- All Star ballots were released yesterday. Only snub for the Wings, as far as I am concerned, is Jimmy Howard, who is quietly having the strongest year of his career. To be fair, though, I didn’t expect him (nor Niklas Kronwall) to be candidates, so I will take what I can get. [Puck Daddy]
- It would appear that Henrik Zetterberg believes that the Flyers did the right thing against the Lightning’s 1-3-1 trap by holding onto the puck until the Lightning made a move. [MLive]
- Fun stat of the day: Nicklas Lidstrom is +527 over his career compared to Ilya Kovalchuck.. [Puck Daddy]
- As unlikely as it sounds, Red Wings Front is pointing out that Tomas Holmstrom is moving his way back up the forward lines. [Red Wings Front]
- On Monday, former Red Wings defenseman, partner of Lidstrom, Brad McCrimmon, and Konstantinov at various times, Mark Howe will join his father, Mr. Hockey himself, in the Hockey Hall of Fame. [MLive]
- TPL has updated their excellent “Gradient of Failure.” If Lidstrom was any better, he’d be off the chart. [The Production Line]
- The Blue Jackets traded Kris Russell to the Blues last night for Nikita Nikitin (what are the odds this guy is a super secret Russian agent that likes to smoke?). Separate reports were out there that they had also traded Fedor Tyutin to the Islanders for Evgeni Nabakov, but nothing happened officially on that front. [The Cannon]
- Ever the Stat Geeks, Arctic Ice Hockey shows the bias given to the home team when awarding assists. While I think this may be more consequential than anything, an 8% dip on the penalty kill may be outside an expected margin for error. [Arctic Ice Hockey]
- theScore wonders who has the worst shot in the NHL. Hint: if you paid attention, he is the one trade I would go back in time and undo. [theScore]
- This Lightning fan wants the media to back off his team’s actions against the Flyers like they backed off the puck. [Raw Charge]
- As any team (even the Wings) does during bouts of losing, fans of the Capitals are trying to lay blame on whomever they can. This fanpost goes directly after Alexander Semin, not at all a surprise given fan hate of him in recent memory. [Japers’ Rink]
- Icethetics has what looks to be the official Winter Classic jersey for the Flyers, and I love it. [Icethetics]
- Late Addition: NHL.com has a feature on Nicklas Lidstrom and his hot start. Best part of the article is when a reporter asked Babcock whether TPH’s start was “fluky”, and survived the death stare. [NHL.com]
Discussion of the Day: Let’s have a prediction today. Yesterday, Yahoo! posted an article from AP writer Dan Gelston that talks about how young the core American players are and how we have finally hit that next wave, nearly 30 years after the last wave of American hockey began. Is this current crop good enough to face the likes of Canada (with its 500 All Stars), Sweden (featuring 3 T-900s), and Russia (with all its… vodka)? What do you see happening at the 2014 Olympics in Russia?
