By ERIC DUHATSCHEK, Toronto Globe and Mail
Crazy money back in NHL free agency
It's tempting to call the $57.12 million for defenseman Brian Campbell or the $23 million for goaltender Cristobal Huet crazy money, but really, what constitutes crazy money any more in today's National Hockey League?
Champion Red Wings likely to remain intact
Unlike the Pittsburgh Penguins, who will be in a mad scramble to keep their roster together this summer, the Detroit Red Wings are nicely positioned to follow up their Stanley Cup championship with another and another and perhaps still another after that.
Red Wings' Lidstrom makes history with Cup win
PITTSBURGH -- Few remember anymore, but nine years ago, Nicklas Lidstrom thought about leaving the Detroit Red Wings to return to his native Sweden.
Bowman gets defensive about Cup
The man who coached the Pittsburgh Penguins to their last Stanley Cup championship, Scotty Bowman, was also behind the bench for the Detroit Red Wings' most recent victory, in the spring of 2002.Those championship seasons came a decade apart, proof that even Bowman's teams didn't win every single year. It just seemed that way sometimes.
Teams search for respect in wild, wild west
It is a cliche, popularized by the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield, that professional sports teams don't receive enough respect from their peers, adversaries and critics.
NHL's wild west races to finish line
Owen Nolan called it "nuts ... I've never been a part of something this tight." Alex Tanguay ventured that there were "no easy games" anymore. Jarome Iginla calculated that it would take 96 points to guarantee his Calgary Flames team a playoff spot.
Wild NHL race is on
The end of the All-Star break also coincides with the beginning of the National Hockey League's stretch drive, a time when the championship pretenders sort themselves out from the contenders; and the real push for positioning and reinforcements gets underway in earnest.

