FanHouse Brian Rolston

This week, our Puck Talk podcast chats about the Devils. We're joined by radio analyst Sherry Ross, who returned to the booth in 2007, just in time to watch Brian Rolston return to the ice, and eventually Jacques Lemaire return to the bench. Seems like everyone ends up going back there at some point.

We talk with Sherry about this year's team, how Lemaire is adjusting to his young talent, and what kind of workload goalie Martin Brodeur will face this season. Check out this week's podcast after the jump.

It's not likely that you're going to find many supporters of the Minnesota Wild who would say bad things about Brian Rolston. The veteran forward was a leader for the Wild, a great community guy, a great locker room guy, and a solid player on the ice.

Friday night, Rolston -- in his first year of a four-year deal with New Jersey -- faces his former team for the first time. It's a chance to catch up with some old friends, and it should be a special night for everyone involved. Or will it be?

On Saturday night in Montreal, all eyes were on hometown pride Martin Brodeur -- friends, family, random people from random encounters who probably remember him better than he remembers them. Yet if Brodeur felt any of those pairs of eyes on him in particular, they surely belonged to Patrick Roy. With Brodeur's childhood hero watching, the Devils goalkeeper tied Roy's all-time record with his 551st career win, nudging the great over to create more room atop the scroll of iconic backstops in hockey's rich history.

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Last summer, the Minnesota Wild lost forward Brian Rolston, who went to New Jersey as a free agent. The Wild could have signed Rolston to a contract the previous off-season, but apparently didn't think the aging forward would attract a lot of suitors in what turned out to be a weak market.

This summer, the Minnesota Wild could prove that even highly-placed front office executives can fail to learn the simplest lessons. Goaltender Niklas Backstrom's two-year deal expires after the season, and he still hasn't been re-signed.

Devils 6, Sharks 5: In hindsight, NBC's decision to make the Rangers-Flyers game the national showcase on Sunday afternoon probably wasn't the best move the network could have made. Especially since the Sharks and Devils, the teams that were bumped, put on a goal-scoring clinic, including a three goal third period rally from New Jersey in its 6-5 win.

David Clarkson scored a pair of goals for the Devils, while Brian Gionta, Brian Rolston, Jamie Langenbrunner, and Patrick Elias also lit the lamp.

The Sharks have been mired in their worst slump of the season, losing six of their past seven games.

Brendan Shanahan made his season debut for the New Jersey Devils on Monday night, and it didn't take him long to make an impact. At the 1:38 mark of the second period, the 39-year-old forward beat Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne from right on top of the crease, giving the Devils a 1-0 lead on their way to a 3-1 win over the Predators.

Shanahan registered nearly 14-minutes of ice-time, while firing six shots on goal. His tally came on the power play, which is where he should make his biggest impact for a New Jersey team that entered play on Monday ranked 15th in the league with the man advantage.

Scott Clemmensen stopped 31 shots to pick up the win for the Devils, while Brian Rolston recorded a pair of assists.

The Florida Panthers scored three third period goals, including a game-tying score from Radek Dvorak with 1:38 to play, to force overtime at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Sunday afternoon. Defenseman Andrei Markov, one of four Montreal players voted to start in the All-Star game, scored the lone goal in a shootout helping lead the Canadiens to a 6-5 win.

The Panthers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period thanks to goals from Brett McLean and David Booth, only to have Montreal come out in the second period and take over the game, scoring four goals -- including a pair in the first two minutes of the period -- while outshooting the Panthers by a 19-5 margin.

Florida rebounded in the final frame with goals from Dvorak (two) and Jassen Cullimore, sending the game to overtime. .

As long as we're on the subject of the Panthers, Greg Wyshnyski over at Puck Daddy passes along the report (from George Richards of the Miami Herald) that Brett McLean thinks Sidney Crosby is a liar, and that no challenge was ever issued prior to the drop of the puck in Saturday's game. So, basically, it's all coming down to a bunch of he said, she said. Moving on ...

Of all the big offseason moves over the summer, Boston's signing of Blake Wheeler is looking to be like quite a steal. Wheeler, if you'll recall, was a former first-round pick of the Phoenix Coyotes (fifth overall) and, well, it didn't exactly work out as he never signed with Phoenix, instead electing to become a free agent this summer. In early July, he inked a deal with the Bruins, made the roster out of camp, and thus far has been quite a contributor to the best team in the Eastern Conference.

The 22-year old forward scored a pair of goals in Sunday's 6-3 win in St. Louis, both of which came in the games first five minutes. Through Boston's first 32 games, the rookie has 11 goals and nine assists, placing him fifth among NHL rookies in points, five behind Columbus' Derick Brassard, who, by the way, could miss the remainder of the season due to a shoulder injury.

Anyway, back to the Bruins, they've now won five in a row, and 10 of their past 11, while scoring a boatload of goals in the process. During their current five-game winning streak, for example, the Bruins have lit the lamp 29 times. Granted, those games have been against Atlanta (twice) , Toronto and St. Louis, but, hey, 29 goals in five games is still 29 goals in five games.

After setting an NHL record for the best start through 30 games, the San Jose Sharks ran into a brick wall on Wednesday by the name of Steve Mason. The Columbus rookie netminder stopped 47 shots in a 2-1 overtime win for the Blue Jackets.

For the Sharks, the loss snaps a three-game winning streak, though, they still haven't lost a game in regulation since November 9, so they've gained at least a point in 15 straight games. The Blue Jackets have now won three of their past four, all of which have come with Mason in net, who seems to be cementing himself as the team's No. 1 goaltender. The 47-save performance against San Jose improves his save percentage on the season to an impressive .929, while his record goes to 9-5-1.

The game remained scoreless through the first two periods, until San Jose's Devin Setoguchi scored at the 3:41 mark of the third period. Later in the frame, Mike Peca picked up his second of the season, tying the game, ultimately sending it to overtime.

The Blue Jackets registered only one shot in the extra period, though, they made it count as R.J. Umberger scored his ninth goal of the season to give Columbus the win.

The inevitable is apparently a reality.

Superstar reporter Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune is reporting that the Wild have placed forward Marian Gaborik on the trade block. Gaborik is due to be a free agent at the end of the season, and multiple contract offers have been made without a signature from the All-Star.

Rather than take a chance that they'll lose Gaborik when he hits the open market next summer (ala Brian Rolston), Wild general manager Doug Risebrough appears prepared to move Gaborik now. Obviously, there's risk in this plan, as "conventional wisdom" would dictate his value in a trade isn't going to be as high when the whole world knows the Wild have to make a move.

However, the risk of not getting enough in exchange for Gaborik is not as great as the risk of losing him for nothing in the off-season.

It's believed Risebrough has had trade talks with Montreal Canadiens GM Bob Gainey and Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi. Risebrough will attend Thursday's GM meetings in Chicago, so talks could heat up with a number of teams.

The Canadiens, in their 100th season and a true Stanley Cup contender, might be the team that makes the most sense. The Canadiens have salary cap flexibility in future years and young talent.

Russo goes out of his way to make clear that Gaborik's current "lower body injury" is legitimate. He reports on his blog that the injury occurred during an off-day activity in South Florida.