Is there a better time of year to be a hockey fan right now?

The consensus number one pick of the upcoming 2008 NHL Entry Draft is Sarnia Sting Center Steven Stamkos. With the Tampa Bay Lightning holding that pick it has been obvious that the club would select Stamkos. How obvious?

The hardest thing to do is eliminate a team from the playoffs when their down to their last game and last chance to stay alive, because their going to give their best shot. While you would expect there to be veteran leadership on any team, there are just certain players who are special and have another kind of aura about them that motivates their team.

After defeating the New York Rangers 5-3 tonight, the Pittsburgh Penguins extended their playoff winning streak to 7 straight games. It is the first time since the 1994 Rangers that a team has won their first 7 playoff games and it's only the eleventh time it has been done in NHL history.

Up until this point in the playoffs, things have gone pretty much the way I expected. The one thing I wasn't expecting, was how well the Dallas Stars would be playing.

Earlier on in the season, I wrote an article entitled 2008: Canada 's Cup? I figured that 4 of the 6 teams North of the border would make the playoffs, only 3 of them did. (See Vancouver tanking at the end of the regular season.) Now there is only one out of those three teams left.

Recently I ranked the Top 10 Hockey Fights on Youtube. In that ranking, there was a great hockey fight rivalry between Tai Domi and Bob Probert included. There seems to be a new battle of heavyweights in the NHL brewing right now, and while it may never measure up to the 9 fights Domi and Probert had against each other during their career's, Andre Roy and Riley Cote just seem to have that passionate hockey hate for each other. Last night in the Flyers 3-2 victory over the Lightning, these two went at it, twice during the game, and the fight even made Sportscenter's Top 10, thanks for some hockey play ESPN!

The Washington Capitals started tonight in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, still trying to push for the playoffs. Taking on the Boston Bruins, the Alexander Ovechkin led Caps looked like the best team in the East.

Now that the trade deadline has come and gone, and there has been about a week for each teams newly acquired players to settle in with their new clubs, it is time to really sit back and evaluate what were the best deals of the 2008 deadline. This ranking is based on whether both teams of a certain deal benefited, whether it is now or in the future. Pittsburgh took the biggest risk of the deadline, Dallas certainly has benefited so far with Brad Richards having 5 assists in his first game with the club and Brian Campbell was clearly distraught about leaving the Sabres, so without further adu, here are the 2008 Trade Deadline Top 5 Deals, where does your teams deal rank?

The ongoing Peter Forsberg saga has seemingly come to an end. Forsberg signed with the team he won two Stanley Cups with early on in his career. The Colorado Avalanche agreed to terms with Forsberg today

We are just about 24 hours away from the NHL's 3 PM Trade Deadline, so with no other lead in than that, here are the latest rumors from around league?

With the news out of Toronto that Mats Sundin will implement his no trade clause in the contract he signed with the club, it has had me thinking, while it is refreshing that a player does not believe in the so-called rental players, did Sundin really do what is best for the Maple Leaf organization?

With the GM meetings in Naples, Florida heating up and the news that Peter Forsberg will not be returning to the NHL this season, two big name centers have started to surface in the trade talks, Tampa Bay's Brad Richards and San Jose's Patrick Marleau.

In hockey there are those who love the scoring, then there are those who love the physical nature of the sport. This article is for the latter. The Wicked Wrister took a look back from the 1970s all the way to 2008, and found some of the best hockey fights of all time.

With Detroit running away from pretty much the entire Western Conference, it is probably safe to say that they are going to win the Central Division title despite a recent 4 game slide. Whether the Red Wings do anything at the deadline will be interesting, and with their recent history of being ousted in the playoffs, they might need to. Nashville and Columbus still have a shot at the playoffs, but will they be able to balance a playoff run with getting rid of some players with 1 year deals who except big contracts next year in their respective smaller markets?