Getty ImagesThe notion that Ryan Suter could become an unrestricted free agent must make anyone that handed out a 10-year contract to Christian Ehrhoff furious. Here's an all-star, minutes-hording defensive stalwart who'd be considered a franchise defenseman were it not for playing in the shadow of Shea Weber's beard. They don't come around often at 27 years old.

So there's going to be heightened attention given to Suter over the next two weeks, as he allows the frustration of the Preds' loss to Phoenix subside and begins sussing out his future with David Poile.

From The Tennessean:

"I haven't really had time to sit back and talk with my family and figure out what we want to do. This morning I had a meeting with David (Poile) and we talked about everything and the future, and how everything will go, and I think we're going to meet again in a couple of weeks and kind of make a decision."

… "Wherever I sign I want to be there for the rest of my career , and that affects my family, my wife, my kid, if we have more kids, everything plays into it."

Cynically, one might read this as "I'll let Poile know where they should trade my UFA negotiating rights." It becomes even more cynical when you read this in The Province, in a wishful thinking post about Shea Weber coming to the Vancouver Canucks, on Suter:

"Those around his situation claim he has a list of teams he wants to play for and Nashville isn't on it."

So are we ready to write off Suter as a Predator or is there still a chance he'll finish his career in Smashville?

Getty ImagesIf the Washington Capitals win Game 7 on Saturday night and advance to the Eastern Conference Final, it will provide the NHL with one of its most Bizarro World moments in recent memory: The defense-first, sit-on-a-lead, at times monotonous system of the Washington Capitals against the up-tempo, offensively aggressive New Jersey Devils.

Just three years ago, this characterization of the respective teams would have earned you a straightjacket and a padded room. Or at least a spot in the Coyotes' new ownership group.

The Devils are averaging 3.00 goals per game, while Washington is at 2.15. The New York Rangers are scoring only 2.08 goals per game, and yielding 1.92. The Los Angeles Kings are also averaging 3.00 goals per game, but have been used as an example of boring, conservative defensive hockey because they give up only 1.56 per game.

But the real culprit in this alleged turn toward the defensive: The Phoenix Coyotes, who average 2.64 goals per game, give up only 1.91 and are last in the playoffs in shots per game (26.8).

And, my god, they're all blocking shots too! Like, lots of them, courtesy of the Rangers and Dale Hunter hockey and fearless players with great padding. Alex Ovechkin is even blocking shots; in the past, the only way that happens is if his opponent accidentally hits him with the puck as Ovi's skating to the red line to cherry pick a pass.

So scoring isn't where it should be, fans are complaining about the excitement level of playoff games, the term "Dead Puck Era" is being tossed around again and there's a clamor for rules changes in the next lockout, er, CBA.

It's an overreaction, an unnecessary panic, and one that's easily remedied.

Justin Cohn of the Journal Gazette had a prediction to make, and predicted that fans of the CHL Fort Wayne Komets weren't going to like it. Having correctly picked the Komets' previous playoff wins that led to the President's Cup final against the Wichita Thunder, Cohn was about to turn heel.

"I'm going to pick the Thunder in six games," he said in a video blog on April 27, citing the Komets' grueling travel schedule and extended series in previous rounds. "If you're a Komet fan, hopefully I'm wrong. Don't hate me too much."

Rather than Wichita in six, the Komets defeated the Thunder in five games for the Cup. And they let Cohn know how wrong he was:

Komets taunt reporter after winning Cup from The Journal Gazette on Vimeo.

The locker room chant as Cohn filmed the team: "WICHITA IN SIX! WICHITA IN SIX!" Later in the video, he gets chirped again on the ice about it as well. All in good fun. But who says the media can't serve as motivation?

The Komets are an interesting franchise. They

Getty ImagesWASHINGTON, DC — The four-minute power play giveth, and the four-minute power play taketh away.

The New York Rangers had a chance to eliminate the Washington Capitals in D.C. on Wednesday night because Joel Ward drew blood from Carl Hagelin for a high-sticking double-minor late in Game 5; Brad Richards scored with 7.6 seconds left to tie the game; and then Marc Staal won it on the back end of the power play in overtime.

In Game 6, Jeff Halpern of the Capitals high-sticked John Mitchell at 12:05 of the second period, drawing blood and a double-minor with Washington leading by two goals. The Rangers managed three shots on goal, stopped by goalie Braden Holtby. They missed two more and had another two blocked.

They came up empty, as they would in five power plays overall in Game 6, losing to the Capitals by a 2-1 count and forcing a Game 7 on Saturday night at MSG.

"It sucked. It kills you. It sucked," said Rangers Coach John Tortorella on the momentum-sapping four-minute power play.

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One of the cultural clarifications that occurred after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 was the way we described professional athletes. Bravery was redefined. The idea that someone risking their life in a burning skyscraper could be compared to someone playing a triple-overtime game, for example, became preposterous.

Just over a decade later, Ron MacLean began CBC's coverage of Game 6 between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers by comparing them to 9/11 first responders.

(Ed. Note: As the Stanley Cup Playoffs continue, we're bound to lose some friends along the journey. We've asked for these losers, gone but not forgotten, to be eulogized by the people who knew the teams best: The fans who hated them the most. Here is are Pittsburgh Penguins bloggers The Pensblog, fondly recalling the 2011-12 Philadelphia Flyers. Again, this was not written by us ... OK, by all of us. Also: This is a roast and you will be offended by it, so don't take it so seriously.)

By The Pensblog

Knock Knock, Philly.

We gather here on this glorious day to mourn the 2011-2012 Philadelphia Flyers, their fans, and the city of Philadelphia.  The City of Brotherly Love. The city with ties to the founding of our great nation.  The city of arts, culture, great food, and great stories.

But the city of Philadelphia lacks two things: Great leaders and a Stanley Cup championship for generations that have been able to purchase personal computers.

During the summer of 2011, the Flyers, with Paul Holmgren at the wheel, had to take a long look at their team and begin to assess what tweaks they would have to make in order to keep the team competitive.  Here's what they decided to do:

• They traded all-world leader and team captain Mike Richards to the LA Kings for Wayne Simmonds and Luke Schenn's embarrassing little brother.

• They traded Jeff Carter to Columbus for some guy who skates really fast and a draft pick that turned out to be first-round-of-the-playoffs shutdown centerman Sean Couturier.

• They used the vacated cap space to sign borderline-insane goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov.

• They signed Jaromir Jagr.

• They signed Max Talbot to a horrible deal.

To recap, the Flyers, two years removed from a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals and fresh on the heels of losing to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Bruins in the second round, decided to give the team a facelift.

And where has it gotten them? Exactly where they were last year at this time, sitting at home after the second round of the playoffs. But if you're Ed Snider, the beloved owner of the Flyers, you own Comcast, so accepting disappointment has become second nature.

After the jump, we painstakingly bury every Flyer worth caring about. And trust us; there are many, because GM Paul Holmgren signed as many players as he could.

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Richard Abt was a Philadelphia Flyers season-ticket holder during the 2011-12 season, paying $16,730.00 for four tickets over 44 home dates — 41 in the regular season and three preseason games.

In early September 2011, he received a ticket book from the team containing his seats for the season, save for one: The Flyers' home game against the New York Rangers on Jan. 2, 2012. In its place was a mock ticket for the NHL Winter Classic, with the following note:

"The Flyers will host the 2012 Bridgestone Winter Classic! You will notice that only 43 games are included in your ticket and parking books. Winter Classic Tickets are not part of your 2011-12 season ticket package."

The Flyers required that season-ticket holders purchase both the Winter Classic alumni game and an AHL outdoor game involving the Adirondack Phantoms along with tickets to the main event — with a processing fee on top of all of it.

Abt's regular-season seats cost $95 each. Each "seat" for the Winter Classic ended up costing $394.

He felt this violated his season-ticket agreement with the Flyers at the start of the season; that the team sold him a ticket, pulled the ticket back and then "resold" it to him at a dramatic markup.

So he decided to sue Comcast Spectacor in December 2011, in County of Montgomery small claims court, claiming their Winter Classic premium pricing violated their season-ticket agreement with fans.

Richard Abt won his case, receiving $1,364.00 from Comcast in the ruling.

The dozens of Flyers fans joining a class-action lawsuit over the Winter Classic ticket policy are hoping they have the same success.

"You can't just take them away at that point. You all agreed on the purchase price at the beginning of the season. You can't just take one back, decide it's now more valuable, and then sell it back to the season-ticket holder," said Evan Barenbaum, the lead lawyer for Stern and Eisenberg on the class-action suit.

It's a Wednesday edition of Marek vs. Wyshynski beginning at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT, and we're talking about the following and more:

Special Guest Stars: David Clarkson of the New Jersey Devils joins us to talk about eliminating the Flyers, chirping Byrzgalov and the amount of Marek's drool during this interview. Frank Seravalli of the Philadelphia Daily News offers a Flyers postmort

• In which Marek and Wysh discuss Game 6 between the Capitals and Rangers.

• The Conn Smythe watch.

• Puck Headlines and Talking Points

Question of the Day: Who do you like in tonights game 6 and why?

Email your answers to puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or tweet them with the hashtag #MvsW to either @jeffmarek or @wyshynski.

Click here for the Sportsnet live stream or click the play button above! Click here to download podcasts from the show each day Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or Feedburner.