Backstrom, Toews and Kane are the candidates for rookie of the year. I think Toew's injury in January takes him out of the mix and the fact Backstrom had Ovechkin and Semin to play with all year certainly increased his totals. Kane will win the award and remember he is still 19. Backstrom is already 20 and Toews will be 20 next month.

The Wings have confirmed that Osgood will start the series against Colorado.

Zdeno Chara's injured shoulder may require surgery after that 7 game battle with Montreal. He will be fine for the Bruins training camp in September but we will not see him at the World Championships.

Tim Thomas, Kessel, and Pominville have confirmed they will play for team USA at the worlds. Ed Jovanoski will play for Canada.

David Poile and Steve Sullivan are scheduled to meet about Sullivan's long-term plans with the organization. This doesn't sound good at all. Even if he can come back don't expect him to be the same player. He has missed a year and a half already so his conditioning will be liking starting from scratch. I would say best case scenario 60 points in 70 games and a more probable outcome is retirement. If you can still trade him in your keeper league, get a decent pick for him or prospect.

Canada smoked the Russians 8-0 in the World under-18 finals. I guess they were pissed that the Russians beat them in the round-robin (4-2). Jordan Eberle scored to 1st period goals for Canada to get them going and they never looked back. Taylor Hall and Cory Trevino both scored again for Canada. In the losers cup (Bronze medal game) the U.S beat Sweden by a 4-2 score. 

My round 2 predictions Montreal over a road-weary Phili team in 5 and the Penguins in 7 over the Rangers. This will likely be the best series of the playoffs to date. In the West I will take Detroit over Colorado in 6 and San Jose over Dallas in 7.