FanHouse JoeThornton

The Detroit Red Wings are considered, in most circles, as the model franchise in the NHL. With four Stanley Cups in the past 14 years -- and six trips to the Finals -- it's hard to argue against that belief. Impossible, actually. But are they overrated when it comes to their success at the NHL Entry Draft?

On Monday, the great Maple Leafs blog, Pension Plan Puppets, unveiled an overwhelming analysis of every pick in the NHL draft from 1994 to the present created by one of their members. One of the surprising observations? The Detroit Red Wings are, according to his analysis, one of the worst teams in the NHL when it comes to the draft.

Blasphemy!

Can we even call this an upset at this point?

If you had been watching this series and not known which team was the Presidents' Trophy winner and which was the eighth seed, you would probably think the Ducks were the favorites in this series. They have dominated the play despite getting out shot in each game, a testament to goalie Jonas Hiller and the Ducks defense.

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One game into San Jose's playoff series with Anaheim, and already the Sharks are up against it.

That's what happens with a bull's-eye-producing President's Cup and a history of playoff flops, plus a prominent player or two who are gaining reputations for disappearing in April and May.

Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton combined for one shot in San Jose's Game 1 loss to the Ducks at the Shark Tank, and afterward, Thornton responded to questions about the small shot total by emphasizing that he's a passer, "if you haven't noticed," he said.

Exactly 1,230 regular season games have been played. We're down to the best eight teams in each conference. The Stanley Cup Playoffs begin Wednesday night with four series lid-lifters.

The Western Conference is home to the league's best team (San Jose), the defending champion (Detroit), and the two most intriguing Cinderella stories in the league (St. Louis and Columbus). Can Cinderella put off the stroke of midnight, or will an established power advance their way to the Finals?

Evgeni Malkin was listed as questionable for Tuesday's game with Atlanta because he had been a little under the weather the past couple of days. You would have never known it watching him skate in Pittsburgh's 6-2 win, while Thrashers goalie Johan Hedberg was the only one looking like he was about to hurl into his goalie mark by the end of the night.

Thanks to his five-point performance on Tuesday, Malkin became the first player in the NHL to hit the 100-point plateau this year, reaching the century mark for the second consecutive season.

Blues 5, Wild 3: Thanks to their 5-3 win over Minnesota on Sunday, the St. Louis Blues find themselves within one point of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with just 13 games to play. The Blues managed to hold off a late Minnesota rally, as Brad Boyes sealed the win with an empty net goal in the closing minute.

Sunday's win comes less than 24 hours after the Blues suffered a loss to Detroit in a game that featured three Red Wings goals in just 46 seconds. The Blues have been on a roll in recent weeks, winning 10 of their past 15 games to stay in the playoff hunt.

Also inside Monday's edition of newsmakers: the Islanders continue their strong play by upsetting Chicago, the Blue Jackets have their winning streak snapped, and the Los Angeles Kings demonstrate just how easy it is to screw up a two-on-none breakaway.

Lately, it's become all the rage for fans and players around the NHL to pile on Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. The latest player to jump on the pile was Atlanta Thrashers forward Ilya Kovalchuk, who responded to Crosby's criticism of Alex Ovechkin for his often times over-the-top goal celebrations.

On Saturday night, legendary Canadian hockey analyst Don Cherry offered up his opinion on Ovechkin, and, well, if you're familiar with Cherry, it shouldn't be much of a shock. Video after the jump.

On February 23, 2009, the people that brought us the statistical analysis websites Baseball Prospectus and Basketball Prospectus, launched their hockey counterpart, Puck Prospectus.

While hockey is somewhat behind the times when it comes to this sort analysis, it's not completely unheard of at this point. Gabriel Desjardins, for example, has been running the fascinating analytical website Behind The Net for a couple of years now, while there is also the little-known Corsi Numbers.

After the jump, we had an opportunity to ask Will Carroll, one of the leading people at Puck Prospectus, a few questions on what the site can provide hockey fans.

A couple of weeks ago, TSN hockey analyst Gord Miller came to the conclusion that in order for the Pittsburgh Penguins to remain competitive in the NHL, they would have to deal the league's leading scorer, Evgeni Malkin, for a first-line winger, a No. 2 center, and "hopefully" a pick or a prospect. It was a laughable proposal.

On Sunday night, Rob Rossi, Penguins beat writer for the Tribune-Review, appeared on a weekly Pittsburgh talk show and suggested the team would be wise to put Sidney Crosby on the trade block this offseason. I guess this is what happens when you go from being two wins away from hoisting the Stanley Cup to being the No. 10 team in the Eastern Conference in a matter of one season.

It's always fun to look at full-season projections early in the year, and laugh at the ridiculous numbers they present (or perhaps it's just me that finds that slightly amusing. It's probably just me). Still, the Pittsburgh Penguins have played 30 games this season, and center Evgeni Malkin has produced a league-leading 37 assists. The only other player in the league to have 30 at this point is his teammate, Sidney Crosby, who has 31.

If Malkin were to continue his current pace he would finish the season with 101 assists, becoming only the fourth different player in league history to hit the century mark for helpers in a single season. The other players are, of course, the usual suspects: Wayne Gretzky (11 times), Mario Lemieux (once) and Bobby Orr (once). Gretzky did it last, during the 1990 season, when he registered 122 for the Kings.

What makes Malkin's assist numbers so impressive thus far is the fact his wingers, on most nights, are Petr Sykora and Ruslan Fedotenko. Not exactly the same as having Jari Kurri skating next to you every night, now is it?