AJgoal

Well, there's a report that he was limping at Skatezone today, so maybe he caught a shot off his foot.

Columbus actually makes a decent return as well. They gave up the number 8 overall and Voracek, and essentially get Jack Johnson and a late first round pick this year (18th unless the Kings make the finals), or LA's first rounder next year, Columbus' choice. While they lost on Carter, who did nothing for them (Who thought he'd be a good center for Nash? Nash needs a distributer. Not a shooter), they still managed to parlay him into something pretty worthwhile.

EJ Express: Holmgren, Zajac, Bergeron deserve praise Wednesday, 04.25.2012 / 10:28 AM / NHL.Countdown By EJ Hradek - NHL.com Analyst Flyers GM Paul Holmgren was not nominated as one of the three finalists for the General Manager of the Year Award, voted on by the League's general managers and a panel of five league executives and five media members. He should have, though. Holmgren had the guts to re-make the heart of his roster last June, moving Mike Richards and Jeff Carter on the same day, just prior to the 2011 NHL Draft. Let me tell you; that isn't something you do without a lot of nerve. In those separate deals, Holmgren picked up Wayne Simmonds, Braydon Schenn and Jakub Voracek as well as using the first-round pick acquired from the Blue Jackets (in the Carter deal) to select Sean Couturier. Holmgren also added veteran free agents Jaromir Jagr and Max Talbot. Plus, he signed former Bemidji State star Matt Read into the mix. Those seven players all have made an impact on the Flyers' strong season and their first-round series victory. During the season, after losing captain Chris Pronger unexpectedly to injury, Holmgren swung a sharp deal to get strong shut-down defender Nicklas Grossmann from Dallas. He later signed the under-appreciated Grossmann to a contract extension that will keep him in Philly. Holmgren also traded for experienced D Pavel Kubina. Holmgren's detractors will point to the expensive signing of free-agent goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who has struggled during his first season in Philadelphia. I'd agree that the Flyers overpaid for Bryzgalov, who was coming off a dreadful first-round performance against the Wings for the Coyotes. Still, I don't think you can say that Bryzgalov wasn't an upgrade at the position. And, in a pretty unconventional way, “Universe” has helped the Flyers to the second round. In the end, Holmgren impacted his roster this season more than any other GM. He should not only have been nominated for the honor, he should have won it.

I think Kimmo's minutes were more a result of the score and not needing to play him that much than an injury. I could be wrong of course, but that's my read. Unlike games 2 and 3 that were just defensive nightmares, it never seemed like Pitt was in game 6, even though the score differntial was about the same.

Caught a concussion in game 1. Don't recall the hit. No updates means it's probably not going too well.

OK, call me crazy, but didn't they show "The Datsyuk" twice, just with different feeds?

The other thing to remember about the 10% cushion is that all players on one way contracts count against that, even those that played for the Phantoms all year. In addition, players on two way contracts count against the cap in proportion to the number of games played on the NHL club in prior years. So Walker will be back on the cap. Leighton's contract is up, so he won't. But I'm sure there are some others.

@terp. Yep. That power play goal put Ottawa on their heels. I think they may well have carried their momentum to a win if it wasn't for those two calls. Now they need to quiet the Garden in game 7. Admittedly, they've done it for most of the season (Game 1 was their only loss between reg season and playoffs), but it's a tough order. Of course, there's always the possibility that that goal at the end of the game pushes the wrong buttons on Lundqvist.

Armstrong added some key vets in the offseason, but the big move is bringing in Hitch, catapulting them from out of the playoffs to #2 in the West. I'm ok with his nomination.

Poile is the one I don't get too much. All he really did was stand pat. His team didn't do significantly better than last year - only a 5 point improvement. He brought in Gill, who's been injured, and sent away a first round pick to get Paul Gaustad. Radulov returned, but he was already under contract. Kostitsyn? Going back to last year, he hasn't really made any changes to his team that have made a significant impact. He re-signed Rinne, I suppose, but how could he not? Not to take anything away from the team's success, but I just don't see how it had much of anything to do with what Poile did this year.

Alfredsson, Lupul, Pacioretty are Masterton finalists Tuesday, 04.24.2012 / 11:00 AM / 2012 NHL Awards By Adam Kimelman - NHL.com Deputy Managing Editor It takes huge amounts of courage, will, dedication and determination to play in the NHL. But for three players this season, they took it to another level. Ottawa Senators right wing Daniel Alfredsson, Toronto Maple Leafs left wing Joffrey Lupul and Montreal Canadiens left wing Max Pacioretty have been named finalists for this year's Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to the "the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey." The winner is selected by a vote of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association and will be announced at the 2012 NHL Awards Show, June 20 at the Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas. The 39-year-old Alfredsson showed his dedication in deciding to return for a 16th NHL season after needing offseason back surgery. He also would be returning to a team with a new coach hired after a 13th-place finish in the Eastern Conference. All Alfredsson has done is lead the team on and off the ice. He had 27 goals -- including the 400th of his career -- 59 points and a plus-16 rating, and was named an All-Star captain. "The success this team has had is because Daniel Alfredsson's the captain," Senators coach Paul MacLean said. "He's made my job a lot easier." Not only is Alfredsson highly regarded for his skill and leadership on the ice, but off the ice he's been a leading advocate for mental health causes with the Royal Ottawa Hospital and the Do It For Daron Foundation, which honors the memory of the daughter of assistant coach Luke Richardson. Lupul had back problems of his own to recover from. That and a blood disorder threatened to derail what had been a promising career. Leafs coach Randy Carlyle, who held the same role in Anaheim when Lupul initially injured his back in 2009, said he's amazed Lupul accomplished what he did this season. "He was hunched over, he couldn't stand upright," Carlyle told the Toronto Sun. "He had a hard time just moving. And he dropped about 20 pounds." Lupul said that number was closer to 40. Finally healthy again at the start of the 2011-12 season, though, Lupul had a career resurgence that started almost from the first puck drop in October. He had 11 points in 11 games in the season's first month and never looked back. He paired with Phil Kessel to form one of the most dynamic scoring combinations in the League, and until a separated shoulder ended his season in March, he had been one of the Leafs' top performers. He was named an alternate captain for the All-Star Game, and finished with 25 goals and a career-best 67 points, despite playing just 66 games. Off the ice, he purchased five 24-person suites at home games for use by the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada. Pacioretty had his own serious injury to recovery from. It was March 8, 2011 when he collided with the partition at the end of visiting bench at Bell Centre. The hit left Pacioretty with a fracture vertebrae and a concussion that ended his season. The 23-year-old spent the offseason recovering, starting with a charity hockey game in July. He reported to training camp healthy, and went on to have his best NHL season, totaling 33 goals and 65 points. The native of New Canaan, Conn., became the first U.S.-born player in Canadians history to score 30 goals. "Everybody knew from the get-go that this guy [Pacioretty] was special," teammate David Desharnais told the Montreal Gazette. "He has a good shot, he's a good skater who has good ability. He's just proved this season that he's one of the best. To overcome a broken neck the way he has is unbelievable." Away from the ice, Pacioretty created the Max Pacioretty Foundation to help the Montreal General Hospital raise money to buy a Functional MRI machine for the Traumatic Brain Injury Centre at Montreal General Hospital/McGill University Health Centre.

Armstrong, Poile, Tallon up for GM of the Year The players play and the coaches coach, but someone has to put all those pieces into place. That person is the general manager, and three stood out from the rest of their peers this season. Doug Armstrong of the St. Louis Blues, David Poile of the Nashville Predators and Dale Tallon of the Florida Panthers have been named the finalists for the 2012 General Manager of the Year Award. The winner will be announced at the 2012 NHL Awards Show, June 20 at the Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas. Armstrong added to his young core group over the summer by signing veteran forwards Jason Arnott and Jamie Langenbrunner, along with defenseman Kent Huskins, all of whom arrived with Stanley Cup rings. He also signed goalie Brian Elliott when no other teams were interested and watched him turn in a record-setting performance. Knowing how good a team he had, Armstrong found one final ingredient behind the bench, as he fired Davis Payne 13 games into the season and hired Stanley Cup-winning veteran Ken Hitchcock. That moved turned into a master-stroke, as the Blues went 43-15-11 under Hitchcock, won the Central Division for the first time since 1999-2000, finished second in the Western Conference and became the League's best defensive team. Poile was able to help the Predators build off last year's first-ever playoff series win. He locked in goaltender Pekka Rinne with a seven-year contract, and continued to make headway on doing the same with franchise defenseman Shea Weber and Ryan Suter. At the trade deadline, Poile added to his group by acquiring size on the back end in Hal Gill and adding skill and depth up front in Andrei Kostitsyn and Paul Gaustad. He also smoothly brought Alexander Radulov back to the franchise after he left three seasons ago for Russia. It all added up to the franchise winning 48 games and starting the playoffs at home for the first time since the 2006-07 season. While Armstrong and Poile made the usual number of offseason moves, Tallon pulled an extreme roster makeover this past summer. He traded for or signed 10 new players, among them Lady Byng finalist Brian Campbell, who was third in scoring among defensemen and played more minutes than any other player in the League; left wing Tomas Fleischmann, who led the team with 61 points and set career-bests in goals, assists and points; and goalie Jose Theodore, who had a resurgent season while backstopping the Panthers to the top of the Southeast Division. To lead his new-look team, Tallon hired a first-time coach in Kevin Dineen, and watched him guide the Panthers to the first division title in franchise history and the first playoff berth since 2000.

At the same time, playing the "Best team in the NHL" with all their stars healthy, and beating them soundly, will give this team a lot of confidence. I just hate the layoff now. If we do play the Rangers, it likely will be after a week off. that's ridiculous when you consider that the Rangers will only play one more game than the Flyers did.

I disagree. If he's ready to face game action, he needs to get in. There's no substitute for gameplay to get him up to speed. If you hold him out of games 1 and 2, and the Flyers find themselves down 0-2, bringing him in only to be gassed after 12-15 minutes of play does you more harm than good. But if you bring him in as soon as he's ready and start him out on Kubina's 6-8 minutes per game, the risk is low, but he'll be in game shape earlier in the series.

Of the top 15 scorers in the playoffs, only two are either not eliminated or not Flyers.

Giroux is showing he can elevate his play for big games. 14 points in a 6 game series when you know he's the one marked for the top defensive players on the other team, a team that many thought would win the cup? That's huge. He's got to keep it going, though. This is round 1. There are 3 more, and 12 more wins, to go.

Looks like he's back for tonight's game. Glad it didn't end up being as serious as it could have been.

What's also key: 21:33, 21:21, 5:19, 22:48, 25:01, 15:44 - Timonen not playing half of every game is huge. He's gotten worn down in the past, notably in the 2010 cup run where Laviolette couldn't use his 3rd pairing without giving up a goal. with Grossmann, Carle, and Coburn playing big minutes, it's relieved some of the pressure to overuse Timonen, which may keep him fresh.

The big thing to look at is that they took they're normal shifts on the PP and, in the case of Read, on the PK. Jake needed to move up, so Simmonds got slid down. There's just not enough ice to go around for everyone right now.

Quick is definitely playing as strong a game right now as Giroux, though they're hard to compare because he's a goalie.

I think what was going on was Malkin playing almost 28 minutes and Crosby playing 25. Matching Couturier and Giroux against those two doesn't leave a lot of time for the other guys.

I think Rags get bumped tonight. Alfredsson returning, chance to advance on home ice against a New York team that's struggling to score... I think the Sens put a couple quick ones in and the Rangers can't keep up. I even bet all my tokens on it.

Not just during the game. They changed nothing between games. The biggest was not making any adjustments to their PK with the Flyers eating them alive. And even when Blysma had last change, Laviolette managed to get the matchup he wanted 90% of the time.

But that doesn't explain him looking tired in Game 5 or at times in the beginning of the game.