Hockey Hearsay

Hockey Hearsay runs weekdays, 12 months a year; mixing NHL stories, quotes and fantasy takes.

Michigan Live reports that if any Las Vegas bettors have been riding the Detroit Red Wings since their 23-game home win streak began Nov. 5, they've had the chance to earn life-changing money.

How much?

According to Todd Fuhrman, senior race and sportsbook analyst for Caesars Entertainment, a $100 bet on the Red Wings back in November would be worth more than $3.9 million now if a bettor had allowed his money to ride during the entire streak.

The original $100 bet on Detroit in the Red Wings' first game of the streak, a 5-0 victory against Anaheim, would have netted the bettor $68. (In Las Vegas, Detroit was minus-147 for that game, meaning a bettor had to wager $147 to win $100.)

The rolled-over winnings of $168 bet on the Red Wings' Nov. 8 win over Colorado would have turned into $271 (Detroit was mius-161 that game) and so on. After 15 games, the original $100 would have totaled more than $100,000.

The Calgary Herald details how Flames goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff never fails to amaze his teammates with his stellar play.

“There seems to be something every game that sorta makes you lean back and say, ‘Wow!’,” says defenceman Mark Giordano, one of those devout believers.

Wow.

That pretty much nails it.

“He’s had some amazing years in the past,” lauds captain Jarome Iginla. “But he’s playing as well this year as any year.

“All of us as players, we talk among each other, and some of the guys who’ve come here say they’ve never had a goalie play that well that consistently. We who have been here, well, you never take him for granted, you’re always impressed, but ... you tend to get used to it.

“And truly, I think this is as good as he’s played. Right up there. Maybe even better.”

At 35, Kiprusoff is back to his human-pipe-cleaner best, bending his body — not to mention logic — this way and that. Arguably better than ever.

Even sharper, more influential, many believe, than in 2005-06, the 42-win, 2.07-GAA, .923-save-percentage season that netted him (as of today) his one and only Vezina Trophy.

The numbers this year may not quite match up with that one (although 27 wins, a 2.23 GAA and .924 save percentage is impressive enough in itself), but circumstances in this town are vastly different. That team, coming out of the lockout, had been a Stanley Cup finalist the previous season. Nobody is mistaking this edition for the ’76 Habs, a debilitating rash of injuries are decimating the lineup, and yet here we find the Flames, finally with a leg up in the crowded playoff cluster.

Only serving to make Kiprusoff’s achievement all the more remarkable.

“I mean, I think he’s better,” agrees assistant to the GM Craig Conroy. “This is the best hockey I’ve seen Kipper play. He looks so relaxed, so calm.

“When you look at the saves he makes, the timing. For me this is probably his best year. Kipper just quietly goes about his business. His demeanour hasn’t changed.

“People say: ‘Oh, he’s getting older.’ And I say: ‘Well, he might be getting older. He’s not playing older.’

“For me, he’s hands-down the best goalie in the league.”

After going on to posit that Kipper is potentially deserving of some award hardware this season, The Herald notes that individual accolades have never been the spur that pushes Kiprusoff on. Actually, the prospect of getting all dressed up like one of the Calgary zoo’s new penguins, in a tux, and hobnobbing at the annual NHL Vegas Award soiree is pretty much guaranteed to set his teeth on edge.

“Oh, he’s not coming back for it, even if he is a finalist,” laughs Conroy. “If he’s in Finland, he’s staying in Finland. He’s not coming back.”

Stay the course.

With the NHL trade deadline less than a week away, The Ottawa Sun describes how Sens owner Eugene Melnyk told Sportsnet Radio Fan 590 in Toronto on Monday that the club isn’t going to go on a spending spree just to get into the playoffs.

Melnyk didn’t rule out GM Bryan Murray trying to move the contracts of expensive veterans if they’re able to get young players who will grow with the team.

That means defencemen Sergei Gonchar and Filip Kuba could be on the move by 3 p.m. next Monday, although Melnyk said Murray told him no changes are necessary.

“You have to stick to the plan,” said Melnyk. “You can never plan on where you’ll end up as far as No. 13, No. 10 or No. 7. You do stick to the plan: Growing from within and draft well. We came into this with a three-year plan.

“We went the hard way. That’s the only way. You rid yourself, if you can, of very expensive old players who aren’t producing. You bring in hungry young kids that will do anything to continue with (their) NHL career.”

Melnyk said the club won’t overspend just to finish seventh and get eliminated in the first round.

“As tempting as it may sound, nothing changes,” said Melnyk. “You spend a boatload and you come in No. 9. You look like an idiot. You’ve got to be prudent and patient. Continue to be focused.

“Do we want to be the belle of the ball? We want to. (But) we’re not going to gamble the future for short-term gain. (We) won’t blow money to get to the second round.”

The Vancouver Province revisits the acquisition of David Booth from the Florida Panthers, which involved Booth’s ticket of $4.25 million US in each of the next three years coming to the Canucks and the expiring contracts for Marco Sturm and Mikael Samuelsson going the other way. It doesn’t begin to explain how a young player who scored 31 goals became available at such a cheap price.

It’s only when you consider Booth’s injury was a concussion — the NHL’s equivalent to the scarlet letter — that you begin to understand why the Panthers let him go and how the Canucks were able to pick him up.

“I can’t say if (the Panthers) thought David would never come back,” says former NHL goalie Mike Liut, Booth’s agent. “But you can logically conclude what they thought by that trade.”

“I try not to look at the negative,” Booth says. “My take was the Vancouver Canucks wanted me, not the Florida Panthers didn’t want me. I look back at it now and I see God had a plan for my life. It’s kind of cool to see His hand working.”

Booth has 11 goals and 11 assists in 33 games with the Canucks this season, but those numbers tell only a part of the story. For GM Mike Gillis and the organization, the larger development is the return of the fearless power game Booth played before the concussions.

The Panthers, clearly, thought that player would never return. The Canucks, who scouted Booth extensively in the early part of the season with pro scout Eric Crawford, believed he might. The cost — Booth’s contract plus Steven Reinprecht’s $2-million deal — was significant.

But the Canucks also believed the potential reward justified the risk.

“We felt pretty strongly about David,” said Gillis.

And there’s a reason for that, The Province continues.

Talk to anyone in the game who’s come across Booth and a picture quickly emerges of a relentlessly positive teammate who trains like a Navy SEAL and whose lifestyle is consistent with his Christian beliefs.

“He’s a kid who loves the game,” says Ryan Kesler, who played midget hockey with Booth in the Detroit area.

“Just a great kid,” says Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves, who coached Booth in the USA U18 program and on the gold medal-winning American team at the 2004 world junior championship. “His bad days are most people’s good days.”

Booth, for his part, now says he feels like he’s all the way back. Yes, there were some dark nights of the soul. There always are with concussions. But he’s now played the better part of two seasons without a recurrence and the doubts have given way to a sense of confidence.

“It was hard,” he says. “You lose your sense of what’s normal.

“But that was so long ago. Now I’m feeling like I was before. It just doesn’t come back the first game. It takes time.”

And now time, once again, is on his side.

The Winnipeg Free Press notes that the NHL named Winnipeg Jets winger Blake Wheeler one of its three stars of the week after he led all scorers with eight points (one goal, seven assists) over the last four games, three of them wins. Wheeler was named the second star after Anaheim Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller, while Ottawa Senators centre Jason Spezza was the third star.

"He deserves it, he's playing well," said Jets coach Claude Noel. "He's had some big impact on games and he had a big night (Sunday) with four assists. It's nice to see him get some recognition."

Wheeler's four points in Sunday's 5-1 win over Colorado eclipsed a career high. He now has 46 on 11 goals and 35 helpers.

"I really am not wrapped up in the individual statistics thing, man," Wheeler said. "Our whole line's playing really well. When we were put together after the all-star break we made a conscious effort to try and make this thing work, similar to how we did last year in Atlanta. I think we're going really well right now. We're trying to win puck battles and keep things simple and it's turning into some good chances for us and translating into some big goals."

Asked if he is doing anything different -- remember, Wheeler went 18 games without scoring to open the season -- Noel downplayed any dramatic shift in the big winger's approach.

"Not really," Noel said. "I think his game has changed from the early going, but I don't think that's by design. It's maturity. He's enjoying playing, he's enjoying having success."

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review points out that Penguins' Evgeni Malkin was targeted by the Buffalo Sabres' biggest forward Sunday, a familiar approach for stopping the league's scoring leader. But that strategy isn't working as well as it once did, coach Dan Bylsma said Monday.

"Geno has done a real good job with guys who have targeted him physically," he said. "In the past years, he may have responded after the whistle in a way that was probably detrimental to his game. He's really been focused."

The Sabres matched Malkin's line with forwards Paul Gaustad, Patrick Kaleta and Nathan Gerbe, with the 6-foot-5, 212-pound Gaustad shadowing the Penguins star. Malkin had five shots and assisted on Deryk Engelland's goal, but it was his third straight game without a goal.

Bylsma said Malkin has learned to better use his body to create space and protect the puck. At 6-3, Malkin is hardly small.

"He wins the physical battle a lot of times," Bylsma said. "That's something that, playing against a bigger body like Gaustad, he's going to have to deal with. But he still creates the room and still creates scoring opportunities."

The Chicago Tribune points out that Hawks forward Patrick Sharp has peppered opposing goaltenders with 199 shots, which ranks third in the Western Conference and 12th in the league entering Tuesday's play around the NHL — despite missing eight games last month with a broken bone in his left wrist.

"It's tough in today's game to get scoring chances and get shots on net," said Sharp, who has a combined 11 shots during the Hawks' three-game winning streak. "The harder I work and the faster I play that seems to be coming to me more and more. You have to shoot the puck to score goals so that's what I've been focusing on this year."

Sharp is on pace for 268 shots, which would match his career high set last season. With the shots have been scoring chances and he has cashed in with 24 goals, second on the Hawks behind Jonathan Toews' 29.

Sitting for eight games with a wrist injury suffered Jan. 8 against the Red Wings — the team the Hawks will face Tuesday night at the United Center — gave Sharp a reminder to keep shooting.

"You really notice it when you sit out a few games," Sharp, 30, said. "You see oftentimes guys can put the puck on the net and it's never a bad play, so that's something I always try to play by."

After playing center for the Hawks for much of the previous two seasons, Sharp has played almost exclusively on the wing this season, and that has him thinking shoot first, pass second — especially on his current line with Toews and Patrick Kane.

"You've seen me pass the puck, so I think it's a good idea I shoot it," Sharp deadpanned before adding, "whenever I'm in the middle I have the puck more and I'm looking to make plays and help out my linemates. When I'm on the wing, I'm up-and-down playing a grittier style of game and taking the puck to the net and shooting more."

The Blue Jackets’ willingness to trade captain Rick Nash and their wish to trade center Jeff Carter shows a desire by general manager Scott Howson to dramatically change the team’s roster, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

And as the NHL trade deadline looms on Monday and rumors fly, Howson and his staff face a central question: What’s the new blueprint for Blue Jackets hockey?

“Fast and competitive,” Howson said. “We want fast, and fast isn’t just a player’s feet. It’s puck movement, it’s vision, it’s hockey sense, it’s hands, it’s brains … it’s a lot of different things.

“When it comes to competitive players … we need more. I don’t think you can ever have too many competitive guys, but we need more.”

In trade talks regarding Nash, the Blue Jackets are said to be asking for young, proven NHL players and high-end prospects, all of whom play with some measure of speed and tenacity.

The NHL flop of former first-round draft pick Nikita Filatov prompted the Blue Jackets to reorder their list of criteria at the entry draft, with “skill” tumbling way down the chart below “character” and “energy.”

This season’s debacle — the Jackets are 30th in the NHL heading into a game tonight against San Jose at Nationwide Arena — might have compelled Columbus to change its blueprint for success.

The Blue Jackets like what they see in 37-year-old Vinny Prospal. They signed him to a one-year, $2.5 million extension with a no-trade clause.

The tireless hustle of Derek Dorsett and Derek MacKenzie stands out, too, as did the scene that played out late in a 6-1 loss to Chicago on Saturday.

Defenseman James Wisniewski blocked two shots in the final five minutes, limped off the ice to the dressing room, then returned with his leg wrapped to finish a game that had long since been a blowout.

“That type of competitiveness, bravery, that never-give-up attitude is contagious,” Howson said. “We need more people like that.”

Email: chris.nichols@sportsnet.rogers.com

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­Chris Nichols is Sportsnet.ca's fantasy hockey writer.