Dave Babych lawsuit: Any suggestion that he or anyone in Philadelphia Flyers management forced defenceman Dave Babych to return from an injury before he was ready is "absolutely crazy," Ottawa Senators assistant coach Roger Neilson, who was head coach of the Flyers at the time, said Thursday.

Neilson was responding to a lawsuit that has been filed by Babych against Comcast, the company that owns the Flyers, and team doctor Arthur Bartolozzi, alleging "improper and fraudulent medical advice, motivated by a corporate strategy of pressuring injured players to return to the ice," according to a deposition obtained by a Philadelphia newspaper. (CP)

Pesidents again: The Red Wings rallied from a two-goal deficit in the final 3:39 of regulation to tie the Nashville Predators 3-3 Thursday night and clinch the Presidents' Trophy, awarded to the team with the NHL's best record. The tie, combined with Philadelphia's loss to Carolina, guarantees the Red Wings (50-14-8-2) home ice throughout the playoffs. Detroit also won the Presidents' Trophy in 1995 and 1996. )AP)

Caps could make the playoffs yet: Hard to believe, but the Caps took possession of 8th place in the East last night by beating Buffalo 4-3. Amazing, since Adam Oates has been traded away and Sergei Gonchar is injured.

The Penguins have started to nip at their heels. The Sabres are now teetering. With the latest injury to goalie Mike Richter, the Rangers won't make the post-season. The biggest impediment will be Montreal, which surprisingly got beaten last night 2-1 by the Florida Panthers, for God's sake!

But the Canadians may get back Saku Koivu and Donald Audette shortly, which could be enough to swing them back into the playoffs at Washington's expense...

NYT says, make it a fish bowl: This New York Times columnist wants the NHL to raise the plexiglass to prevent pucks from flying into the crowd.

He neglects to mention three problems:

• the further impediment to visibility for fans
• most fans love when the puck comes careening into the stands and will jostle with each other to be the one who catches it
• the increased glass will further fuck up the temperature and humidity contols for the ice surface - already mushy in most arenas, it will just get worse - leading to more injuries and more sloppy hockey

Salo the man: Tommy Salo earned his 15th shutout as an Edmonton Oiler on Sunday, making him the all-time club leader, and this is a franchise that's trotted out goaltenders like Grant Fuhr and Andy Moog, Bill Ranford and Curtis Joseph. Salo now has five more shutouts than Fuhr, a slam-dunk Hockey Hall of Famer. (Edmonton Journal)

Playoff hopes fade into nothingness: The Penguins are out. By beating the Caps 6-2 last night, they pretty much sealed the Caps' fate as playoff hopelesses as well.

Meanwhile, my other favored team, Toronto, suffered two more injuries last night: "Centre Robert Reichel was lost before the opening faceoff when he came down with back spasms. Then right winger Mikael Renberg aggravated his hamstring injury and was lost in the third period. Before this, the Leafs were already missing Joseph and defenceman Dmitry Yushkevich, in addition to forward Darcy Tucker, who was serving the first game of a two-game NHL suspension for his hit on Washington Capitals defenceman Sergei Gonchar. In addition to Tucker, neither Reichel nor Renberg will play in tonight's important game in Philadelphia against the Flyers.