Rick Nash trade pt. 2... Scott Howson is an Idiot.

Mr. Howson,

You have to trade Rick Nash, you absolutly have to trade him, if you bring him back as the captain in October, you will have made the dumbest NHL executive decision, even dumber than Mike Millbury trading for Alexei Yashin. You can't bring back a guy that ask for a trade and you yourself confirmed it to the media and public. If you bring back a guy like Nash he will be a poision for the Blue Jacket's roster, guys in that room will wonder why he's still there, they will question Nash's commitment to the team, they will question their own futures with the Blue Jackets, and even though Columbus isn't a high free agent destination, Howson will lose all credit and a significant amount of respect from future free agents.

Before the deadline, it was a RUMOR that Nash potentially on the trading block, and teams were willing to test the waters of what Howson would take, and teams like the Rangers who didn't want to pay the price for Nash at the deadline and who didn't want a huge shakeup of their roster going into the playoffs, they may have been willing to meet Howson's demands for Nash at the draft. But things changed, and Mr. Howson this is by far the dumbest, classless, and boneheaded move you made at the deadline when you announced to THE PUBLIC MEDIA that Nash REQUESTED a trade. There's a reason why no executive in any field, much less professional sports, much less professional hockey keeps these types of discussions behind the scenes.

Mr. Howson, now that teams KNOW that Rick Nash requested a trade they will not offer near as much as they would've if Nash's potential trade remained a rumor. Teams are betting that you are not stupid enough to bring Nash back as a Blue Jacket in the fall, and if you are dumb enough to hold on to him you will ruin the Jackets franchise for the next 5-10 years.

Game 6, the Turning Point.

After watching the 2011-2012 NHL season come to a close and watching the Kings skate around the Cup, and watching the highlights again and again, it's clear the game turned on one play. 

Those who watched the game know what play it was.  For those who didn't you'll see it on every highlight reel of that game, but I'll summarize it.  A little after the halfway point in the 1st period, Jarrett Stoll hit Stephen Gionta into the boards, it was a border line call, at most a 2 minute penalty.  Then as the play continued the puck ended up deep in the Kings zone and Steve Bernier of the Devils drove Rob Scuderi through the end boards, to-the-letter, a 5 minute boarding/game misconduct penalty.  During the 5 minute major penalty the Kings would score 3 times and thus put away the New Jersey Devils by the end of the 1st period.

If you play or coach hockey there is a huge lesson to be learned.  Immediatly after the penalty call was made the New Jersey Devil's bench lost their minds, the coaching staff, the players on the bench, and the players on the ice (including Martin Brodeur).  Their entire focus of the Devils went off of the game and directy on the referee.  If you play or coach hockey you know a referee in hockey will never change their minds on a call, especially a penalty call.  They can't, if they do it completely challanges the referee's control of the game, thus ARGUING WITH A REFEREE IS A WASTE OF TIME.  It's one thing to do it in "meaningless" regular season game or at any other point in the season but it's a whole other ball game doing it in Stanley Cup Final game where you're facing elimination and you're trying to come back from a 0-3 deficit in 7 game series, against a better/tougher opponent, and which you need to be almost perfect to beat your opponent. 

After a controversial series of plays like the series of play that went down in the latter stages of the 1st period of Game 6, there's going to be some anger on the bench and anger and argument directed towards the referee but, it's the job of the leaders on that bench, the coaching staff, and the head coach Peter Debour to make sure the players get onto the ice focused and are completely hell bent on escaping the penalty kill without letting up a goal.  If they were to kill off the penalty the game probably goes into the 1st intermission 0-0, 1-1 after the 2nd period, and anything could have happened in the 3rd period.  What if the Devils won the 3rd period? They had a powerplay to start the 3rd period, they got another powerplay shortly after.  Maybe the Devils get a Game 7, at home, where the Devils have all the momentum in the series after coming back from that 0-3 hole.

But that's all speculation... Maybe the Kings would've still won game 6, maybe they would've won game 7. But maybe the Devils would've won the cup.  It's over now, you learn your lessons, you let your bumps and bruises heal or get surgery if nessecary, you get back in hockey shape, prepare for the season, and begin it all again in September... That's the beauty of hockey.

Congrats to the LA Kings, you guys earned it.