from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

- So choosing between Semyon Varlamov, Michal Neuvirth and Braden Holtby, the Caps wound up with Jaro Halak, now three months away from unrestricted free agency.

Varlamov, a likely Finalist for the Vezina who could become not only the second straight Russian to win it, but the second straight Russian to win it after being traded by his original team (a la Sergei Bobrovsky), wound up being traded for what essentially became 62 games of two-goal production by Martin Erat.

Owner Ted Leonsis likely is to take note of that when deciding the future of GM George McPhee, whose Caps teams have won a total of three playoff rounds without ever getting as far as the conference finals since Alex Ovechkin joined the team in 2005-06.

- Craig Berube has done a fine job behind the Flyers’ bench since replacing Peter Laviolette, no doubt about that, but it is a two-man-race for the Adams as Coach of the Year between the Red Wings’ Mike Babcock and the Avalanche’s Patrick Roy.

- Finally, all those stories that focus on this team’s or that team’s percentage-based chance of making the playoffs that of course dramatically changes with one or two victories?

There’s a 100-percent chance you should pay no attention to them.

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