playing, that's only part of the story, as the Lightning are 25-11-4 against the rest of the league, including a four-game season sweep of the Eastern Conference-leading Flyers. Over their last 12 games, the Bolts are 10-1-1.

That's a quality hockey team down there in Tampa. One that deserves a chance to develop a fan base during a potentially lengthy playoff run.