Ray Whitney

Preview: The Kings (22-13-4; 48 points) head to Dallas to take on the Stars(18-17-3; 39 points) tonight at 5:30.While the Kings are currently in fourth place in the Western Conference the Sharks and Wild are just behind in the standings putting pressure on Los Angeles. There are nine games left in the season and even a playoff spot is not guaranteed. The Stars are in tenth place, nine points back from the Kings.

Tonight’s game will be the fourth of five contests between the teams. Dallas won both games in Los Angeles: On March 7th they won 5-2 and 2-0 on March 21st. The Kings won the most recent game in Dallas with a 3-2 victory on March 31t.

All three games ...

Finally, the Dallas Stars have financial freedom. Tom Gaglardi has given GM Joe Nieuwendyk the ability to spend money—and did he ever. He dished out pretty good money to sign some free agents, and pick up a few assets over the summer. Let's take a look at what happened after another heartbreaking season.

In with the new:
Jaromir Jagr - one year, $4.5 million
Ray Whitney - two years, $9 million
Derek Roy -  acquired in Ott trade
Cody Eakin - acquired in Ribeiro trade
Aaron Rome - three years, $4.5 million

Out with the old:
Sheldon Souray - to Anaheim
Mike Ribeiro - to Was...

It should be a playoff type atmosphere in Phoenix tonight as the Flames head into the Desert to play the Coyotes. This is the first of four meetings between the clubs this season, with all of them coming in the next five weeks. The Flames come into Phoenix to play the back-end of a back-to-back after defeating the San Jose Sharks 4-3 last night in the Shark tank. The Coyotes on the other hand come in tonight red hot, defeating the Dallas Stars on Tuesday 4-1, for their 3rd win in a row. The two teams are neck and neck in the playoff race as the Coyotes sit 9th with 58 points and the Flames now sit in 10th with 57 points after their victory last night. Depending on how Minnesota does against Vancouver tonight, the winner of this game could find themselves in the final playoff spot for the time being.

After having enjoyed more overall success in earlier weeks, the Phoenix Coyotes are struggling to find consistency and have split their last ten games, which includes a monster stretch of four games in six nights. They face Anaheim for already the third time this season, having had the upper hand in both meetings so far with wins of 5-4 and 4-2, exactly one month apart.

The Ducks, like the Coyotes, have dropped their last two games.  Their division is in the midst of an overhaul, with only Phoenix's Dave Tippett and San Jose's Todd McLellan having coached full seasons with their respective clubs last year. Bruce Boudreau has a .666 winning-percentage all time and i...