FanHouse ToddBertuzzi

As the third overall pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, Jonathan Toews has always been blessed with exceptional talent. He's excelled on the ice during his first two years in Chicago, he's currently the youngest captain in the NHL, and now that he's getting an opportunity to shine in the playoff spotlight, he's certainly not disappointing.

Toews scored a pair of goals in the second period on Saturday night, as the Blackhawks erased an early deficit to pull out a 3-2 win in game 2 of their Western Conference quarterfinal. Chicago now has a 2-0 lead in the series as it heads to Calgary on Monday.

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A couple of weeks ago, TSN hockey analyst Gord Miller came to the conclusion that in order for the Pittsburgh Penguins to remain competitive in the NHL, they would have to deal the league's leading scorer, Evgeni Malkin, for a first-line winger, a No. 2 center, and "hopefully" a pick or a prospect. It was a laughable proposal.

On Sunday night, Rob Rossi, Penguins beat writer for the Tribune-Review, appeared on a weekly Pittsburgh talk show and suggested the team would be wise to put Sidney Crosby on the trade block this offseason. I guess this is what happens when you go from being two wins away from hoisting the Stanley Cup to being the No. 10 team in the Eastern Conference in a matter of one season.

Ugly incident in the Ontario Hockey League this past Friday when the Oshawa Generals and Kingston Frontenacs squared off. As you can see from the video above, Kingston forward Nathan Moon gets flattened in front of the net, and responds by delivering a slash to the leg of Oshawa's James DeLory, which led to DeLory issuing a series of cheap shots.

The Penguins needed a game like this, and it's quite a way to open up the second half of the season as they scored five third period goals on their way to a 6-2 win over the New York Rangers. Marc-Andre Fleury kept the Penguins in it early, turning aside 32-of-34 shots, while the offense took over in the third period, peppering Henrik Lundqvist with 16 shots.

Thanks to a pair of goals from Matt Ellis, the Buffalo Sabres ended Boston's 10-game winning streak with a 4-2 victory at TD Banknorth Garden on Saturday afternoon. The loss not only snaps Boston's 10-game winning streak, it also ended a 14-game home winning streak, while also giving the Bruins their sixth regulation loss of the season.

Ellis opened the scoring for the Sabres just three minutes into regulation, while Thomas Vanek added his 26th goal of the season just two minutes later.

After Phil Kessel cut the deficit in half with his 24th goal of the season, Ellis added his second goal of the game early in the second period to score what proved to be the game-winner. Paul Gaustad added his fourth goal of the year for the Sabres, while Ryan Miller turned aside 29 shots in net.

The win for Buffalo, combined with Pittsburgh's loss to Florida, moved the Sabres into the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Montreal's Andrei Kostitsyn recorded his first career hat trick on Saturday night, while Carey Price stopped 31 shots, including 16 in the third period to lead the Canadien's to a 3-2 victory in Pittsburgh. With the win, Montreal moves ahead of the Penguins in the Eastern Conference standings, while the Penguins failed to win consecutive games yet again -- they haven't won two in a row since November 13-15. Just sayin'.

Kostitsyn scored a pair of goals in the first period before completing the hat trick early in the third period with a quick slap shot that beat Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury through the five-hole.

Following Kostitsyn's goal, Price turned into a brick wall, as the Penguins had a trio of power plays in the final period, and peppered the Montreal netminder. Of course, if you're Pittsburgh, you have to be a tad frustrated you failed to convert on five power plays, after going 0-for-5 one night ago in New Jersey. How a power play that features Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Petr Sykora and Ryan Whitney, among others, can consistently have so many 0-for-5 and 0-for-6 nights seems to defy all logic. Yet, here we are.

Crosby and Pascal Dupuis each finished with a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh.

After setting an NHL record for the best start through 30 games, the San Jose Sharks ran into a brick wall on Wednesday by the name of Steve Mason. The Columbus rookie netminder stopped 47 shots in a 2-1 overtime win for the Blue Jackets.

For the Sharks, the loss snaps a three-game winning streak, though, they still haven't lost a game in regulation since November 9, so they've gained at least a point in 15 straight games. The Blue Jackets have now won three of their past four, all of which have come with Mason in net, who seems to be cementing himself as the team's No. 1 goaltender. The 47-save performance against San Jose improves his save percentage on the season to an impressive .929, while his record goes to 9-5-1.

The game remained scoreless through the first two periods, until San Jose's Devin Setoguchi scored at the 3:41 mark of the third period. Later in the frame, Mike Peca picked up his second of the season, tying the game, ultimately sending it to overtime.

The Blue Jackets registered only one shot in the extra period, though, they made it count as R.J. Umberger scored his ninth goal of the season to give Columbus the win.

Remember Jeff O'Neill? Once upon a time, he was a promising young Power Forward for the Carolina Hurricanes, and then a lazy, under performing marshmallow for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It would be easy to forget O'Neill, especially since he took last season off to grieve his brother's death. It's not as if O'Neill was making an impact on the ice when he was playing, either.

Now that O'Neill is in a better state of mind, he hopes to return to the NHL. The avenue of choice? Carolina, his former club, who have offered him a training camp tryout.

"In training camp, the door is open for players to make the team," Rutherford told The News & Observer. "That's the opportunity we'll give him. He said he plans to come in early and work out with the guys. He has the right mind-set."

"We have talked about a contract, but it makes sense for him to come to training camp for the tryout and then us talk about a contract."

Yes, Jeff O'Neill is a former 30-40 goal scorer, but that was SIX years ago. O'Neill's last three full seasons saw the offensive-minded winger garner just 34, 38, and 42 points. I'm sure I don't need to remind you that his attention to defense was/is atrocious, much like Todd Bertuzzi's.

I realize that there is little risk and investment involved in giving the guy a training camp shot, but why do the Hurricanes need another offensive-minded forward? The Canes certainly do not problems scoring goals, and their forward corps are already full with the likes of Staal, Brind'Amour, Whitney, Williams, Samsonov, and Ruutu.

The Canes need another offense-first forward like Dick Cheney needs a new rifle. Shouldn't the Canes be spending their time looking for defensive help instead of worrying about lazy, washed-up forwards who haven't played hockey in a year? Thumbs down, Carolina!

When the Ducks bit the bullet and bought out the final year of Todd Bertuzzi's inflated contract, I wondered what team would actually take a chance on the guy and be suckered into a bad deal. If Brian Burke got sick of the guy, who else would want him?

Well, it appears that the Calgary Flames have bit the bait, and signed Bertuzzi to a free agent deal worth $1.95 million.

"Todd is a proven scorer with the ability to play both wings," Flames general manager Darryl Sutter said in a release. "He expressed to us that he wanted to play in Canada and that desire along with signing him to a one-year deal was important to our philosophy. He wanted to play on a good team and it fit our money. Additionally, our captain, Jarome Iginla, was a strong supporter of Todd and wanted him on our team."

As much as I dislike Bertuzzi, I will say that this is actually a solid signing for the Flames. They haven't committed much for Bertuzzi with just a one-year deal, and $1.95M for an offense-minded forward, albeit one with many liabilities, is not too pricey for a guy who scored 40 points last season, and is easily capable of more.

The Flames are giving Bertuzzi the chance and the incentive to put up some bigger numbers, and you have to figure that Bertuzzi will fit in well with his old mentor, Mike Keenan. I wouldn't bet on a BIG season with Bertuzzi, but the big slug ought to be reasonably expected to put up 50 points with the Flames.

With the playoffs quickly approaching, it is clear that the Western Conference has two clear tiers of power among playoff-bound/wannabe clubs.

Heading the list of the powerful clubs are the defending cup champion (although they get no real chance to defend it, right?) Anaheim Ducks.

Sure, the Ducks started the season looking worse than Nick Nolte after a night at the bar with Link Gaetz, but their slow start should have been expected. The club had little rest after a long playoff run, had to endure a long trip to the United Kingdom, and deal with the 'will-he-retire?' breaks of Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer.

The Ducks boosted their roster with the likes of Mathieu Schneider and Todd "Grumpy Bear" Bertuzzi, got the old boys back, and finally snapped out of their stupor since the calendar flipped over to 2008.

So, with that in mind, let's kick off our FanHouse Western Conference round-table discussion with some banter about the Quackers.