More and more is Price beginning to look like the 20-year-old kid he is. The pressure in the Stanley Cup playoffs is immense and Philadelphia is a tough building to play in.

Here’s what I wrote back on April 3: “I think, and hope, the Canadiens end up regretting trading (Cristobal) Huet instead of keeping him as insurance for the playoffs.”

Dreams, my friends, can come true. With the Flyers now up two-to-one over Montreal, I can’t help but think of Happy Gilmore headbutting Bob Barker and telling him: “The price is wrong, bitch.” Best. Cameo. Appearance. Ever.

Still on the Flyers/Habs series, is Darian Hatcher not the biggest doofus in the NHL? His hit from behind on Francis Bouillon was bush-league and typical of the Philadelphia Flyers. But it takes a special type of moron to do it in the third period with his team up three-nothing. Hatcher single-handedly got the Canadiens back into the game and while I hate both teams equally, a part of me was hoping the Habs would tie it up, and even win it in overtime, so Hatcher could feel like even more of an idiot. What a douche bag. I hate Hatcher.

Here’s a video called “Hitler Loves the Flyers” courtesy of Slap Shot, the New York Times hockey blog. It was made after the Habs won game one of their series with Philadelphia so while the shots at Martin Biron are clearly unwarranted today, the numerous disses thrown at Danielle Briere are simply amazing. The video is golden. Enjoy!

Seriously, how does Detroit do it? Johan Franzen, aka “The Mule,” is tied for the NHL playoff goal-scoring lead with seven goals in only eight games.

So, uh, who the hell is this guy? Franzen scored 27 goals in the regular season to go along with only 11 assists. Eight of those goals were game-winners and 14 came on the power play. The guy’s a sniper. To close out the regular season, Franzen scored 15 goals in Detroit’s final 16 games. He’s picked up right where he left off in the playoffs.

I must admit that I knew Franzen was poised for a breakout season. I picked him in the last round of my keeper league fantasy hockey pool. Sure, I dropped him after he opened the season with only one goal in 17 games, but, well, that’s besides the point. I still knew.

Franzen is the next player on the long list of successful late Detroit Red Wings draft picks. He was chosen in the third round, 97th overall back in 2004.

The others? Pavel Datsyuk, drafted in the sixth round, 171st overall in 1998. Nicklas Lidstrom, drafted in the third round, 53rd overall way back in 1989. Dude’s had a pretty good career, hasn’t he? Valtteri Filppula, who scored 19 goals this season, was chosen in the third round, 95th overall in 2002. Look for him to have a Franzen-type breakout season next year. Tomas Holmstrom, drafted in the 10th round, 257th overall back in 1994, has forged a nice little career for himself. And, of course, Henrik Zetterberg, drafted in the 7th round, 210th overall in 1999, is only one of the NHLs best players.

Unbelievable, eh? Detroit’s scouting and drafting department is the best in the NHL, no contest. If the Toronto Maple Leafs are serious about winning a Stanley Cup they should buy the Detroit scouting staff and get Ken Holland over here asap.

Sean Avery has officially transcended hockey. Here’s a piece about him in The New Yorker.

Speaking of douche-baggery, here’s an article I’ve been wanting to share for a long time, courtesy of The New York Times, on the timeless art of the face wash.

Is it time to officially give the Dallas Stars some respect? First they shoot down the defending champion Anaheim Ducks in five games and then they go into San Jose and win games one and two on the road. Yeah, I think some respect is due.

Dan Myers over at Penalty Shots thinks the Leafs should be considering, get ready for this one, Bobby Clarke for the general manager position. Clarke’s career record as a GM is a sparkling 714-443-199. It’s tough to argue with that record, but it’s not tough to argue that Clarke is a serious douche who left one hell of a mess behind in Philadelphia. While we do have what Clarke never did in Philly – a goalie – I just don’t see it happening.

The Toronto Marlies are moving on to the second round of the AHL playoffs thanks to an ugly goal by Bates Battaglia with only a minute to go in game seven last night. While I’m still losing sleep over the fact that Justin Pogge is not in net for the Marlies, Scott Clemmensen was great yesterday, making 33 saves to ensure the victory. He’s keeping the hopes of a parade alive in the city of Toronto. Sad, I know, but it’s all we’ve got.

Speaking of Toronto, when did we become the “City of Champions”? I thought Edmonton held that title? Did I miss the memo or something, because I sure as hell haven’t missed any championships.

I ask because Damien Cox wrote a blog post entitled “A Tradition of, Um, Something” in which he took the city’s sports teams to task for, well, sucking. He took shots at the Leafs (of course), the Toronto Rock, some OHL teams no one gives a damn about, the Raptors, Marlies, Blue Jays, and Toronto FC. Basically, anything and everything MLSE related. It’s just Cox being Cox, you know, in his tradition of, um, bad sports writing.

The scoring for the Habs went like this Mark Streit, from Alex Kovalev, and Tomas Plekanec, next from Christopher Higgins, assisted by Streit, and Ryan O’Byrne, and lastly from Higgins, assisted by Brian Smolinski, and Andrei Markov. Carey Price played well again stopping 26 shots for the win. The lone scorer for the Leafs was Mark Bell, assisted by Kris Newbury, and Jason Blake. Andrew Raycroft made some excellent saves to keep the Leafs in it.

The Habs played another sound game, they scored when they had to, and played well defensively, but they didn’t play that hard as they were more than likely trying to stave off injuries leading into the play-offs.

By defeating the Leafs, the Habs obtained another two points, which puts them at 104 for the season, pushing the Penguins to win today to claim the conference crown. Alex Kovalev took the Molson Cup for the year for the Habs, and Mark Streit was honored with the Jacques Beauchamp trophy.

Regardless of the outcome of today’s Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers match-up, the Habs will face the Boston Bruins in the first round of the post season, a team which the Habs won the season series 8-0. Some would say that meeting the Bruins in the first round is good, but like everyone knows, the post season is a different season, it’s not because the Habs beat the Bruins in eight straight this year, that it will be an easy task, the Bruins will have something to prove to the Habs.

The post season starts next week, for the Habs either Wednesday, or Thursday, giving them 4-5 days of recuperation time for players to heal their bumps, and bruises, and giving more time for Mike Komisarek to completely heal.

Saku Koivu will be re-evaluated on Tuesday, to see if the Habs can find a way for Koivu to play. For the Habs sake let’s hope so as Koivu has been the Canadiens best player in the play-offs when they were in the post season.

The season is over, and from being forecasted to finish tenth in the conference, it’s a great season at 47 wins, and 104 points. Bravo!

According to Section 13 of the Standard Players Contract, players that are under 26 years of age can be bought out at only one-third of their deals. Since Emery turn 26 in September, the Senators would have to pay the struggling goaltender $2.25 million of the $6.75 million left on his remaining deal. The club would only take a $562,500 per season salary cap hit for the next four years.

There is a catch, however. If the Senators want to buy out Emery during the buyout period from June 15-30, they will have to place him on waivers and risk losing him for nothing.

Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun suggests that the Toronto Maple Leafs will buy out back-up goalie Andrew Raycroft in the summer and replace him with rookie Justin Pogge.

The Maple Leafs will have to pay Raycroft $666,666 in each of the next two seasons.

Detroit Red Wings pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Brad Stuart tells Ansar Khan of mLive.com he’s not necessarily looking to sign his next contract with a Western Conference team.

“I’ve read that I’m a West Coast guy. I don’t see myself that way,” Stuart said. “I don’t have to play on the West Coast.”

Khan suggests that the Red Wings will wait until season’s end to begin negotiations with Stuart, if they choose to pursue him at all.

Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch reports that Columbus Blue Jackets GM Scott Howson would like to sign pending unrestricted free agent goaltender Pascal Leclaire to a contract extension before his current deal expires.

However, negotiations with Leclaire’s agent will not commence until the end of the regular season.

According to Luke DeCock of The News & Observer, the Carolina Hurricanes have been negotiating an NHL contract with the agent for junior forward Brandon Sutter for the past week.

Sutter’s season in the Western Hockey League will come to and end this weekend, and the Hurricanes are hoping to call up their first round pick in last summer’s entry draft to the big club.

However, it’s unclear if the CBA allows the Hurricanes to bring up Sutter straight to their big club or if the youngster will have to first suit up for their AHL affiliate.

“That’s a decision, obviously, that [general manager] Jim [Rutherford] and the coaches would make,” Hurricanes assistant general manager Ron Francis said.

Atlanta Thrashers co-owner Bruce Levenson tells Craig Custance of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Marian Hossa’s decision not to re-sign with the club wasn’t necessarily because he didn’t like “what he saw about the future of the organization.”

“I don’t think that’s an accurate statement. It was more complicated than that. To say Marian didn’t want to be here is a gross simplification of what happened.”

“I think it is pretty obvious there is going to be a lot of changes and lot of turmoil through the summer, but to talk like that is pretty premature,” Raycroft said. “Whoever is going to be the GM here, if my dad was GM, maybe I would play 82 games next year. Maybe I should just throw my name into the hat for the job and play myself 82 times.”

If the The Maple Leafs can’t deal Raycroft, the club may can buy him out at two-thirds of his $2 million salary cap hit, spread out over the next two seasons.

Raycroft will earn $2.2 million next season next season, the last on his three year deal.

Boston Bruins pending unrestricted free agent forward Glen Metropolit The Boston Globe’s Fluto Shinzawa that his agent has talked with the club’s management about a possible contract extension.

Though “nothing serious has been discussed,” Metropolit isn’t too concerned. Apparently, he’s heard other teams are interested should he hit the open market July 1st.

Ansar Khan of mLive reports that the Detroit Red Wings are close to agreeing on a contract extension with pending UFA forward Dan Cleary.

The only stumbling block appears to be salary, as the term appears to be agreed upon: five years. Expectations are that Cleary will make between $2.5 million and $3 million.

Red Wings GM Ken Holland says he is in constant contact with Cleary’s agent, as he is eager to get a new pact signed before July 1st.

Khan also reports that Holland is discussing a new deal with the agent for pending UFA defenseman Andreas Lilja. The Red Wings would like to re-sign Lilja to a two-year deal.

However, Jim Matheson of The Edmonton Journal believes that there is a 75% chance Selanne will return to the Anaheim Ducks this season.

Matheson also reports that the Columbus Blue Jackets have been scouting the Ottawa Senators in recent games against the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes.

The Senators are pursuing a top-six forward, likely a center, and may have some interest in Blue Jackets’ forward Sergei Fedorov. The link here is that current GM Bryan Murray traded for Fedorov while he was the GM in Anaheim.

Both Matheson and Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Post Dispatch agree that if the Edmonton Oilers haven’t locked up a playoff spot by the February 26 trade deadline, they will shop goalie Dwayne Roloson.

The Chicago Blackhawks might have some interest if they can move their Nikolai Khabibulin, their high-priced starter.

Portzline also reports that the Blue Jackets are interested in Pittsburgh Penguins forward Erik Christensen, and may have to part with defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen in return.

Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reports that the Carolina Hurricanes would love to acquire Senators defenseman Joe Corvo or forward Antoine Vermette.

However, Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford isn’t willing to meet the Senators’ asking price of forward Erik Cole. That’s contrary to chatter that Rutherford might be interested in sending Cole to the Blue Jackets for forward David Vyborny, though.

Garrioch also reports that the Toronto Maple Leafs are trying to dump goalie Andrew Raycroft, but aren’t finding any takers.

Lastly from Garrioch, word is that Florida Panthers prospect Michael Frolik might re-enter the draft, where “he’d be a top-five pick.” The Czech forward is yet to sign an entry-level contract with the club after being low-balled by the Panthers.

The Pittsburgh Penguins lost starter Marc-Andre Fleury to a knee injury and will be gone for six weeks and would benefit from adding experienced goaltender. In Tampa Bay, the Lightning are getting a lot of inconsistent performances from Johan Holmqvist and backup Marc Denis. And in Los Angeles, the Kings could use a veteran to carry the load shouldered by youngsters Jason LaBarbera and Jonathan Quick.

With that in mind, The Score and Mike Zeisberger of the Toronto Sun are reporting that the Penguins, Lightning and the Kings, among other teams, have called the Toronto Maple Leafs to inquire about the availability of back-up Andrew Raycroft.

Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun believes that while discussion have taken place, a deal for Raycroft is not imminent. It’s believed that Raycroft’s $2 million salary “could be a sticking point in the end.”

Zeisberger also reports that the Penguins, Lightning, Kings, and the St. Louis Blues have expressed some interest in unrestricted free agent Curtis Joseph.

Joseph, who will play for Team Canada at this year’s Spangler Cup, turned down an offer to play for a team in the Russian Elite League that would have paid him more than $1 million.

The move would be done in an effort to push current starting netminder Marc-Andre Fleury to play better, rather than push Fleury off the team.

McKenzie suggests that the Penguins could sign an unrestricted free agent like Curtis Joseph, or try and trade for one of Ilya Bryzgalov (Anaheim Ducks), Andrew Raycroft (Toronto Maple Leafs), Jaroslav Halak (Montreal Canadiens), or Martin Gerber (Ottawa Senators).

When questioned about the rumors that his club had interest in signing UFA defenseman Danny Markov, Boston Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli would only tell The Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont that he has spoken with the player’s agent “on and off… the last couple of months.”

Markov’s agent, Jay Grossman, confirmed to Dupont that his client remained unsigned.

Bucky Gleason of The Buffalo News reports that Buffalo Sabres have started discussing a contract extension with pending free agent defenseman Brian Campbell.

“We’ll see what happens,” Campbell said. “I think something can be done but until it’s done, it’s still out there. How many contracts get close to getting done but don’t get done, and somebody is somewhere else. I’m just sitting back and waiting to see what happens.”

Campbell has stated on numerous occasions that he’d love to re-sign with the Sabres.

Meanwhile, Gleason reports that the Sabres have not begun contract negotiations with defenseman Dmitri Kalinin, who also becomes a free agent next summer.

Brian Biggane of The Palm Beach Post reports that Florida Panthers GM and head coach Jacques Martin is continuing his search for a “decent enforcer,” a process that has been going on “for months.”

Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland tells Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press that if forward prospect Igor Grigorenko decides to go back to play in Russia, “he’ll stay there for good.”

Grigorenko is expected to return to the Red Wings’ line-up after playing in the AHL since the start of the regular season. It remains to be seen if he can earn a job with the big club.

“If he can win a job, he can win a job,” [Red Wings head coach Mike] Babcock said. “If he can’t, he can’t.”

The Islanders have placed defenseman Freddy Meyer on waivers to clear a roster spot for Berard.

SI.com’s Allan Muir suggests that Columbus Blue Jackets forward Nikolai Zherdev has reduce his market value to a point where no team is willing to take him on as a reclamation project.

Muir also suggests that Montreal Canadiens goaltender Cristobal Huet could be moved before the trade deadline. With the Canadiens being in somewhat of a building move and having two good young goalies in Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak, Huet could become “a luxury with which the Habs can afford to part” in exchange for “a few more pieces of the puzzle.”

A few more players that Muir predicts will be traded before the deadline are: Ilya Bryzgalov (Anaheim Ducks), Sergei Fedorov (Blue Jackets), Miroslav Satan (Islanders), Al Montoya (New York Rangers), Bobby Holik (Atlanta Thrashers), Glen Murray (Boston Bruins), Andrew Raycroft (Toronto Maple Leafs)

And where will UFA forward Peter Forsberg end up? According to Muir, the Colorado Avalanche will be the winners of the Forsberg sweepstakes. The Avalanche provide Forsberg with a place to win and a familiar place to play.

Both Langfeld and Ellis “would have to clear waivers if reassigned,” meaning they could be claimed by other NHL teams.

Glennon suggests that that may just happen with Langfeld, as he could be an attractive option for a team who has lost one of their player to injury during the pre-season and needs a 6-3, 216-pound, defensive-minded forward.

Langfeld also has NHL experience, having played in 141 games, 33 of them last season with the Detroit Red Wings.

“You see that kind of thing happen all the time near the end of training camp, with guys that teams maybe wanted to sign during the offseason, or with teams that have had guys injured,” Predators general manager David Poile said. “There were a lot of teams interested in (Langfeld) in the offseason.”

As for Ellis, due to the fact that he has played only one NHL game, it’s expected teams will take a pass on him.

With Los Angeles goalie Dan Cloutier being waived last week, The Hockey News’ Adam Proteau wonders if the Toronto Maple Leafs will do the same with netminder Andrew Raycroft.

Proteau suggests that Maple Leafs GM John Ferguson could use Raycroft’s $2 million in salary cap hit to replace injured second-line center Kyle Wellwood, who will be out of action for at least a month.

“I’m not active at right now. We’re going to camp with the two guys we have. Our goaltending is in good shape. If something happens in the goaltending, or any other area, I’m certainly open to discuss it. We’re fine where we are.”

If the Tampa Bay Lightning could have moved Marc Denis over the summer, they would have done so, according to Damian Cristodero of the St. Petersburg Times. However, there was no market for Denis and his $2.8 million salary cap hit.

According to Fluto Shinzawa of The Boston Globe, the number one priority of the Detroit Red Wings is sign forward Henrik Zetterberg to a contract extension. Zetterberg has two more years on his current deal, and is likely to receive just under the $6.7 million Pavel Datsyuk is making per year.

Shinzawa also suggests that should the Atlanta Thrashers struggle to begin the season, the team may be looking to move pending unrestricted free agent forward Marian Hossa. Especially if Hossa is looking for a large contract. Shinzawa believes that a large number of GMs around the league would be lining up to acquire the Slovakian-born player.

Before settling for forward Petr Kalus and a fourth-round pick, the Minnesota Wild asked the Boston Bruins for forward David Krejci in exchange for goalie Manny Fernandez, according to Shinzawa. The Bruins had no desire to move Krejci.

While it’s very likely that forward Mats Sundin will finish the season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Damien Cox of the Toronto Star suggests that he could be moved at the trade deadline if the team is in danger of missing the playoffs.

Another Maple Leafs player that could be on his way out of Toronto is goalie Andrew Raycroft.

According to Jim Matheson of The Edmonton Journal, UFA forward Jeff Friesen is close to signing with Leksand of the Leksand Elite League, the same team goalie Eddie Belfour will be playing for this season.

Matheson also speculates that former Calgary Flames goalie Jamie McLennan could be back with the team if the Flames current back-up options don’t pan out. McLennan signed a deal with Magnitogorsk in the Russian Super League this off-season, but the Russian team let him go due to poor performance.