Spurgeon to Remain With Wild

The Minnesota Wild will be having one of their reliable defensemen around for a little while longer.

They have signed Jared Spurgeon to a four-year contract worth $20.75 million that begins next season. The deal was announced on Monday, before the Wild played the Dallas Stars.

So far this season, the 26-year-old defenseman has four goals and 12 assists with a plus-four rating through 31 games. He also has 65 blocked shots this season, a team-high. Only defenseman Ryan Suter has been on the ice more than Spurgeon.

Certainly, the Wild want to lock up one of their best defenseman for a few more years. 65 blocked shots is impressive and helps his goalie. The Wild are currently fourth in the Central, behind Dallas, St. Louis, and Chicago. If they want to make a move and jump to the top of the Central, they certainly need Jared Spurgeon. But good for Jared Spurgeon that he's with a club that wants him long-term and for a guy who definitely wants to be there.

Good luck, Minnesota!

Blackhawks To Win Another Title?

Could the Chicago Blackhawks actually go for a fourth title?

If there's anything GM Stan Bowman can do, it's that he can rebuild on the fly and still keep this team elite in the NHL. He knows how to disassemble the team, figure out what parts need to go out and what needs to come in, and tie it all back together to make one superstar team. Just remember that he did the same thing after the 2010 and 2013 Stanley Cup titles.

Whether or not Stan Bowman's genius will show itself will be left undecided until the playoffs, but right now, he's putting together the right tools to make another Stanley Cup championship seem possible.

After the championship last season, Bowman had to take care of salary cap issues, and cut ties with Brandon Saad and Patrick Sharp. He also allowed Johnny Oduya to hit the free agent market last summer. Many other depth players also were lost to free agency.

Despite all these lost players, the Blackhawks still come in with the fourth-best record in the NHL. So how did they do it? Well, there are many factors contributing this season to the Blackhawks' stellar fall. There's the rookie Artemi Panarin who plays like Patrick Kane and is racking up the points on offense and replacing the ones that were lost this offseason.

Another major factor is Artem Anisimov. He came over in the Brandon Saad trade. Right now, he is the No. 2 center that the Blackhawks have been trying to find. Right now, he is on pace to score between 20 and 25 goals, maybe even more if he gets the puck a little more often.

I know it's hard for this team to replace Johnny Oduya, who's been a stellar force on that team for many years. But look no further than defense Trevor Van Riemsdyk and he has been averaging 20 points a game helping to become an effective presence on the defensive line for the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks originally had Trevor Daley, but was later traded to Pittsburgh because he didn't quite fit into the Chicago system.

Goalie Corey Crawford is starting to step up. Right now, he already has five shutouts and his GAA of 2.16 and save percentage of .927 are better than last season. Not only his performance, but those of the star players like Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are effective as usual, and Duncan Keith, Niklas Hjalmarsson, and Brent Seabrook prove to be among the NHL's most defensive trio.

I like how the Blackhawks have played so far. They certainly are a playoff team, day in and day out. The core players are looking stellar as usual and the up-and-coming players are starting to make a drastic impact on how the Blackhawks play. The one thing I wasn't certain of was Trevor Daley, who did get traded because he didn't fit into the system. I originally thought he would fit into the system, but after watching a couple of games with him in them this season, it clearly felt he didn't understand what the Blackhawks were trying to achieve. Not he goes to Pittsburgh while Rob Scuderi gets back. We'll see if Scuderi can handle the Blackhawks system that Trevor Daley could not.

Right now, this is an elite team. This is probably the best team in the NHL so far. It may be December, but for the Chicago Blackhawks, what they do early in the season usually helps them later in the season and gets them into the playoffs. So right now, they look like the favorites to win it all. Those Blackhawks are looking awesome!

Are the Oilers a Playoff Team?

The Edmonton Oilers? A playoff team? Some might find it hard to believe. They've already five consecutive wins at home and have been doing pretty well without Connor McDavid, their bright, young star. They may not be reliving the Stanley Cup days of the 1980s, but the drumbeats of the playoffs seem to be coming closer and closer.

They've missed the playoffs for nine consecutive years and I would like to see them get back into the playoffs. During their current winning streak, they've won games against the Dallas Stars and the New York Rangers.

Even though they have played well at home, they still have some work to do on the road. No doubt, however, that they have been the NHL's most improved team over the past three weeks. So why are the Oilers turning the corner?

Well, for starters, there's Leon Draitsaitl from the AHL. He has nine goals and 26 points in 20 games. He is already looking like one of the top performers in this game. He also had four assists in that win over the Rangers. Another big reason is their offense. You might have thought the offense would sputter without Connor McDavid being there, but think again. The high draft picks the Oilers have picked in recent years is starting to pay big time. Taylor Hall is having a great season, with 14 goals and 34 points in 30 games, as well as talented seasons by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle, and Teddy Purcell.

Todd McLellan, I believe, should get a lot of credit for what he has been doing in Edmonton. The expectations was that the former Sharks coach would clean up the team's efficiency and it really is starting to show up. The defensive game will still be something to be taken care of, but I think McLellan is really changing the attitude that this team brings in, day in and day out.

The Oilers look like a team on the rise. They are optimistic about making the playoffs, and I'm happy that they're finally becoming relevant in the league again. Let's be honest, the NHL isn't really doing any justice when their top teams aren't doing well. Although the league was great with having the Chicago Blackhawks and the New York Rangers doing well, they would've been even better if the Oilers were in there. And now they look like they're ready to get in. We're still in December, no doubt about that, but right now, they look like a dangerous team that everyone needs to watch out for.

Penguins Fire A Coach

Looks like the Penguins are heading a new direction when it comes to coaching. This Saturday, they fired coach Mike Johnston. Johnston had been under fire from Penguins fans that he was being too conservative when it came to his players and their play on-the-ice. Others can speculate that he may have been two democratic when it comes to management of his players. Either way, he's gone and the coach for their AHL affiliate Mike Sullivan will take over for those duties. General manager Jim Rutherford hopes that Sullivan will make the players more accountable for their actions. Rutherford also called him an unknown to the Penguins players and he believes that will allow him to be listened to and that the players will play harder and take responsibility for their actions when it comes to the ice.

Sullivan, who was a former head coach with Bruins, takes over a team that is 15-10-3 and is outside of the playoff picture right now. Apparently, that record is not deemed "acceptable" by the Penguins management or by the fans. The Penguins are hoping a little new blood will help the Penguins win the Stanley Cup again, and from their AHL affiliate. Last time they did it, it was with Dan Bylsma who led them to the Stanley Cup championship.

As far as I know when it comes to the Pittsburgh Penguins, they expect to be in the playoff hunt every year and are expected to compete for the title on almost a yearly basis. I don't know Mike Johnston that well or where he played before this, but if the Penguins are saying that he's not holding players accountable for what they did on the ice, then there's a change that needs to be done. The Penguins obviously had to do something, because their expectations are always high and they always expect to compete with the top dogs of the NHL. Right now, that's not looking like the case. I'm hoping this Mike Sullivan guy can change the culture that is the Penguins right now and get them back into the playoff mix. They're a good team but they need a strong coach that can help fill the mold and if Rutherford believes that Sullivan can do that, by all means, let him try.

The Penguins should be able to bounce back and get back into the playoff picture but it requires some strong willpower and accountability and that's two things the Penguins lack right now. So if Mike Sullivan knows what he's doing and he can get the players to listen to him, then I think he's walking into a great situation that allows him to have success. Good luck, Penguins.

The End of the Blue Jackets Season?

The Columbus Blue Jackets started off in an 0-8-0 hole to start the season. Now, thanks to a recent injury by one of their important players, the season now looks like a lost cause.

Their goalie Sergei Bobrovsky has a lower-body injury and is expected to miss three weeks, according to The Columbus Dispatch. The injury occurred during a game against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.

Bobrovsky had been significantly improving this season, posting a 2.52 GAA and a .916 save percentage. His numbers may not be great but they are better than what he had been doing before that.

Losing Bobrovsky, I believe, sinks the ship for the Blue Jackets even further. They're already tied with Carolina for the basement of the Metropolitan Division and now it looks like they might not be able to crawl their way back into this. They've already replaced their coach and now they are replacing their goaltender with their backup. Not exactly the type of news they wanted to hear.

The Blue Jackets really have nowhere to go and it looks like their ship will sink this season. I really thought this team had a chance to make it back into the playoffs, but thanks to this bad start and now the loss of their goaltender, it's hard for me to see them getting there this season.