from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

• Why Detroit should win the Stanley Cup: Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski and Niklas Kronwall are better than any single Pittsburgh defenceman.

• Smart: Hiring Pat Quinn to coach the Edmonton Oilers. Smarter: Hiring Tom Renney to assist him. And now that GM Steve Tambellini has fixed his coaching staff, all he has to do is fix his messed-up roster.

• An NHL scout on pending free agent Jay Bouwmeester: “The hardest thing to do is evaluate a defenceman on a bad team. I don’t think anybody really knows how good this guy is.”

more hockey notes…