Jesusberg

First off, I'm certain he's RFA, not UFA. Nashville will retain him.

Kronwall-Ericsson

Quincey-Smith

Kindl-DeKeyser

Colaiacovo (Lashoff if, in some rare case, a compliance buyout is used on Cola)

There would be no room for him. Not a bad defender, though. Will continue to improve and be a good partner for Weber, I think.

The problem is that these kids really don't know where the line is, and obviously don't know when enough is enough.  Sitting on someone's back and punching them in the head is never OK.  Ganging up on one person is not OK.  Jumping off the bench and skating full-tilt at someone to try to take their head off is not OK.  When pros fight, even with emotions high, there's a respect for one another.  If someone's falling to the ice, like if they're KO'd, you let them down easy.

EXACTLY my first thought. When you see a kid pelting another in the back of the head and not letting up... yikes. This is ugly.

I'm fine with Babs not being nominated, but how the F*** is Quennville on there!?!? If I'm remembering properly, hockey fans were citing Babcock having a stellar team in front him as being the reason for so few nominations. So now Quennville has a juggernaut Blackhawks squad and gets the nod? Unreal.

I feel like MacLean should get it, but Boudreau is deserving, too.

As much as I hate to see Helm out, his absence has given Andersson a chance to show he's a capable center at the NHL level. I appreciate the effort Emmerton puts forth, but I think Dats/Flip/Andersson/Helm gives us much better depth at center. One positive to take out of it.

It's been the first time in a long time where Ericsson was pinching and I wasn't wincing. He cut that out for about a year or so, really buckled down on his defensive play (especially along the boards) and now he's rounding out his game the right way. When he's pinching now, he's creating chances - not being a defensive liability. I personally believe they signed him to that deal thinking he'd be the guy to replace Stuart, and aside from the open ice hits, he has been that guy.