FanHouse SteveSullivan

Newsmakers in the NHL is a weekday morning attempt to clear yesterday's rebounds and look to the day ahead.

Blues 5, Blue Jackets 2: After knocking off Columbus in a shootout on Saturday, the St. Louis Blues completed their weekend home-and-home sweep of the Blue Jackets with a 5-2 win at Nationwide Arena. Patrik Berglund picked up a goal and two assists for the surging Blues, while Brad Boyes scored his 30th goal of the season, giving him two straight 30-goal campaigns.

T.J. Oshie made some highlights on Saturday for his crushing hit on Rick Nash, and followed it up on Sunday with his 14th goal of the season.

Flames 5, Flyers 1: The Calgary Flames were the big winners during the NHL's trade deadline, picking up Olli Jokinen from the Phoenix Coyotes and Jordan Leopold from the Colorado Avalanche. It didn't take the two newcomers long to make an impact for the Flames, as they each scored in the first period of Calgary's 5-1 win in Philadelphia.

Jokinen scored a pair of goals in the first period, while Leopold added his seventh of the season to help the Flames race out to a 4-0 lead.

Rangers 3, Islanders 1: For one night, everything was great at Madison Square Garden as the Rangers picked up a much needed 3-1 win over the Islanders. Scott Gomez, Nigel Dawes and Fredrik Sjostrom all scored goals in the win, while Chris Drury picked up an assist on each score.

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 25-of-26 shots in the win, which is only the Rangers second in their past 10 games.

Panthers 5, Hurricanes 0: With the No. 8 spot in the Eastern Conference on the line the Florida Panthers went into Carolina and pulled out a 5-0 win. The Hurricanes actually held a commanding edge in the shots department, firing 42 shots at Tomas Vokoun, who stopped them all to pick up his fourth shutout of the season.

Florida managed only 23 shots on goal, but was able to get four behind Cam Ward and another past Michael Leighton. The Panthers now hold a three-point edge over Carolina for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

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.

Every week there are minor moves and stories around the National Hockey League that tend to fall through the cracks. Consider this our weekly roundup of those stories from the previous week, all wrapped up in one neat little package.

During the 2006-07 season, Nashville forward Steve Sullivan suffered a back injury that knocked him out of the lineup for the remainder of the season. As a result of the injury, he missed the entire 2007-08 season and the first three months (and counting) of this season.

Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal points out that the 34-year old Sullivan is "skating hard" by himself in Nashville and may in fact make it back to the Predators lineup this season, Assuming he makes it back to the lineup -- and, let's be honest, that's quite an assumption at this point -- how much of an impact can we expect? Prior to his injury during the '06 season, he had played a full 82-game season one time (2002-03, which Chicago) and was a solid bet for 60-70 games per year.

Having said that, when he's on the ice, the 5-foot-8 forward is as steady as they come, good for 25 goals and 60 points. Can he step in and contribute anything close to that after not playing for nearly two seasons, at the age of 34, and with a bad back? Who knows, but it might be interesting to see what he could provide to the Predators.

Edit: The Nashville Tennessean reports Sullivan skated with the Predators in a full practice on Tuesday.

As if the Alexander Radulov story wasn't giving Preds fans enough heartburn already, it appears that spunky scoring star Steve Sullivan could pretty much be done like Christmas roast.

After suffering a nasty back injury back on February 22, 2007, Sullivan has not seen a single second of NHL action, and missed all of last season recovering and rehabilitating.

While Sullivan has recently done some very light skating, the latest news can't be seen as anything but bad.

"Day-to-day life is a lot better. I still can't play golf. I can only kick a soccer ball for a little while. I have to be careful with what I do, but I am definitely getting stronger. I can see some improvement."

Sully recently hosted a charity golf tournament, and couldn't even make a full swing of a club. This after more than a year of trying to rehab this back injury.

Back injuries can be extremely debilitating, and Sullivan's injury seems to be healing quite slowly. If the guy can't even handle a full swing of a golf club, how could he possibly handle the stress of an NHL game?

At this point, Sullivan is an old man (in hockey terms) and one has to wonder how his back would respond to one solid bodycheck. One shock from a 220lbs defensemen could easily turn his spine into a jigsaw puzzle.

I'd be quite surprised if Sullivan makes it back to the NHL, and it might just be best if he retired while he can still walk without a lot of pain and strain.

Nashville Predators fans have been battered around like a bingo ball this summer, and the last thing they need is even more bad news, right?

The drama over the sale and potential move of the franchise, the departure of Paul Kariya, the trade of Tomas Vokoun, and other bad news stories have left a dark cloud over the franchise heading into next season.

Unfortunately, Preds fans will have to live without super sniper Steve Sullivan for a few more months, and he had to go for a second surgery on his ailing back.

Sullivan has spent the off-season training and rehabbing his back and core muscles with trainer Alex McKegney.

However, he was still experiencing pain and went back to Dr. Robert Bray, a neurosurgeon who performed the original surgery, and it was determined there was a defragmentation of the disk, requiring the second operation.

"The rehab was going well until the last week or so when, in his words, Steve would get to a point where he could not 'break through the ceiling', said Nashville general manager David Poile said. "He could not get through the last extension of his back without pain.

With the exodus of talent from the Predators, Sullivan's role as offensive table-setter is even more important than it has ever been. With only Jason Arnott, Martin Erat, and JP Dumont possessing any offensive skill among the forwards, the Preds simply can't afford to have Sullivan on the sidelines for too long.

The problem with back problems is that they can become a life-long burden, even with successive surgeries. Even if the second surgery takes, Sullivan may always be at a high risk of back pain down the road. This may lead to a serious decline in his stats once the back pains prevent him from playing at his usual level of intensity.

It's going to be a long year for the Preds, but perhaps shorter once they don't make the playoffs.