FanHouse Mike Fisher

We're trying something different to replace the old Newsmakers in the NHL posts. Hopefully you'll like it. Each weekday we'll take a look at one positive performance from the previous night (a plus), and one negative performance from the previous night (a minus). It's the plus/minus.Tell us what you think at nhlfanhouse@gmail.com.

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Occasionally, our NHL FanHouse e-mail address (nhlfanhouse@gmail.com) gets an e-mail that isn't trying to sell us prescription drugs at a discounted price or hook us up with rich young singles. Following Dany Heatley's conference call on Friday, we received the following question from a reader:

After hearing his "press conference" on Friday, I'd be interested in knowing if any of you guys would still take Dany Heatley on your team?

It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We begin our division-by-division preview of the potential wheeling and dealing with the Northeast Division.

Brian Burke begins his rebuild of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Dany Heatley wants out of Ottawa and just what is Boston going to do with Phil Kessel and a limited amount of salary cap space?

When the Senators acquired Mike Comrie and Chris Campoli before the trade deadline, some of the talk surrounding the trade wasn't about the players themselves. Since the Senators were out of the playoff race at the time some of the discussion revolved around Comrie's significant other, Hillary Duff. Duff could almost always been seen at the Coliseum when Comrie was an Islander and is now a fixture at Scotiabank Place.

Around the same time, music star Carrie Underwood began dating Mike Fisher and started showing up at games. Now, Sports Illustrated is reporting that the Senators have added another famous lady to their All-Star lineup of WAGs.

Blackhawks 3, Hurricanes 2: The Carolina Hurricanes had their four-game winning streak snapped thanks to a 3-2 shootout loss in Chicago, though they still managed to gain an important point thanks to Tuomo Ruutu's game-tying goal with just 27 seconds to play in regulation, sending the game to overtime.

With the Hurricanes trailing, 2-1, Chicago's Jonathan Toews was called for hooking Carolina's Chad LaRose late in the third period. Just 36 seconds later, Ruutu beat Cristobal Huet for his 21st goal of the season.

Devils 4, Bruins 3: The premier matchup on Thursday's schedule had to be the New Jersey-Boston tilt, and it didn't disappoint as the Devils took a 4-3 decision in overtime. Jamie Langenbrunner scored a pair of goals for the Devils, including the game-winner 1:11 into overtime.

After jumping out to a 2-0 lead through the first two periods, New Jersey watched the Bruins roar back with three goals in the third period before Patrick Elias tied the game with just under two minutes to play in regulation. Zach Parise picked up his 29th goal of the season in the win, while Scott Clemmensen made 24 saves. New Jersey has now won seven consecutive games while allowing only 12 goals during the streak. Who needs Martin Brodeur, eh?

It wasn't long ago that the Ottawa Senators were the best team in the Eastern Conference, playing in the Stanley Cup Finals against the Anaheim Ducks. Really, it was only two years ago. Amazing how fast things can change.

Currently, the Senators find themselves in the 13th spot of the Conference -- tied with Atlanta -- with 39 points. Assuming it takes 90 points to qualify for the postseason, the Senators would need to close out this season with 51 points in 37 games. In other words, they would need to go 25-11-1.

It was a great night of rivalries in the NHL on Tuesday, including a classic original six tilt in Boston, where the Bruins pulled out a 3-1 win over Montreal.

Tim Thomas stopped 34-of-35 shots, and even inserted himself into the rough stuff when he clobbered Montreal's Andrei Kostitsyn just moments after he sent Aaron Ward into the boards.

Kostitsyn gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead early in the second period, until Zdeno Chara added a pair of power play goals later in the period. David Krejci put the game out of reach late in the third period, scoring 17th goal of the season, helping lead the Bruins to their third straight win. Montreal had won four in a row, and eight of its past nine entering the game.

Seems like NHL athletes are doing pretty well off the ice, too. Sometimes, it can be the source of controversy, but normally, it's just happy news.

This would qualify as "happy". In the midst of a terrible season on the ice, at least one Ottawa Senator has something to celebrate.

Forward Mike Fisher, according to the gossip types, is dating country singer Carrie Underwood.

The couple reportedly met when Mike checked out one of Carrie's concerts in March 2008, but things appeared to heat up over the holidays when fans caught a glimpse of the 25-year-old Grammy winner on the Jumbotron "Hug Cam" at the Air Canada Centre. She was reportedly in a private VIP box, which also included the handsome hockey player's parents and his brother, Bud.

Carrie also reportedly spent New Year's Eve with Mike's sister, getting pedicures and being pampered at swanky spa and hair salon, Rinaldo.

"She was here with Mike Fisher's sister and the staff took good care of them," Pat Rinaldo told the paper. "She was very quiet, very sweet and pleasant. She wasn't demanding at all, everyone loved her and a lot of people recognized her."

After advancing to the Stanley Cup finals two years ago, the Ottawa Senators opened last season on a 16-4-0 run, looking like the best team in the NHL. From that point on, however, it was all down hill as they finished the season 27-27-8, barely sneaking into playoffs as the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, which led to a quick and decisive four game sweep at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Through the first two-and-a-half months of this season, things aren't looking much better for the Senators, as they currently hold the No. 12 spot in the conference with 27 points, six points out of the final playoff spot. Though, to be fair, it's a little early to be looking at playoff spots. Maybe.

Still, they're the lowest scoring team in the NHL (only 67 goals) and are coming off an embarrassing loss, at home, against the Atlanta Thrashers on Tuesday. The Thrashers, by the way, entered play on Tuesday with the worst record in the league. As you might expect, this isn't exactly sitting well with the front office.

According to the Ottawa Citizen, Bryan Murray vowed to shake up the roster on Wednesday, while head coach Craig Hartsburg decided to shake up the lines, splitting up the trio of Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson.