The Minnesota Wild had quite the busy day in free agency on Wednesday, signing shot-blocker Greg Zanon from the Nashville Predators, and swapping one oft-injured, yet supremely talented forward (Marian Gaborik) for another oft-injured, yet supremely talented forward (Martin Havlat). There was also a report from Michael Russo of the Star Tribune that the team was working on a deal with Saku Koivu.
Havlat, 28, signed a six-year, $30 million deal in Minnesota late Wednesday night, and followed it up by voicing his displeasure with the negotiating process in Chicago ... via Twitter.
Following Niklas Kronwall's hit on Martin Havlat Friday night, there's been plenty of discussion about the officiating in the Western Conference final. Actually, there's always a lot of discussion about officiating in the NHL, and following Detroit's 6-1 dismantling of Chicago on Sunday afternoon, Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville sounded off, blaming the referees for ruining a good hockey game. Seriously.
That sound you're hearing is Red Wings fans laughing out loud.
Huge news out of Chicago, where the Detroit Red Wings are severely crippled in their bid to gain a stranglehold on the Western Conference Finals. All-Everything defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom suffered a lower-body injury in Game 3 of the series Friday night and will miss Sunday's game. It's the first time in Lidstrom's career that he has sat out a Red Wings playoff game -- a streak of 228 games..
While the hockey world is debating whether Niklas Kronwall's hit on Martin Havlat should have been ruled interference or charging (or nothing at all), Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell weighed in with his thoughts on the hit, as well as Kronwall's reputation as a physical presence on the ice (hint: he's not a fan).
According to Ansar Khan of Mlive.com, Campbell was one of the most vocal critics of the hit, calling it "gutless all around."
We're a little less than 24 hours removed from Friday's Red Wings-Blackhawks game, which saw Chicago claw its way back into the series with a 4-3 overtime win, while a lot of the debate has been centered around Niklas Kronwall's devastating hit on Martin Havlat.
While Havlat was knocked six ways from Tuesday, Kronwall was issued a five-minute major and a game misconduct for interference which set off a firestorm of discussion around the hockey blogosphere and message boards. Was it interference? Was it charging? Was it a legal, clean hit? We asked the NHL for comment.
As expected, the Chicago Blackhawks got off to a quick start Friday night against Detroit. The Red Wings had a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference Finals, but Chicago was playing at home in a conference final game for the first time in 14 years.
After jumping to a 2-0 first-period lead, the Blackhawks got a controversial five-minute power play. Detroit's Niklas Kronwall stepped up at the Chicago blue line to lay out forward Martin Havlat, who had his head down trying to find a loose puck in his skates.
The NHL's new hard-line stance on message-sending and late-game fisticuffs seems to have lasted, oh, about two weeks. Late in the third period of Pittsburgh's 7-4 win on Thursday, Carolina's Ryan Bayda was involved in a line brawl of sorts that featured Bayda delivering what appeared to be a cross-check to the face of Kris Letang.
In the end, Miroslav Satan fought Patrick Eaves, Tim Gleason fought Letang, and Bayda was issued a match penalty for intent to injure. By rule, Bayda was immediately suspended from further competition pending a league review. That review has taken place, and Bayda walks away with a $2,500 fine and no suspension.
The Western Conference Finals brings us one of the classic Original Six rivalries in the NHL, as Detroit and Chicago square off with a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals on the line. The Red Wings are looking to become the first team to repeat as champions since they did it during the 1997 and 1998 seasons, while Chicago is looking to return to the finals for the first time since 1992.
When the Detroit Red Wings signed Johan Franzen to an 11-year contract extension back in April, reactions were mixed. Some folks, like a number of the commenters at the Hockey's Future boards, thought the Red Wings were out of their minds for signing a soon-to-be 30-year-old forward to an 11-year contract. Others, like the good people at Abel to Yzerman, applauded general manager Ken Holland for not messing around when it comes to keeping the guys he wants.
We're only a month into the new deal, but the early results are stellar. Franzen has continued to excel as one of the better power forwards in the NHL, and has proven himself to be one of the best playoff, big-game goal-scorers the NHL has seen in quite some time.
Winning on the road is so very important in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Chicago Blackhawks seemed to be a good candidate for road success, being that they set a franchise record for it in the regular season.
That performance has indeed carried over. Chicago improved to 3-3 in road games during this postseason, and 2-1 in this series, as they bested Vancouver 4-2 Saturday night at GM Place.
The Minnesota Wild had quite the busy day in free agency on Wednesday, signing shot-blocker Greg Zanon from the Nashville Predators, and swapping one oft-injured, yet supremely talented forward (Marian Gaborik) for another oft-injured, yet supremely talented forward (Martin Havlat). There was also a report from Michael Russo of the Star Tribune that the team was working on a deal with Saku Koivu.
Following 
While the hockey world is debating whether 
The NHL's new hard-line stance on message-sending and late-game fisticuffs seems to have lasted, oh, about two weeks. Late in the third period of Pittsburgh's 7-4 win on Thursday, Carolina's 
When the Detroit Red Wings signed 
Winning on the road is so very important in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Chicago Blackhawks seemed to be a good candidate for road success, being that they set a franchise record for it in the regular season. 
