ESPN NHL

This is a great time to be a hockey fan. The playoff races still have plenty of intrigue, the competition for individual awards is heating up and every game seems to matter.

While the St. Louis, Nashville and Los Angeles are separated by just two points in the fight for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot, Detroit and Colorado are battling for the top spot out west and possibly the President's Trophy as the team with the best overall record in the NHL.

But plenty of teams in the Eastern Conference are also going to have a say in who finishes first overall in the league. Tampa Bay leads the conference but Philadelphia, Boston, Toronto and Ottawa all have at least 90 points and there is very little margin for error for any team. The Bruins, Maple Leafs and Senators are also all from the Northeast Division, which has proven to the the strongest in the NHL this season.

The Lightning's Martin St. Louis leads the NHL with 86 points but Colorado's Joe Sakic and Alex Tanguay are on his heels, and Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk is fighting off the likes of Columbus' Rick Nash, Calgary's Jarome Iginla and Colorado's Milan Hejduk.

The frenzy of the trade deadline has passed, key players are getting healthy and lineups are getting set for Stanley Cup runs, meaning the best hockey of the year is yet to come. It's time to sit back and enjoy the ride.

---

Plus: The NHL front office
It happened a week ago, but the league deserves credit for the swift, decisive action it took regarding the Todd Bertuzzi-Steve Moore situation. No other professional league could or would act as strongly against a star player as the NHL did in suspending Bertuzzi for the remainder of the regular season, the entire postseason and perhaps even into next season. The higher-ups in the league office handled things the best way possible by sending a clear message to all their players.

Minus: None
There is nothing wrong with the NHL right now. Everyone is gearing up for the playoff grind and the negatives have gone away.

---

	Vokoun

Goaltender
Tomas Vokoun, Nashville Predators: Tied for fourth in the league with 30 wins, Vokoun gives his team a chance every night. He has not won since March 4, but he is keeping the Predators in the playoff hunt by earning valuable points with three ties in his last four games.

Defensemen
Marek Zidlicky, Nashville Predators: A great find for Nashville. Zidlicky is second among all rookies with 48 points and has helped the power play with his consistent effort all season.

Mattias Norstrom, Los Angeles Kings: Has not scored a lot but has been rock-solid defensively for a team that lost much of its scoring punch to injury. Norstrom has been a leader and stabilizing factor all season.

Forwards
Luc Robitaille, Los Angeles Kings: Has 21 goals this season, marking the 16th time in his career he has scored at least 20 in a season. Robitaille also leads the Kings in scoring, stepping up nicely from a supporting role after the Kings suffered a ton of injuries.

Steve Sullivan, Nashville Predators: Where would Nashville be without Sullivan's team-leading 23 goals and 65 points? Probably not in playoff position. Another great pickup for the Predators.

Keith Tkachuk, St. Louis Blues: Has been consistent all year, scoring big goals and playing physical for a team that should ultimately get into the postseason.

---

Barry:
In an effort to keep the pace of games flowing, what are your thoughts on instituting a delay of game penalty on icing calls rather than just moving the faceoff back into the defensive zone? Would this encourage more puck control and fewer long dump-ins, thus generating better flow?
-- Troy, Westland, Mich.

That doesn't seem feasible, Troy. Say what you want about icing the puck, but plenty of tired teams use that strategy while leading late in a games and it would be unfair to punish a particular strategy. Some people have suggested a move to the automatic icing calls used in international hockey, both as a way to prevent repeated icing of the puck and avoid injuries when players are chasing the puck in hopes of negating the icing call, but why take something that exciting out of the game? It's no fun when the puck is dumped down the ice and everyone stops skating, but opposing players hustling after the puck is exciting. Effort that could result in a goal should be applauded, not taken out of the game.

The best thing the league could do to improve flow is figure out a way to limit or eliminate the trapping, zone-defense game that is clogging the neutral zone all over the NHL. That takes away more speed and flow than anything. The league made good adjustments in implementing the tag-up rule on offside situations and prohibiting goaltenders from handling the puck behind the net, but the adjustment I would make would be to remove the red line. Perhaps it's something to try in the minors and see what happens.

Hey, Barry:
When will you learn that Sean Burke should NOT be the starting goaltender for the Philadelphia Flyers going into the playoffs. Robert Esche been better than Burke since Burke joined the Flyers. Please, for the sake of all the Flyers fans and players, stop saying Burke is our guy because everyone in Philly knows he is not.
-- Anthony, Philadelphia

I think Burke is the guy, Anthony. The Flyers got him specifically to be the goaltender in the playoffs because he is a veteran guy with plenty of experience. Philadelphia will likely start him to begin the playoff because it will be much easier to replace Burke if he struggles than to pull Esche after sitting down the goalie who came over at the trade deadline. That would hurt Esche's psyche and he would likely be lost for the playoffs if he struggled that badly, so playing a backup role lessens the pressure and allows Esche to be loose. And let's not forget that Burke is a pretty good goaltender, too.

Barry Melrose, a former NHL defenseman and coach, is a hockey analyst for ESPN. He'll answer selected questions submitted to his e-mail bag each week. Also, click here to send Barry a question for possible use on ESPNEWS.