FanHouse ThomasVanek

FanHouse's Adam Gretz takes a look at his top 50 players in the NHL. No. 30 is Buffalo Sabres forward Thomas Vanek.

Before Kevin Lowe ignited an epic public feud with Brian Burke by signing restricted free agent Dustin Penner in the summer of 2007, the Oilers general manager had his eyes on a much larger prize -- Buffalo Sabres restricted free agent Thomas Vanek. In early July, 2007, the Oilers signed the 23-year-old Vanek to a seven-year, $50 million offer sheet. Had Buffalo refused to match the offer, it would have received four first-round picks as compensation. Tempting. But not tempting enough.

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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?

FanHouse brings you full coverage of the 2009 NCAA Men's Frozen Four in Washington, D.C.

As the Frozen Four begins late Thursday afternoon, there will be 22 players showcasing their skills that have been drafted by NHL teams. While many of the others will be, as the NCAA says, "going pro in something other than sports", a good number of them will showcase their talents in an effort to join a growing population. Every year, more and more college players end up getting a shot at the NHL. Not only that, but a greater number of them are making a real name for themselves when they get there.

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

Blue Jackets 4, Blackhawks 3: Banner night for the Columbus Blue Jackets, as their 4-3 shootout win over the Chicago Blackhawks clinched the first ever playoff berth in the in the eight-year existence of the franchise. It's been a long time coming, but congratulations Columbus, you're officially on the NHL map.

With the playoff race as tight as it is in the Eastern Conference, every point counts, and when you're faced with winnable games against teams currently out of the playoff picture, picking up the two points is an absolute must.

With less than 10 minutes to play in their game against Atlanta on Saturday, the Carolina Hurricanes were holding a rather comfortable 3-1 lead. Then, for whatever reason, the bottom fell out for the Hurricanes, as Atlanta erupted for four unanswered goals to pick up a 5-3 win.

Rangers 5, Capitals 4: Thanks to his two-goal effort on Wednesday night, Mike Green has now scored in seven straight games which ties an NHL record for consecutive games with a goal by a defenseman. During the current streak Green has tallied nine goals and seven assists. He's simply on a different planet right now.

As for the game itself, despite Green's efforts, the Capitals dropped a 5-4 shootout decision to the Rangers. Ryan Callahan scored his 13th goal of the season in regulation for New York, and then added the game-winner in the fourth-round of the shootout.

The Buffalo Sabres efforts to return to the NHL playoffs were dealt a major blow on Sunday afternoon when they learned star forward Thomas Vanek is going to miss at least a month with a fractured jaw.

Vanek suffered the injury in Saturday's game against Ottawa when he was hit in the face with a puck. According to the Sabres, he had successful surgery on Sunday.

Penguins 4, Lightning 3: I feel as if I've said this before, but this could be the game that turns the Penguins season around. It has to be. If it doesn't spark something with this group, nothing will.

Trailing 3-0 in the third period, Evgeni Malkin transformed himself into a one-man wrecking crew as he scored a pair of goals -- including the game-winner in overtime -- and assisted on another in Pittsburgh's 4-3 overtime win against Tampa Bay. After Malkin scored the Penguins first goal of the night, Mark Eaton and Petr Sykora scored a pair of goals in the final six minutes of regulation to send the game to overtime.

Sykora's goal came on the power play after Gary Roberts -- who became a cult hero of sorts during his year-and-a-half stay in the 'Burgh -- was suckered into a foolish penalty by Matt Cooke.

Brendan Shanahan made his season debut for the New Jersey Devils on Monday night, and it didn't take him long to make an impact. At the 1:38 mark of the second period, the 39-year-old forward beat Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne from right on top of the crease, giving the Devils a 1-0 lead on their way to a 3-1 win over the Predators.

Shanahan registered nearly 14-minutes of ice-time, while firing six shots on goal. His tally came on the power play, which is where he should make his biggest impact for a New Jersey team that entered play on Monday ranked 15th in the league with the man advantage.

Scott Clemmensen stopped 31 shots to pick up the win for the Devils, while Brian Rolston recorded a pair of assists.

I don't know what the Thrashers give-a-crap level was at, but the Penguins certainly kicked their give-a-crap level up a few notches as they snapped a five-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over Atlanta. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 28-of-29 shots, while Petr Sykora scored a pair of goals in the win.

Not only did Pittsburgh ends its losing streak, it also ended an 0-for-32 power play drought by going 2-for-6 with the man advantage.

It was a costly win of sorts for the Penguins, as Ruslan Fedotenko and Pascal Dupuis left the game with injuries and did not return. Both players had been playing, perhaps, their best hockey of the season in recent weeks.

Fedotenko appeared to suffer a hand injury when he punched out Colby Armstrong in the first period. It was perhaps the shortest fight of the season, as it consisted of one Fedotenko punch to the jaw, and Armstrong attempting to throw one when both players were on the ice. Fedotenko could be seen shaking his hand as he went to the penalty box, and then headed directly to the locker room and did not return.

Alex Goligoski was again a healthy scratch, as head coach Michel Therrien used the same lineup he used in New York the night before, with much better results. Evgeni Malkin recorded three assists, while Sidney Crosby scored his 16th goal of the season.

Ilya Kovalchuk scored the lone goal for Atlanta late in the third period, ending Fleury's shutout bid.