from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal,

• If you win the Art Ross Trophy, you almost always win the Hart Trophy as well.

In six of the last seven seasons, the NHL scoring champion gets it with the only blip on the screen being Evgeni Malkin as the Art Ross winner in 2009 when Alex Ovechkin beat him out for the Hart.

But this season, I think Anaheim Ducks forward Corey Perry edges out Vancouver Canucks star Daniel Sedin.

• Here’s a sobering thought: There are more California teams (three) in the playoffs than Canadian teams (two) this spring with only the Canucks and Canadiens waving our flag and trying to end an 18-year Stanley Cup drought. As Bobby Ryan so aptly put it, “I guess California’s the place to be.”

even more notes…

Also from Matheson,

Not sure why the Calgary Flames just aren’t taking away the interim GM tag from Jay Feaster until after the Stanley Cup final, which is about two weeks from the NHL entry draft. That seems pretty lame to me. Biggest problem in Calgary, of course, is the dollars and cents. They have 17 guys under contract for next year at $56 million US. They can send Ales Kotalik and Niklas Hagman to Europe and eat their salaries, which wouldn’t count against the cap, but there’ll have to be some slicing and dicing here for Feaster, who deserves the official nameplate.

additional points…