from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

- Jinx alert: Heading into Wednesday’s games, there is only one player in the NHL who has been on ice for at least 80 minutes in all situations and not suffered through a goal against. That is Anaheim’s Rickard Rakell (107:48, 4-0 Ducks). He does kill penalties, and Buffalo’s lethal man-advantage is in town. There are only two players who have played 100 five-on-five minutes and not been scored upon. They are Anaheim’s Cam Fowler (101:57, 6-0 Ducks) and Tampa Bay’s Ryan McDonagh (100:46, 4-0 Lightning). Jordan Staal was in the conversation, but that ended with Pierre-Luc DuBois’ game-winner for Columbus last Saturday. (Source: Natural Stat Trick.)

- One thing I’m hearing a lot: the bottom of the Eastern Conference is much, much better than a year ago. “Those teams are improved,” one scout said. “There won’t be as many (higher-seeded clubs) coasting to the playoffs, like a few of them were used to.”

- Ottawa owner Eugene Melnyk halted the search for a President of Hockey Operations until at least the end of the season. What is uncertain is if the search will continue, or if GM Pierre Dorion’s work convinces Melnyk that no new hire is necessary. It is believed Melnyk was asking an experienced executive for suggestions (I’d heard Glen Sather), but we can’t be sure if that will continue, either.

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