from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

- He’s only 20, but Aleksander Barkov may be the second coming of Toews in a lesser sort of way. He’s not a huge scorer for the Florida Panthers, but he does everything well in three zones and he’s getting better.

- Can’t take the Edmonton Oilers completely seriously until they start winning some road games. They lead the NHL with 12 regulation-time losses on the road.

- Without a Brett Hull or a Jeremy Roenick, is there a great player interview in the NHL? Steven Stamkos is solid. Roberto Luongo does fine. But is there anyone out there funny and outspoken and a little bit outrageous, the way Hull and Roenick were?

- ... the Red Wings have abandoned their usual development patterns with rookie Dylan Larkin, who was drafted seven spots after the Leafs chose Nylander.

Larkin made himself impossible to cut in training camp and has only followed that up by being among the leaders in NHL rookie scoring and looking like the player the Red Wings will build around for the next decade or so.

Teams have to be wondering about their scouting departments when Larkin walks right out of Michigan and into the NHL, while high draft picks such as the New York Islanders’ Michael Dal Colle, fifth overall, taken 10 spots ahead of Nylander, is looking to be on the decline and was recently cut by Team Canada juniors.

more short notes plus a look at Ryan Getzlaf's year....