Musings on a quiet January 2nd. Now the WJC games have moved to GM Place, so I expect much better seats than the ones on the roof of the Pacific Coliseum.

* Regarding the cheap shot by Jack Johnson on Steve Downie, I am quite surprised to see how quickly it is being swept under the rug by all involved:

The Canadian team didn't press for the International Ice Hockey Federation to review American Jack Johnson's elbow to the head of Steve Downie after Canada scored the winning goal on Saturday at the world junior hockey championship.

From Brent Sutter's point of view, I can understand that he wants his team to focus on the next game and the next team, not some incident from the round robin. As for the IIHF, I guess they figure that since only Canada and a few Americans watch the tournament, why make a bigger deal and draw attention to a negative event. The IIHF isn't usually a body to just let something like this go so lightly. Strange.

Mid-Season Awards: The d00ds at Hockeydirt.com are asking us bloggers to submit our mid-season Awards. Here's how the Canadian Academy for Slovak Sports is voting: It's not mid-season quite yet, but I'm game nonetheless.

Hart (MVP): Jaromir Jagr, New York Rangers. He's not the most well-rounded player, but I find him to be the best player in the game this year AND the most important to his team. If you want to point to the single most important reason that the Rangers are no longer a bottom feeder (besides having Messier retire), it's been Jaromir Jagr pumping rubber into opposition nets and playing like the Jagr of old.

Norris (Best D-Man): Wade Redden, Ottawa Senators. This award is a tough call, and Redden only has 26 games played this year. I can't vote for McCabe due to his defensive adventure, as much as he's piling up the offense. I feel Tomas Kaberle is the better Leafs defenseman, but he's not the NHL's best. Nicklas Lidstrom would rank a close second and Lubomir Visnovsky is also a good candidate.

Calder (Rookie): Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Senators. As much as I'd hate to admit it, Ovechkin has been the more impressive rookie and he scores plenty of goals without having a Zigmund Palffy on his wing. Dion Phaneuf has been getting more mainstream press lately, and is definitely not as underappreciated as he was once. Still, he's fourth in my voting behind Crosby (who is charging hard lately) and...

Vezina (Goalie): Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers. Dominik Hasek and and Manny Fernandez are ahead of him in Save Percentage, but Lundqvist, in my mind, has been the best goalie in the NHL given his situation. It's obvious that Hasek and Fernandez are partially a product of their own team, while Lundqvist plays behind Tom Poti (quite a feat).

Lady Byng: Pavol Demitra, Los Angeles Kings. for too long, this award seems to be simply about getting a low PIM total while scoring a lot of points. Well, Pavol's 28 PIM don't scream goon nor as they are eye-popping as Pavel Datsyuk's 6. Still, I am going to vote for Demitra somewhere ;)

Selke (Defensive Forward): Rod Brind'Amour, Carolina. This d00d has completely found the fountain of youth this year. He wins more faceoffs than most everyone else, he logs super minutes on the PK, and he's one of the other important reasons (besides Gerber and Staal) that Carolina is whoopin' yo' ass this season.

Jack Adams (Coach): Peter Laviolette, Carolina. His name might rhyme with toilette and serviette, but the Canes show all the signs of being a well coached team and it's hard to deny Peter this award for turning the Canes around. Tom Renney has helped the Rangers turn it around, but he still makes some incredibly dumb decisions.

Comeback Player of the Year: Dominik Hasek, Ottawa. Of all the players on this list, his great comeback was the most surprising. There were questions about his ability to stay healthy and his play wasn't all that great before the lockout. Add to that the fact that he is about 61 years old and he gets my vote.

Jerk of the Year: Sean Avery, Los Angeles Kings. Next!

Tough Guy of the Year: Chris Neil, Ottawa. I like a guy who can play it rough and also add some offense to his team. Neil might not do the enforcing job as well as teammate McGratton, but he's a far more valuable player. As for Jamal Mayers and his 88 PIM, most of those are stupid tripping penalties, so ignore him.

Flop of the Year: Nikolai Khabibulin, Chicago. OK, so Lalime is in the AHL and his play stunk worse than Martin Brochu on a bad day, but Nikolai Khabibulin was given one of the highest salaries in the NHL and he's one of the worst very worst goaltenders. Nobody hurts their team more than a guy who plays badly and sucks up so much cap space. Sergei Fedorov is a close second, although his deal was signed before the lockout and his play before the lockout was much better.


* Reason #17 why I'd never want to play in Philly - http://www.theriensucks.com/ Yes, somebody actually took the time and money to purchase a domain and message board for the sole purpose of ragging on Chris Therien.

Do a right-click when you are on the site for a good chuckle.