For those who missed seeing the breakdown of the Pirri deal on the front page, read it here.

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I saw a graphic Saturday night that showed Evgeni Malkin led the NHL in points over the last three seasons, while Phil Kessel is second. Just more ammo for the pro-Malkin people in their battle with the pro-Stamkos gang.

Just something that popped in my head – would Phil Kessel have made Team Canada? The easy answer is – yes. But I don’t want an easy answer. I want the answer that left Claude Giroux off the team, or initially Marty St. Louis off the team. Who would they leave out? Don’t say Kunitz – you and I both know they were pretty stubborn about having Kunitz on that team.

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What’s going on with Pat Lafontaine? Did that serious concussion that ended his career give him a bit of a temper? While nobody knows for certain why he left the Sabres, and he’s taking the high road with his press release by saying that the job was temporary to begin with, you can’t help but believe he quit because he wasn’t happy with a decision made over his head. He did the same thing with the Islanders. Will any other team hire him now? Storming off over a disagreement, if that’s indeed what he did, is not the smartest thing to do. Most executives wait a month or two so that outsiders don’t jump to these kinds of conclusions. But if La-la-la-lafontaine is upset that the team didn’t re-sign Miller, this isn’t the response to make. The reality is, Miller wasn’t going to sign there again and this was the right move. It was actually a decent trade. For all he knows, this was a decent trade and not only could Halak be a better goalie if he can stay healthy for five minutes, but maybe he would be inclined to re-sign there. If that happens, then the pro-Miller people will look pretty silly. Anyway, shocked and disappointed when I heard this news Saturday night. It’s great to have standards and stick by them, but you can’t have a ‘do this or I’ll quit’ kind of attitude – if that’s indeed what’s going on here.

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Daniel Sedin left Sunday’s contest with a lower body injury. He couldn’t put any weight on it. He has one point in 17 games. (!)

Eddie Lack got the start for the Canucks, which makes it three in a row. What gives? Join the discussion here.

John Tortorella defends the decision to start Lack again:

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Mike Green had three assists Sunday, but once again John Carlson saw more PP time. I’m a big fan of Carlson, who had two power-play points in two games leading into Sunday. And I’m also a big fan of how Coach Adam Oates sticks to his guns. When he has an idea (i.e. Ovechkin on right wing), he sticks to it no matter what and has the patience to let it work. Right now, his idea is to have Carlson as the PP QB of the future and he’s bringing him along accordingly.

Green is probably going to end up with around 45 points, but that could be closer to 55 if he had the PP to run, and that includes the fact that he’s missed eight games.

Braden Holtby had won four straight prior to Sunday’s comeback defeat.

Mikhail Grabovski played only two minutes on Thursday and left the game – he missed Sunday. Re-injured the ankle, apparently…and “it doesn’t sound good”.

Orlov will have a phone hearing on Monday for this retaliatory hit on Brayden Schenn – you can see him gunning for Schenn after Schenn gave him a huge hit seconds earlier:

(discuss it here)

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With three points Sunday, Claude Giroux has 61 points in 62 games. The journey is almost complete. Hands up if you thought in early November that he could get back up to a point per game?

With his 25th win Sunday, Steve Mason is seventh in the league in wins. And I get the feeling that the Flyers will ride him for every game going forward, unless he gets blown out in a couple. It tells me he’ll get 37 wins or more this year!

Kimmo Timonen has been back for two games and tallied five points in them. He had 19 all year before that.

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Alex Stalock has won three straight, including his two starts after Sochi. He’ll be getting a lot of starts to end the season so that his free agency status in the summer is “restricted” and not “unrestricted”. I didn’t think Todd McLellan would care about that and had figured Stalock would be unrestricted. But that’s clearly not going to happen as long as Stalock stays healthy.

Raffi Torres has three goals in two games since returning. Just 18 total minutes of ice time, too. With Torres and Couture back, here is how San Jose’s line combos looked:

As you can see – Brent Burns is off the scoring line and saw less than 13 minutes of ice time. At this point, Nieto and Wingels are hanging onto that scoring line spot.

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New Jersey’s rookie rearguard Eric Gelinas has four points in three games since the break. He saw 4:26 of PP time Sunday, which was slightly more than Zidlicky.  I don’t think he has the PP reins completely, but I am convinced that he’s done being sent to the AHL – even when Bryce Salvador returns.

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An 11-game points streak for Nathan MacKinnon puts his pace at 65 points. Closing in on my fantasy guide projection of 69. Of all my predictions, the ones that I care about the most are the ones I stick my neck out the most on. That would be this one.

Tyson Barrie has points in three of his last four games (five points in that span). It’s looking like he’s starting to emerge and if he develops along with MacKinnon, there is quite a bit of potential here. I rate him a strong buy in keeper leagues, with the possibility of a surprise year in 2014-15.

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Justin Faulk left last night’s contest and did not return. Upper-body injury.

Cam Ward. Man. Talk about a Golden Boy just handing off his job to someone else. With a smile on his face. ‘Please sir, can I have another?’ Then again, Khudobin has lost four of his last five…so I guess Ward’s job is safe after all.

Actually, with Ward looking at another $12.6 million over the next two years, his job is iron-clad. He’s had two struggling seasons due to injury, but I think he can bounce back if he can stay healthy this offseason, throughout training camp and into next season. But I’m guessing the Hurricanes would feel safer if they re-sign Khudobin.

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Ryan Miller stopped 22 of 25 shots. For a fellow that’s used to facing 35 or 40 shots, St. Louis must be a vacation for him. He’s got a lot of catching up to do to win 30 games this year for the ninth straight (pro-rated last year) season. He needs 14 wins in 22 games – and I think he’ll do it. I think he gets 18 starts and wins most of them. He struck gold and so has his owners.

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Michael Kostka picked up two assists in his second game with the Lightning. Not getting PP time yet. In my books, you either player him as a PP specialist, or you waive him. TB seems to go with four forwards plus Hedman these days.

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The Rangers seem to be falling apart without Zuccarello. I mean – Pouliot and Brassard become useless without, and so just like that the Rangers pretty much have one line. Just my quick observation based on watching a handful of shifts Saturday and again Sunday.

Henrik Lundqvist has allowed 10 goals on 64 shots since Sochi.

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Man, I would be all over Carl Soderberg if he gets traded. Not that it would happen. But I think what he does with little ice time is great – and only getting better. He’s being sheltered, brought into the NHL slowly, and it’s really paying off.

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Here is my THN article yesterday on eight players you should target right now before they get traded.

And here are five forwards to watch who are under 20% owned, courtesy of Anatoliy Metter and The Hockey Writers

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Top 10 Pat Lafontaine goals (la-la-la-la-la-la lafontaine is at 1:05):

Hands up if you were in fantasy leagues long enough to have owned him in his prime (*raises hand*)