Patrice Bergeron, Jonathan Toews and Pavel Datsyuk make the Selke a highly contested award. (Icon SMI (2); Getty)

By Allan Muir

The league announced today that Boston’s Patrice Bergeron, Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk, and Chicago’s Jonathan Toews are the three finalists for the 2012-13 Frank J. Selke Trophy, which is awarded “to the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game.”

Nary a “knock me over with a feather” nominee in that bunch. The Selke has taken a few hits over the years as being a reputation-based award, but this trio burnished their well-established reps for two-way excellence with undeniably strong seasons.

When the vote counts are revealed, it won’t be a surprise to learn this was the year’s most hotly contested hardware. You can’t make an argument against any of these guys.

MORE NOMINEES: Hart | Norris | Vezina | Calder | Lindsay | Masterton

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By Allan Muir

Don’t know what got into Chicago captain Jonathan Toews Friday night, but he clearly had enough of his San Jose counterpart, Joe Thornton.

First, Captain Serious decided to board Thornton. Cheap shot all the way. Play continued on the delayed penalty call, but Toews was still fired up. He ignored the puck to chase down Thornton, who was parked on the end boards in the Chicago zone. Toews laid the lumber multiple times on Thornton, who looked like he wasn’t quite sure that Toews was serious until the Hawk dropped his gloves.

Probably not his best decision.

It was just the third fight of his career, but you probably could have guessed that from his technique-free and completely failed attempt to teach Jumbo Joe a lesson. Decision, Thornton.

Toews ended up with nine minutes for his troubles. Amazingly, he avoided taking the rap for instigating and for instigating with a visor. If those penalties are going to be on the books, you’re not going to get a more clear-cut reason to call them than this.

Wake us up when this nightmare is over: a sentiment shared by more than a few hockey fans during the lockout. (Gene J. Puskar/AP)

By Stu Hackel

The NHL cancelled another swath of games on Friday, through Nov. 1. Do you care? Have your eyes just glassed over, your ears become so full of this stuff that the words — well-meaning as they may be — and numbers just bounce right out?

At a certain point in this process of the NHL arriving at a new collective bargaining agreement, a big chunk of fans have just thrown up their hands and said, “I’ve had enough.” The claims and counterclaims, the blizzard of statistics and dollar figures, the same arguments over and over again, the threats and the responses, and the perceived lack of progress all becomes too much. And this week, just when it appeared that there might be some hope of a settlement, the floor dropped out beneath us again and now there is news of more games being axed. No one can be blamed for wanting to get off this roller coaster and let it ride on without them.

And yet…and yet…perhaps there is some light amidst the darkness.

When the owners this week proposed a new deal that, for the first time, said they’d accept a 50-50 split of Hockey Related Revenue, the players agreed on the target. However, they used some other formulas to reach it. Different versions of 50-50? Sounds crazy. Well, no one has ever — ever — said that NHL economics are sane. Still, never in all these months of haggling had the sides reached some sort of rough agreement on the portions each would receive. Now they merely (merely!) need to agree on a formula.

“Good luck with that, guys,” you say, waiving your hand in farewell. “Call me when you’ve got that figured out.”

It could be soon; it could be a long time.

This is the world of collective bargaining, which is certainly not a spectator sport, even if this negotiation is all about spectator sports. The stars of the CBA process don’t really care if you watch them or not; in fact, they probably prefer you don’t. Most of what they do is away from the cameras. But the more you see and the more you pay attention, the more you understand the truth in the famous quote that’s often wrongly attributed to Otto von Bismarck: “Laws are like sausages. It’s better not to see them being made.” The quote and the source may be apocryphal, the sentiment is not. Making the law for NHL labor relations is ugly business, a horror show with blood, bone, muscle and fat strewn and splattered about. It’s not for everyone.

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By Stu Hackel

The NHL Players Association has gathered in Chicago this week to prepare for what many think will be a contentious negotiation with the league’s team owners on a new collective bargaining agreement. Those talks seem set to begin at week’s end. On Montreal’s TSN Radio 990 Monday, Bob McKenzie called the PA get-together, “The last big rally before they officially get underway,” and it certainly seemed like that on Monday with about 50 players, including Jonathan Toews, Alex Ovechkin, John Tavares, Shea Weber, Shane Doan, Alex Burrows, David Backes and Jamal Mayers attending.

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If fan whipping boy Roberto Luongo plays poorly against the offensively-challenged Kings, calls for backup netminder Cory Schneider will ring from the rafters in Vancouver. (Photo by Derek Leung/Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

If you’re looking for Stanley Cup predictions, you’ve come to the wrong place. As we’ve previously written, predictions are a waste of time. However, we’re willing to take some stabs at what is each playoff team about. What do they have to do to win? What must they avoid to prevent things from going south?

So here are the keys to the first round match-ups in the Western Conference.  You can find the Eastern Conference here.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS (1) vs. LOS ANGELES KINGS (8)

Canucks – Who they are and how they win: They shook off a late season malaise to finish 8-1-1 in their last 10 — much of the time without Daniel Sedin – while playing dominant hockey down the stretch and capturing the Presidents’ Trophy. A superskilled team with a some bite, Vancouver has the best offense in the conference and, potentially, a strong power play. The Canucks have  refined their roster this season a bit, adding depth with a solid offensive performer in David Booth, a proven shutdown center in Sami Pahlsson, and some menace in Zack Kassian. The defense corps excels at moving the puck forward, and the only question in goal is which guy, Roberto Luongo or Cory Schneider, will finish the series.

What could go wrong: If Luongo plays poorly, Schneider remains an unknown when it comes to carrying a team in the playoffs. The power play struggled in the second half and if Daniel Sedin’s concussion symptoms keep him sidelined for an extended period (he was ruled out for Game 1), that probably won’t help its improvement.  Even if Sedin returns, the Canucks, who haven’t always gotten secondary scoring,  will need it if the defensively proficient Kings can shut down their top line. And superior physicality could allow the Kings to win more battles along the boards, in the corners and in the slot. L.A.’s stiffling defense has the potential to frustrate the Canucks into taking penalties. If things go wrong and the Vancouver fan base turns on the team, that could be a significant negative. And Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick is good enough to steal this series.

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Given the rugged nature of the position, a defenseman hasn’t won the Lady Byng Trophy (gentlemanly play) since 1954, but Nicklas Lidstrom of the Red Wings truly deserves it. (Robin Alam/Icon SMI)

By Stu Hackel

The NHL hands out its regular season awards on Wednesday evening in Las Vegas, a venue that just oozes hockey history and tradition. Actually, the “nominees-winner” Academy Awards-style format is as artificial as Vegas glitz because the “nominees” are not nominees at all but actually the top three vote-getters from the April balloting (here’s who SI.com’s Michael Farber chose) after the votes are tabulated. So the winner has already been determined when the nominees are announced. This format transforms the known into the suspenseful, so maybe Vegas is the right venue after all.
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It’s only fitting, and not at all rare, that two fierce rivals such as the Canadiens and Bruins should extend their postseason showdown to a dramatic seventh game. (Damian Strohmeyer/Sports Illustrated)

By Stu Hackel

Here’s all you need to know about the allure of Game 7s in the Stanley Cup playoffs: Yahoo’s NHL writer Nick Cotsonika traveled to Montreal — a city consumed by the doings of its hockey team — to cover the crucial Game 6 between the Canadiens and Bruins on Tuesday night and he tweeted yesterday afternoon, “In Montreal for Bruins-Habs, and everyone is talking about … the Canucks.”

And when I tuned in to Montreal’s Team 990 a few hours later to catch Pierre McGuire’s late afternoon segment on the “Melnick in the Afternoon” program, the conversation began with an extensive breakdown on the upcoming Sabres-Flyers Game 7 and moved to the Blackhawks-Canucks Game 7 for 15 minutes before chewing over the Habs-B’s Game 6 in the final three minutes.

Every series has its dramatic story arc and moments of both loftiness and gravity, but lasting greatness and legends are born in Game 7s, when both teams stand at the crossroads of going on or going home (SI.com photo gallery: NHL’s Great Game 7′s). As each game of a series is played, the level of play is ratcheted up and by Game 7, the combination of unmatched performances under extreme pressure far more often than not produces great hockey.
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The reeling Canucks sorely need some of the fire the Blackhawks caught from a devastating hit on Brent Seabrook (left) and the leadership of captain Jonathan Toews. (Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

With decades of disappointments behind them, the Vancouver Canucks and their fans had reason to believe that the team’s 40th season would be the one in which it would shake off its voodooed past like a dog shakes off water. They could point to the Presidents’ Trophy for the NHL’s best regular season record – a first in franchise history — as a sign that their luck had changed, and a deep roster that any GM would admire. Then the Canucks jumped out to a 3-0 series lead against the defending champion Blackhawks, the team that eliminated them in each of the last two seasons. They were on the train to glory.

That was eight days ago.

Tonight, the Canucks will fight for their playoff lives, having not won since as they flirt with the ignominious achievement of choking on a three-game lead in a best-of-seven series. (SI.com gallery: Epic playoff collapses.)  Their offensive motor has stalled, their defensive posture has been exposed, their special teams have not been very special and their goaltending appears to be in chaos.
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The emergence of the Ducks and Corey Perry (10) as a 50-goal scorer and bona fide Hart Trophy (MVP) candidate are among the many late-season surprises and thrills on tap this year. (AP Photos)

By Stu Hackel

There are times when a hockey blogger struggles to find something worthwhile to write about. You just run out of ideas. But now, 1,200 games have been played, only 30 remain, and when the regular season dwindles to a precious few days and the races for playoff positions — so hotly contested these last six months — hang on every shift, there is no shortage of storylines. In fact, there can be too many. Today is one of those days.

The NHL has taken to releasing daily fact sheets on the ultra-competitive nature of this season. One mind-boggling release shows just how wide-open the playoff races are four days shy of the finish line. Wanna know where your team will end up and who it might play in the first round? Fuhgetaboutit. It will go down to the last day.
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The young Rangers are up and coming, but Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews has had considerably less support to work with this season and it shows in his team’s play. (Scott Levy/NHLI via Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

Their seasons on the line, two Original Six teams found themselves in the eighth and final playoff spots in their respective conferences as the week began. The New York Rangers had only a two-point advantage on hard-charging Carolina in the East and needed a win on Monday night at home against Boston. By now, you probably know the Rangers trailed 3-0 before clawing their way back to victory and jumping into seventh. It was a game that had coach John Tortorella praising his team’s desire and fortitude, which he attributed in some measure to its youth and innocence (video).

The defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, on the other hand, are trying to hang on to their one-point advantage over Calgary in the West, and they skate tonight in Montreal. A year ago, the Hawks were a young, fresh club set to embark on the strong run that would culminate in the franchise’s first Cup in 49 years. Now, the rigors of salary cap management and significant injuries have shorn them of their innocence, not to mention the depth that served them so well last spring.

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