FanHouse TravisMoen

It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We continue our division-by-division preview of the potential wheeling and dealing with the Pacific Division.

San Jose saw its Presidents' Trophy campaign come to a surprising end in the first round of the NHL playoffs, Los Angeles is still the perfect spot for Dany Heatley, and is there any hope for success on the ice in Phoenix?

Blues 5, Wild 3: Thanks to their 5-3 win over Minnesota on Sunday, the St. Louis Blues find themselves within one point of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with just 13 games to play. The Blues managed to hold off a late Minnesota rally, as Brad Boyes sealed the win with an empty net goal in the closing minute.

Sunday's win comes less than 24 hours after the Blues suffered a loss to Detroit in a game that featured three Red Wings goals in just 46 seconds. The Blues have been on a roll in recent weeks, winning 10 of their past 15 games to stay in the playoff hunt.

Also inside Monday's edition of newsmakers: the Islanders continue their strong play by upsetting Chicago, the Blue Jackets have their winning streak snapped, and the Los Angeles Kings demonstrate just how easy it is to screw up a two-on-none breakaway.

Steve Ott is a tough guy. Not in the Derek Boogaard sense, because Ott has a ton more skill, but still tough. He has already set a career high with 12 goals in just 44 games played, and Ott has won the respect of his teammates because of his willingness to take punishment in order to make plays around the net.

Ott can also be a bit of an agitator, as seen at the end of Saturday's 4-3 loss to Anaheim. He took a couple extra whacks at Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer, drawing the ire of goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere and enforcer Travis Moen.