Opinion

It's all about timing when it comes to entering the playoffs on the right foot.

With only 16 games left in the regular season, the Pittsburgh Penguins are picking a good time to elevate their game and make them—yet again—a force to be reckoned with as the second season approaches.

Sure, the Pens have the best group of centers in the game—but while Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Jordan Staal are hitting the top of their game, the rest of the team is right behind them.

While watching the Toronto Maple Leafs game against Boston, my roommate, David West , and I started talking about Rickard Wallin, the player who does not have a role on the Toronto Maple Leafs...at least not anymore.

Rickard Wallin has put up 6 points, only one of them being a goal, in 44 games, which is not enough. Admittedly, Wallin is now a defensive forward, but last season in the Swedish Elite League, he did put up 55 points and 18 goals, which he apparently left in Farjestad.

Elliott Friedman of CBC has an intriguing couple bullet points in his latest blog . He says:

It's amazing how far the Carolina Hurricanes have come this season.

Heading into the New Year, the 'Canes were last by far in the conference and looking like an utter disaster just one year removed from their conference finals run in 2009.

After a decently successful January in which the Hurricanes went 9-5, they had pulled themselves up a bit but were no longer in position to "earn" the num.

As we await tonight's Habs vs. Tampa game, a thought occurred to me about the Montreal Canadiens: Maxim Lapierre was out of the lineup for the last two games, and I didn't even notice.

Did you? Did anyone except for Max?

In case you didn't know, Maxim Lapierre was suspended for four games for a 'dirty' hit on San Jose's Scott Nichol this week.

Sunday's game against the Ducks, was the second game of Lapierre's suspension and I for one didn't even notice that he was out of the lineup?

His uncle Danny was a 50-goal man in the NHL. His father Ernie still holds the record for most assists during a game in the BCHL with 9.

Yet Leath Gare, with all his skill and bloodlines, keeps having to carve out his own path in hockey. Something he has been successful in doing so far despite being told time and time again that he was too small.

While playing minor hockey in Vernon, B.C., he watched as players who were less skilled moved up to the Junior "A" and WHL ranks, while he waited for an opportunity.

Monday's general managers meetings was primarily focused around headshots, mainly stemming from the most recent altercation between Matt Cooke and Marc Savard this past Sunday.

One topic caught my eye, however. A discussion was brought up to change the current structure for the playoffs.

Instead of having the division winners, and then the next top-five teams from each conference making the postseason, it was discussed to have the top-seven teams from each conference make the postseason.

Yes, you just read that correctly. No, it's not what you think.

While reading Newsday yesterday—yes, newspapers still exist and people still read them—I came across an interesting stat: The Rangers scored 16 goals in Gaborik's four-game absence, and only one during the two since his return.

Now I'm not saying that Gaborik is to blame because he's not putting the puck in the net. What I think is happening, is that the players surrounding him are so accustomed to him scoring, that they are playing with less assertiveness in the offensive zone.

The Buffalo Sabres’ special teams have been a mystery all season long.

Buffalo’s penalty kill is currently ranked fourth in the NHL at 86 percent. The Sabres’ extremely high percentage can be attributed to the fact that they have been shorthanded just 214 times this season—the third fewest penalties taken in the league.

With the second annual meeting of NHL GM’s set to convene this week, “hits to the head” are likely to feature prominently in the agenda.

Matt Cooke and Mike Richards have made recent headlines with suspect hits that have outraged fans and prompted critical response from the media.

I understand fully that NHL general managers have a responsibility to direct policy and rule changes. They have an obligation to advocate on behalf of their players.