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CristoWall Is Going to Get Paid

One day, you're worth a second-round pick in the 2009 Entry Draft. Two months and change later, you're likely worth upwards of $5 million per year.

Such is life for former Canadiens backup netminder Cristobal Huet, who was stolen acquired by the Washington Capitals at the trade deadline and is now on the verge of perhaps testing his value on the open market as an unrestricted free agent (to be fair, Huet wasn't in the Habs' long-term plans with Carey Price having taken over the number one job, so moving him for a pick made some sense... until they had to start Jaroslav Halak in the playoffs).

How good (and under-rated) was Huet's season? Consider that only one goalie in the entire NHL (Jean-Sebastien Giguere) had both a better GAA and SV% than Huet in 2007-08. And that Huet won the highest percentage of games played of any goalie in the League with more than 43 appearances (and only the two Detroit goalies had a better percentage if you lowered the games played requirement to two). And that he ended the regular season on a 9-0-0 run during which he posted a 1.52 GAA, a .941 save percentage and allowed only seven even strength goals as he snuck the Caps into the playoffs by a single win.

That's Not Olie Kolzig

Late last night we passed along the information that long-time Washington goaltender Olie Kolzig wouldn't be back in a Capitals uniform next season. But over at ESPN.com, they might not actually notice that he's gone.

Take a gander at the screen shot I captured a couple of minutes ago. One thing is for sure -- that's not Olie Kolzig. This is Olie Kolzig.

So who is it? After a quick consultation with my colleague, Earl Sleek, we discovered that it's actually Anaheim Ducks defenseman Sean O'Donnell.

Joel Quenneville Done With Avalanche



(Technically, he isn't getting fired, as his contract is up. Just an FYI.)

The Colorado Avalanche are now looking for a new head coach.
The Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club announced today that Joel Quenneville will not return to coach the team next season.

"After meeting with Joel, we mutually agreed that the best decision for both parties involved is to go separate ways," said Avalanche Executive Vice President & General Manager Francois Giguere. "On behalf of the organization, I want to thank Joel for his years of service and wish him the best in his coaching career."
I have to admit that I'm surprised by this. I thought Quenneville did a super job in the Avs' first-round upset of Minnesota, and the injuries that played a large role in Detroit's second-round sweep weren't his fault.

However, the Avalanche were practically non-competitive during that series, especially in that Game Four embarrassment. It's one thing to get run off the rink, and it's another to look like you're going through the motions.

I may be surprised, but Rick Sadowski of the Rocky Mountain News was a day ahead of the story.

(Tap of the stick: Kukla's Korner.)

Coyotes Expected to Sign Gopher Wheeler



Back in 2004, a Minnesota high school star named Blake Wheeler was the first-round pick of Wayne Gretzky and the Phoenix Coyotes. Eyebrows were raised, as Wheeler wasn't projected by anyone to be a potential top pick.

Four years later, it appears Wheeler will finally get a chance to play professional hockey.

The Minnesota Gopher junior is expected to sign a deal to join the Coyotes organization, forgoing his final year of eligibility at Minnesota. Wheeler starred at Breck School, a private school in the Twin Cities area, leading them to the 2004 Class A state championship. He played one year of junior hockey in the USHL before joining Minnesota, where he has tallied 42 goals in his Gopher career.

Some Gopher fans have been disappointed with Wheeler's production, expecting more out of a guy Gretzky was so high on when he played in high school. But Wheeler has rounded into a nice player, and he's the kind of guy whose size and hands make for a constant threat. If there's one negative to his game, it's his tendency not to play strong on his skates. Wheeler isn't a diver, but he can look like one at times, and that's as bad as actually being one.

In other signing news, we're still waiting for 2005 first-round pick T.J. Oshie to sign with St. Louis. Oshie just completed his junior year at North Dakota, helping his team to a fourth straight Frozen Four appearance. I would be lying if I said I thought Oshie would return to school, but I thought the same thing last year.

(A tap of the stick goes to Western College Hockey.)

(UPDATE: WCH now reports that Wheeler has withdrawn from classes at Minnesota and has 30 days to sign with Phoenix before becoming a free agent.)

PuckToons: Wings vs. Stars Game One Recap

Every Thursday (and sometimes Friday when he's lazy), Earl Sleek will conspire with his pen and scanner to bring you another installment of PuckToons. Hopefully you will find these amusing, relevant, well-drawn, or you're a person who is tolerant towards mediocrity.

Of course the Mule here represents Red Wings forward Johan Franzen, whose postseason heroics continued last night with his club-record 12th goal in just 11 postseason games. His game-winner was one of three power play goals the Wings scored en route to a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars.


The Stars trail in a series for the first time these playoffs, and will have to find a way to stay out of the penalty box if they want to improve their result for Game Two tomorrow. Even if they do, with so much focus on the Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom line, can they stop the raging Mule? Tune in to find out.

Stars Lament Game One Loss in Detroit

Everyone who watched Game One of the Western Conference Finals Thursday night is keenly aware that the Detroit Red Wings basically skated circles around the Dallas Stars.

This isn't a great surprise, but the Stars look at it as a lesson. For the first time in these playoffs, the Stars have failed to win a series opener. In dropping this one, they left little doubt that Detroit was the better team.

One thing was clear last night. Dallas can get back in this thing. They just have to start moving their feet.

"You can't stand around and watch the puck," said captain Brenden Morrow.

He's right. The Stars were caught puck-watching last night, and they paid dearly for it. They took lazy penalties, they made bad decisions with the puck, and they didn't generate any speed through the neutral zone.

It Is So on Between Pittsburgh and Philly

Before the second round of the playoffs, a Montreal fan adorned the Rocky statue in Habs' colors, the statue was quickly cleared by security, and that was that. Given the proximity of Pittsburgh and Philadephia and the diffusion of people going both ways across the state, things might be a little different in the Eastern Conference Finals. Penguins fans have been bombarding the Rocky statue with black and gold this week, but the Flyers' fans aren't taking it sitting down this week.

Already, a radio station in Philly has offered tickets to the first person willing to guard Rocky all week, while this craigslist ad has appeared, calling for the draping of a prominent Pittsburgh statue (presumed to be Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, or Art Rooney since the Shrine to Mario is yet to be built, but presumably in the offing) in orange.

This, friends, is what the playoffs are all about. We've got two fanbases here that are pretty much dropping everything else in their life, hellbent on proving their city superior, and we haven't even dropped a puck yet. This is going to be a crazy two weeks or so in Pennsylvania. It makes me more than a little sad that I moved away.

H/T to The Pensblog, who's all of this one, of course.

The Pens and Flyers Have Done This Before

The Penguins and Flyers kick off their playoff series tonight at seven, but it's not the first time these intrastate rivals have met in the playoffs. In fact, they've played three times in the post-season in the past and the Flyers have won all three series. What better way to get in the mood for round four than to check out some YouTubes of the Flyers and the Penguins playoff past?

1989 Patrick Division Finals
In 1989, Mario Lemieux and finally reached the playoffs in his fifth season. After a first round sweep over the Rangers, the Pens ran smack into the Flyers, who took them out in seven games. I'm honestly not sure what game in the series this brawl is from but it's awesome.

More after the jump.

The Ice Sheet: Red Wings, Elisha Cuthbert Both Score (Zing!)



Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

I'll be honest with you (what good am I otherwise?). I turned off last night's Red Wings/Stars game about a quarter of the way through the second. It wasn't entertaining. I wanted to turn the game off earlier but flipping back and forth between hockey and True TV's Most Shocking High Speed Chases Marathon satisfied me for a while. Eventually watching the bad guys spin out and get yanked out their cars became more entertaining than watching the Stars not show up for a mediocre hockey game. For those of you keeping score at home, that's high speed chases 1, hockey 0.

While I could give you a stunning recap of the car chases, we both know that's not why you're here. You're here because you love hockey -- and that's awesome ... Or ballin' as the kids say. Whatever. Anyway, this game was all Red Wings and most of the thanks can go to their power play unit which was 3-for-7 on the night. All three goals came before the car chases won me over, also known as the seven minute mark of the second period. The Wings were up 2-0 after one, out shooting Dallas 12-4 during the period, and extended the lead to 4-0 before finally opening the floodgates and allowing the Stars to close to 4-1.

Speaking of scoring, Johan Franzen has been doing an awful lot of it during the playoffs so far, 11 goals in all. Last night he added his 12th of the post-season, which also turned out to be the game winner for Detroit. But there's a lot more action than what's on the ice (prepare for the segue, folks). FanHouse's favorite puck bunny, Elisha Cuthbert, has been in the news for her escapades with hockey players. Most recently, some new pictures have surfaced of her and Calgary's Dion Phaneuf on vacation in Hawaii. Isn't this how everyone should spend their off season? Sounds good to me, that's for sure. Where do I sign up?

Kolzig Slams Door on Washington Return

A piece of news that had been painfully obvious since the middle of the regular season finally became official tonight, as news has leaked that long-time Washington Capitals goalie Olie Kolzig has played his last game as a member of the Washington Capitals. Kolzig had been with the organization for almost 19 years, ever since the Caps took him with the 19th pick in the first round of the 1989 NHL Entry Draft.

Kolzig broke the news over lunch with Washington Post beat writer Tarik el-Bashir:
"For me, it was disappointing the way it ended," said Kolzig, who led the Capitals to their only Stanley Cup finals appearance in 1998. "It's unfortunate, because they have a good team here now. It's a fantastic team, fantastic group of guys. Not to be a part of that is going to be tough, especially after 17 years and three years of what we went through post-lockout."

After a long pause, he added: "It just doesn't feel right. But at the same time, as an athlete, you have to know when to move on."
Certainly, the team had been sending a number of unambiguous signals to Kolzig for most of the season. The first came in January, when head coach Bruce Boudreau, who had taken over the team just after Thanksgiving, created a defacto rotation between Kolzig and backup Brent Johnson.