FanHouse Viktor Kozlov

Overnight, we got the news that Washington Capitals center Sergei Fedorov had been offered a contract with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL, and now RDS.ca and Octagon Sports agent Allan Walsh (through his Twitter feed) are reporting that Fedorov's teammate, forward Viktor Kozlov, also an impending free agent, will soon sign a contract with Salavat Ufa of the KHL. Details were not disclosed.

This is not the first report that tagged Kozlov as heading back to Russia. A little less than two weeks ago, Russian-language outlet Sports Daily (translated by Japers' Rink), reported that both Salavat and SKA St. Petersburg were interested in bringing Kozlov back to his homeland.

Kozlov, a veteran of 14 NHL seasons who joined the Capitals as a free agent before the 2007-08 campaign, has spent a good part of his stint in Washington working as a right wing on the team's top line with Alex Ovechkin. In two seasons, he had 29 goals and 66 assists and was +19.

There were plenty of distractions entering Sunday's Game 6 between the Capitals and Rangers. New York head coach John Tortorella was suspended and watching from a sky box; winger Sean Avery, who was a healthy scratch for Game 5, was back on the ice; and Rangers GM Glen Sather was doing his best to provide the press with another distraction, as he issued an open letter to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman chastising the Capitals organization for failing to provide adequate security behind the visiting bench during Game 5.

But with all the static in the air, the Washington Capitals stayed focused, jumping out to a 3-1 lead after the first period, never looking back on their way to a 5-3 win to force a Game 7 in Washington on Tuesday night. That early lead came thanks to offense from an unlikely source: a trio of defensemen who seemed to have figured something out about Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist.

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Capitals 3, Panthers 0: After getting blown out on Monday, the Washington Capitals rebounded on Tuesday by picking up a 3-0 win in Florida. Jose Theodore, coming off a disastrous performance in Atlanta, stopped all 19 shots he faced to earn his second shutout of the season. Viktor Kozlov, Brooks Laich and Mike Green all scored for the Capitals, while Alex Ovechkin picked up an assist, as he's still looking for goal No. 50 on the season.

For the Panthers, it's a costly loss as a win would have put them back into the top eight in the Eastern Conference. They're certainly picking a bad time to hit a slump, as the Panthers have dropped four in a row and five of their past six.

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.

The game of the night -- or so we thought -- was that monster matchup in Detroit, between the defending Stanley Cup champions, and the team that, thus far, has been the best team in the NHL this season. On paper, it looked like it was going to be an epic tilt. Possible Western Conference Finals preview, Mike Babcock vs. Todd Mclellan, teacher vs. student, etc. etc. etc. Of course, it was the second time they faced off this year, but, hey, it still looked like it was going to be awesome.

This, of course, is why the games aren't played on paper, as the Red Wings disposed of San Jose quite easily in a 6-0 romp at Joe Louis Arena. It's the Sharks' second straight loss, and the first game they've dropped in regulation in over a month.

Every July, various team owners and GM's, despite their better judgment, lustily rush out to sign whatever slab of UFA meat they can catch to the biggest, longest contract that they possibly can afford.

Salary inflation? Dimishing returns? Chemistry concerns? Cap issues? Those factors mean little when a fairly good player is on the free agent market, and a bevy of other teams are vying for the same player.

So, which of these unrestricted free agent players have actually been a good investment thus far?

Chris Drury - 2007 salary of $7.1 mil (28GP 6-13-19 -2)
Despite the fact that Drury has never proven himself to be more than a pretty good second liner, the Rangers decided to fork over superstar money without a second thought. I wouldn't say Drury's production has been disappointing, given that it's in line with previous totals of his, it's just that Drury is definitely overpaid for the type of player he is.

Scott Gomez - 2007 salary of $10mil (28GP 5-16-21)
Gomez is definitely one of the better playmakers in the league, but has always had consistency and coachability issues. Again, the Rangers forked over large amounts of money for somebody who is not a superstar (he had only 60 points last season), and they aren't getting rewarded for their investment. Gomez just doesn't have the same chemistry with Jagr that Michael Nylander had, and will probably never live up to his huge contract.

Of course, it's always easy to pick on the Ranger$, so let's look at some other squads.

With almost two complete seasons under our belt with the shootout deciding many games, some interesting trends have emerged.

Are shootouts a big part of the game? Well, 13.27% of all NHL games have gone to a shootout, which means the impact of this rule change cannot be ignored. NHL teams will average 11 shootouts per year, which gives teams an extra attempt at 11 points in the standings.

The general train of thought around the league is that shooting in the shootout is better than dekeing, due to the choppy ice conditions. The stats, however, show this theory to be debunked as dekers have a better success rate (35.6%) compared to shooters (29.4%).

If the Tampa Bay Lightning do make the playoffs, they can thank their shootout luck as they have a league best 10-1 mark this season. Unfortunately for the Bolts, shootouts become irrelevant when the playoffs start.

The league's shootout kings? Slava Kozlov (7-for-10, 70%), Brendan Morrison (6-for-9, 66.7%), and defenseman Petteri Nummelin (6-for-7, 85.7%).

Who not to take? How about Sidney Crosby, who is a measly 5-for-15? Or how about his rival, Alexander Ovechkin, who is 2-for-12?

Miroslav Satan and Viktor Kozlov, two of the league's best shootout artists last season, have been total duds this year at 3-for-11 and 4-for-11 respectively. This just goes to show that shootouts aren't a general skill that one can bank on.