from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- Phil Kessel is fourth in the NHL in scoring, probably having his greatest offensive season, and ahead of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in points. And he’s not at the NHL All-Star game. Odd … Also odd: Brian Boyle at the All-Star game. Boyle is a fine man, a terrific teammate. He’s going through a very difficult time fighting leukemia. Everyone is cheering for him. But he’s no All-Star and he’d be the first to tell you he’s no All-Star.

- Not all is well between general manager Stan Bowman and coach Joel Quenneville in Chicago, nor has it been for awhile. But the belief here is, if the Blackhawks don’t make the playoffs, Bowman will be saying goodbye to the legendary Quenneville when the season ends.

- Among the reasons the NHL wouldn’t allow players to go to the Olympics: They didn’t want to stop the season and extend the playoffs. So they give players a four-day break at Christmas, and a five-day break courtesy of collective bargaining and a six-day break for the all-star game, followed by a condensed schedule the rest of the way. In other words, 15 days off. Which is basically the Olympic break .

more