After four long years under the tutelage of “The Great One” Wayne Gretzky, the Coyotes are having their best season in their history this season. Not even when the team was known as the Winnipeg Jets did the team reach 44 wins. Coach Dave Tippett’s team defeated the Florida Panthers 4-3 at BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida on Thursday to give the team it’s franchise all-time high in victories. The Coyotes have won seven games in a row and sitting currently in fourth place in the Western Conference. It was the 2001-02 season when the Coyotes last made the playoffs, but the team locks a lock for the postseason this year. Picking up Radim Vrbata from the Tampa Bay Lighting might have been the off season move of the year, because the Czech winger has been a terrific in a Coyotes uniform. Vrbata tied the game at 3 a piece with less than a minute left to go in the game and then won it for Coyotes in the Overtime shoot out. Today should be a proud day for Coyotes fans in the Valley of the Sun.

The Detroit Red Wings made it to the NHL Finals the last two seasons, but are presently sitting in the last playoff spot in the Western Conference with a host of teams nipping at ankles. Injuries have played a big part in the disappointing play in Detroit, but it certainly isn’t crazy to wonder if something is amiss with the Red Wings. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterburg have both been healthy all season, but losing Johan Frazen and Valterri Filppula for long periods of time definitely have hurt them this season. Considering the strength of the Western Conference the Red Wings are in real danger of not being involved in the postseason. The sports fans in Detroit already have to deal with the clueless Lions in the NFL and the slumping Pistons in the NBA, but if their dear Red Wings don’t make the playoffs it will be one dark day in the Motor City. Head coach Mike Babcock might have nabbed a gold for Canada at the Olympics, but if he doesn’t turn the season around for the Red Wings he’ll have a lot of answering to do in Hockeytown.

Some had called the mighty Russian national hockey team to be the best in the world, but on Wednesday night the Big Red Machine was utterly derailed by 2010 Winter Olympics host nation Canada 7-3. The Canadians were coming out of national mourning after losing to the United States 5-3 on Sunday. Russia’s goal-scoring trio of Alexander Ovechkin, Evengi Malkin, and Ilya Kovalchuk were out muscled by the spirited side of Canada. The loss knocked the Russians out of medal contention and devastated national team fans back home in Mother Russia. Canada could have a chance to get revenge on the Americans if both teams make it to the gold medal game. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev even canceled his trip to Vancouver after the the embarrassing loss. The best Russia can do now is win fourth place, but no matter what happens,  they’ll be returning to Moscow a disappointment.

The Ilya Kovalchuk rumors are over as the 26-year-old has been traded to the New Jersey Devils from the Atlanta Thrashers for a first round draft pick in the next NHL Draft, prospect Patrice Cormier, forward Niclas Bergfors, and defensemen Johnny Oduya. The Russian left winger is currently the fifth leading scorer in the NHL adding significant goal-scoring prowess to the Devils’ roster. Currently sitting in second place in the Eastern Conference, the New Jersey Devils were already poised to make a run at Lord Stanley’s Cup in 2010, but a player with the quality of Kovalchuk makes them a real contender. The addition of Kovalchuk will give the Devils two lines with prominent left wingers as their leading scorer prior to transaction was American Zach Praise. The Devils also have one of the league’s best goalies in Martin Brodeur who is currently second in the NHL in wins. Kovalchuk, a three time all-star and starter on the Russian National Team, gives the Devils an elite attacking player who could truly help New Jersey compete with anyone in the NHL. The Devils’ move for Kovalchuk will certainly make the coming NHL playoffs even more interesting.

Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals are flying high atop the NHL’s Southeast Division after they made it eight wins in a row Wednesday night with a thrashing of the Anaheim Ducks 5-1. The Caps scored three goals in the opening minutes of the third period to put the game out of reach. Ovechkin, who is second in the NHL in points, scored a goal and had two assists against the Ducks. The Russian has been earning his paycheck ever since he became the highest paid player in the NHL, but he’s had help from his team mates on this win streak. Fellow countryman Alexander Semin has scored six goals and notched eight assists over the last six games. The left winger has scored a total of 25 goals this season which combined with Ovechkin’s 34 goals makes the pair as lethal as any duo in the NHL. The Capitals will try to extend their win streak to nine when they face the Carolina Panthers on Friday night.

It will be exciting as the trade deadline comes closer at the beginning of March. The sellers are widely known as the teams that have talent that they’re willing to dole out or lend out to other teams as they work their way closer to the playoffs. The sellers generally have little to no chance of actually making the playoffs themselves. This time, in the Western Division, the Edmonton Oilers appear to be the big sellers. They have a few players that they can shift over to a team that is going to be a run. Sheldon Souray is a defenseman who could be valuable for other teams. This could open up some salary cap room for the Oilers or they might get a draft pick. For his part, Souray says that he doesn’t mind so much. He would be willing to go somewhere else for the team, even though his original plan was that he was going to stay in Edmonton for several years. But it’ll be good for the team, he says, so they should do what they think they need to do. In the next 6 weeks, we’ll know for sure.

The New Jersey Devils had a tough time against the Tampa Bay LIghtning. Twice. The game was started two days before it ended. No, this doesn’t mean it went to overtime or a really long shootout. Instead, there was a technical issue that created danger for the players and they had to suspend the game with just under 30 minutes to go in the game. So they came back to it a couple days later. Tampa ended up winning, snapping their losing streak against the Devils. While Tampa doesn’t seem to be playing for much this season, Jersey is definitely excited about having their team back in action on a playoff level. They will be playing deep into the spring and summer if this keeps up, so give them credit for putting together a  good team this year.

Most teams would give their facemasks to be as good as the Boston Bruins. Last night, the Bruins took on the Chicago Blackhawks, who are the top team in the Western Conference. And last night is when they proved exactly that. There were thousands of fans there in Boston. And it looked good for the Bruins at first, when they took a 2-0 lead in the early first period. But the Hawks answered during the rest of the game with 5 unanswered points. This was the end of the show for the Bruins, who just couldn’t get anything back together for the rest of the game. This shows the kind of fight that these Blackhawks have and how hard it’s going to be to beat them over the next few months as we get closer to the playoffs. What a great year it has been so far for them!

The San Jose Sharks struggled and lost against the Los Angeles Kings just last night. We’re looking for the Sharks to repeat their divisional championship this year. But with the Kings surging this year, we’re going to be looking forward to the continued struggle for the Pacific Division. It’s really close though. So last night’s loss ended an 8 game winning streak for the Sharks but also brought the #2 team in the division into direct and close competition with them. It’s going to be an incredibly exciting time for these two teams. There’s still a lot of hockey to be played, so we don’t have to worry about the competition being over yet. Maybe this high level of competition will get the Sharks better in the postseason, as opposed to when they wouldn’t get any kind of real tough battles in the regular season.

When we see Boston vs Philly in this year’s Winter Classic tomorrow, it’s going to be an interesting time. Hopefully it will be possible for a good game for everyone to see. In New York, it’s supposed to be slushy and cool for New Years, but Boston will be a little cooler, so we can watch these players rushing around. Last years game in Wrigley Field in Chicago was very good, although the Red Wings beat the Blackhawks decisively. Tomorrow’s in Fenway will be full of great players and some possible playoff teams. The Bruins are almost certainly headed to the playoffs and the Flyers are working hard to get in there. This new annual tradition has become a fan favorite, so enjoy. Watch on TV or go to Fenway yourself and see hockey the way it was meant to be played.