Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.

It's possibly the greatest bit of investigative journalism conducted since Woodward and Bernstein brought down Richard Nixon.

This exemplary, collective effort of sleuth work is currently ongoing in Los Angeles, Calif., where an entire media market has unearthed the NHL's shocking secret:

The city has a professional hockey team.

Over the past week or so here at Puck Daddy, we've tried to document every startling discovery made by the intrepid Los Angeles media, like how to properly pronounce Anze Kopitar's name (it's hard because he's from Bosnia or something), the real name of this Drew Doughty character (it's actually Brad!) and that hockey is in fact not played with a ball, but rather a little piece of rubber known as a "puck." That last one makes me pretty uncomfortable because of the word it rhymes with. ("Duck" — sorry, I just don't trust 'em; they have weird beaks).

Just how villainous is this team, operating as a sort of sporting sleeper cell? They got all the way to the Western Conference Finals without one local noticing. That takes real criminal talent. And not only that, but, the NHL had the diabolical idea to hide it right under the Los Angelinos' noses, by having their home games played at the Staples Center. You know, where the Lakers play. Further, they named the team the Kings to intentionally confuse even the savviest media organization into thinking they are the NBA's Sacramento Kings.

Astonishingly devious stuff. More twists and turns than the Da Vinci Code, which I've read three times just to make sure I understood it all.

The best bit of this journalism on this pressing issue comes, of course, from the city's paper of record, the Los Angeles Times, winner of 44 Pulitzer Prizes since 1942, including three in 2012. It was for that towering beacon of journalistic excellence that columnist Chris Erskine successfully scruted several of the team and sport's most inscrutable mysteries.

For instance, that thing I said earlier about the puck (again, yuck… oh and that's another gross word it rhymes with), I learned it from Erskine. Apparently they even freeze the thing. And that's a huge point of concern, because, "The hardest shots can reach 110 mph and tear flesh, crush bone, even kill you if you're not careful." Yikes, you guys!

(Coming Up: Rick Nash to Boston?; Tororella defends Prust; Ryan Suter faces his future; Evegni Malkin is having a pretty good season; why Lundqvist is King; why the Capitals can't win with Ovechkin; the Islanders know how to party; Canucks might keep Luongo; Ryan Miller on the CBA; Flames and Oilers coaching news; and are the Kings in trouble?)

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Jersey Fouls is our ongoing exploration of the rules and etiquette for proper hockey jersey creation and exhibition. If you spot what you think may be a foul in your arena, email a photo to us at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com for inclusion in future installment.

Well, this was bound to happen.

Perhaps no other athlete has been defined by a particular food item like Los Angeles Kings forward Dustin Penner has been with pancakes. At least not since David "Morning Kegger" Wells of the N.Y. Yankees.

Ever since he was "injured" while eating a stack of pancakes, Penner has been associated with flapjacks and has been more than willing to embrace the meme for a good cause.

John Hoven (aka The Mayor) passed this along before Game 3 of the Western Conference final. Foul? Well, yes, but we respect someone for using the official (or close to official) nickname of a player.

But for the record: We're not sure how a couples' jersey in which the other one reads "MRS. BUTTERWORTH" would affect the acceptability of the original jersey.

(Coming Up: God-awful Devils/Rangers FrankenJersey, and another one from Dallas; the Jets celebrate return of hockey and beer; Danny Briere Fouls; and a rather offensive Flames fan.)

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After Canada was eliminated from the IIHF world championships, the Edmonton Oilers braintrust of Kevin Lowe and Steve Tambellini finally found some free time to announce that Oilers head coach Tom Renney's contract won't be renewed.

This wasn't exactly unexpected news, as Renney went 57-85-22 in two seasons with the Oilers, presiding over a roster of extremely talented young players, well-compensated veterans and significant holes in the lineup.

After the season, Tambellini said Renney was the Oilers coach "right now," which is like referring to your significant other as "my current wife and/or husband."

The time had arrived to make a decision, if for no other reason than to give Renney and his staff a chance to find work and to jump into the pool with the other teams seeking coaches.

So who's next in line for this gig?

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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.

• And at right, we have a photo of Marc-Andre Fleury from 1997. [Reddit Hockey]

• One man's journey from New York Rangers' fandom to New Jersey Devils' fandom. [Star-Ledger]

• Martin Hanzal faces a hearing for boarding Dustin Brown. [USA Today]

• Mike Smith's slash on Dustin Brown, however, is just impressive. The beauty is in the form! It's like the Mona Lisa of slashes! [Backhand Shelf]

• Michael Farber, on John Tortorella's press conferences: "The question-and-answer sessions are hockey's version of Kabuki theater, elaborately stylized and weirdly dramatic." [Sports Illustrated]

• You will likely enjoy this collection of John Tortorella's greatest hits. [SI Red Light]

• Unless you're the media, who find Tortorella's walkouts more than a little frustrating. Is it time for the media to walk out on John Tortorella? [Dean Brown]

• State lawmakers weigh the liquor license request for the Winter Classic in Detroit. [Detroit News]

• Here's a cool study from some Finnish researchers on the effects and effectiveness of the various boards used in hockey arenas. "The results show that the maximum impact force of a body check against a support post was up to 70% higher than the maximum impact force of a similar body check against a protective shield. They also found that the posts were up to five times more rigid than a plastic shield. 'By replacing the widely used tempered glass with a plastic shield, the impact force on players being body-checked against the boards is considerably reduced,' said Professor Janne Avela and researcher Piritta Poutiainen." [Cordis]

• This post on the 5 worst Chicago Blackhawks trades gets extra points for the hockey card graphics. [The Hockey Writers]

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Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin has a few things on his plate this summer.

He wants to re-up with PK Subban on a new deal. He has Carey Price headed to RFA status this summer, after making $5.5 million in his last deal. And, of course, he needs to hire a head coach.

Bob McKenzie of TSN whet the appetite on Monday night by reporting that the Habs are "in the process of touching base with potential head coach candidates including Michel Therrien, Guy Carbonneau, Marc Crawford, Bob Hartley, etc."

Michel Therrien (190 games as Habs coach, 2000-03) and Guy Carbonneau (230 games as Habs coach, 2006-09)? Canadiens fans like BK were lobbying for a complete break from the Gainey/Gauthier era:

What the Habs need is electroshock therapy. That's why they also need a coach who didn't work with the ancien regime. So forget Alain Vigneault, Michel Therrien, and Guy Carbonneau.

Yet two of the three could be candidates, and the third would be had the Vancouver Canucks cut him loose. Brian Stubits of Eye on Hockey thinks this is a symptom of the language requirements of the position:

If you want proof that the ability to speak French is paramount to be coach of the Habs, look no further than the inclusion of Therrien. He has already done the Montreal thing once and was canned after 2 1/2 seasons. He then last 3 1/2 seasons in Pittsburgh. Yes, he did lead them to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2008, but he was fired midseason the next year when the team was struggling and was replaced by Dan Bylsma, who guided the Penguins to the championship.

Carbonneau has earned an endorsement from Dave Stubbs of The Gazette, although a proposed reunion with Larry Robinson seems unlikely. The theory is that he's better prepared to handle the Montreal media circus than he was in the first go-round.

Bob Hartley's an understandable candidate — veteran coach, with a Cup ring, although one imagines the Calgary Flames will come calling. But what about Marc Crawford?

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Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.

There's been a lot of talk about what this season has meant for the Washington Capitals in the hours leading up to, and then immediately following, their final game of the remarkably eventful 2011-12 season.

Wysh had a pretty good recap of the reasons the Capitals felt this little run to a pair of one-goal Game 7s against the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in the Eastern Conference — both having been heavy favorites — vindicated the Dale Hunter system of everyone playing defense and collapsing to within three inches of the crease, and it's perfectly reasonable for people to feel that way.

Certainly, no one expected these Capitals to do much damage in the postseason given that they frittered away a division they were picked to dominate. But the thing that everyone seems to forget is that, again, they were picked to dominate the Southeast, be a superpower in the East and the League at large.

If the team tuned out Bruce Boudreau, and it appears they did, then wasn't his replacement, whoever it happened to be, more or less expected to get this far?

Therefore, it becomes a question about what changed, and really, what didn't.

Let's not forget, Boudreau came in originally and let guys like Alex Semin, Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green have their run of the rink. Two-minute shifts? Sure! Goals aplenty? You bet. But in the end, what did it get them? Bounce-outs, and if you believe the talk, disappointing ones at that. So Boudreau changed the style, focusing more on defense, tethering Ovechkin and Co. to an extent, and … getting the same amount of success. Under each of the two clearly definable Boudreau regimes, the team lost in the conference quarter- and semi-finals.

Which is of course notable because the latter is exactly how far Hunter got in his first chance at the tiller, despite doing everything in his power not to: like limiting Ovechkin to fewer than 20 minutes a night in every game in this series save for Saturday's Game 7 and the three-overtime Game 3, in which he played 35:14 — or, if you prefer 17:37 per three periods of play. This therefore vindicates Hunter only as far as it vindicated Boudreau; which, with a roster like this, and given the "choker" label being hung liberally on the former Caps coach this time last year.

The philosophy changed radically under Hunter, and worked only as far as it did for Boudreau. Why?

(Coming Up: Team USA, international ass-kickers; getting stupid about Patrick Kane's drinking; Parise's future; Could Brad Stuart return to the Sharks?; Kevin Lowe says Ryan Murray is the top player in this year's draft class; Suter/Weber questions; Pancakes Penner's revenge; Bruins pumped for Dougie Hamilton; Alfredsson retirement watch; Leafs/Penguins trade?; Lundqvist is King; Alex Burrows runs and hugs a goalie; and Winnipeg Jets fans are burning Coyotes jerseys.)

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"You're the hardest team we've played all year," Dallas Eakins, the coach of the AHL's Toronto Marlies, told Abbotsford Heat head coach Troy Ward as the two men shook hands.

The Marlies had just scored the overtime winner in Game 5 of the second round playoff series between the two clubs, eliminating the Heat, 4-1. It was a disappointing end to what was, arguably, the best season in the Heat's 3-year history.

The Heat are the AHL affiliate of the Calgary Flames, who boast a prospect pool that was ranked 26th in the NHL by Hockey's Future just two days ago. But, while they may not be stacked with prospects, as long as Ward is behind the bench, they'll be well-coached.

The problem is, he may not be behind the bench for long. Eakins wasn't the only hockey mind to recognize how hard the Heat play; there are strong rumblings that Ward has done enough to make himself not just a candidate in the Calgary Flames' search for a new head coach, but the only publicly acknowledged candidate thus far.

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Los Angeles Kings Head Coach Darryl Sutter joked during a Thursday conference call that if goaltender Jonathan Quick were to get injured, Jonathan Bernier would be next in line, followed by team vice president and assistant GM Ron Hextall and goaltending coach Bill Ranford.

The latter two were Conn Smythe Trophy winners in 1987 and 1990, respectively, while Bernier has yet to experience a playoff game in his NHL career. Quick is the current front-runner for the Smythe as the Kings go for their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

Some teams can win in spite of their goaltending, but the Kings wouldn't be close to even a sniff of the Western Conference Final against the Phoenix Coyotes without the work of Quick. His 35-win season made him the first Kings goaltender to record three straight 30-plus win seasons. He also posted an NHL-best 10 shutouts and was top-5 in wins, goals-against average (1.95) and save percentage (.929).

Aside from being a Smythe candidate, he was nominated for the Vezina Trophy; and while he fell short of being a finalist, many believe he was worthy of Hart Trophy consideration. Taking into account that nine of Quick's losses came in games where he allowed just a single goal, it's hard to ignore his inclusion into the MVP discussion.

Sutter has seen this before. While coaching the Calgary Flames during the 2003-04 season when they came within a game of winning the Cup, he watched Miikka Kiprusoff post five shutouts and a 1.85 goals against average en route to Game 7 of the Final that year. To Sutter, what Quick brings to the Kings reminds him of Kiprusoff eight years ago.

"I think they play a lot of the same way in their styles," Sutter said. "It's a bit different than other guys. Same practice habits, both have real similar work ethics, both have the same demeanor in the locker room, but there are real similarities between these two guys."

While many saw this coming from Quick, what Mike Smith has been providing to the Coyotes wasn't predicted.

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Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.

Occasionally you will hear that playing top teams several times a season, like those in the Atlantic and Central Divisions did this season, is a great way to prepare yourself for the postseason.

They say it makes you ready to face the tougher competition in the playoffs, and by extension, those teams playing in softer divisions must logically be ill-prepared for similar rigors once the postseason rolls around. Both of the Atlantic and Central divisions were littered with 100-point teams, boasting eight of the league's 10 to eclipse the century mark between them (the other two being Boston and Vancouver), and it therefore stood to reason that they would likely send the lion's share of competitors to the conference finals.

The better teams in the regular season tend to do about as well in the postseason, because they are, after all, very good teams. That makes sense.

It turns out, though, that having a bunch of teams even in the neighborhood of 100 points in your division at the end of the regular season actually may be more of a detriment to a squad's postseason success. Since the lockout, only two teams have played in a Stanley Cup Final after playing in a division with three teams that managed 100 points. However, both those teams (Anaheim in 2007 and Chicago in 2010) won the Cup. If you expand that number out to even 97 points — which typically assures you a playoff berth but not home ice — only two more teams are added to the mix, the 2008 and 2009 Penguins.

Conversely, teams coming out of divisions with two or fewer 97-point teams got into the Cup Finals with far greater frequency, doing so eight times since the lockout (including both Boston and Vancouver last year).

But now we've seen the Los Angeles Kings advance to the Western Conference Final for the first time since 1993, and the Phoenix Coyotes stand on the precipice of doing the same for the first time since ever. Phoenix won the Pacific Division with 97 points, and is only a home ice team by virtue of its division title. Had seeding been based on points, they'd have slotted into the sixth spot. Los Angeles, meanwhile, finished with 95. The now-eliminated Sharks were sandwiched between them with 96.

Three teams from one division in the playoffs, yes, but one terribly underwhelming division from which not much was expected.

(Coming Up: America is a hockey superpower, thanks to Jack Johnson; Barry Trotz is wrong; Dustin Brown is awesome; Jordan Staal of Carolina; Thomas Vanek makes bank; Luongo to the Blackhawks?; Rick Dudley to the Habs; Jonathan Quick vs. Terry Sawchuck; trading Sidney Crosby; Todd McLellan-to-Calgary rumors; and the best and worst of the Capitals.)

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Here are your Puck Previews: Spotlighting the key games in NHL action, news and views as well as general frivolity. Make sure to stop back here for the nightly Three Stars when the games are finished.

Preview: New York Rangers at Washington Capitals, 7:30 p.m. ET

Said Alex Ovechkin after playing just 13 minutes in Game 2: "Sometimes you just have to put eye in your butt and, you know, play for everybody." I'm going to assume "eye" is supposed to be "I", although that only makes a little more sense. Will he play more in Game 3 at home? It's probable, especially since Dale Hunter will have the last change, so the Capitals' coach won't have to work so hard to keep Ovechkin away from Girardi and McDonagh. Brandon Dubinsky accompanied his teammates to Washington, but didn't take the morning skate. It looks like he won't play.

Preview: Phoenix Coyotes at Nashville Predators, 9 p.m. ET

Will the suspensions of Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn cost the Predators the scoring punch they need to win a crucial game 3 at home, or will it galvanize the team and lead them to a Game 3 victory? (The third option is that it does neither, and the outcome Wednesday night has nothing to do with the decision to suspend these two, but we'll be told it has everything to do with it either way.)

Evening reading

• According to a survey, men go on fewer dates during the playoffs. [Postmedia]

• Here's a cool infographic on the 48 athletes that have signed up with You Can Play. [Sixteen Wins]

• Friedman: "Convinced the edgier-than-ever John Tortorella media conferences have to do with his recent $20,000 fine. There were always things he wouldn't discuss, but this is a new level. You could always find something he'd have a (great) opinion about." [CBC]

• The Calgary Flames have signed Roman Cervenka to an entry-level deal. The Czech centre led the KHL in playoff scoring with 11 goals and 11 assists in 20 games. [Calgary Sun]

Puck Buddy Comment of the Day: Joel handicaps the postseason MVP race.

LA Kings Twitter account should be the Conn Smythe front-runner at this point.

Bold prediction: The Coyotes take a 3-0 lead.

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