FanHouse AlexanderEdler

It's great to see quality NHL action return to Chicago after years of disappointing hockey, and man, what a team the windy city has. With their 4-1 win in Minnesota on Sunday, the Blackhawks picked up their ninth straight victory, improving their record to 20-6-7, good enough for the fifth best record in the league.

Chicago received a four-point performance from Dustin Byfuglien, who scored a pair of goals in the first period and also added a pair of assists later in the game, as the Blackhawks dominated Minnesota. Cristobal Huet faced only 19 shots, turning away 18 of them to pick up his fifth consecutive win in goal. During his personal winning streak, Huet has allowed only four goals, posting a .967 save percentage.

Cal Clutterbuck scored Minnesota's only goal, while Martin Havlat and Kris Versteeg added tallies for the Blackhawks.

While Chicago has been reeling off win after win, the Wild have been going the opposite direction winning just two of their past 10 games.

While Vancouver suffered what could be a devastating injury to starting goalie Roberto Luongo, the Canucks did manage to walk out of Pittsburgh with a 3-1 win, so, they at least have that going for them. Still, the sight of Luongo being helped off the ice probably steals some of the thunder from what was a solid defensive performance and road victory.

Things were quite heated just 25 second into the game (see the video shown above) when Penguins forward -- and former Canuck -- Matt Cooke sent Alexander Edler flying through the air, igniting a line-brawl at center ice. When the chaos was finally sorted out, there were 50 minutes in penalties handed out, including two game misconducts -- one to Cooke, and another to Vancouver's Jannik Hansen.

Pavol Demitra scored a pair of goals for the Canucks, including the game's first goal at the 18-minute mark of the first period. He sealed the game with an empty-netter late in the third period. The line of Demitra and the Sedin's (Henrik and Daniel) accounted for all of Vancouver's scoring on the day, as Daniel registered a goal and two assists, while Henrik assisted on all three Canucks goals.

Mike Zigomanis scored the only goal for the Penguins, who were held to just 19 shots on goal for the game.

Still no official word on the severity of Luongo's injury.

Now that we're into 2008, recovered from our hangovers (or flus, in my case), and pretty much halfway through the NHL season, it's time to reminisce about the past and look towards the future. There is no better way to do both than be looking at the league's rookies through the first half.

Here are the rookie scoring leaders as of January 3rd ...

Player	Team	GP	G	A	P	PIM	+/-	TOI/G
Patrick Kane	CHI	38	9	28	37	26	-2	18:29
Jonathan Toews	CHI	36	15	17	32	26	5	18:42
Nicklas Backstrom	WSH	40	7	22	29	10	-3	17:27
Tobias Enstrom	ATL	41	3	21	24	20	4	24:03
Martin Hanzal	PHX	38	3	17	20	16	0

For sure, the most surprising rookie on the top five is Tobias Enstrom of the Atlanta Thrashers. The 23-year old from Sweden was an 8th round selection in the 2003 Entry Draft, and pretty much written off as another 'small' (ie. under six feet tall) offensive defenseman who would never do well out of Europe.

Well, Enstrom is getting the most ice time for any rookie, by far, and is giving the Thrashers an unexpected boost to their rather poor defence corps. It's very hard for a defenseman to just come into the league and look like a 10-year vet (it took Lubomir Visnovsky a few years, for example), but Enstrom has done just that.

With the Vancouver Canucks struggling to score more than two goals per game last season, GM Dave Nonis decides to go out and spend big bucks on ... defensemen?

Yes, Nonis was busy giving out contracts yesterday to veteran Aaron Miller (1 year/$1.5mil), and Kevin Bieksa (3-year extension for $11.25mil).

With the signings, the Canucks have an extremely strong and deep defensive corps.

Ohlund-Mitchell
 Bieksa-Salo
 Miller-Krajicek
 Edler-Bourdon

Now, with the Canucks left with only about $3-4mil to sign a couple of wingers, many folks have begun speculating that a trade is in the works. The Canucks are either going to go into next season with a team that is based solely on winning 2-1 games, or somebody is going to be dealt.

Sami Salo? He just signed an extension.
Kevin Bieksa? Ditto.
Lukas Krajicek? Extension, and he's cheap.
Willie Mitchell? He's got a no-trade clause.

This leaves, of course, 30-year old Mattias Ohlund, the veteran who makes $3.5mil a season.

Ohlund has seen a slight decline in play since the lockout, and his value will only continue to decrease. His lack of quickness is noticeable some nights, and he seems to be the best trade bait available for the Canucks to relieve salary pressure AND secure a good scoring winger.

Of course, I won't claim any insider knowledge. Nonis might very well be happy to stick Bourdon in the AHL and go into the season with the defense as it stands right now.

As an aside, don't pick Miller in your office pool. He hasn't scored a goal since BEFORE the lockout (138 games!).