Howard admitted recently that he will miss more than the two games that were initially reported thanks to a broken finger sustained against the Vancouver Canucks last Thursday in a 4-3 shootout victory for the Wings. While Howard said there is no timetable for his return, he believes that it could be as many as two weeks, but should be less than the four-to-six weeks doctors estimated.

“I haven’t been told two weeks,” Howard said, “but when they said four-to-six weeks (to heal), I was like there’s no chance I’m going to be out for six. Two weeks sounded right.”

Through the first half of the season, Howard shouldered an incredible load with 44 starts in 54 games. Howard leads the league with 32 wins and has solid stats this year with a 2.03 goals against average and a .924 save percentage.

His backup goalie, Ty Conklin, hasn’t fared as well. In nine games started this season, Conklin has looked inconsistent at best with only three wins with a 3.40 goals against average and a .878 save percentage – some of the worst stats of his career. Granted, with Howard playing so well, Conklin has been relegated to the bench for the most part, but Conklin has missed out on opportunities and failed to capitalize when he does get the nod.

After Howard’s injury last Thursday in Vancouver, Conklin got the start on Saturday night in Edmonton. He was pulled after the first period after surrendering three goals on nine shots against. Joey Macdonald, the Red Wings’ third string goalie, had a strong showing in relief of Conklin and helped the Wings fight back and earn a point in a shootout loss to the Oilers.

That strong showing earned Macdonald the start last night against the Phoenix Coyotes where Macdonald again looked good, but his defense did not. The Wings ended up losing their second straight by a score of 3-1.

The Wings have a .727 winning percentage when Howard starts. That percentage falls to .333 when Conklin starts. Macdonald has looked good in his brief NHL appearances, and he has been playing well for the Grand Rapids Griffins with 11 wins and a 2.63 goals against average along with a .913 save percentage. Still, the Wings may opt to upgrade their backup situation if better options become available before the trade deadline.

Rumors have linked the Wings with Islanders goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, whose $570,000 cap hit would still give the Wings plenty of room to make additional moves. The Wings attempted to sign Nabokov to a deal last year before the trade deadline, but the Islanders claimed his rights off waivers. Nabokov wants to play for a contender, and as an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season the Islanders will likely try to move him. Columbus Blue Jackets backup Curtis Sanford has also been mentioned as a possible target.

If nothing else, Howard’s injury will give the Wings a long look at their backup goaltending situation and allow coach Mike Babcock and general manager Ken Holland to assess their needs in net. For the first time in a long time, the Wings have significant salary cap space to make moves at the trade deadline. While fans would love the Red Wings to pursue a game-changing target such as Shea Weber, Zach Parise or even Alexander Semin, Holland stated that he will be active at the deadline, but will likely look to add complementary pieces to his team instead of pursuing big names. Could one of those complementary pieces be a backup goalie?

Last week at the NHL All-Star Game, Nashville Predators defenseman and pending unrestricted free agent Ryan Suter came out and stated bluntly that he will not be signing a contract extension with the Predators before the trade deadline. This immediately caused speculation that Suter intends to jump ship once he’s a free agent. But this may not be the case.

Many players will opt not to engage in contract negotiations after a certain period in the season – especially if the team continues to stay in the playoff hunt. Suter may fall into this category where he simply doesn’t want negotiations to shadow his play as the Predators look to secure a playoff berth.

“I want to focus on playing for Nashville,” Suter said to clarify his earlier comments. “We’ve got a good team and if we can add a couple of pieces here and there I think we have a legitimate chance of going to win the Stanley Cup.”

Suter’s clarification on his previous comments could be more telling of his intentions for the future than the initial comments themselves. While many jumped on the notion that Suter was basically saying he wanted to test the open market as a free agent, his clarification insinuates a different notion – that he wants to see how dedicated to winning Nashville really is.

At 27-years-old, Suter could be one of the most sought-after free agents this summer if he doesn’t sign an extension. And surely his willingness to sign will depend on what Nashville does at the trade deadline later this month.

Coming into the trade deadline, the Predators possess more than $14 million in cap space. However, the Predators have been incredibly reluctant to spend significantly in the past on free agent talent. After all, this is the team that was rumored to be offering Shea Weber $4.5 million per season in contract negotiations last summer. While that number may have just been a rumor, Nashville has still been behind the eight ball when it comes to attracting highly talented free agents thanks to their reluctance to spend significantly on high-end talent.

Weber himself will be a restricted free agent this summer, and, like Suter, his future with Nashville seems in flux because both players want to know that Nashville is willing to take the necessary steps toward building a winner. Before re-signing with the Predators, each player wants to know that the team is moving in the right direction. Otherwise they may look to jump ship for a team willing to do what it takes to win.

Nashville currently sits fourth in the Western Conference with an impressive 9-1-0 record over their past 10 games. The losses of Joel Ward and Steve Sullivan to free agency last summer, a combined total of 20 goals and 51 points, hasn’t seemed to effect the Predators greatly as they still rank 11^th in the NHL in goals scored per game. Still, Ryan Suter and Shea Weber remain vital parts of that team’s success and losing either of them could be a devastating blow.

It’s highly unlikely that either Suter or Weber gets traded at the trade deadline as some have speculated, but if Nashville intends to get serious about winning, this is the season to do it. The Predators are playing awesome hockey this season and are primed for a solid playoff run. Adding a talented scorer or maybe some scoring depth at the trade deadline could go a long way to help that cause. It could also go a long way toward convincing their own players how serious they are about winning both now, and in the future.

AP Photo/Richard Lipski

Carolina Hurricanes’ fans gave a collective sigh of relief last night as young forward Jeff Skinner has returned. Skinner, who has missed 16 games, was out because of a concussion.

The NHL continues its ongoing effort to curb head-shots, ultimately trying to remove concussions from the game. The charge to change the game for the better began last season as superstar Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins suffered a concussion, sidelining him for the last quarter of last season and out for the majority of this season.

Skinner’s return was a positive boost to the lineup of the Hurricanes as he continued where he left off. Playing two games so far, Skinner averaged 17:39 of ice time and picked up an assist in his second game. In time he will jump back up to his nearly 19 minutes a game norm.

Although Skinner’s return is a positive for the Hurricanes, the harsh reality is the team is in last place of the Eastern Conference. Last season the Hurricanes fell two points short of 8th place for the playoffs. This season the team will not make the playoffs even if a miracle happens. Very sad considering the team has such talent in Captain Eric Staal, Jussi Jokinen, Jeff Skinner, Joni Pitkanen and netminder Cam Ward. Major overhaul is in store for the team in the off-season, maybe even come trade deadline. From a fantasy perspective though, Skinner will still put up points to help out your team.

Teemu Selanne, quit playing games with the fans Sir. Commit to a year or don't, no in between.

Rick DiPietro – New York Islanders goalie at the age of 30 has seen better days. Playing only 47 games dating back to the 2008-2009 NHL season, and now out for most of the rest of the season with surgery to repair a sports hernia, how much play does he really have left? DiPietro signed a 15-year, $67.5 million dollar contract before the 2006-2007 season. If the Islanders can opt-out of the agreement because he is unfit to do the job, maybe then they can continue with their youth movement and start winning some games.

Chris Pronger – Pronger has had a good run of being one of the dirtiest, biggest and toughest defenseman in the league to go up against. Nowadays though, he has turned into that old guy at drop-in who can’t really skate anymore so he slashes the heck out of you. That is of course until his concussion like symptoms after taking a stick to the eye from Toronto Maple Leafs’ Mikhail Grabovski. The snow-ball effect kicked in and eventually Pronger had knee surgery that is seeing him sidelined for the remainder of the season. His age has set in and everyone would respect him for retiring, knowing that Pronger is Hall of Fame bound, won Gold medals as well as the Stanley Cup and that he could kick the crap out of you and me with one hand tied behind his back.

Teemmu Selanne – When you think of Selanne you can’t help but be amazed that the 41 year old put up 80 points in 73 games last season. Absolutely amazing. But, with every great thing comes something bad. Selanne is bordering the Brett Favre of the NHL. (besides that of Peter Forsberg) Selanne continues to go year by year, not letting the Anaheim Ducks or any team know if he plans on playing. That’s great when he does play, but what happens when he just retires when the Ducks are leaving a roster spot open for him? Leaves them high and dry. Time to hang ‘em up or quite playing games in the off-season.

The Penguins entered the season with one of the best teams on paper. Evgeni Malkin, James Neal, Kris Letang, Marc-Andre Fleury and team Captain and leader Sidney Crosby. Well, they still look good on paper, and even good on the ice, yet injuries have hit the team hard. To date, Jordan Staal sustained a knee injury and will be out 4-6 weeks. Kris Letang has been diagnosed with a concussion and his return date is unknown. And Sidney Crosby is out indefinitely with concussion-like symptoms. Will the injuries ever stop?

The team has faced such adversity before as last season the team went without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin for lengthy period of time. The team responded to the pressure, ending second in their division and fourth place overall within the Eastern Conference with a 106 point count. This season however, the team seems to be folding under the pressure.

Defenseman Brent Orpik, a voice of the locker room emphasizes the team’s need for accountability. ”The accountability in this room has to be a lot better. We aren’t reacting to adversity very well right now. You can’t feel sorry for yourselves.”

The team will look to rebound in the coming month of January but with a tough schedule ahead of them. The month brings games against unexpectedly good Florida Panthers, St. Louis Blues and the Toronto Maple Leafs; all teams who are currently in playoff spots. Surprisingly “easier” match-ups will be against the struggling Tampa Bay Lightning, Carolina Hurricanes and the still undecided Washington Capitals.

If the Penguins end this month out of a playoff spot, the long climb back might be too much for this team to handle.

The original problem came about because the Atlanta Thrashers, an Eastern Conference team, moved to Winnipeg where they should be a Western Conference team. Thus, an easy solution for this problem would be to move one team East to replace Winnipeg. That’s likely the route that the Board of Governors will attempt to take with a new realignment plan. But which team should move East?

The Detroit Red Wings, Columbus Blue Jackets, Nashville Predators and Dallas Stars all expressed interest in switching conferences. Of all of these candidates, Dallas is the western-most team, which makes it unlikely that they will move to the Eastern Conference ahead of teams that are physically located further east than Dallas.

Winnipeg would likely join the Central Division, meaning that Detroit, Nashville or Columbus would have to move to accommodate the Jets. Supposedly Detroit was promised a spot in the East if the opportunity came about. But with such a big fan base spread country-wide, several franchises in the West would be reluctant to lose Detroit and the fans they draw when they come to play. Much to the dismay of Detroit fans who have to endure late-night playoff games against Western Conference foe, Detroit probably will not move East any time soon.

This leaves Nashville and Columbus. If Columbus moves, it would make sense to put them in the Northeast Division or the Atlantic Division where they would be physically closer to their division opponents. But this move would create a chain reaction that displaces teams and causes each division in the East to realign until someone can fill the spot vacated by the Thrashers in the Southeast Division – most likely Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, two teams the NHL won’t want to split up thanks to their long standing, in-state rivalry.

The most likely option then would be to move the Nashville Predators directly into the Southeast Division. The Predators are currently the closest team to the other teams in the Southeast Division, and their travel to Florida to face the Lightning or Panthers wouldn’t be any worse than what Washington currently endures. The move would keep the two-conference, six-division format that the players are used to and would keep the same playoff format. Plus, this would be an easy implementation for the league by basically plugging Nashville into Winnipeg’s old spot. There’s no reason why this couldn’t be approved and implemented next season with the schedule makers basically swapping Nashville for Winnipeg on the schedule.

With a complete, league-wide realignment plan vetoed by the NHLPA, the Board of Governors will probably look to make a simple switch that brings one team East and moves Winnipeg West where they ought to be. In terms of travel and location, moving Nashville into the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference makes the most sense.

To Detroit.

In five Winter Classic games, the Western Conference has only hosted one. That came in 2009 when the Detroit Red Wings bested the Chicago Blackhawks 6-4 at Wrigley Field. The other four games have all been intra-conference matchups with Eastern Conference teams. Logically, the NHL and NBC should go back West. And Detroit would be the perfect spot to do it.

Cold, gray, and one of the most successful NHL franchises of the past two decades, Detroit would be the perfect setting for the next NHL Winter Classic. Plus, the NHL would have their pick of venues for the annual contest. If they wanted to stay within the confines of the city, Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers, would be a perfect place to set up shop. However, if the NHL really wanted to go big and continue to raise the stakes, they would move west just down the freeway and take the game to Michigan Stadium where they could cram in more than 100,000 spectators while playing the game on one of the most storied football fields in college football history.

So now you have the Detroit Red Wings involved, one of the most popular NHL franchises in recent history, along with one of the biggest venues in the nation. So who does the NHL choose to bring in as an opponent for this event? While the NHL certainly has their pick of the litter, two teams immediately come to mind: San Jose and Toronto.

The Sharks have been a thorn in the side of the Red Wings for several seasons now. The teams have met in the playoffs in each of the past two seasons and both times the Sharks defeated the Wings. Both teams are highly skilled, puck-possession teams with big name talent on their rosters. Plus, finally bringing in a West-coast team could garner the game more attention from West coast fans that have thus far had no reason to really tune into the game.

The other opponent could be the Toronto Maple Leafs and, all things considered, this is the most likely. Not only would a Toronto-Detroit matchup bring together two Original Six teams for one of the biggest NHL events of the year, but it would also finally get a Canadian team involved in the matchup. Plus, Toronto is a four-hour drive to Detroit and tons of fans would be willing to make the trek. The arena would easily be just as many Maple Leafs fans as Red Wings fans.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman refuses to tip his hand as to whom the next host city and opponent could be, but what he has said might indicate that Detroit could be in the running for the game.

“My guess is it will be played in a place we have not been before,” Bettman said. “So, therefore, in the U.S., you’ve eliminated five locations. You can play with the other 25, play with geography and understand that temperature is a factor…You can eliminate some of the warmer climates. We are not probably going to go back to where we have been.”

That statement also leaves Minnesota, Winnipeg, Toronto, Columbus, New Jersey and several other cities in the running for the game as well. But none of those teams would be as big of a draw as the Red Wings, and none of those host cities could offer a location like The Big House where they could cram in more than 100,000 spectators – something that even Leafs forward Nazem Kadri wants to be a part of.

I think at the Michigan stadium — what does it hold, like 100,000-plus?” said Kadri. “That would be a ridiculous game to be a part of. It would be a dream come true.”

What do you think? Which matchups do you most want to see for next year’s NHL Winter Classic?

The Senators had an overhaul in the off-season by hiring new Head Coach Paul Maclean. Maclean came from a much talented Detroit Red Wings to a rather depth deprived, lacking intensity Ottawa Senators. His intentions were to bring a Detroit style of play with an increased grit and toughness. So far, the change seems to be helping.

Jumping out of the gate this season the Senators won one game our of their first six. Bouncing back, the team won six in a row to close out October. November turned into be a little of a struggle, only winning five games of the twelve which the losing ways carried into December. The team seems to be righting the ship though with a possibility of winning their fourth game in a row, and close out three remaining games in December with wins.

Like every team in the NHL, the team’s success is directly tied to the play of the veterans. Captain Daniel Alfredsson is currently on a roll with 7 points in his last three games. Assistant Captain Jason Spezza still continues to be the backbone of the team with 37 points in 35 games and leading all forwards on the Senators with an average of 19:47 minutes of ice time a game. Young, but now considered a veteran, defender Erik Karlsson has an impressive 33 points in 35 games and a plus minus of zero with his team leading 25 minutes and 22 seconds average per game. That ice time happens to be 11th most in the league.

The Senators are on a roll and hope to continue that into the holiday and into the new year. Whether or not they are capable of doing so is another thing. The team continues to have injury problems from star players like Alfredsson and Milan Michalek, as well as a shaky 3.32 goals against average netminder in Craig Anderson. Will the Senators make playoffs? Not quite sure. Is it possible? Considering the Eastern Conference is all out of sorts with the Washington Capitals and the Tampa Bay Lightning both out of a playoff spot currently, you never quite know what can happen.

The team is 2-7-1 over their last 10 games and lingers near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. The team fired their head coach last week and then followed up that move by trading defenseman Tomas Kaberle to the Montreal Canadiens, a player they signed as a free agent over the summer to a three-year deal. With all this going on, it appears more and more likely that the Hurricane’s are gearing up for something big.

That something big could be an implosion.

The team traded away Kaberle to the Montreal Canadiens for Jaroslav Spacek in return. Carolina arguably got the short end of the stick as Spacek is older (37 as opposed to 33) and offers less offensively than Kaberle is capable of producing.  So why would Carolina want to take him on?

Trade bait.

Spacek is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Despite his advanced age, he remains a proven NHL veteran and could add depth to the blue line of a team looking to make a deep playoff run. If a trade occurs, Carolina could stock up on draft picks and prospects in exchange for Spacek.

The Kaberle/Spacek trade could have signaled the beginning of a rebuilding process in Carolina. Spacek could be the first piece, and players like Alex Panikarovski, Tim Gleason and Tuomo Ruutu could also be trade bait come trade deadline time.

The real issue, however, is how far the Hurricanes are willing to go in their rebuilding process. Mainly, will they shop current captain Eric Staal?

Staal was drafted second overall in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the Hurricanes and has basically been the face of the franchise since. He has scored 30 or more goals in five of his seven NHL seasons, and twice tallied 40 or more. Not to mention that Staal, at 27-years-old, is right in the prime of his career and will be for several more seasons.

What could make Staal expandable is another young star on the Carolina roster. Jeff Skinner came into the league last season as an 18-year-old rookie and not only won a roster spot, but went on to contribute 31 goals and 63 points en route to winning the Calder Trophy as the NHL Rookie of the Year. This season, Skinner basically picked up where he left off and currently leads the Hurricanes in goals (12) and points (24).

Could the success of Skinner prompt the Hurricanes to trade away Eric Staal? After all, Staal makes $8.25 million a season while Skinner is only in his second season of an entry-level contract that pays him $1.4 million per year. After next season, Skinner will become a restricted free agent and Carolina could try to lock him up long term for a cap-friendly figure. A player of Staal’s caliber could warrant a significant return and help speed up the rebuilding process for Carolina.

Still, Staal trade speculation remains far-fetched. But the general likelihood that Carolina enters a rebuilding phase appears more probable with each loss this season. The team has two legitimate stars in Staal and Skinner and is set in goal with Cam Ward. The team needs to find a way to surround their stars with capable secondary scoring and a legitimate blue line. Carolina is second worst in the NHL in goals allowed per game with 3.38 and 20^th in the league in goals scored per game with 2.5. It’s becoming clear that Carolina just doesn’t have the pieces of the puzzle to be a legitimate contender.

The Spacek trade may have been the first step, but it likely will not be the last move for Carolina this season. An implosion and a move toward rebuilding may be a necessary step now if Carolina intends to build a winner for the future.

It's OK, I can bet on games unlike someone else...

Hockey World Blog will be taking a trip to Las Vegas and asks for our readership’s help. Well, 1/4 of HWB that is.

This Saturday I will be in Vegas and plan on placing some wagers on the games. Although I feel I have an idea of who’s hot and who’s not, it is always nice to get a few other opinions.

First, understanding how to bet. I plan to bet on the moneyline, those of which are not determined. The best way to explain a moneyline is to give an example. Last night’s game between the Boston Bruins and the Ottawa Senators had a moneyline of Bruins -190 and Senators +165. This is saying that the Bruins are favored in the matchup. If you are to bet $190 on the Bruins, you will win $100. On the flip side, if you are to bet $100 on the Senators, you will win $165.

Further complexing the moneyline, you are able to parlay your bet. A parlay is a multiple-team bet in which you pick anywhere from 2-10 games and you need to hit on every one of them in order for the total bet to be a success. The payouts for these types of bets escalate based on the number of individual games you add, where a two-team parlay pays out around 2.5-to-1 and a 10-teamer hits at about 300-to-1. For example, say a bettor likes the Edmonton Oilers +160 and the Florida Panthers -130. If the bettor places a $10 wager, they essentially would have a $10 bet on the Oilers +160, which will return $26 should the Oilers win, and then would have $26 on the Panthers -130. Should the Panthers also win, the bettor has turned a $10 wager into $46. Adding a little more math to the mix, to figure out winnings, it is best to turn the odds into decimals. To do this, for positive odds such as +160, you would take 160/100 to get 1.6. Multiply 1.6 by your bet amount ($10) to win $16 on top of your bet of $10 to come up with the $26. If the odds are negative, such as -130, you would take 100/130 to equal .77. Multiple .77 by the $26 to win $20, add the $26 bet and you now have your $46.

OK, tough stuff is out of the way. The fact is the moneylines have yet to be set for Saturday’s games so I am unable to truthfully figure out any winnings on bets placed. I do however need to know what our readers think of the matchups. Out of the games listed below for Saturday, let me know what 3 games you would pick for individual moneylines. Also, pick one parlay of 3 teams. The games are as follows:

Boston @ Philadelphia
Vancouver @ Toronto
New Jersey @ Montreal
Buffalo @ Pittsburgh
Anaheim @ Winnipeg
Los Angeles @ Detroit
Tampa Bay @ Columbus
St. Louis @ Nashville
NY Islanders @ Minnesota
NY Rangers @ Phoenix
Washington @ Colorado
Edmonton @ San Jose