Wes Goldstein

Dale Tallon has gotten pretty good at making a big free agent splash, so his signing of Marian Hossa to a mega deal probably shouldn't come as a surprise.

The Chicago Blackhawks are an organization that made remarkable strides last season and reconnected with its fan base, and keeping the momentum going through the ticket selling time in the summer is important to it. Naturally landing the biggest name out there helps, but it doesn't always work. Tallon is still trying to extricate himself lately from the big contracts he gave Cristobal Huet and Brian Campbell just last summer, and now he's decided to lock into another expensive player who has yet to prove he's a real difference maker. 

Neither Huet or Campbell really justified their salaries, and this latest signing has the potential to be a similar handcuff for Tallon because Hossa has an annual cap hit of $5.23 million for the next 12 years and the Chicago GM will soon have to re-sign young core Stars Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith.

Hossa may be an elite forward, but he moved to Detroit las season because he thought he could win a Stanley Cup with the Red Wings and didn't because he pulled a Houdini in the playoffs. The disappearing act could have been overlooked if it was an anomoly, but those kinds of post-season efforts have been the biggest knock on Hossa's career, first in Ottawa and then in Atlanta.

Hossa did have a great 2008 playoffs as what turned out to be a rental for Pittsburgh, but he reverted to form this spring for the Red Wings, scoring only six goals -- a pair in three different games -- and none in the seven-game final against the Penguins. Still Detroit made an offer to keep him before the market opened, but the Red Wings needed the cap hit to average $4 million and Hossa turned to Chicago where he'll carry more expectations than he did before.

But when it comes to money, and it has to now for Hossa, he did get an incredible deal given the times. And he's fortunate because he left around $80 million on the table last summer to pursue his Cup dreams with a one-year, $7.4 million contract from Detroit. Now the salary cap is trending downward, yet Hossa still managed to get a franchise type contract, and one that is heavily front-loaded so his take-home pay actually goes up for the next few years.

That should give Hossa time to try for a Stanley Cup. The Blackhawks aren't that far off, a really talented team that in many ways resembles the Penguins a couple of years ago. Hossa will have to be a big piece of the puzzle, but first he'll have to prove he's a better fit in the Chicago room than Martin Havlat was.

Havlat led the Blackhawks in scoring and more important stayed healthy last season. He was a key part of Chicago's surprising run to the Western Finals and liked by teammates. Havlat earned $6 million last season and wanted to come back on a shorter term too. But the Blackhawks decided to put their money on Hossa.

So for Tallon's sake, Hossa has to make a much bigger impact than the free agents he brought in last year.

Canucks GM Mike Gillis went all the way to Sweden this week and ended up convincing the Sedin twins to stay right where they were.

In Vancouver that is.

Gillis got both Daniel and Henrik to re-up with the Canucks for five-year terms, with each foregoing unrestricted free agency for $6.1 million per season. He signed them only about an hour before the market opened, and for a term and a dollar value that was far less than what the Sedins had been rumored to be seeking in an open bidding process. In the end, the brothers stayed with the only NHL team they have known, a sign that the market could be as tight as many general managers have suggested.

"We spent the last 24 hours going over all the options," Sedin agent J.P. Barry told Vancouver's CKNW radio station. "They're happy that this deal got to the range that it was fair."

No doubt.

The Sedins were drafted together -- second and third overall in 1999 by the Canucks -- so there is a comfort level for them with the team. And vice versa. Daniel and Henrik, who will be 29 when the season begins, are Vancouver's top skaters, two-thirds of the top line and point-a-game producers. What they ended up with is likely to be as much, if not more than anyone else would have offered.

"The more they analyzed things, the more they truly wanted to remain in Vancouver," Barry said.

But had they left, the Sedins would have given Gillis plenty of cap space to vie for some of the other high scoring free agents on the market, so in effect the Canucks GM was negotiating from a position of strength. Still Gillis went the extra mile -- many of them actually -- to get a deal done.

"They are players we want to build around," Gillis said.

With this kind of deal, he can.

As they say in Hollywood, get me re-write.

My column yesterday talked about the Anaheim Ducks being the big winners at the draft for the windfall of talent they took away, with the Philadelphia Flyers getting an honorable mention for picking up Chris Pronger in a trade between the teams. But now that the Calgary Flames have actually signed Jay Bouwmeester, they look like they did as well or better than anyone.

Bouwmeester was going to be one of the top prizes of the upcoming free agent market, certainly the best defenseman available, a 25-year-old with wheels, offense and six years NHL experience already to boot. He was fed up from spending his entire career with the sad sack Florida Panthers, and made it clear he wanted to play closer to his home town of Edmonton.

But apparently Calgary was on his list of favored destinations, so the Flames would have had a pretty good chance to big alongside Edmonton had Bouwmeester gotten to the open market Wednesday. Instead, Calgary worked a deal that cost it very little -- a third-round draft pick and the rights to pending free agent Jordan Leopold -- to get a shot at signing Bouwmeester ahead of anyone. And the Flames made it pay off with a five-year deal worth around $33 million.

There are some serious cap issues for the Flames to sort through because of this deal, but they have some time. More important, they are adding an All-Star caliber defenseman to a blue line that has a couple of those types already in Dion Phaneuf and Robyn Regehr, all in front of Miikka Kiprusoff in goal. With the way new coach Brent Sutter's teams play defensively, you have to think that puts Calgary seriously into the Western Conference mix next season.

Philadelphia wanted Bouwmeester badly as well, but the Flyers weren't willing to pony up Joffrey Lupul and more. That was Florida's asking price at the trade deadline and for his negotiating rights now. So the Flyers turned to Anaheim and instead got a Norris Trophy-winning future Hall of Famer in Pronger, who still has it and will make Philadelphia an extremely viable contender in the East next season.

Thing is Pronger is only signed for one more year and he cost Philadelphia Lupul and Luca Sbisa, two young players both drafted in first rounds, and two more first round picks. And Pronger will be 35 when the season starts, while Bouwmeester is maturing into a franchise type defenseman and will just be entering his prime.

Those kind of players don't come around too often.

There's no guarantee the Calgary Flames will sign pending free agent Jay Bouwmeester, but the extra few days they'll get to try are worth the cost of trading for his exclusive negotiating rights.

Calgary gave up a third round pick and expendable pending free agent Jordan Leopold, which really isn't much for a shot at getting a high end defenseman before he hits the open market. Bouwmeester has been with the Florida Panthers since he entered the league at age 18 and is just now entering his prime. And he has made it clear since last summer than he has had enough of Florida.

The Panthers gambled by not moving him at the trade deadline because they were in the playoff race and figured getting there might help convince Bouwmeester to change his mind about Florida. But the defenseman tanked down the stretch and as did the Panthers, so Florida was put in a position of trying to salvage something at the last minute for their one time first round pick.

Calgary stepped up even as Bouwmeester's agent continued to insist his client will wait to test the market before making a final decision. But if the Flames can find a way to add the 25-year-old Edmonton native to a blue line that already has Dion Phaneuf and Robyn Regehr, they'll end up with one of the draft's top coups.

They already have the top headline from the second day of an event that generally had little to excite anyone but scouts and familly members after the New York Islanders drafted John Tavares first overall and Anaheim traded Chris Pronger to Philadelphia.

This was considered a deep draft for teams looking to restock their systems and it turned out to be a good one for the U.S. National Development program, which has six players taken in the second round and 10 overall among the 55 American born players drafted over the seven rounds. And it was a proud time for former NHL players Ray Ferraro, Len Barrie and Ray Bourque, who all had sons chosen. But the frenzied trade activity that was widely anticipated never materialized, so the Flames move to get a player they may not sign at least created some buzz.

The real challenge for Calgary will be in fitting Bouwmeester under the $56.8 million salary cap that has been set for next season. Calgary already has more than $47 million in salaries committed, with nearly $38 million of that going to seven players -- Jarome Iginla, Phaneuf, Regehr, Miikka Kiprusoff, Olli Jokinen, Cory Sarich and Daymond Langkow.

Bouwmeester is probably worth around $6 million per season on the open market, which means the Flames will have to shed salary. Otherwise they will potentially face the same kind of problems they had last season when Calgary played some games undermanned because they couldn't fit 18 position players under the cap on a given night. Flames GM Darryl Sutter took a worthwhile gamble trading for Bouwmeester, but now he really has his work cut out for him.

The fans in the Bell Centre wanted to hear Montreal GM Bob Gainey announce he had traded for Vincent Lecavalier, but they settled for him making a French Canadian kid his first choice in the draft.

The building erupted when Louis Leblanc was taken by the Canadiens at No. 18. Leblanc, who played last season for Omaha in the USHL, was rated as a mid first-round pick, so his choice wasn't necessarily a surprise, but Gainey admitted the player's pedigree was a factor.

"It is important for us to have that element or that flavor on our team, and Louis fit perfectly into our wheelhouse because he was there when it was our turn to select," Gainey told TSN. "How he will develop compared to guys one or two places ahead or one or two places behind will come out in the next few years, but we're very happy that we got a good competitive player."

Still, Leblanc is at least two years away because he will spend at least that long playing at Harvard. In the meantime, the Canadiens will continue their pursuit of a big scoring center with the focus continuing to be on Lecavalier, as it has been in Montreal since the All Star game was held there in January.

The speculation intensified in the days leading up to the draft because the Lightning's principal owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie have been feuding over several issues, including keeping Lecavalier and his heavy contract. The Lightning is having money problems and Lecavalier will earn $85 over the next 11 years after his no-trade clause kicks in July. So Tampa Bay's best chance to move him is in the next few days.

Gainey said he has explored different options for centers -- San Jose's Patrick Marleau is thought to be availble as well . But Montreal's GM noted the timing may not be right for swinging a big deal, pointing to the Chris Pronger trade as being the only one involving a player made in the first round.

"Not everybody was keyed in on the draft this year," Gainey said alluding to the salary cap concerns most teams have. "Normally the draft is the catalyst to kick all this into motion, so it may just be that this will go on through the summer and we may not be able to do what we need until September or October."

Seems like the practice Montreal fans got from their extended booing of the American national anthem a few years back came in handy when NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman opened the draft proceedings.

The locals were pretty lusty through the first couple of minutes of Bettman's remarks until the commissioner came up with a couple of applause lines about the city and its historic franchise. It didn't hurt the commish to have retired Canadiens heroes Henri Richard and Yvan Cournoyer on stage, so Bettman escaped unscathed.

But he did blow the name of a player involved in the first big trade of the night, calling Joffrey Lupul Jeffrey a few minutes. Philadelphia sent Lupul, with Luca Sbisa, two first round draft picks and a conditional third rounder to Anaheim for Chris Pronger.

Great deal for the Flyers, who get one of the premier defenseman of his generation without any signifcant disruption to their lineup. Pronger gives the Flyers a better shot at going deeper in next year's playoffs than they would have had with Jay Bouwmeester, whose negotiating rights Philadelphia had been trying to acquire from Florida for weeks.

That's not good news for the Panthers who may have overplayed their hand with the Flyers and lost a bidder for a player they are going to lose to free agency July 1. Looks like Bouwmeester, an Edmonton native, will playing somewhere closer to home in Western Canada.

And it looks like Scott Niedermayer is going to come back for one more season with Anaheim. Ducks GM Bob Murray said he didn't expect to have Niedermayer's decision about the future until he got to the draft table. But he wouldn't have dealt Pronger for less expensive players if his other star defenseman wasn't coming back.

Meanwhile, the first three picks went as expected, with Islanders GM Garth Snow making the fans back home in the Nassau Coliseum happy by taking John Tavares first overall pick. Next, Tampa Bay brought Victor Hedman on stage while feuding owners Oren Koules and Len Barrie kept their distance from each other and then Colorado grabbed Matt Duchene, so everyone's 1-2-3 went the way they were supposed.

During the Stanley Cup Finals, longtime Philadelphia hockey writer Tim Panaccio was working on a story about Fred Shero, the mastermind before those Broad Street Bullies teams that changed the face of hockey during their mid-70s hey day. Tim was telling me how surprised he was that people he interviewed didn't realize the late great coach was not in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

They just generally assumed he was.

I thought about that when Lou Lamoriello's name was announced as part of the 2009 nominations because the players who will be inducted with him in November -- Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull, Brian Leetch and Luc Robitaille -- were all obviously automatics in their first year of eligibility.

Yzerman certainly is the headliner of the group and arguably one of the quintessential franchise players of all time. He was a first round draft pick by Detroit and spent his entire 22-year career with the Red Wings, finishing as the NHL's eighth all time scorer despite modifying his game to focus on defense in his later years.  Now he's in Detroit's front office and the general manager of Team Canada's entry into next year's Olympics.

Of course everyone here has the right credentials -- Hull finished third all time in goals; Robitaille scored more than any left winger in history; and Leetch won two Norris Trophies and the playoff MVP award when the Rangers broke their 54-year drought with the 1994 Stanley Cup. This is a great class, one that rivals the 2007 group and a few others (think Gordie Howe, Jean Beliveau, Bernie Geoffrion in 1972; Bobby Hull, Ken Dryden, Stan Mikita in 1983; Guy Lafleur, Tony Esposito, Brad Park in 1988) for the title of best ever.

So it seemed anti-climactic when the new names were announced one by one on a HHOF conference call today. But when Yzerman let it slip during his thank you that the New Jersey Devils general manager was going into the Builders' Division, it felt like a double-take moment. Probably for Lamoriello too, since he was waiting to be announced by the Hall chairman who was hosting the call.

"It was a complete surprise," Lamoriello said moments later about his nomination, not Yzerman's faux-pas.

For me too. I just assumed Lamoriello was already in the Hall because guys like him usually are. In many ways the Hall is an old boys club run at the discretion and in secrecy by the induction committee, who tend to honor themselves in that Builders' section. And Lamoriello is one of the NHL's most influential and respected executives, so why wouldn't he be there?

Lamoriello took over a franchise Wayne Gretzky once called "Mickey Mouse" and created a program that has produced perennial contenders for nearly two decades, winning three Stanley Cups.  Before that, Lamoriello was athletic director and hockey coach at Providence College, and played an instrumental role in creating the NCAA powerhouse division, Hockey East.  And Lamoriello served as GM when Team USA beat Canada for the 1996 World Cup gold, a little appreciated title that was the biggest boost for the sport at the grass roots level in the the United States since the Miracle on Ice.

The World Cup win proved that the U.S. produced pro players on par with anyone else's and sparked an amateur development process that has made it common for the number of Americans drafted in recent first rounds to be in double digits. So it's actually fitting that when Lamoriello finally got his due, it was alongside Hull and Leetch, who were both key cogs in the 1996 World Cup team.

"For sure Brett and I were part of a group that were old enough to remember 1980 and to be spurred on that from a country standpoint," Leetch said.

And now they'll all be going into the Hall together on Nov. 9 in what is the best collection of American talent inducted at one time.

"Over my career, I've been fortunate to have been associated with great players and coaches, and this recognizes their contributions to my career," Lamoriello said. "Its humbling."

Just a surprise that it took so long.

Not to go all John Kerry on everyone, but I was right before I was wrong. See for yourself on our Finals series page. Before the Stanley Cup rematch started I picked the Penguins to win in seven games.

So I was right.

Of course I declared them dead -- I believe the terms I used were 'done, kaput, fini,' -- so I was wrong too. Not that I was the only one among the media types covering the series to think that, just the only one to actually write it.

Oh well.

I've taken a lot of heat from all those rabid Penguins fans since then and deservedly so. But I figured the Penguins had to win one of the first two games in Detroit when the Red Wings were banged up and still worn after a short turnaround from the Chicago series. My logic, if you can call it that now, was that since Pittsburgh had to win at least one game on the road, that was the best opportunity to do it. I couldn't see them beating Detroit four out of five after that, particularly since Pittsburgh played as well or better than the Red Wings in both of those games, yet could not find a way to win.

It seemed like a sign of inevitability for the Red Wings. And it made me think of something Mario Lemieux said after last year's finals, alluding to what is essentially hockey conventional wisdom about needing to learn how to lose before you can learn how to win. My original prediction was based on my belief that Pittsburgh had indeed learned what it would take to beat a veteran and savvy team like Detroit, but I had serious doubts after the first two games because it was the Red Wings who found a way to come out on top when they probably should not have.

The Penguins, of course, kept insisting they were a different team this year, and the confidence they exuded coming home obviously turned out to be not misplaced. Still I think it might have been a different final outcome had Jordan Staal not scored a shorthanded goal that turned Game 4 around and triggered a series tying win that sent Pittsburgh on its way.

Staal, along with other role players Tyler Kennedy and certainly Game 7 hero Maxime Talbot turned out to be the catalysts for the Penguins as the series got down to crunch time, really stepping it up after Detroit had essentially shut down Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby. But what is really interesting to me about the series was how good the Penguins were defensively.  Pittsburgh's game took on a more aggressive tone after Dan Bylsma replaced Michel Therrien as coach, and it suited its talent much better. and led to a strong finish and even stronger playoff run. 

The hard forechecking forced the Red Wings into several uncharacteristic and critical turnovers during the Finals, but  more impressive was the way the Penguins stopped Detroit by keeping it to the outside and refusing to give up lanes. Pittsburgh absolutely shut down the Red Wings over the last two games, a tribute not only to its underrated group of defenseman and two dynamite clutch efforts by Marc-Andre Fleury, but also of the willingness of the forwards to come back and sacrifice their bodies to block shots.

The Penguins physicality also played a big role in all this, with their constant pounding wearing down the Red Wings over the course of the series until Detroit really was running on fumes at the end. Still, with the exception of the Penguins win in Game 3 adn Detroit's Game 5 blowout, this series was close enough and had enough momentum shifts to have gone either way.

Which means that clearly the Penguins did learn the hard lessons from last year, the ones I doubted they did after Game 2. They figured out what it takes to win and earned this Stanley Cup victory with their hard work, will and their guts, as much as with their talent. Now they get to reap the glory and I get to reap the scorn.

So enjoy it all Pittsburgh fans. I'm going to get some sleep. 

The game within the game throughout this Stanley Cup Final has been between Detroit center Henrik Zetterberg and his Penguins counterpart Sidney Crosby. Zetterberg's primary task has been to shut down Crosby and he spent the first three games of the series so close to the Pittsburgh captain that people began to talk. But Zetterberg did manage to limit Crosby to just one assist in that time, so the gossip was worth it.

Problem was in Game 3, Zetterberg had more than 24 minutes in ice time and was gassed by the middle of the third period, which was apparent during a crucial power play the Penguins converted to win. So in Game 4, Detroit coach Mike Babcock decided to forgo the match game because it wasn't working well with the home team getting the last line change.

"We didn't try to get it one time," he said.

Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma was actually disappointed by the strategy change, because it meant Zetterberg had more opportunity to use his high end offensive skills if he wasn't using his defensive talents so much against Crosby at even strength and on penalty kills. In theory anyway. In practice it didn't matter because as Babcock noted, Zetterberg didn't have much jump in Game 4.

Bylsma understood.

"In order to put him out in situations where Sidney's going to play in an offensive situation and also on the power play, you know, tat's a lot of time for a guy to handle," Bylsma said. "I don't know how many minutes it was tonight, but 25 in the last game. It's a challenge chasing Sidney Crosby around the ice.

"(Zetterberg) is a talented player for sure, but it's a challenge to do both of those tasks. But that's one we're going to keep trying to make him do."

For his part, Crosby said he didn't notice any drop off in energy from his opponent, who gave away the puck on one Penguins goal and was caught up the ice when Crosby scored for the first time in the series.

"Doesn't feel like that, no," said Crosby, who had two points. "I'm just trying to battle, that's what it comes down to. It's tough to get any space out there for both teams. He's a great player and he's battling too."

But lately, Crosby seems to be winning.

In his annual pre-Stanley Cup of the game address, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman made some of his strongest comments to date on the need for better drug testing in hockey.

Insisting there was nothing to substantiate allegations made by an arrested Florida man claiming to have sold steroids to some members of the Washington Capitals among others, Bettman said he did not believe there's a problem with performance enhancing drugs in the NHL. Still, he said he would like to see more substances included on the banned list, along with year-round testing.

"I acknowledge that our testing program could be more comprehensive and it is time, we believe, that the players' association step up and agree to make the changes that the World Anti-Doping Agency has recommended," Bettman said.

"The players' association has not been ready to embrace it, but (union boss) Paul Kelly has indicated that he supports it and I take him at his word. He believes he needs some time to persuade his members to go along."

On other subjects, Bettman said the business outlook for the NHL was good considering the economic times, pointing to what he claimed was "100 percent capacity" for playoff games around the league, and an 80 percent renewal rate among season ticket holders before the month of June.

"That is quite a strong number, particularly in this environment," he said.

Bettman also said he believed the Phoenix Coyotes franchise, now in bankruptcy, could be made to work where it is, adding that the league's opposition to Canadian businessman Jim Balsillie's attempt to buy the team and relocate it to Hamilton was not personal, but an issue of process and procedure.

"It's pretty significant that the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball have all appeared in bankruptcy court to make clear that is is a profound issue for all sports leagues," Bettman said.

The commissioner added the league is satisfied with its television arrangement with Versus. The cable network's ratings for hockey increased 25 percent this season, he said, and its coverage of the conference semifinals and finals were the most watched in a decade.

"Think about that in the context of where we are, where we've been, those are outstanding numbers," Bettman said. "Versus and the NHL are growing together. That was the plan."

It was inevitable that Can Ward would prove to be human in the playoffs one of these days, but chances are that neither the Carolina Hurricanes nor their talented goalie expected it to happen this emphatically.

Ward, after all, was the MVP of the Hurricanes 2006 Stanley Cup run and the biggest reason they pulled off stunning seven game upsets over first place teams New Jersey and Boston in the earlier rounds this spring. And he had never lost a post season round in his career either coming into the East Finals, although he did figure to have a rougher time against the high-powered Pittsburgh Penguins offense.

But Ward came up so short -- allowing 17 goals in the four game sweep -- that Carolina never really had a chance.

Maybe the Hurricanes didn't really have a shot anyway against a far more talented Penguins team that seems to be on a mission to avenge last season's Stanley Cup Finals loss. Pittsburgh had great efforts from its superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and had important contributions to its convincing victory from players throughout the lineup.

And Carolina may have left it all on the ice in the earlier rounds against the Devils and Bruins. It certainly looked that way since top players like Eric Staal, Ray Whitney, Erik Cole and a few others, especially those along the blue line, were MIA for much of the series.

Still things might have been a little different had Ward outplayed Pittsburgh counterpart Marc Andre Fleury, or at least matched him the way he did against other netminders he's faced in previous series. Instead, Ward was victimized over and over again by the Penguins attackers, who beat him with good shots at times, and bad ones at others.

Several of them were back breakers too, none more so than the second goal of Game 4 by Maxime Talbot, a high floater that went off defenseman Anton Babchuk's stick and had Ward looking like an outfielder who lost a fly ball in the sun.

Carolina was tied and theoretically still in the game at that point, even if it really wasn't in the series any more. But you need solid goaltending to win in the playoffs, and for the first time in his career, Ward couldn't provide it.

Maybe Pat Quinn really believes this is the best coaching fit for him, or he figured that at 66 years of age, he couldn't really afford to be that choosy any more.

Regardless, Quinn is back coaching in the NHL with the Edmonton Oilers, three years after being dumped by the Toronto Maple Leafs and following a successful turn with the Canadian kids at the most recent World Junior Championships. If rumors are to be believed, Quinn had been courted by several teams since then, but for whatever reason kept finding himself on the outside looking in until he accepted a job with a young team that is best known for failing to live up to questionable potential.

The hiring of a veteran like Quinn, whose NHL coaching career began in 1978, to lead a team that hasn't made the playoffs since getting to the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals goes against a recent league trend among teams that have tended to opt for fresher faces, either from their own farm systems or the junior ranks. But Quinn's gold medal win at the WJC obviously went a long way toward showing NHL types that an older guy can still work with kids who dominate the league these days and was an important part of his rehabilitation if you will, although Quinn's long standing relationship with Oilers GM Steve Tambellini certainly didn't hurt.

"If I think of leadership, I think of Pat," said Tambellini, who was part of the brain trust for Canada's 2002 Olympic gold medal team at Salt Lake coached by Quinn. "If I think of how you want to be treated as a player, I think of Pat Quinn. As someone who sets an example morally for an organization, I think of Pat Quinn. I'm very happy he accepted the job."

Edmonton actually took its contrarian approach a little further by naming recently fired Rangers coach Tom Renney as an associate coach, while retaining assistant Kelly Buchberger, the only holdover from the previous Craig MacTavish regime. Renney's addition is interesting not only because he would have presumably been a candidate for one of several head coaching jobs that are now available, but more because of his strong relationship with Jaromir Jagr during their time together in New York.

Jagr played in Russia last season, but has said that if would return to the NHL, it would only be with the Oilers, who made a very strong pitch to land him last summer. Renney's presence could mean a future in Edmonton for Jagr, if he can escape his Russian contract.

In the meantime, the new Edmonton coaches with their apparent complementary styles -- Quinn is offense oriented while Renney is into strong defensive systems -- will be looking to get more out of a speedy and somewhat skilled young team that has been a disappointment on the ice for the last several seasons. The bright side for them is that the Oilers have no where to go but up.

"We think there's talent here," Quinn said. "We're hopefully here to make the next steps."

Joel Quenneville probably could have gotten cheaper protection from the Sopranos, but if it helps the Chicago Blackhawks get over their Game 4 debacle, the $10,000 fine their coach is paying to the NHL foundation might actually be worth it.

Don't bet on it though. Chicago was already out of the game when Matt Walker was called for roughing at the 20 minute mark of the first period, a penalty that caused the action Quenneville was disciplined for. Detroit had scored 21 seconds before that and added a power play goal a little more than a minute into the second period to make it 3-0 and effectively put things out of reach.

Later, Quenneville opened his post game news conference with what had to be a calculated rant about Walker's penalty because he knows the league doesn't tolerate even mild criticism of its officials. Still the Blackhawks coach said: "We witnessed probably the worst call in the history of sports today. I've never seen anything like it. (The referees) ruined a good hockey game, they absolutely destroyed what was going on on the ice."

Not exactly. The Blackhawks did themselves in by being stupid. They were still seething about the hit Martin Havlat took from Niklas Kronwall in Game 3 and took 16 penalties, including nine for roughing. Several, like Walker's, came after whistles had blown.

It was just a really bad day for a young team that decomposed against a veteran one and got no help from backup goalie Cristobal Huet, who looked awful but still will probably start Game 5 because Nikolai Khabibulin doesn't appear ready to return from an injury. So when it was over, Quenneville did what any smart veteran coach would in a similar situation by trying to deflect the blame away from his players and maybe get their minds away from a perilous situation.

Trouble is Quenneville was as stupid as his players with his words and finds himself lighter in the wallet as a result.

There are fines levied for coaches and players who criticize officials to the media, so Mike Babcock danced gingerly around the subject of how Game 3 was called. But it was clear the Red Wings coach wasn't pleased his team was shorthanded for nearly half the first period, and lost Niklas Kronwall, a top four defenseman, who was given a game misconduct for a hit that most neutral observers in the press box thought legal.

"It was absolutely the wrong call," Babcock said.

And not the only one according to the Red Wings coach. Since his forward Dan Cleary got four minutes for high sticking which led to the game's opening goal by Chicago, Babcock felt Blackhawks heavyweight Dustin Byfuglien deserved something for doing the same on Brad Stuart.

"Let's be honest, they cut Stuey for stitches," Babcock said. "He high sticked him right in the face, he didn't get the call. Players have bad games, coaches have bad games, but they're (refs) not allowed to have bad calls or games. I mean we were shorthanded for nine minutes in the first period. It's just one of those things."

Speaking of bad games by coaches, Chicago's Joel Quenneville might have described his that way had the Blackhawks not won in overtime. Chicago squandered a three goal lead in the second period, and Quenneville said he could have done more to prevent it.

"I was kicking myself in the butt for not calling a timeout at 3-2," he said.

Quenneville said the Red Wings gained a lot of momentum in the middle frame when Chicago took some penalties and the Blackhawks kept getting pinned deep in their own end on several shifts.

"When they're coming, they're coming especially when they're down," Quenneville said. "They have a lot of offensive weapons. Their D is active as well and we got a couple of tough changes there where we didn't get a fresh group out. That's why I felt I should have called a timeout at 3-2. We dodged a bullet there."