Getty ImagesLeading up to Wednesday's Game 1, Puck Daddy is previewing every facet of the Stanley Cup Final between the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins — on the ice and off the ice.

“I've been here for six years. I think I've been fired five times.”

That was a quote from Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien after his team clinched a berth in their second Stanley Cup Final in three seasons.

His counterpart on the opposing bench, Joel Quenneville of the Chicago Blackhawks, could have easily said a similar line after punching a ticket to their second Final in four seasons.

Julien and Quenneville have many things in common. They both played junior hockey for the Windsor Spitfires.

Both won a Stanley Cup with their third team. Both have faced the ire of fans during their tenures with their current teams.

But which one is better behind the bench?

Getty ImagesLast September, Dustin Byfuglien appeared in a photo from former Chicago Blackhawks teammate Dave Bolland’s wedding in which he appeared … well, we’ll just let the headline do the talking: “Dustin Byfuglien apparently not locked out of his refrigerator this summer.”

Speculation was that Big Buff was weighing in over three bills at that time, which wasn’t really all that surprising given that he weighed 286 pounds when he was arrested for suspicion of impaired boating in Summer 2011.

Thing is: This has always been Byfuglien’s fitness cycle: Balloon in the offseason, drop the weight during the season. For a person his size, weight gain is going to seem more extreme than the same percentage of body fat gain for a smaller individual, and it’s the same with the weight loss.

But it appears in 2013, Byfuglien broke the cycle. And not just by sitting on it.

As Gary Lawless of the Winnipeg Free Press writes, Big Buff’s “fitness slipped” this season, causing inconsistency in the Winnipeg Jets defenseman’s game and, reportedly, a rather portly comportment by season’s end.

From Lawless:

It was evident Byfuglien grew heavier this season as the games moved on and according to accredited Jets blogger Pete Tessier, the player's weight rose to 302 pounds by season's end.

If there's any truth to this number, Byfuglien is virtually untradeable. Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff can't engage in trade talks with another GM and keep Byfuglien's weight off the table until the very end -- then hit his colleague with an, "oh, by the way, Buff's a little big right now."

… We'll leave the debate as to what the team should comment on to the Jets, as it's their business. But Byfuglien's late-season appearance and coach Claude Noel's clear displeasure with him were red flags. Did Buff weigh three bills during an NHL season? Don't know. But it's not unimaginable.

(Lawless goes to great lengths defending Pete Tessier’s reputation in the piece, which is probably why he left out one word in describing his hockeywriting career: HockeyBuzz, where Tessier blogs.)

Lawless believes that with a $5.75 million price tag and with his conditioning a greater concern now that ever before, Byfuglien is untradeable.

We wouldn’t go that far, based on his talent and unique skills set. But there’s no question that getting a proper return for Dustin Byfuglien must weigh heavily on GM Kevin Cheveldayoff.

Now that the Stanley Cup Final is here, that means a bunch of media that never touch hockey in Chicago and Boston will attempt to add puck to their coverage with the naïve befuddlement of a Neanderthal watching a satellite launch.

WCIU in Chicago has a morning show called “You & Me This Morning”, described as “real women, real Chicago, real fun.” Watch as they get real about hockey with some locals. Then wince. Then cry.

What we learned from this segment.

• The Redskins are, apparently, a hockey team. Oh, and all the critics of the NHL’s lack of crossover appeal and poor market penetration beyond the local team now have further video evidence.

• That said, Gary Busey knows a [expletive] ton about hockey.

• Women like the masculine battle of hockey, where the players try to get the puck and score the point.

• That said, women don’t like injuries, hence they don’t play hockey.

• The high for today in Chicago is 73 degrees, with showers expected.

Leading up to Wednesday's Game 1, Puck Daddy is previewing every facet of the Stanley Cup Final between the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins — on the ice and off the ice.

I can think of numerous instances in which I would vastly prefer having Jonathan Toews as my team captain to Zdeno Chara. In games where overseriousness is a plus, Toews would be a boon. In some sort of team staring competition -- say, a boys vs. girls game of "Honey, if you love me, won't you please smile?"-- the uncrackable Jonathan Toews is my captain, hands down.

Similarly, Zdeno Chara is my captain, without hesitation, in several situations. Off the top of my head: water polo in the shallow end of a pool.

But when it comes to hockey, where these gentlemen serve as captains of the two Stanley Cup finalists, it's a tougher call. They're both fantastic hockey players, each among the best at what he does in the world. Both have already proven that they can captain a Stanley Cup squad. And if we're being honest, leadership is extraordinarily difficult to measure, let alone compare.

Yet that's precisely what we're here to do. So which Conference champion is led into battle by the superior captain?

Getty ImagesLeading up to Wednesday's Game 1, Puck Daddy is previewing every facet of the Stanley Cup Final between the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins — on the ice and off the ice.

The movie “P.C.U.”, which was released back when Jeremy Piven had his own hair, gave the world the Caine-Hackman Theory, which stated that “no matter what time it is, 24 hours a day, you can find a Michael Caine or Gene Hackman movie playing on TV.”

In discussing the defensemen for Boston Bruins and the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Final, we’d like to offer the following offshoot of that theory: “No matter what time it is, 24 hours a day, Zdeno Chara is probably eating up ice time.”

Chara is averaging 29:21 per game for the Bruins, a total that includes five overtime games including that double-OT classic against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 3 of the conference final. It’s over five minutes more than the second-highest ice time leader for the Bruins in Dennis Seidenberg (24:10) and higher than Chara’s average when Boston won the Cup in 2011 (27:39).

[Blackhawks vs. Bruins: Who has the better captain?]

Does Zdeno Chara automatically give the Bruins the nod for best defense corps in the 2013 Stanley Cup Final?

(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 bloggers who hated them the most. Here is B.D. Gallof, New York Islanders blogger, fondly recalling the 2012-13 Pittsburgh Penguins. Again, this was not written by us. Also: This is a roast and you will be offended by it, so don't take it so seriously.)

By B.D. Gallof

"I'm always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I'm listening to it." - might or might not have been Zdeno Chara

Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you to the annual Penguins Eulogy. If someone who is still mourning the Bruins sweep happens to miss this, no worries. I can pretty much guarantee there will be one this time next season.

So, kind folks, please have a seat. You will see clearly, there are lots of them. The bandwagon emptied quite a bit after the first two loses at home The rest seemed to mutter their way off that plank in a grim stupor once Gregory Campbell hobbled himself right into the hearts of NHL fans.

You have to wonder if Sidney was taking notes.

Speaking of which…. let's just dive right in, shall we?

Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to eulogize the light of the NHL’s life, the Pittsburgh Penguins. The cries, tweets and posts of fans’ disbelief on how this team could not only fail, but fail so badly versus Boston, border on hilarity.

Let’s be honest here… it is likely the Penguins bandwagon is about the only thing that has ridden through most of these hillbilly fans’ trailer park. What else do you do in Western Pennsylvania… be an Edmonton Oilers fan?

Getty ImagesRoman Josi signed a new deal with the Nashville Predators on Monday.

Granted, it’s for $70 million and six years less than what the last guy who played with Shea Weber received in his last contract. New CBA, man ...

From the Preds:

Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has signed defenseman Roman Josi to a seven-year, $28 million contract. He will make $2.5 million in 2013-14, $3 million in 2014-15, $4 million in 2015-16, $4.25 million in 2016-17, $5 million in 2017-18, $5.25 million in 2018-19 and $4 million in 2019-20.

“Re-signing Roman was a top priority as we look to regroup heading into the 2013-14 season,” Poile said. “Roman has proven, with his growth and success here in Nashville and on the international stage, that he is one of the best young defensemen in the NHL. Roman’s skating ability and instincts have allowed him to play in all key situations. With today’s signing, we have our top defensive pairing locked

Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.

• After watching Bruins highlights all afternoon, a nine-year-old pieces together a quality game plan for the Chicago Blackhawks. Steal the puck whenever it's passed. That's the key to success. And I too have heard Rask is susceptible to "deeks". Anyway, if you know Joel Quenneville, pass this along to him. [Reddit Hockey]

• Pierre McGuire with another key to the Final: “Here’s the one deal. If I were being the advance scout for the Bruins. I would say, what we did to Sidney Crosby, a five-man gang on him, you’ve got to do that to Toews. It’s what Detroit did, it’s a big reason why it was a seven-game series. Jonathan Toews snapped in a game in Detroit, in Game 4 actually, he took three minor penalties in a row. He went cuckoo." [Big Bad Blog]

• They built these Cup finalists on rock and roll through savvy drafting, trades, and free agency. [CBC]

• Doug Armstrong: I ain't afraid of no ghost offer sheet. [STL Today]

• Lou Lamoriello doesn't regret firing Claude Julien six years ago. Hell, he says, get him on the phone and I'll fire him again right flipping now. [Star-Ledger]

• Shawn Thornton on the United Center: "It's amazing actually, the place is huge, it fits 21,000 or something stupid like that and it gets loud in there. It's a pretty special building to play in even during the regular season. This will be an all new experience for all of us but just like going into Montreal, just like going into any other big building, you can feed off it too, it's definitely their crowd, but there's an energy in there that should get you excited either way." [Boston]

• Still no deal in the NHL going to Sochi, and while it sounds like it's coming, they're running short on time. [Sportsnet]

• Jonathan Quick with a little sober self-evaluation: "I wasn’t very good throughout the regular season. I got a little better later in the season. I played pretty good hockey for a couple rounds, and then I feel like it was a big letdown this past series. Obviously that feeling of underperforming the past five games is going to kind of sit with me for a while. You’re going to think about that all summer and for most of the off-season. Leading up to camp you’ll start to think about next season. So where I go from there, you feel that sting for a little bit and you take a week or two to rest and recover and then you get back at it.” [LA Kings Insider]

• Bruins vs. Blackhawks raises one all-important question: who do Canucks fans root for? [PITB]