Nail Yakupov channeled Theo Fleury in his tying goal against the Kings back in January. (Andy Devlin/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

I always have the best intentions at the beginning of each season to make a running tab of the moments most worth remembering. And, much like my determination to get back into game shape, it hasn’t happened yet.

Still, it wasn’t too hard to come up with a list now that we’re at season’s end. The games offered enough highlights–and lowlights–to fill a full-length schedule. Here are my favorites:

The Yakupov Slide: With the goalie pulled and Edmonton trailing Los Angeles by one back in January, Nail Yakupov crafted the signature moment of his rookie season: batting a Taylor Hall rebound out of midair and putting it behind Kings goalie Jonathan Quick with just 4.7 seconds left on the clock. He took a lot of grief for his spontaneous Theo Fleury impression, but it was a beautiful tally at a key moment. That’s exactly the kind of goal that calls for an over-the-top celly (yep, celly). You want to follow a sport that’s had all the life sucked out of it? Watch the NFL.

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By Allan Muir

Roberto Luongo wasn’t asking anyone to feel sorry for him.

But it’s kind of hard not to, right?

Just minutes after being pulled of the ice from practice, only to learn he hadn’t been traded, the reluctant Canuck opened up about his disappointment in a painfully human post-trade deadline press conference on Wednesday.

It made for riveting theater as he grappled with his emotions about remaining with a team that won’t play him but couldn’t find anyone willing to take him off its hands.

Not that there wasn’t interest. Talks with the Maple Leafs went right to the final minute before breaking down when the Canucks reportedly refused to assume a portion of Luongo’s remaining $40 million in salary.

If a part of him had held out hope that there was a way around that massive hurdle, it was gone by the time he stepped in front of the gathered press.

“My contract sucks,” he said. “That’s what the problem is. It’s a big factor in trading me. It’s why I’m still here.

“I’d scrap it if I could right now.”

It had to be a humbling admission. That 12-year, $64 million deal he signed in September 2009 has already given him a boatload of dough and will give him boatloads more. It’s enough to buy anything but the one thing he wants most: a chance to earn it.

Luongo has been beaten fairly by Cory Schneider for Vancouver’s starting job. That stings, but he can accept it. And maybe he can handle the smackdown of the minimal return the Leafs offered for him — back-up Ben Scrivens and a pair of second-rounders.

What really hurts is that the line of suitors that were hoping to secure his services never materialized in the off-season. And that teams facing obvious needs at the deadline decided to go with younger, cheaper options.

He’s certainly not the first to feel that particular rejection in this economy. But that doesn’t make it any less humiliating.

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By Allan Muir

Violence. Potty humor. Gift giving. Slam poetry.

The boys at TSN captured the complex and competitive relationship of Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider in a between-periods segment during the Canucks-Predators game last night that revealed the duo as the finest comedy team since Carrey and Daniels.

Doesn’t matter how much you hate the Vancouver Canucks. If you’re not rooting for these two crazy kids to somehow beat the odds and find happiness together, your heart is more shriveled and blackened than Jeremy Jacobs’.

It clearly wasn’t one of the better days in Roberto Luongo’s NHL career. (Dave Reginek/NHLI via Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

These are dark times for comedy. The doors have been shuttered at 30 Rock. Curb Your Enthusiasm is in creative limbo. People watch Two and a Half Men on purpose. Adam Sandler keeps making movies.

Dark, dark times…

But there is hope. All we need is for Roberto Luongo to suck at hockey. Not all the time, of course. Maybe just one spectacularly bad moment every now and then.

We realize Canucks fans may not be on board with this plan. And honestly, Luongo’s played so well this season that we can’t really count on his cooperation, either.

But when things fall apart for the veteran stopper, as they did Sunday when he was lit up for eight goals by the Red Wings, comedy gold ensues:

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Could Robert Luongo be headed to Washington? A potential deal makes sense for both sides. (Ben Nelms/Reuters)

By Allan Muir

There are plenty of good reasons for gentlemen of culture to visit Washington this time of year: the museums, the Auto Show, Restaurant Week, the International Wine Festival. So it’s possible that Mike Gillis and Lawrence Gilman were in D.C. for any or all of those and figured they’d stop in at the Capitals-Penguins game just to top off a fabulous weekend.

But probably not.

When scouts from a team at the center of every other trade rumor show up in another building on the opposite side of the country, it could mean anything or nothing. That sort of thing happens all the time.

But when the general manager and assistant GM show up, there’s probably a very specific purpose for their visit.

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Should he stay or should he go? Roberto Luongo is valuable to the Canucks either way. (Bob Frid/Icon SMI)

By Allan Muir

• Maybe they can get that Strombone guy in return. If Vancouver GM Mike Gillis is saying on record that there’s a provisional deal in place for Roberto Luongo, the early season’s biggest drama must be about to close. Or not. Who knows. Key point is buried at the end of the column: Luongo’s been the consummate pro during all this trade speculation, preventing the process from turning into a soap opera. This time around, being the anti-Tim Thomas is a good thing.

• Let’s not discount this free beer idea. The special warmup jerseys and pregame speeches were swell, but the healing process actually began with a competitive effort last night in Columbus. New GM John Davidson promised that his team wouldn’t be outworked, and the Jackets backed him up in theirt 3-2 shootout loss to Detroit.  A consistent, focused effort will go a long way in C-bus…at least for now…

• Must be the cooking. The Leafs have lost 12 of 14 at the ACC after being dropped 2-1 by the Sabres last night. At least it was a freebie for season-ticket holders.

• All things being equal, I’d take the blond. Ian Mendes has the scoop on the best behind-the-bench distraction since Taylor Stevens.

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Cory Schneider allowed five goals in 14 minutes in his first season-opening start. (Jeff Vinick/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

• Game of the night: Oilers at Canucks, 9 p.m. EST. Nail Yakupov, Justin Schultz and the impossibly young Edmonton Oilers make their season debut tonight in Vancouver, where a goalie controversy smolders after Cory Schneider’s ascension from beloved backup to team-leading starter went a little less smoothly than planned. Not that he was a sieve in Saturday’s 7-3 loss to Anaheim, exactly, but the three goals he allowed on four second period shots gave off a distinct, Hardy Astrom-like odor. To be fair, the blame should be pinned equally on the other 18 Canucks who morphed into traffic cones every time Teemu Selanne touched the puck, but that’s not the way it works, is it? No word on tonight’s starter yet after Roberto Luongo was equally sketchy in relief, but coaching logic suggests you throw Schneider back to the wolves. This is his team now, and he needs a chance to grab the reins.

The Oilers had more players active in the lockout than any other team, so they should be ready to come out of the gate fast. Of course, they started 8-2-2 last year and they still managed to find their way into the cellar. Yakupov and Schultz will be the center of attention in their NHL debuts. Schultz was the AHL’s best player with 48 points and a surprisingly composed defensive game, but he still has a lot to learn on the back end. His gaffes could cancel out his creativity in the early going. Yakupov, who alternated between dull and listless at the World Junior Championships last month, will skate on a stout second line with Sam Gagner and Ales Hemsky, behind a stacked first unit of Taylor Hall, Ryan-Nugent Hopkins and Jordan Eberle. They’ll produce, but the question is how well they’ll defend. Edmonton needs Ryan Whitney to be a beast to keep the Canucks in check. We’ll see about that.

Prediction: 5-4 Vancouver

Key Tweet:

Can't wait!!! “@NHL: #Canucks fans, are you ready to see Cory Schneider as No. 1 in net? #hockeyisback”—
Strombone (@strombone1) January 18, 2013

Once upon a time with the Buffalo Sabres, Dominik Hasek was the best goaltender on the planet, but not even he expects a return that multiple Vezina Trophy-winning form at the ripe old age of 47. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

Will goaltenders Dominik Hasek and Cristobal Huet actually return to the NHL and can they really play goal in the game’s best league despite their advancing years and seasons spent overseas? They think so.

Hasek, the 47-year-old former all-world goalie who Ken Campbell of The Hockey News last month ranked as the top European born player of all time, and Huet, who will be 36 in September and was really a journeyman (albeit a well-paid one), have both sought to return to North America and are hoping some team will consider giving them a chance.

We tend to think of the post-lockout NHL as a young man’s league, with many of its top stars achieving that status in their early 20s, if not as teenagers. And then you have to pause and consider the great seasons that some older players logged in 2011-12. Teemu Selanne had another productive season at 41 and is coming back for more. Ray Whitney at 39 had a terrific campaign with the Coyotes, earning a Second Team All-Star selection — and a new UFA contract with Dallas. Daniel Alfredsson, who will turn 40 in December, continues to lead the Senators as their top rightwinger.  Nick Lidstrom, who turned 41 in April, was in the discussion for the Norris Trophy in his final NHL season. And after a three-year absence from the NHL, 39-year-old Jaromir Jagr played well enough for the Flyers that the Stars gave him a UFA deal this summer.

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It’s ironic that the Predators lost Ryan Suter and may be unable to keep his star defense partner Shea Weber (right) at a time when tight finances are no longer a big issue for the franchise. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

The earth didn’t exactly shake and the sun didn’t rise in the West, but something pretty unusual has transpired since the opening of free agency on July 1. None of the NHL’s high profile, high revenue clubs made off with the best players available.

We’d all become conditioned to the big clubs getting the big names. The list always begins with hockey’s premier franchises — the Original Six, plus the Penguins, Flyers, Canucks, Sharks, Stars and maybe one or two others. As Billie Holiday wrote and sang long ago, “Them that’s got shall get, Them that’s not shall lose,” a colloquial way of saying the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It’s pretty much true in life and that’s how we expect it to go down in the NHL, too.

But here are Zach Parise and Ryan Suter dressed not in the sweaters of the Penguins or Red Wings or Blackhawks, but the Minnesota Wild! Add the Oilers’ signing of college defenseman Justin Schultz, a Western Canadian product hotly pursued by numerous NHL clubs once his draft rights with Anaheim expired. And, on Wednesday night, the Lightning joined the party by inking former Flyer Matt Carle who, right after Suter, was in the next tier of ardently sought d-men with Schultz and Jason Garrison.

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Where free agent defenseman Ryan Suter goes is anyone’s guess, but the Predators will do all they can to keep him. (John Russell/NHLI via Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

The gun goes off at noon on Sunday for the start of NHL Free Agency and we’ll be here that morning to begin our live blog of the day’s action. Considering the high volume of rumors and conjecture this year, it could be one of the wilder July 1′s for hockey in a while.

So here’s a quick look at what spots each team is seeking to fill going into the offseason, some of which they’ll try to address on the open market. Below are the Western Conference teams.  The Eastern Conference teams can be found here. To see the players who are available in free agency, go to TSN.ca.

DUCKS – They have lots of cap space, but lots of needs: improve their defense corps, their secondary scoring and their depth forwards. With Teemu Selanne still undeclared for next season, the Ducks have only Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Bobby Ryan and Saku Koivu under contract for next season when it comes to productive forwards, and not much beyond them. And they’re contemplating dealing Ryan. There’s talk they’d like a second line center, a move that would bump the aging Koivu down to the third line, although Teemu (if he returns) likes playing with Saku. But it’s on D that Anaheim really needs help, and a first-rate shutdown defenseman should be high on their list.

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