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?
Back in February, the Montreal media, and by extension, everybody else in the hockey world, was awaiting a bombshell of a story that was sure to not only rock the very foundation the Montreal Canadiens franchise stood on, but also forever tarnish the legacy of the NHL's most storied team in its centennial season. In other words: this was going to be huge.
I remember having 14 browsers open, furiously clicking the refresh button waiting to see something scandalous, only to be severely disappointed.
Toronto goalie Martin Gerber was ejected in the final minute of Tuesday's game with Washington for making contact with an official following a controversial goal. With the Maple Leafs leading, 2-1, there was a scrum in front of Gerber, resulting in Capitals forward Brooks Laich jamming a loose puck in for the game-tying goal.
In this week's power rankings, the New Jersey Devils remain one of the hottest teams in the NHL, holding off the Detroit Red Wings for the top spot thanks to an historic week for goaltender Martin Brodeur.
Vancouver makes a big jump, while the Montreal Canadiens continue to fade at the absolute worst time of the season.
Capitals 3, Panthers 0: After getting blown out on Monday, the Washington Capitals rebounded on Tuesday by picking up a 3-0 win in Florida. Jose Theodore, coming off a disastrous performance in Atlanta, stopped all 19 shots he faced to earn his second shutout of the season. Viktor Kozlov, Brooks Laich and Mike Green all scored for the Capitals, while Alex Ovechkin picked up an assist, as he's still looking for goal No. 50 on the season.
For the Panthers, it's a costly loss as a win would have put them back into the top eight in the Eastern Conference. They're certainly picking a bad time to hit a slump, as the Panthers have dropped four in a row and five of their past six.
The Montreal Canadiens are fading in the Eastern Conference playoff race, and a day after acquiring an old friend in defenseman Matheiu Schneider, the Canadiens have continued to shake up their roster.
On Tuesday, general manager Bob Gainey announced that Alexei Kovalev will not be joining the team on its two-game road trip to Washington and Pittsburgh, while Sergei Kostitsyn has also been sent to the minor leagues.
Red Wings 8, Oilers 3: Here's a fun fact: at the end of the first period of Saturday's Detroit-Edmonton game, the Red Wings had as many goals (five), as the Oilers had shots. One word can sum this up: domination. The Wings continued to pour it on, completing an 8-3 thrashing of Edmonton at Joe Louis Arena.
It's the second time in just over a week that the Oilers have been on the wrong end of a blowout, getting steamrolled by Buffalo, 10-2, back on January 27. The Oilers have now lost four of six, while the Red Wings extended their modest winning streak to three as they head into their NBC tilt with the Penguins on Sunday.
On Thursday, we brought you some video of Toronto forward Mikhail Grabovskiattempting to fight Montreal's Sergei Kostitsyn. He actually spent more time fighting a linesman, while Montreal fans rained boos down on him from above. After the game, Grabovski basically challenged Kostitsyn to a street fight, and if this past week in the NHL is any indicator, it would probably consist of a lot of slapping and hair-pulling.
Here's what he had to say on his catfight with Kostitsyn:
"I think he is not Belarussian now, he is French because I never fight with Belarussian guys," Grabovski said. "I don't know why he wants to fight with me. If he wants to fight, we'll go in the street and every minute of every day I'll wait for him and we'll fight."
The Leafs and Canadiens play again on February 7, in case you're interested. Anyway, Grabovski admitted he was expecting a suspension from the league, and that's exactly what he received today as the NHL handed out a three-game banishment for his "push."
Brian Burke's acquisition of tough-guy Brad May helped add to some of the intensity and entertainment value in Thursday's Montreal-Toronto game, as the two teams beat the snot out of one other physically, while the Canadiens dominated on the scoreboard, pulling out a 6-2 win. The victory for Montreal is its third in a row, and eighth in its past 10 games.
Bruins 6, Senators 4: Boston snapped a brief two-game losing skid on Thursday night with a 6-4 win over Ottawa. The Bruins let a 3-1 lead slip away late in the second period, and then scored three consecutive goals of their own in the third, as Ottawa goalie Martin Gerber had a rather forgettable start in goal, stopping only 16 of 21 shots. Marc Savard scored what proved to be the game-winning goal, while also adding two assists.
The Canadiens and Maple Leafs combined for 150 penalty minutes during Montreal's 6-2 win on Thursday night, including eight 10-minute misconducts. One of those 10-minute misconducts went to Toronto's Mikhail Grabovski for his attempt to fight Sergei Kostitsyn late in the third period. The two never really got anywhere, mainly because Grabovski was tied up with a linesman. As the linesman was attempting to control the agitated Leaf, he decided it would be a good idea to shove the man in the striped shirt.
Honestly, it's not much of a shove, but it was a shove nonetheless, and it will still probably result in some sort of punishment from Colin Campbell. Probably being the key word because, well, we just never know with the NHL these days.
Grabovski was also quite pleased with himself as he skated off the ice, giving a two-handed salute to the Montreal fans. At least he had something to celebrate, as Toronto has lost six of its past eight games.
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. 
Back in February, the Montreal media, and by extension, everybody else in the hockey world, was awaiting a bombshell of a story that was sure to not only rock the very foundation the Montreal Canadiens franchise stood on, but also forever tarnish the legacy of the NHL's most storied team in its centennial season. In other words: this was going to be huge.
In this week's power rankings, the New Jersey Devils remain one of the hottest teams in the NHL, holding off the Detroit Red Wings for the top spot thanks to an historic week for goaltender Martin Brodeur. 
Capitals 3, Panthers 0: After getting blown out on Monday, the Washington Capitals rebounded on Tuesday by picking up a 3-0 win in Florida. Jose Theodore, coming off a disastrous performance in Atlanta, stopped all 19 shots he faced to earn his second shutout of the season. Viktor Kozlov, Brooks Laich and Mike Green all scored for the Capitals, while Alex Ovechkin picked up an assist, as he's still looking for goal No. 50 on the season.
The Montreal Canadiens are fading in the Eastern Conference playoff race, and a day after acquiring an old friend in defenseman Matheiu Schneider, the Canadiens have continued to shake up their roster. 
Red Wings 8, Oilers 3: Here's a fun fact: at the end of the first period of Saturday's Detroit-Edmonton game, the Red Wings had as many goals (five), as the Oilers had shots. One word can sum this up: domination. The Wings continued to pour it on, completing an 8-3 thrashing of Edmonton at Joe Louis Arena.
