MINNEAPOLIS – Listen to Gabriel Landeskog, and you'll swear he isn't Swedish. He will say he's a proud Swede, that he has a Sweden flag hanging over his bed, that he grew up admiring Swedish superstar Peter Forsberg(notes). But he says it in easy-going English – no accent, all the slang a North American teenager would use.

"They just don't think I'm from Sweden whenever they ask me where I'm from," he said. "I say, 'I'm from Stockholm, Sweden.' They're like, 'You're lying.' "

He must mean Stockholm, Ontario. After all, a European just doesn't captain the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League, certainly not at age 17. A European usually doesn't list North Americans like Jarome Iginla(notes), a Canadian, and Ryan Kesler(notes), an American, as players he wants to emulate in the NHL. A European often doesn't have buddies back home egging him on to act like a foreigner to hit on a native girl.

But no, it's true. This is real life for Landeskog, and his North American style should

MINNEAPOLIS – One word was missing from an emotional announcement by Philadelphia Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren on Thursday afternoon. It was a big word.

Better.

All Holmgren would say was that the Flyers were "different," and that's an interesting way to put it when you just traded your captain (Mike Richards(notes)), traded another cornerstone centerman (Jeff Carter(notes)) and signed a 31-year-old goaltender (Ilya Bryzgalov(notes)) to a contract reportedly worth $51 million over nine years.

Holmgren received a haul in return for Richards and Carter – youngsters Brayden Schenn(notes), Jakub Voracek(notes) and Wayne Simmonds(notes), plus the No. 8 and No. 68 picks in the NHL draft that runs Friday through Saturday and a second-rounder in 2012. He had depth at center and needed size on the wing. And the Flyers haven't been solid in goal since the days of Ron Hextall.

But there must be more than meets the eye here. The Flyers went to the Stanley Cup Final just last year. Their

Ask why he wears No. 9, and at first his answer is unremarkable. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins says it's mostly because of Paul Kariya(notes). He played at the same club Kariya once did in suburban Vancouver. He grew up watching him. Makes sense.

But then Nugent-Hopkins adds something else. He says he likes Maurice Richard, too. He calls him his "hero from a long time ago." The Rocket retired in 1960 – 33 years before Nugent-Hopkins was born – but he has seen black-and-white photos and watched grainy clips. He loves Richard's famous wide-eyed drive.

"You can just tell that he had so much passion for the game," Nugent-Hopkins says. "That really sums up every hockey player. They just love to play, and that's why they do it."

Actually, it doesn't sum up every hockey player. But passion sets some apart, and that Nugent-Hopkins would see it that way – that an 18-year-old prospect would have a sense of history and connect with a late legend – speaks to how he has rocketed to the top. In the Central

As anyone who watches the NHL knows, the rules are only as good as the enforcement of them. So now that the rules covering boarding and illegal checks to the head have been rewritten, broadening their scope, it's up to Brendan Shanahan(notes) to set a new standard, communicate it clearly and make sure it is applied as consistently as possible.

This is why NHL commissioner Gary Bettman tapped Shanahan to become the new vice president of player safety and hockey operations, replacing senior executive VP of hockey ops Colin Campbell as the league's disciplinarian.

This is a tremendous challenge and opportunity. The NHL is still trying to strike a delicate balance, keeping the physical nature of the game while removing the most dangerous hits. But now it can start with a clean slate with Shanahan replacing Campbell, new wording in the rule book and a new mandate for stiffer supplemental discipline.

Shanahan is not burdened by the past. He can set his own precedents. As a former star

Know this about Nicklas Lidstrom(notes): One day he will retire before the Detroit Red Wings want him to. He will walk away from the NHL when he's still able to play. He will leave when he could stay.

But that day hasn’t arrived yet, and there are two main reasons for that: Lidstrom believes he can continue to perform at a high level at age 41, and he believes the Wings can continue to compete for the Stanley Cup. That is why he has agreed to another one-year deal with Detroit, putting off the inevitable for at least a little while longer.

Lidstrom is a finalist for the Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman, and if he wins it Wednesday night in Las Vegas, he will have won seven – only one behind all-time leader Bobby Orr. The Wings have a strong core of players, and with salary-cap space, committed ownership and savvy management, they have the ability to add to it.

"I don't even want to think about the Detroit Red Wings without Nick Lidstrom," Wings general manager Ken Holland

VANCOUVER – "Let's go!" he yelled. With that, Zdeno Chara(notes) pulled down the Stanley Cup, stepped over a red carpet, headed off the ice and ducked into a tunnel. But the captain was too tall. He's a giant of a man, 6-foot-9, 255 pounds, and fans of the Canucks and Bruins reached down and tapped him on the head and shoulders, desperately trying to touch the Cup before it headed out of sight.

The Cup is coming back to Boston. Both teams and towns wanted it so badly, the Canucks never having won it since joining the NHL in 1970, the Bruins having gone without it since 1972. The final series went seven games – seven bitter, bizarre, brutal and brilliant games – but in the end Wednesday night, it was the Bruins who won Game 7, 4-0. It was the Bruins who ended their drought.

"We still have fans that remember – barely – '72," said team president Cam Neely, a British Columbia native who played three seasons for the Canucks before going to the Bruins in 1986 and becoming a Boston legend.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The first time I saw trouble, I was at center ice. I was standing smack dab in the middle of Rogers Arena, as the Boston Bruins were wrapping up their Stanley Cup celebration, when I ran into a photographer friend. He introduced me to a security officer, who whipped out his smartphone and showed me a picture.

It was of a car enveloped in bright orange flames.

This is what everyone had feared. The last time the Canucks made the Cup final, it was 1994. They lost to the New York Rangers in Game 7 at Madison Square Garden, and a riot broke out back in Vancouver. Now it was happening again – another Game 7 loss, this one at home, and another riot, this one perhaps worse.

Vancouver police dealt with burning cars and looting when riots broke out following the Canucks' Game 7 loss.
(Getty Images)

As I walked just outside the Vancouver dressing room, Canucks coach Alain Vigneault was walking the other way on the left, head down. On the right was a TV monitor.

VANCOUVER – He has the best seats in the house, a pair at center ice, 10 rows up at Rogers Arena. He has had season tickets from the beginning, since the Vancouver Canucks joined the NHL in 1970. Out of the tens of thousands of the team's loyal customers, his priority number is 58.

For four decades he has waited for this moment – Game 7, Stanley Cup Final, at home. For all those years he has been coming down to the rink, investing his time and money and emotions, hoping to see the Canucks win their first championship, and it can happen Wednesday night.

Or not.

"I don't even know if I can watch," laughed Doug Hager, 69, a lawyer who lives in the city. "This is tearing my heart out."

The feeling will be the same no matter where fans sit or stand in Vancouver – from the prime locations inside the arena to the streets outside, where thousands will gather to watch on giant screens as the Canucks battle the Boston Bruins one last time. It will be a mix of anticipation and excitement; tension