Streaks. Realignment.

So if the Detroit Red Wings are the hottest team in the league, why does nearly all NHL news center around Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin? Ovechkin has 18 points (8G, 10A), and is a -6, while the alleged second coming of Gretzky has 11 points (2G, 9A) in his injury shortened season. To be fair, we will leave Cindy out of the equation. Would it surprise anyone to know that Valtteri Filppula is ahead of Ovechkin in scoring, and tied with Niklas Lidstrom for total points? That's right...a superstar forward is TIED with a defenseman in scoring. Of course, he is tied with the Perfect Human, but I don't hear anyone crowing on the NHL channel about how great Nik Lidstrom is, but I hear plenty about Ovechkin and how bad he is sucking this year.

Likewise, I hear a lot about Tim Thomas and Ryan Miller but what about Wings goalie Jimmy Howard? He's only the league leader in wins, and has a GAA of 1.83, which put him well ahead of "household" names such as Lunqvist, Thomas, Miller, and Luongo. He even plays without a helmet! (see picture) Of course the whistle was blown immediately, but he stood in and made the save on the shot that came just before the whistle blew (again, see picture).

Whatever. At the end of the season the talking heads will be speaking in amazed tones about how the Wings "slid in under the radar" and "quietly" did this or that, and "how did they do that without having a 50 goal scorer?" Hell with em. I guess the Wings will just continue to play in the shadows until we get another Steve Yzerman. Who, by the way, gets very little ink in his own right. Which is just the way he likes it.

Oh, and the Wings are on a league high 7 game streak, too.

So on to realignment. Here's my take: Bring back the old time divisions! Like this, only changed to reflect that there are now 30 teams:

Campbell Conference
Norris Division
Detroit
St. Louis
Chicago
Minnesota
Toronto
Winnipeg
Dallas
Edmonton

Smythe Division
San Jose
Phoenix
Calgary
Los Angeles
Vancouver
Colorado
Anaheim

Prince of Wales Conference
Patrick Division
Philadelphia
Washington
NY Islanders
NY Rangers
New Jersey
Pittsburgh
Carolina
Nashville

Adams Division
Montreal
Ottawa
Buffalo
Boston
Florida
Tampa Bay
Columbus



Just do it. Don't think about it. The original reason that the NHL changed all this was to "attract casual viewers" and to "simplify" the league. Well, I'm here to tell you that hockey fans are not idiots. If I could keep track of the divisions as a 9 year old, I am sure that fans wouldn't have a problem today. Look, everyone that was in a division is still there (for example, the Wings were in the Norris, and still will be), and there are 4 divisions, just like the NHL is proposing now. Everyone gets a home and home, and the top eight from each conference still go to the playoffs. Travel is equalized by the "every team plays the other at least twice" theory. AND, as an extra added bonus, new fans will actually know WHY the Clarence Campbell trophy and the Prince of Wales trophy were given those names. The league is strong on tradition, so why not? As I said before, just do it.

Don't think about it.

C'mon Gary......you KNOW you want to....