As a banner year for hockey comes to a close, Three Periods selects the NHL’s three stars of 2010.

First star: Jonathan Toews(notes), Chicago Blackhawks

For Canadians, the lasting image of 2010 will be Sidney Crosby(notes) screaming for the puck and sneaking it past American goaltender Ryan Miller(notes) at the Vancouver Olympics. It was Crosby who scored the golden goal, lifting Team Canada to a dramatic, 3-2 overtime victory over the United States. It was Crosby who scored Canada’s biggest goal since Paul Henderson’s in the final game of the 1972 Summit Series with the Soviet Union. It was Crosby who kept Canada’s claim to superiority in the sport, perhaps more significant to the nation’s self-esteem than ever before with the Games on home ice.

But it was Toews, not Crosby, who was named the best forward in the Olympics. And it was Toews, not Crosby, who led his team to the Stanley Cup and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the NHL playoffs’ most valuable player. When your teams win the

The highlights: The Devils fire John MacLean. Who’s next? … HBO catches the Capitals at their worst – and best. … Chris Osgood’s(notes) 400-win argument for the Hall of Fame. … Ryan Kesler(notes) powers up in Vancouver. … And, Mike Green(notes) rides a moped?!

In New Jersey, the question is: Why now?

Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello waited until Thursday – two days before Christmas, when players are protected by the NHL’s holiday roster freeze – to fire coach John MacLean. The Devils languish at the bottom of the league with 20 points, tied with the woeful New York Islanders, who fired their coach earlier this season. They have lost virtually all hope of making the playoffs.

“It’s my fault for waiting so long,” Lamoriello told reporters in Newark.

Around the NHL, the question is: Who’s next?

A coaching change always has been the quick and easy move for troubled teams, but that’s even more true today. Salaries are capped, and points are awarded for overtime losses. The competition

He jokes that he has thrown it “under the bed,” but he’s kidding, of course. Henrik Sedin(notes) has given the Hart Trophy a place of honor inside his Vancouver home, and he sounds as if he must keep it in plain sight, keep checking it, keep reminding himself that it’s real – that he really was voted the NHL’s most valuable player last season.

“It meant everything,” Sedin said. “It’s the nicest thing you can win as an individual player. … You look back, and it’s still tough to understand that you were there and you got it.”

Can you be a quiet MVP? If there is such a thing, it’s Sedin.

Henrik led the NHL in scoring last season with 112 points, even though he played 19 games without his identical twin and linemate, Daniel, who produced at virtually an identical pace. Henrik won the Hart, and the Canucks named him captain this season.

The Sedins hardly have slipped. Both are in the top 10 in scoring. Henrik is on pace for 97 points, which would be the second-highest total of his career.

Right now, a trade makes no sense. Right now, Brad Richards(notes) is scoring, tied for sixth in the NHL with 38 points. Right now, the Dallas Stars are winning, with a three-point lead in the Pacific Division, one point out of first in the airtight Western Conference.

Why would Stars general manager Joe Nieuwendyk want to part with his best player, even if Richards’ contract expires after the season, the ownership situation is unsettled and he can’t offer him an extension? Why would Richards waive his no-movement clause?

“Right now, I’m playing for a first-place team,” Richards said. “Obviously, what’s the sense of leaving that and going to a lower team? But that’s what everyone thinks is going to happen. ...

“They just assume that because I’m not signed, I’m going to be traded. That’s not necessarily how it all works.”

But that doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t work out that way, either. There is a big dilemma in Big D, and the drama is going to play out day by day until the Feb. 28

On the road one night in October, the Chicago Blackhawks gathered for dinner at a downtown St. Louis steakhouse. The dominant sounds were the scraping of plates and the voice of Don Fehr, the presumptive executive director of the NHL Players’ Association.

As the players ate, Fehr set the table for the future. ’Hawks goaltender Marty Turco(notes) joked Saturday about drooling – not over the meal, but over what Fehr, the former executive director of the MLB Players Association, would bring to the organization.

“Without going into too much detail, Don’s perspective on solidarity as a union always comes from the players and what we’re willing to do, what we’re willing to sacrifice as a group and as individuals, and how committed we are,” Turco said. “It’s us. It’s not him. He’s just an extension of us, and he’s going to work his butt off to figure everything out as quickly as he can and to the best of his knowledge. …

“It was awesome. I walked away a totally different person, the way I

Think the media raised the bar high enough for the Los Angeles Kings’ Drew Doughty(notes), practically making it a statement of fact that he was the preseason favorite for the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman?

Well, Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock rose the bar to the heavens this week. Babcock, who coached Doughty on Team Canada at the Vancouver Olympics, gushed to reporters that the kid was “touched by God.”

There is no doubt Doughty is gifted. He is so smart and skilled that, at age 20, he earned a spot on the top pair and helped the Canadians win gold at the 2010 Winter Games. Then he finished the 2009-10 NHL season tied for third among defensemen in goals (16) and points (59).

But the Big Man works in mysterious ways. He tests us all. And Doughty, who turned 21 on Dec. 8, has not looked like a Norris candidate, let alone a favorite, for most of this season. “His start was not the way I would like to have seen it,” Kings coach Terry Murray said.

It wasn’t just the

He was booed in a preseason game in his home rink. His name does not appear on the NHL’s All-Star Game ballot. And yet the Montreal Canadiens’ Carey Price(notes) led all goaltenders in all-star votes when the latest totals were announced Monday – and he ranked behind only the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby(notes) and Kris Letang(notes) overall.

Price has gone from written off to written in, excelling in a pressure-packed environment, replacing the popular playoff hero the Habs traded to the St. Louis Blues, Jaroslav Halak(notes).

Entering Wednesday night’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers – the team atop the NHL standings, the team that ended Halak and the Habs’ playoff run last season – Price ranked first in the league in wins (17), third in save percentage (.935) and shutouts (four) and fifth in goals-against average (1.96).

Great story. And, to some, not at all surprising.

“Let’s be honest,” Detroit Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood(notes) said. “He’s one of the best goalies

Only two days ahead of the premiere of HBO's hockey reality series, there are two riveting storylines. There is Sidney Crosby's(notes) 18-game scoring streak and the Pittsburgh Penguins' 12-game winning streak. Then there is this: What the heck is wrong with the Washington Capitals?

Why can't Alex Ovechkin(notes) score? Is coach Bruce Boudreau feeling the heat? Why can't the Caps win a game? Is this a little slump that will make them stronger for a big Stanley Cup run, or are these guys still not ready for prime time?

It remains to be seen how much hard-core hockey insight we'll get from "24/7 Penguins/Capitals: Road to the Winter Classic," a four-part, all-access series that debuts Wednesday night at 10 p.m. ET and leads up to the teams' meeting Jan. 1 in the NHL's annual outdoor game. But the obvious contrast is between the Pens' success and the Caps' struggles, and you wonder if the cameras no longer will capture the Capitals' happy-go-lucky personality.

Ovechkin has only two goals