Now some of you may say; the last four years have been horrendous for Leaf fans.   They have had to endure a half-decade long playoff drought; so, the Leafs must make the playoffs.  Others would say; rebuilding a team is a process, this method takes time.  This recent trend of black and white thinking has become an eternal struggle, it is an argument I have had with many followers of the Maple Leafs.  Though I do not have a dogmatic, narrow-minded view of the current Maple Leaf situation, I am inclined to agree with the latter.  Simply because while the Maple Leafs do have a myriad of future assets including but not limited to; Jiri Tlusty, Nikolai Kulemin, Justin Pogge and the newly-acquired Mikhail Grabovski, to name a few. None of these potential stars really stands out to attain the status of super-star.  Now that they have finally obtained one of these superstars in Luke Schenn, it is time to acquire someone equally as high in status and talent to launch the Maple Leafs into triumph.

Take a second to look around the league, while the most extreme example being the Pittsburgh Penguins (Crosby, Malkin, Fleury) there are many others around the league who have had high draft picks over the last few years and will surely be successful in the near future.  Perhaps the most talked about turn-around in hockey, the Chicago Blackhawks, have a dynamic duo in Jonathan Toews (3^rd overall in 06) and Patrick Kane (1^st overall in 08) to go along with their abundance of other career NHLers such as Cam Barker, Dave Bolland and Jack Skille.  The Los Angeles Kings who have been quietly stock-piling future talent for years, made there biggest splash this year with 2^nd overall pick Drew Doughty to accompany future stalwart Jack Johnson (3^rd overall in 05).  Another standout of course is Wayne Gretzky’s new and improved Phoenix Coyotes who acquired Danish prospect Mikkel Boedker (8^th overall in 08) to complement Kyle Turris (3^rd overall in 07) and Peter Mueller (8^th overall in 06). FYI: I firmly believe these aforementioned teams will be a top the NHL standings in no later than two years.

These are just mere examples of what the Leafs are now facing. But one thing is abundantly obvious; most dominant teams are built on at least two or three standout prospects.   It has been 41 years since the great city of Toronto has seen the Leafs hoist the Stanley Cup.  Is it really too much to ask to endure one more season of failure?  Personally, I do not wish for a top 10 pick, I believe it’s imperative to obtain a top 3 pick.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have the choice between mega-prospects John Tavares, Victor Hedman and Luke Schenn’s brother; Brayden, among others. The Maple Leafs have been mired in mediocrity for so many years, it has certainly become an exercise in futility.  Many Leaf followers wish for the return of Mats Sundin and for some strange reason, Maple Leaf brass is seemingly leaving the door open for his return.  The team Cliff Fletcher has fielded for the 08-09 season has hockey pundits everywhere saying that not only is this team not good enough to make the playoffs, they will be lucky to escape with the 13^th spot in the Eastern Conference.  It is almost set in stone that the Leafs are a shoe-in for another playoff mishap for the fifth consecutive year. With presumably the only bottom-feeders below them being the Garth Snow inflicted; New York Islanders and the one-pony show; Atlanta Thrashers.  So if Sundin loyalties get their wish, it is my belief that it may only move them up a mere one, maybe two spots in the standings.  Is that really what we want?  You really have to ask yourselves Leaf-fans, do you want another Nik Antropov in the 09 draft, or someone who can vault this team to Stanley Cup success? So I implore you Leaf fans, as a life-long fan myself, we must lose, really lose, to win.

To be honest with you I never ever thought Hossa would have signed with Detroit.

In 72 regular season games with Atlanta and Pittsburgh Hossa scored 66 points, in 20 playoff games with Pittsburgh he scored 12 goals and 14 helpers for 26 points.

Stuart played in 9 regular season games, after being dealt at the deadline by the Los Angeles Kings, with Detroit recording 2 points and a plus 6. In playoffs Stuart played 21 games recording 7 points and a plus15

Lilja played 79 regular season games all with Detroit recording 12 points and a minus 2. in Playoffs Lilja recorded 1 assist and a plus 3 in 12 games.

Conklin’s signing was a big surprise (at least for me) that July 1st had. Conklin started in 33 regular season games with 18 wins and a .923 save percentage. He didn’t start any playoff games.

To be honest I thought the Detroit Red Wings would stick to a Chris Osgood/Jimmy Howard goaltending tandem.

To be honest with you I consider Ryan Malone a good forward, while he may not enter in the elite category of the NHL he can still raise some eyebrows.

But don’t you think 7 million dollars a season is just too much for a guy that has not yet produced over 70 points?

In my opinion I believe Tampa bay will either sink or swim during the next season.

Either way it should be fun for everyone to see Steven Stamkos play along with Vinny Lecavalier, Ryan Malone, Dan Boyle and Martin St. Louis.

The emergence of the young Penguins has been a godsend to Gary Bettman. He couldn’t have dreamed up a better scenario for a Stanley Cup Final. The NHL’s most dominant team of the decade versus Bettman’s most marketable player, Sidney Crosby. This couldn’t have come at a better time, as the National Hockey League is still trying to promote a more lucrative turnout in American cities and certainly create more of a hockey market in the United States.

Unfortunately for the little General, he didn’t get his storybook ending. His golden boy struggled mightily for the majority of the series. To Crosby’s credit he did manage to play ‘Johnny-on-the-Spot’ in game three of the Cup Finals, long enough to score two key goals. But other then that, he failed to generate more then a a bout of consistent whining to the referees. Some may say that he was a key contributor in game five, as he was credited with two assists, but anyone who watched that game, knows that he was so invisible that it made it possible for our first Evgeny Malkin siting of the series. Thankfully for Pittsburgh guys like Marian Hossa, Jordan Staal, Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts, Maxime Talbot and especially Marc-Andre Fleury put in yeomans service to help steal a super important game five. That game will go down as one of the more exciting Cup Finals games in recent memory.

It wasn’t necessarily a case of Pittsburgh playing terribly, as much as it was that Detroit was absolutely dominant throughout the series. They ruled the roost of the NHL from start to finish. I don’t think I remember such a dominant performance. Sure Pittsburgh stole two games in the series, but they were outmatched by a well coached team that was stacked with puck possession skilled players, and loads of chemistry.

For once the best team finally won it all! But take nothing away from the achievements of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Barring future player movement due to contract extensions, this team has just scratched the surface of what accomplishments it can achieve. That fact has led many to compare this team to the Oilers of the 80’s. Knowing how much of a competitor that Sidney Crosby is, one thing is for certain: next season he will be more hungry and dangerous than ever! Considering he is already the most talented player in the National Hockey League, this provides a scary proposition for the rest of the league.

• Pavel Datsyuk: Definitely a hard working player for the wings. Does his best every time he steps on the ice. Never stops excelling offensively and defensively.Simply Pavel, as always. Unfortunately for Datsyuk, this year won’t be his.
• Johan Franzen: Franzen has been the surprise of the playoff for the wings, maybe even bigger than Osgood. Johan was extremely productive through out the whole playoff run. Will he win it? I don’t think this year’s the one, he hasn’t proved enough yet, besides the fact he’s getting better with the puck. Is he the MVP? No, since the team kept winning even when he wasn’t in the line-up.
• Nicklas Lidstrom: Lidstrom has been the same year after year. He is by far one of the Wings best players, but sometimes the best player doesn’t necessarily happen to be the MVP, especially in a team like the Red Wings that has so much in-depth talent and the possibility to play better and compensate when Lidstrom isn’t on the ice. They can do so in the playoffs due to the importance of every game, but if the Conn Smythe was awarded for the season’s MVP, I’d go with Lidstrom all the way since the Wings, the best team in the NHL, went through their worst period of the season when Lidstrom was out.
• Chris Osgood: Chris has been outstanding for the Red Wings ever since Mike Babcock pulled Dominik Hasek to throw him in and make him the starting goaltender for every game ever since. Some say he doesn’t deserve much recognition since he’s only shot at 20-25 times a game, but with a team like the Pittsburgh Penguins, any shot counts and any shot could go in. Is he going to win it? One thing’s for sure, he deserves it as much as the one I picked to win it. But unfortunately for Osgood, there is still doubt about his talent.
• Henrik Zetterberg: Who stands right next to Lidstrom in the best player category? Henrik Zetterberg. This guy may not be qualified as the next one, has not been drafted in the first round, doesn’t get as much attention as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but I truly believe that if the Red Wings are to win the cup, Zetterberg is the perfect pick to win the Conn Smythe. I’ve been thinking about him for a while, but only after game 4 did I really know he was the one. This guy is constantly giving his best and it shows by his plays on the ice how devoted he is to give his team the win. In game four, with his team up by one and less than a minute left in regulation, Henrik was all over the net blocking shot after shot helping his team maintain the lead and win the game. Let’s not forget the over a minute 5-on-3 the Penguins had with a little over 5 minutes left. To me, that was a defining moment in that series. Zetterberg, who was on the ice during the 5-on-3, did a great job by blocking shots, playing extremely well defensively, almost getting a breakaway, going on a 1-on-1 and spending almost half a minutes carrying the puck in the Penguins’ zone. A defining moment for a defining player.

So yeah. I picked Henrik Zetterberg to win the Conn Smythe. If the Wings win the cup but a player from the Penguins is to win the Conn Smythe, you guessed it: I’d give it to Sidney Crosby. Crosby has been the Penguins best offensive player, or even best player overall. If the Pens happen to come back and win the cup, well I’d still give it to Sidney Crosby. During the season, Evgeni Malkin was the Pens player in Crosby absence, but in the final, Malkin is nearly visible on the ice and to win the cup, the Penguins are going to need Crosby to be their most dominant player on the ice every night. Whatever happens, we can all agree that both teams are giving us a nice Stanley Cup final, although it’s as if the Penguins only started playing in game three.

Having swept the Ottawa Senators in four games then taking care of the New York Rangers in five games, it was only fitting that the Pens took care of the Flyers in five games as well. So far in the 2008 play-offs the Pens record is 12-2. Pretty good if you consider the fact that the Pens were not a great defensive team in the regular season.

Pittsburgh’s defence in the post season is, well, great. Pittsburgh with players like Evgeni Malkin, Marian Hossa, Sidney Crosby, Ryan Malone, Jordan Stall, Petr Sykora, and Sergei Gonchar have the offence to compete with any team in the NHL. The elite scoring players of the Pens are not only scoring goals, coach Michel Therrien also has them playing defense.

Pittsburgh goalie Marc Andre Fleury who was sent down to the minors this season for some conditioning has played outstanding this post season. Ty Conklin who took over for Fleury when he was sent to the minors has yet to see a post season game for the Pens. For the past couple of seasons Fleury had not been consistent in his play. Fleury has chosen the right time to play well it would seem.

This new Pens team seems like the old team in 1991-92 when they had such players as Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Ron Francis, Alex Kovalev, Mark Recchi, and  Alexei Morosov. WIll this current team have what it take to bring home Lord Stanley’s Cup?

Pittsburgh now awaits the winner of the Detroit Red Wings and the Dallas Stars. The WIngs lead the series 3-2. The Stars will try to tie the series at three games a piece tonight.

Whichever team joins the Pens in the final will meet a rested team ready to prove to the NHL that youth is a good thing.

The NHL is most probably excited that one of the teams that they wanted in the final has already made it. The NHL will never admit that it favors one team or the other, but it must be happy that their t.v. revenues will be high as the Pens are a high t.v. rated team with all their stars. Stars or Wings, doesn’t really matter to the NHL as all three of the remaining teams have marketable players.

Pittsburgh has been waiting for a long time to reach the finals again, question is will they profit from the situation? 

When Marian Hossa played for the Ottawa Senators his performance was undoubtedly marginal for a player with his talent. Hossa’s numbers for the Sens in the post season were 51 games played, 13 goals, 21 assists for 34 points. Hossa only played four games in the post season for the Atlanta Thrashers– a team which he was traded to with Gregg de Vries for Dany Heatley– and his totals were 1 assist for one point.

While in Ottawa Hossa played with Martin Havlat, and Daniel Alfedsson, which is why people were wondering why his totals weren’t higher. When Hossa was playing for the Sens, they really didn’t have more scoring than that line, so it was easy for a team to shut down the Sens.

While in Atlanta, Hossa played with Marc Savard, and Ilya Kovalchuk. To Hossa’s defence he only played in 4 games for the Thrashers in the post season, but he only managed to total 1 assist, which some fans were saying that if Hossa would have scored more, perhaps the Thrashers would have gone further.

Now that Hossa is in Pittsburgh, he seems to be on a tear, with 8 goals, and 7 assists for 15 points in 12 games, I don’t hear anyone criticizing him this year in the post season. Sure Hossa is playing with Sidney Crosby, and the while fact that Evgeni Malkin is on the team doesn’t hurt either, Hossa is having a great play-off run.

Hossa has played with arguably some of the best players in hockey over the last few years. Kovalchuk, Crosby, Alfredsson, Havlat, and Malkin have all called Hossa a team-mate. All three teams that Hossa has played for, have had the luxury of being able to put talent on his line, why is it that in Pittsburgh Hossa is thriving?  Are Crosby and Malkin more talented than Havlat and Alfredsson? Perhaps more talented than Kovalchuk and Savard. Well Savard is the one with the least amount of talent amongst those other names, but having Alfredsson and Havlat as line-mates isn’t bad at all, and having Kovalchuk as your other winger isn’t bad either, so why is Hossa playing better in Pittsburgh?

Perhaps there are better leaders in Pittsburgh. Maybe the coaching suits Hossa’s style more. But possibly, the fact that Hossa’s line– which includes Crosby– isn’t the only line scoring, so teams aren’t only watching, and defending against Hossa. Let’s face it, in Ottawa Hossa’s line was doing almost all of the scoring, in Atlanta, same thing.

Marian Hossa is making some spectacular passes, and scoring some nice goals in Pittsburgh. Unfortunately given the fact Hossa becomes an unrestricted free agent this July 1, it will be hard for the Pens to keep him. Pittsburgh has to deal with Ryan Malone–if they choose to keep him– and Sidney Crosby starts earning the 8.5 million next season, not to mention the fact that Malkin’s entry contract is up after next season.

Hossa has always been a star in the NHL, now he is trying to be a post season star as well. Hossa who almost ended up playing for the Montreal Canadiens in late February, has been rumoured going everywhere, most notably Boston, or Montreal next season. With these play-offs being great for the Slovak, his asking price just went up from 7-8 million to 8-10 million for his next contract. Someone will give him that amount of money, especially if he keeps producing in the post season.

For now Hossa is silencing all of his critics. It’s good to see someone with all that talent not being criticized be everyone for once. Let’s hope that he keeps producing for the Pens.

VERSUS will kick-off the Conference Finals with a special 30-minute “Hockey Central” on May 8 at 7 p.m. ET, prior to Game 1 of the Western Conference Final between Dallas and Detroit. VERSUS’ Stanley Cup Playoffs coverage will culminate with exclusive coverage of the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final. All VERSUS-produced games are produced in hi-definition.

The network’s studio show, “Hockey Central,” is hosted by Bill Patrick with Brian Engblom and Keith Jones and provides extensive insight and commentary of the games and what’s happening around the Stanley Cup Playoffs each night. VERSUS will, on occasion, bring players and coaches into the studio to serve as celebrity guest analysts. In the Quarterfinal round, Manny Legace, goaltender for the St. Louis Blues and Rick DiPietro, goaltender for the New York Islanders joined the VERSUS studio crew. Additions in the Conference Final round will be announced as information becomes available.

Among the regular segments of the studio show are the following:

• Keith Jones’ Odd Man Rush, Keith’s unique look at the plays and players who have put themselves in the spotlight, whether for good or bad
• Brian Engblom’s Reality Check, Brian’s personal opinion on NHL issues
• Highlights from games not airing on VERSUS, as well as Plays of the Week
• Parting Shots; where Engblom and Jones debate bullet point debate topics in rapid fire fashion
• Live-Look-Ins wherever possible, bringing viewers live action from games being played concurrently during VERSUS’ telecast
• Features on NHL players away from the ice
• Historical recaps which spotlight the defining and greatest moments in NHL Stanley Cup history

Total viewership for “Hockey Central” during the first two rounds of this postseason has increased 65 percent compared to the first two playoff rounds last year.

Avery played the whole game, obviously not knowing what was wrong with him. Apparently he suffered his injury while blocking a shot. He must have been going through alot of pain, but dealt with it and played anyway, proving that the annoying bastard that he is, is able to deal with pain and play.

Since Avery came into the league, he has been a pest to put it mildly. Fortunately for him, he can also play hockey, and he has good hands as well, adding more value to the way he plays. Unfortunately for him, it’s a 50-50 split on his team as to who likes him, and the only reason he is a media darling, is the fact that he gives the media plenty to write about seemingly on a weekly basis.

That being said, if I was a general manager of a team other than the Montreal Canadiens, I would take him on my team, but not at the salary that rumours have put between 3 and 4 million that his agent will be looking for for the 2008/09 season. He does pose a risk, but has talent, and can disrupt the other team, ask Martin Brodeur about that one. He’s a talented pest, although he goes over board sometimes, he is still a good player.

At least Sean Avery didn’t go out because of a vicious hit from behind, which he has also done a little of, but few can boast that they have not done the same. Avery also was not the victim of a high-stick to the eye, as Saku Koivu was a couple of years ago, he got injured blocking a shot, and dealt with the pain for the whole game, way to be a real man.

Although as I stated, I would put Avery on my team if it were anywhere else than Montreal, he isn’t one of my favorite players, as talented as he is, he is a risk. However, I am glad to see that it doesn’t seem to be a life threatening injury, and that he should make a full recovery, and continue to be hated around the NHL. He went out the right way, not the cheap way.

In the Western Conference you will see the Dallas Stars against the San Jose Sharks, and the Detroit Red-Wings against the Colorado Avalanche.

Stars, Sharks: Evegeni Nabokov against Marty Turco. Nabokov is the better goalie this year by far, but Turco has played really well, and didn’t play as many games during the regular season as Nabokov, one would have to think that Nabokov will get tired eventually. Nabokov has the edge as long as he doesn’t get tired. The Stars still don’t have Sergei Zubov, which could hurt them in this series. If the Stars hope to defeat the Sharks they will have to do the same thing as they did against the Anaheim Ducks, as the Sharks are also a physical team, however they might be a little bruised after their last series against the Calgary Flames. Technically the Sharks should win, but then again, everyone had the Ducks winning too, as the Stars had a bad end of the season, and look what happened.

Avalanche, Red-Wings: As much as it pains me to say it, with the recent play of the almost extinct Dominik Hasek, Jose Theodore is the better goalie so far, Chris Osgood is a good goalie, unfortunately Theodore has been standing on his head in the play-offs, the edge to starting goalie goes to the Avalanche. Ian Laperriere, he has got a target on his back after smashing Niklas Lidstrom into cloud nine at the end of the season. The scorers for both teams are about even, the defence however goes to the Red-Wings. This series should go to the Red-Wings, but they didn’t impress too many people in their last series, are they too old? The Avalanche have some speed, but will it be enough to win? Colorado could upset.

In the Eastern Conference you will see the Pittsburgh Penguins against the New York Rangers, and the Montreal Canadiens against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Penguins, Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist, enough said. Lundqvist is superior to Ty Conklin, and Marc Andre Fleury, by far. Pittsburgh’s offence is better than the Rangers, but, Jaromir Jagr has come out of his shell, that could hurt the Pens. The Pens are all offence, and didn’t have much trouble sweeping the Ottawa Senators in their last series, but the Rangers are not the Sens. The Rangers have Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, to shut down either the Sidney Crosby line, or the Evgeni Malkin line. But will the Pens be able to defend against the re-appearance of Jagr the great, Brendan Shanahan, Brandon Dubinsky, and Martin Straka? Fleury, or Conklin will have their hands full in this series. The only factor that will not be one is Sean Avery, yes he can score some nice goals, which he just might, but his intimidation antics will not work in Pittsburgh with big George Laraque on the ice, Avery better hope that those two don’t meet, or else Avery can book his hospital room right now. Besides goal-tending which the Blue Shirts hold the advantage, the Pens have more explosive talent up front, question is, will they be able to explode on the Rangers, the Rangers aren’t the Sens. Keep the Pens in their own zone. I believe that the Rangers could win this one, if they are able to slow down the Pens, if not, the Pens take it.

Canadiens, Flyers: Where to start, well to keep it short, Carey Price is better than Martin Biron. The Flyers defence is slow, and Derian Hatcher has seen better days. These two teams were no.1, and no.2 in the regular season on the power-play, with the Habs being no.1. The Habs had a hard time against the Bruins on the p.p., but if they can manage to bring it back now that Saku Koivu is back then they will do well as the Flyers are an undisciplined team. Daniel Briere will be deaf when he leaves the Bell Centre, and may have to work on his confidence as well as the Montreal fans will let him have it big time. Montreal has the edge in coaching staff, and defence, as well as in between the pipes. With Mike Knuble, and Simon Gagne out, for sure the Habs have the edge in offence as well, question is, will Philly be able to contain it for seven games if necessary? Montreal should win this one, as the Flyers only impressed themselves by winning, but you never know, still the Habs should prevail if their power-play clicks, and they play their game, and don’t play the Flyers way, yes the Flyers have Steve Downie, but the Habs have Steve Begin, Tom Kostopoulos, Francis Bouillon, and Maxim Lapierre to a lesser extent. The Habs two best players in Alex Kovalev, and Carey Price, are better than the two best players of the Flyers in Mike Richards, and Daniel Briere. Should be a good one to watch.

The lone scorer for the Habs was Patrice Brisebois who was assisted by Andrei Kostitsyn, and Alex Kovalev. The big story in this game wasn’t the hitting, of which there was alot of again, but the spectacular saves by Carey Price, of which he made 27 for the shut-out.

Carey Price is showing why general manager Bob Gainey chose Price over Christobal Huet. Price has been great so far in the post season, sure the Bruins don’t have the talent that the Pittsburgh Penguins do, or the New York Rangers, but they have had there share of great scoring chances anyway. For a twenty year old goalie to be making his NHL play-off debut, and playing so well gives the fans more confidence in the Habs upper management.

Once again the Canadiens supporting cast played better than the stars of the team, Brisebois scored for the Habs, and in the previous games, Brian Smolinski, Tom Kostopolous, and so on, anyone see a pattern here? Does this team really miss Koivu that much?

For the Habs to play the Bruins in the first round is a little lucky I guess. Francis Bouillon, and Saku Koivu are still out after they both took shots off their feet a couple of games before the end of the season, so I guess playing a team that is deprived of their best player to start the play-offs is a good thing.

Mike Komisarek, and Andrei Markov both played more than 25 minutes in this game. The team played a little better than in the two previous games, but let’s face it, I know that the play-offs is a different season, but the highest scoring team in the league scoring only two goals in 2 games, come on! It’s time for the Habs to show the Bruins why they scored so many goals this year, sure in the post season it’s little more difficult, but two goals in 2 games doesn’t quite cut it, lucky for the Habs they have a 20 year old goalie named Carey Price.

Francis Bouillon hopes to be ready for Thursday’s game, or Saturday if necessary. For Saku Koivu, he has an x-ray appointment Wednesday morning in Montreal, if the broken bone in his foot has healed enough, the doctor may give Koivu the green light to start skating, meaning hopefully Koivu will be ready to play on Saturday if necessary.

Michael Ryder was a healthy scratch tonight, Ryan O’Byrne played well in his first post season game. Perhaps one could say that the Habs played decent road games, and hey, they still split the two games in Boston. Let’s hope that the Habs get their act together and show the Bruins who scored the most goals in the league this year and win the series on home ice on Thursday.

Stamford, CONN. (April 8, 2008)—VERSUS, the exclusive cable television home of the NHL, will televise wall-to-wall Stanley Cup Playoffs action starting April 9 with the Conference Quarterfinals as the Ottawa Senators begin their series against the Pittsburgh Penguins at 7 p.m. ET followed by Game 1 of the series between the Calgary Flames and the San Jose Sharks at 10 p.m. ET. VERSUS will kick-off the night with “Hockey Central” at 6:30 p.m. ET. The network will air all of the rounds leading up to and including the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final. Each night during the playoffs, VERSUS will televise one or two playoff games as well as the studio wrap-up show, “Hockey Central.”

Now in its third year televising the NHL, VERSUS has seen a substantial increase in total viewership and ratings for the 2007/08 regular season compared to the 2006/07 campaign. At the conclusion of this year’s regular season, national household ratings were up 50 percent (.3 vs. .2), total viewership showed an increase of 28 percent (272,417 vs. 212,366), household impressions were up 20 percent (192,675 vs. 160,134) and viewership for Men 25-54 was up 45 percent (99,753 vs. 69,018).

In the Conference Quarterfinals, which begin on April 9, VERSUS’ coverage is non-exclusive and subject to local blackouts. In the Conference Semifinals, which are scheduled to begin April 23, VERSUS has two exclusive games per series. During the Conference Finals, which are scheduled to begin on May 8, the network will have exclusive coverage of both series. The total number of playoff games will vary depending upon the length of each individual series. VERSUS’ Stanley Cup Playoffs coverage will culminate with the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final, currently scheduled for May 27 and 29. All VERSUS-produced games in each series will be produced in hi-definition. VERSUS will, when feasible, simulcast games from Canadian networks to give viewers the unique perspective of other networks’ coverage.

“As the exclusive cable television home of the NHL, it is our goal to super-serve hockey fans during both the regular season and Stanley Cup Playoffs,” said Gavin Harvey, President of VERSUS. “Our best-in-class production and hours of in-depth coverage, coupled with our tremendous presence online, on demand and on mobile, makes VERSUS the ultimate destination for both the casual and hardcore hockey fan.”

Check out VERSUS’ entire quarterfinal coverage for dates and times.

HOCKEY CENTRAL:

The network’s studio show, “Hockey Central,” is hosted by Bill Patrick with Brian Engblom and Keith Jones and will provide extensive insight and commentary of the games and what’s happening around the Stanley Cup Playoffs each night. VERSUS will also, on occasion, bring players and coaches into the studio to serve as celebrity guest analysts. From April 10 through April 14, Manny Legace, goaltender for the St. Louis Blues, will be the first guest to join the VERSUS studio crew.

Among the regular segments of the studio show are the following:

• Keith Jones’ Odd Man Rush, Keith’s unique look at the plays and players who have put themselves in the spotlight, whether for good or bad
• Brian Engblom’s Reality Check, Brian’s personal opinion on NHL issues
• Highlights from games not airing on VERSUS, as well as Plays of the Week
• Parting Shots; where Engblom and Jones debate bullet point debate topics in rapid fire fashion
• Live-Look-Ins wherever possible, bringing viewers live action from games being played concurrently during VERSUS’ telecast
• Features on NHL players away from the ice
• Historical recaps which spotlight the defining and greatest moments in NHL Stanley Cup history

VERSUS-on-Demand:

Each night VERSUS features a playoff match-up, the network will deliver a condensed highlight version of the game that will be distributed via the network’s VOD platform. These will be available the morning after game play, so that hockey fans who may not have seen the previous night’s game won’t miss out on any of the playoff action.

WEB AND MOBILE:

Throughout the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs, VERSUS.com will continue to provide extensive information about the NHL, including editorial coverage from some of the most knowledgeable hockey sources. The network also launched the playoffs specific microsite (www.versus.com/stanleycup), which features a video library of the defining moments from last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs as well as the best moments in Stanley Cup Playoffs history. The network’s website will ramp up daily coverage to include game Podcasts and highlights from all of VERSUS’ games as well as daily insider video featuring VERSUS’ NHL talent on the network’s broadband channel “The Player.” Each night after the studio show, VERSUS’ talent will film web-exclusive content that will give the inside scoop on what has happened to-date in the playoffs, as well as their predictions for the future games in the series. The website will also feature a fan zone area where viewers can submit their ultimate NHL moment and photos of a game they attended for a chance to win great playoff prizes.

The network will run media rich banner advertisements on national sports and endemic hockey websites which will, when clicked on, feature expanding video of the previous night’s game highlights. In addition to the media rich banners, VERSUS will also place flash banners on these national sports and endemic hockey sites which will allow viewers to enter their mobile telephone number to receive real-time game alerts throughout the playoffs including when games are about to go in to sudden-death overtime.

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The Montreal Canadiens are the Eastern Conference champions. The Habs finish the regular season, first in the Northeast division, and Eastern Conference, as well as having the #1 power-play in the league. The Habs also managed to climb from twenty-fourth in the league in penalty killing, to a mid pack rating of 15th. The Canadiens finished no.1 in the league for goals scored, and third in the league in points. The Habs scored 40 more goals than they allowed.

Mark Streit finished the year being ranked third in the league amongst defenseman scoring, and Andrei Markov finished sixth. Alex Kovalev finished the season in eleventh place in league scoring. Not to mention the fact that many youngsters came into their own this year, Andrei Kostitsyn, his brother Sergei Kostitsyn, Tomas Plekanec, Carey Price, Jaroslav Halak, just to mention a few.

The Canadiens were predicted to finish between ninth, and 14th, not a bad season considering. Many of the players took that as an insult and turned their play up a notch. As for the absent Michael Ryder, well everyone has a bad year, but I wouldn’t be surprised not to see him return for the next season. Over-all, the Habs had an amazing season, not too many injuries until the end of the season, and they still managed to win the games they had to, pretty impressive.

After the team celebrates winning the conference, it will be back to work as the Habs first round starts on Thursday against the Boston Bruins. Thankfully, starting on Thursday gives the team time to heal little injuries, and provides more time for players to be 100% ready for the play-offs.

Mike Komisarek, Francis Bouillon, and Mark Streit should be fully healed by Thursday, Streit has been playing with a lightly bruised ankle, which should be healed in time to start the play-offs, Komisarek started skating with the team on Friday, Bouillon should be healed in time also. As for Saku Koivu, the team will try to make his skate accommodate his swollen left foot due to a broken bone, if Patrice Brisebois was able to play with a broken bone in his foot earlier this season, I don’t think that it will be a problem for Koivu, the only thing is will playing further damage Koivu’s foot?

The Canadiens start on Thursday against the Bruins, a team which the Habs defeated all eight times that they played them this year, but that means nothing in the play-offs. The Bruins will come out with something to prove against the Habs, hopefully the Canadiens will not let the fact that they owned the Bruins this year, inflate their heads too much. The real season starts in a couple of days, let’s hope the Habs keep playing the way they have all season.

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!

The scoring for the Canadiens went like this, Christopher Higgins, assisted by, Mark Streit, and Roman Hamrlik, then Brian Smolinski, from Steve Begin, and Ryan O’Byrne, and lastly from Smolinski, un-assisted. Carey Price made 27 saves for the win, but his best saves were late in the third period. The lone scorer for the Sabres was Ales Kotalik, from Derek Roy, and Jaroslav Spacek.

The Sabres are now officially out. This was a good game for the Habs, they played well, until Buffalo took advantage of a 5 on 3 and scored their only goal, after that, it was the Cary Price show, again showing the fans that Bob Gainey made the right move by placing him as no.1. The Habs played great for 40 minutes, and average for 20, but it was enough to beat the Sabres, and eliminate them from the play-off race. Things got a little bit chippy in the third, because the Sabres were annoyed at being eliminated, but the Canadiens fared well in that regard as well.

Matt D’Agostini played decent replacing Michael Ryder, Ryder having an inured leg. D’Agostini was a little tense in the first period, but played well for the rest of the game. There is a possibility D’Agostini will play again on Saturday, and Gregory Stewart will most probably make his first start on Saturday when the Habs play their last game of the season against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre.

The Habs are now tied in points with the Penguins in points, but the Pens have one more win than the Habs, for the Canadiens to win the conference, they would have to win on Saturday, and hope that the Pens lose on Sunday. Still, if the Habs win on Saturday, it would force the Penguins to play hard, and with their full line-up to win on Sunday, which would make an even more exciting end of the season.

One more game for the Habs, the possibility of one more win, and the pressure would fall to the Penguins, even if the Habs don’t win on Saturday, it’s still an impressive season, with 102 points, rookie Carey Price playing in 40 games with a record of 23-12-3, and more. Let’s hope they win on Saturday and force the Pens to win on Sunday.

The Penguins have played 81 games, with a total of 102 points, and 47 wins, the Canadiens have played 80 games for 100 points, but only have 45 wins. The Habs have to win their last two games, and score alot of goals, as well as not let many in, and hope that the Pens lose their last game to claim the conference. If the two teams were tied for number of wins , and points, then it would go to goal differential, at this time the Canadiens have scored 36 more goals than they have allowed, the Pens have scored 33 more goals then they have allowed, but they have also played one more game than the Canadiens, but as of now, if wins, and points were even, the Habs would take the conference.

What a finish for the conference, what will coach Guy Carbonneau do? Will he actually hope that the Pens lose their last game, and that the Habs win their last two games, or will he simply rest some players and hope for the best. The Canadiens are locked at the second spot, they can only go higher, but will Carbonneau take that chance and possibly as a result of trying too hard injure some players? It will be interesting to see, look every player wants to win, so chances are the Canadiens players might just say let’s go for it, but the Pens have to lose for the Habs to have a chance, and since they only play on Sunday, the Habs would have to win their two games and sit and hope that the Pens blow a tire on Sunday.

It is more difficult now for the Habs to claim the conference, either they go for it, or relax, and coast, Thursday’s game for the Habs is against the Buffalo Sabres, and Saturday against the Mats Sundin-less Toronto Maple Leafs, the possibility is there for the Habs to win both games, but at what cost?

Let’s just all enjoy the fruits of the Habs labour this year, they don’t have to claw, or win the last game of the season to be in the post season, they are in, and they can’t fall lower than second place in the conference, which means they have home ice advantage until the Conference Final, and they won the Northeast division, along with being the team with the no.1 power-play, and no.1 goals scored, and most recently they have gone from 24, to 16 in the league for penalty killing. They have done many things right this season, let’s be happy for them.

One thing is for sure, no matter what they win, records they equal, or break in the regular season, the play-offs are a different season entirely, they will have to do the same things in the post season, but this time it will be harder. Can they do it? Let’s hope so.

With all the projected restricted free agents, and un-restricted free agents to hit the market come July 1, teams will once again have a bidding war for certain players, and salaries will rise up again. Take Marian Hossa for example, he will reportedly be asking for something between 7 and 9 million dollars, Mats Sundin will most likely ask for 6 million if he plays for another team, Brian Campbell will ask for between 6 and 8 million, are theses guys crazy. Oh, and don’t forget that Evgeni Malkin’s contract is up at the end of next season, anyone care to suggest how much he will ask for?

The only thing that changed was the fact that players salaries can’t exceed 48 per cent of revenues, but nothing is stopping the owners from paying a player 20 million a season, sure they wouldn’t have much of a team after that, but the possibility still remains. Look at what happened to the Tampa Bay Lightning, they were a really good team, until they were basically paying three players almost 30 million, and couldn’t afford a great goalie because of that, this season Tampa will be lucky to not finish last.

So the fans lost hockey for a year for nothing, and players lost their salaries, and owners lost revenues for nothing. Fine, there’s a cap floor, and a salary cap, big deal! Owners are the first one’s to complain about player salaries, they are also the first one’s to offer them, the NHL should adopt a policy which puts a limit on how much a player can make, and how long they can be signed for, 15 years, 10 years, that is too long, and players will never refuse offers like that.

The salary cap is expected to go up again this year, giving owners a little bit more room to try and compile a team together. And also allowing owners to offer more people on their respective teams higher salaries. It’s ridiculous. Sure players should be compensated for what they accomplish, but their is a limit, no-one is worth all the money they are getting, I know Alex Ovechkin is the best player this year, and yes if I was an owner, I would most likely give him alot, but I’m not, and as a fan saying that tickets are already almost over-priced for most people, giving players too much money will only result in fans not being able to go see the games, it might make your team better, but no-body will be able to afford going to watch them.

I love hockey, and there is alot of skill and talent out there that I enjoy watching, but I don’t think anyone is worth 10-15 million dollars, I don’t care what your name is! Hockey is a great sport, the lock-out gave owners a limit of what they could spend on their team, but not how much one player could make, and with Sidney Crosby set to make 8.5 million starting next season, Malkin will probably ask for more than that, there are a few free agents for the Pittsburgh Penguins come July 1, will they become the next Lightning?

Hockey is heading back to what it was before, by the time the CBA runs out, the cap will probably be over 60 million, which a few teams were able to manage, and we will all say that hockey is the same as it ever was.