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.
Various media outlets are reporting this afternoon that the Montreal Canadiens have been sold to the Molson family, pending league approval (which, according to TSN, could take until mid-summer). The price tag for the NHL's most storied franchise? Depending on which report you listen to, it's somewhere between $500 million and $550 million ... or more.
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?
After serving as the Florida Panthers general manager for the past four seasons (and head coach for three of those seasons) Jacques Martin will be named the new head coach of the Montreal Canadiens on Monday. During his four-year stint in charge of the Panthers, the team failed to make the playoffs each season, while he brings 14 years of head coaching experience to the Canadiens.
After a brief two-year tenure with the St. Louis Blues in the late 1980s, Martin took over the Ottawa Senators in 1995, leading the team to the playoffs eight times in nine years, while also winning three division titles and the Jack Adams award as coach of the year in 1999.
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.
In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Bruins rallied from a bit of a swoon around the All-Star Break to easily win the top seed. Even if you subscribe to the idea of Boston being favored because of their strong overall record, there are no sure things in these here playoffs. Who will threaten to knock the Bruins off their pedestal?
Newsmakers in the NHL is a weekday morning attempt to clear yesterday's rebounds and look to the day ahead. Hurricanes 4, Rangers 2: Carolina continued its winning ways with a 4-2 win over the Rangers on Thursday night, extending its current winning streak to seven games. Chad LaRose scored a pair of goals in the win, while Cam Ward stopped 36 shots, including 29 through the first two periods.
The defending champs claim the top spot in this week's power rankings, while the Anaheim Ducks and Carolina Hurricanes make jumps of their own as they look to earn playoff berths in their respective conferences.
There's also a new team taking over the basement, thanks to a pair of blowout losses on home ice in the past week.
The Boston Bruins entered Thursday night's game riding a 12-game losing streak against the Montreal Canadiens and, well, they simply had enough of it.
Boston jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first period thanks to goals by Shawn Thornton, Stephane Yelle, and Marco Sturm, as they rolled to a 6-1 victory in a battle of early-season Northeast Division heavyweights. Yelle and Sturm would each add another goal, while Milan Lucic added the other tally for Boston.
Saku Koivu, who is somehow one of 800 Canadiens leading the early All-Star voting, scored the only goal for Montreal.
Carey Price had his worst start of the season, stopping only 25 of the 31 shots Boston threw his way. In the process, the Bruins take over sole possession of first place in the Northeast, two points ahead of Buffalo, and three points ahead of the Canadiens.
Bruins blog HubHockey celebrates the end of the streak, while Montreal blog The Notwithstanding Clause offers the following: "I have a message for our defense: pylons are usually orange."
Here's a French-language clip from RDS circa 2005 or so where they take a peek inside a 1970s-themed Halloween party attended by several members of the Montreal Canadiens. Just be prepared for Saku Koivu in drag, ok? And because the lighting is so poor, I can't make out exactly what was going on with Sheldon Souray, but part of me doesn't want to know.
As a Hockey Hall of Famer and a legend whose visage could appear on the Montagne Rushmore of the franchise, when Guy Lafleur speaks the Montreal Canadiens (and the media that cover them) will listen. So they heard Lafleur, after getting swept by Buffalo in a home-and-home over the weekend, when he suggested on an RDS postgame show that the Canadiens had, in fact, four fourth lines.
TSN reported the comment, and then sought out reactions from the Habs today at practice. Canadiens forward Christopher Higgins said, "It's a little bit over the top. But I definitely don't agree with him, that's for sure." Saku Koivu was a little more defensive: "We didn't play well on Saturday, we didn't score goals, but when a team is number one on the powerplay in the National Hockey League, I think you have more than four fourth lines."
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.
Various media outlets are reporting this afternoon that the Montreal Canadiens have been sold to the Molson family, pending league approval (which, 
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. 
After serving as the Florida Panthers general manager for the past four seasons (and head coach for three of those seasons) 
The defending champs claim the top spot in this week's power rankings, while the Anaheim Ducks and Carolina Hurricanes make jumps of their own as they look to earn playoff berths in their respective conferences.
The Boston Bruins entered Thursday night's game riding a 12-game losing streak against the Montreal Canadiens and, well, they simply had enough of it. 
As 
