FanHouse Nick Schultz

FanHouse's Bruce Ciskie reports from Wild training camp.

ST. PAUL -- After nine years of the same voice at practice and during games, a significant change came to the Minnesota Wild after the 2008-2009 season. Veteran coach Jacques Lemaire was out, replaced by first-time NHL head coach and Minnesota native Todd Richards.

While the Wild had their share of success with Lemaire, most fans thought it was time for a change. That change isn't just the voice the players hear every day. Richards brings in an entirely new way of playing hockey for the Wild.

There are certainly at least two really good teams in the NHL's Western Conference. Defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit and fast-starting San Jose appear in the clear to duke it out for the right to play for the Stanley Cup later this year.

Of course, we know that anything can happen in a best-of-seven series. In addition, we still have half a season left to play. What we don't know is which team in this conference is set up to challenge either the Red Wings or Sharks. They've beaten - at least once - pretty much everyone who has stood in their way, including each other.

While the top of the conference appears to virtually locked in place at this point, there are still serious battles to be fought, especially for the last four positions in the West. Currently, eight teams are separated by just six points. St. Louis, the last-place team in the West, is just nine points out of eighth.

It's been a couple weeks since we rolled out the NHL Wheel of Discipline, so I guess it was due for a return.

Our subject this time around is John Zeiler of the Los Angeles Kings. During Saturday's game against Colorado, Zeiler attempted to decapitate veteran Avs defenseman Adam Foote, sending him head-first into the boards while the two were chasing a loose puck in the Colorado zone.

While the hit set off a brief but rather intense melee between the two teams, and it also caused Foote to miss the rest of the game (by the way, we still don't know how long Foote could be out.), that's not the point here.

We have reached the stage where the NHL needs to do something. While the hit by Doug Weight on Brandon Sutter may have been clean (according to the letter of the law, so to speak), this was most certainly not. Foote was facing the boards the whole way, and Zeiler followed him, hit him hard from behind, and drove him into the boards.

Video and discussion of a possible suspension after the jump.

A couple of nights ago the Maple Leafs and Canadiens renewed their classic rivalry with an incredibly physical game in Toronto, which the Leafs ended up winning, 6-3. The most newsworthy item to come from the game, of course, was Montreal's Tom Kostopoulos sending defenseman Mike Van Ryn into the boards head-first on a vicious hit from behind.

As a result, Kostopoulos was handed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for boarding, while Van Ryn suffered a concussion, a broken nose and a broken hand, all of which will keep him out of the lineup for at least a month.

Today, the long arm of the law in the NHL, Colin Campbell, hit Kostopoulos with a three-game suspension for his actions, as reported by TSN. The Canadiens forward has since issued the following apology:

'' First and foremost, I sincerely regret the injuries suffered by Mike Van Ryn,'' Kostopoulos said in a statement. ''This is an unfortunate turn of events. I was just trying to get in on the forecheck and get the puck. I didn't anticipate him turning and couldn't stop. I was trying to finish my check and obviously it did not end up well. I never intend on injuring another player. I feel bad. I hope he is going to be all right and resume playing as quickly as possible.''

We had our fun last year with NHL dean of discipline Colin Campbell.

And it was justified.

After all, supplementary discipline became an exercise in randomness a year ago.

It apparently is again in 2008-2009.

Thursday night, Colorado's Darcy Tucker, hardly a Lady Byng candidate at any point in his career, thought it would be a good idea to de-knee Minnesota defenseman Nick Schultz. It didn't work, as Schultz wasn't hurt, but it was pretty obvious that Tucker was aiming low and behaving that way, too. Again.

The low blow by Tucker was spotted by the referees, who called him for clipping. But given Tucker's history (including the fact that the clipping penalty was put in because of his penchant for going after guys' knees), it was pretty obvious that he would get suspended.

Right?

Well, as we all know, you can never assume anything when you spin the NHL Wheel of Discipline.