So Martin Hanzal won't be playing tonight because he didn't let up on a hit where he should have let up which ended up in a Kings player being launched face-first into the boards in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals. Fortunately, Shane Doan will be playing, despite not letting up on a hit where he should have let up which ended up in a Kings player being launched face-first into the boards (and I don't care about Trevor Lewis "turning", Doan has a history of suspensions and absolutely finished his check when he could have let up).

Phoenix Coyotes (3) vs. Los Angeles Kings (8) - 9:00 NBCSN: Phoenix lost their minds as a team during Game 2 and the Kings were more than willing to let them do that so they could take a 2-0 series advantage back to their own barn. The Kings are playing insanely well right now and don't look like they'll ever lose again. Naturally, this should be cause for concern.

Five for Howling (Coyotes)
Jewels from the Crown (Kings)

Prediction for tonight: Coyotes win in OT.

Niklas Kronwall is known around the league for being an unassuming-yet-dangerous open ice hitter. The veteran Detroit blueliner patrols the entire surface, but he's most well-known for crushing checks on unsuspecting forwards who are turning from the half-boards to exit their own zone on transition.

Tuesday, at the IIHF World Hockey Championship, Latvian forward Kaspars Saulietis learned all about Kronwall.

Saulietis had to be helped off the ice and did not return to the game. Kronwall was not penalized on the hit, another in a line of big hits laid by the Swedish defender which toes the line with the rules of both NHL and international play, but is ruled allowable. The question becomes how much longer will this remain legal?

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Hockeytown, No Limits

NHL Insider: Red Wings might look deeper into free-agent pool | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com
Barret Jackman....aaahahahahahahahahahahahah douche.

All Detroit Red Wings playing in World Championships reach medal round | MLive.com
Maybe a few Wings will actually win a championship this year.

The 10 best Sports Illustrated Stanley Cup Playoff covers | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! Sports
Guess who's number 1?

KuklasKorner : The Malik Report : Red Wings catchy uppy post 2: on the prospect camp sked, Fedorov, future Wings and Big House Beer
If you've missed anything in the last day or two, George has you covered here.

Around the NHL

2012 NHL Playoffs: After Energetic Second Period, Rangers Fall 3-2 To Devils - Blueshirt Banter
Things are all tied up out East. Rangers failed to put a stranglehold on this series.

New Jersey Devils Re-Direct the Series in 3-2 Comeback Win Over New York Rangers - In Lou We Trust
Your Devils' perspective from Game 2.

Watch John Tortorella’s Game 2 press conference, as he’ll ‘keep it in the room’ (VIDEO) | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! Sports
Someone's not very happy.

Top prospect Grigorenko is less top than he used to be | ProHockeyTalk
Someone could get a solid, young player in the 3-10 range.

Military Veterans: What's Your Favorite Sports Memory From Deployment? - From Our Editors - SBNation.com
A call for military veterans to share with us your stories of sports memories from deployments for an SB Nation project. If you can participate, please share your tale.

Let's Go Red Wings.

Hey, the Rangers and Devils have plans tonight. I wonder if any of those plans involve losing their composure like the Coyotes did last night. Fortunately, Shane Doan is too nice to the press to suspend.

New Jersey Devils (6) vs. New York Rangers (1) - 8:00 NBCSN: No two ways about it, the Rangers outclassed the Devils in Game 1 on their way to a 3-0 shutout. New Jersey will have to do just about everything better. Maybe we could drum up some controversy if we assume that one goalie or another is asking his team to aim shots directly at the heads of their opponents. Would that work, you guys?

Blueshirt Banter (Rangers)
In Lou We Trust (Devils)

Prediction for tonight: Kovalchuk scores 2. McGuire gushes over him so much that people long for the good old days when nobody had anything nice to say about Russians.

Hockeytown, No Limits

Rumors Linking Red Wings, Alexander Semin Already Popping Up - SB Nation Detroit
No thank you.

Jimmy Howard wins fifth game for Team USA; Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen score for Sweden | MLive.com
Your daily World Championship update.

Kronwall destroys Saulietis (Sweden vs Latvia IHWC 2012) - YouTube
KRONWALLED. (cool wipe in the video, brah)

Around the NHL

Phoenix Coyotes Lose Focus, Poise, Game 4-0 to LA Kings. - Five For Howling
Coyotes stupides. Quelle bande d'idiots. Je pense qu'il est temps de passer au Québec!

Inside the Los Angeles Kings Twitter feed, social media sensation of NHL playoffs | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! Sports Canada
Meet the two guys behind the L.A. Kings awesome tweets.

Cam Neely encourages further study of equipment - bruins blog - Boston Globe hockey news
"Personally, I’d rather have a player with a separated shoulder than someone with a concussion," - POW!

Does Daniel Alfredsson "owe it" to Senators to play next season? | ProHockeyTalk
Does he owe them? No. Should he still play? Absolutely.

Let's Go Red Wings.

It was very nice of the Phoenix Coyotes' owners to agree to host a Western Conference Finals game at 6pm local time so that you East-Coasters don't get too crabby at work tomorrow.

Los Angeles Kings (8) vs. Phoenix Coyotes (3) - 9:00 NBCSN: I feel mildly insulted every time I have to put that little (8) next to the Kings in these previews, since they're not the cup favorites for a lot of people. LA won game 1 and have yet to lose a game on the road during the playoffs. I mean, they've only lost 1 at home too, so it's not exactly like they're slouches at the very-busy Staples Center these days, but who cares? Tonight's in Glendale and the Coyotes are going to have to do a better job at not losing if they don't want to head to Tinseltown facing the same thing the Blues and Canucks faced.

Five for Howling (Coyotes)
Jewels from the Crown (Kings)

Prediction for tonight: punishment-bound Shane Doan takes an odd number of penalty minutes and it's the difference in the game.

One of the biggest questions of this upcoming free agency period will center around two players earmarked to make a very big splash as they look for new and expensive contracts. One of those players is still competing for the cup while the other is taking some time to talk to his family and weigh all of his options waiting for July 1st to come along. While nobody is certain what Ryan Suter will do this offseason, the majority of folks think he'll leave Nashville to seek his fame and fortune on somebody else's blue line.

The View from 111 asks that he considers all of the factors at play in his decision.

In his piece, the well-meaning author tries his best to offer Mr. Suter a different perspective on things, to help him decide on his future. For instance, what about the money considerations?

Suppose a team that covets your services, say Detroit, offers you a bit more to jump ship. Say $7.5 million per year. An extra $500,000 in your pocket sounds pretty good. Until you consider that the State of Michigan levies an income tax of 4.25% on those gross earnings. That amounts to a $318,750 haircut, and that $500,000 difference suddenly becomes $181,250. Oh yeah, don't forget that the City of Detroit tags you for another 2.5% off the gross earnings, or another $187,500. Suddenly, that extra $500,000 has evaporated and your net earnings are $6,993,750.

We could also look at the $7,500 that the state of Tennessee charges solely for the privilege of playing hockey in their state, but you'd be looking at that regardless of whether you signed in Detroit or Nashville. However, signing in Nashville means that what you won't be looking at is freedom from state taxes in places like St. Paul, Chicago, Columbus, and even Detroit (where you'd be playing more than 10% of your games in total). Michigan has reciprocal agreements with those three states, so you won't be paying taxes to them as a Red Wing.

Sure, the taxes on your income should overall be lower if you play 41 of your games in Tennessee compared to Michigan, but I'm not going to do a quarter of the math and pretend like we're finished. I trust that you've got people with a pretty great grasp on the cost differences there and that your agent is going to be hard at work getting you the best value.

More after the jump.

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