Those pricks over in Calgary have got it a lot worse. In this TSN video they try to predict the Flames' season. But what they don't give a lot of time, is their brutal offense.

Dawes and Rene Bourque are the top candidates to fill the left wing position on the top line.

Drama like ours is one thing - but the inability to put together a single descent offensive line, well that's a big problem.

Everyone said it'd be next season for the cap issues to start coming. Well guess what? They're here now.

Mirtle has a great post about teams' current situation. It also touches on the escro/spending issues that are occurring across the league.

He has Chicago sitting with about 4.6 million and 3 empty slots to be filled. Two of those spots are tentatively for Barker and Versteeg. What Chicago did with Bolland was raise the bar. Versteeg and his agent are going to want more than Bolland got. And I'm guessing Barker is going to want upwards of 2.5 million, maybe even 3 (the value of a PPQB is big).

Whatever the case, here's hoping Versteeg can stay. I don't think he's an offensive dynamo, but I do think he's a character guy that we need in the playoffs - when he's on the ice, he reminds me of JR with his willingness to go into those tough areas.

As far Barker goes... here's hoping someone signs him to a ridiculous offer sheet.

OH... and did anyone see the Rangers cap situation? 13 million left for 11 players? Good luck, Sather.

I don't have a link. What I do have is the memory of my mind. Sportsnet's ticker said the Chicago Blackhawks have called up Pascal Pelletier. He's Rockford's top scorer with 22 goals, 41 points in 46 games. Skille's been injured, so now the Ice Hogs are gonna be hurting for offense.

Speaking of hurting... have you looked at Niemi's numbers lately? 10-11-2, .906 S%, and a 2.64 GAA. Cory Crawford's still the backup for next season, I guess.

It's confirmed. Duncan is to miss the game tonight against the Rangers.

The hit was pretty nasty. Depending on the angle, it was clean, but at the same time it looked pretty dirty. The way Keith was skating back, it reminded me of Ron Francis when he got hit by Scott Stevens. Was not a pretty sight. Fortunately, a ref came over and gave Duncan a hand back to the bench.  

Eager jumped Stafford the next play and made sure he knew it wasn't appreciated. Eager got 6 minutes and the Blackhawks killed the consecutive minutes with relative ease (only allowing 2 shots).  

With Keith out I'm pretty scared. Considering he logs upwards of 24 minutes a game, it's hard to deny he's Chicago's best d-man. The last 8 games, he's had 8 points. This season, he's a +23 and has 26 points... and he plays serious minutes against the league's best offenders. Makes me wonder why Campbell was ever signed.

Keith is just as good offensively as he is defensively. Check this out.

Keith made a nothing play into a scoring chance. Could've dumped it in and let the fowards chase it, but he makes a heads up play and loops back and feeds Eager with a beauty. Sharp finishes it of course. That was actually from the same game that Dunc was hit.

If Chicago wants to keep up their pace, they're going to need a few of their d-man to step up.  

Barker is a -4 against marginal players. Johnson has played like crap of late, which is why he's up in the press box (that will change with Dunc's injury). Walker is slow, he's gotta limit his mistakes. Seabrook's gonna have to earn his contract, considering Keith is a big reason why Brent got the extension and $$$ that he did. Campbell is gonna have to limit his end-to-end rushes and just take care of business. And Wisniewski... well, he's played unbelievable since returning from injury - maybe Wiz will be the man that steps in while Keith is out (hopefully, for a short period of time).