The Rat that Ate New York City: Florida Panthers @ New York Rangers ... Tomas Vokoun now MAYBE ... Brett McLean IN

NEW YORK -- Not a whole lot to post here, other than the Penguins made a deal today, sending defenseman Ryan Whitney to the Ducks for Chris Kunitz and a prospect.

So I guess that officially kicks off Trade Deadline Week.

Hanging out in New York City as many of you already know. Confusing town, New York is.

First, I went to Times Square. No clocks. Then I went to Madison Square Garden. No flowers. So, off to Alphabet City. Guess what? No soup. Then, later, I headed to the meatpacking district. Not a t-bone in sight. Oh well.

Headed to Battery Park later today. My digital recorder is running low on juice. Hope they have a deal on triple As.

-- Visited pal Mark from the NHL offices today and had a very nice lunch. Then it was off to the NHL Store. Cool stuff. I bought a vintage Magic Johnson Lakers jersey. Really cool. Actually scored a throwback Hartford Whalers cap. Sweet. It just jumped to the top of the starting rotation.

-- Tomas Vokoun has an inner ear infection says Pete DeBoer. He says he'll know by 5 p.m. who will start in net.

-- Brett McLean back onto the fourth line in place of Nick Tarnasky. ''Fresh legs,'' PDeB says.

-- Wednesday's Scores (and how they affected the Panthers): Phillies pick up another two points by shutting out Los Angeles. Pitt moves two points closer after shutting out the Isles. Rangers get a point, but that's it as Leafs win in a shootout.

-- Thursday's Sked (and who the Panthers would be rooting for if they weren't busy playing the Rangers)

Avs @ Devils, 7: El Paso. Well, first game back for Martin Brodeur. So they have that going for them. Which is nice.

Leafs @ Isles, 7: Um, yeah.

Panthers @ Rangers, 7: Florida roots for Rangers and old friend John Tortorella. A Florida regulation win and the Panthers move into tie for sixth with the Blueshirts.

Sabres @ Canes, 7: This, folks, is a biggie. Carolina can jump both Panthers and Sabres with a regulation win tonight combined with a Florida loss. All those who emailed me and told me the Canes were done? Told ya so.

Thrashers @ Capitals, 7: Has Atlanta played a home game this month?

Ducks @ Bruins, 7: The Bs looked good the other night. This does nothing for Panthers one way or another.

Sharks @ Sens, 7:30: A Sens loss and they are probably cooked like a Christmas goose. Which, I have never had on Christmas.

Coyotes @ Preds, 8: Olli's on Music Row. And that's all I got.

Blues @ Stars, 8: I. Don't. Care.

Jackets @ Oil, 9: When I ask players what their favorite NHL city is, for some strange reason, Edmonton never comes up.

The Standings (presented by the Carnegie Deli and 30 Rock; courtesy of TSN.ca/nhl)

Eastern
Rank	Team	GP	W	L	OT	PTS	GF	GA	Home	Away	Last 10	Streak
1	Boston	61	41	12	8	90	206	138	20-4-4	21-8-4	4-4-2	Won 1
2	Washington	61	38	18	5	81	203	176	24-6-1	14-12-4	6-3-1	Lost 1
3	New Jersey	60	38	19	3	79	182	151	19-10-1	19-9-2	6-4-0	Lost 1
4	Philadelphia	59	33	17	9	75	195	171	18-8-3	15-9-6	7-3-0	Won 2
5	Montreal	61	32	22	7	71	187	184	19-6-4	13-16-3	3-6-1	Won 2
6	NY Rangers	62	31	23	8	70	152	172	18-9-4	13-14-4	2-5-3	Lost 3
7	Florida	60	30	22	8	68	167	165	17-8-5	13-14-3	6-4-0	Lost 1
8	Buffalo	61	31	24	6	68	181	171	17-12-2	14-12-4	5-4-1	Lost 1
9	Carolina	62	31	26	5	67	164	180	16-13-1	15-13-4	6-4-0	Lost 1
10	Pittsburgh	62	30	26	6	66	186	191	17-12-2	13-14-4	6-3-1	Won 1
11	Toronto	61	23	26	12	58	182	220	11-11-8	12-15-4	4-3-3	Won 2
12	Ottawa	59	23	27	9	55	148	170	13-10-5	10-17-4	6-2-2	Won 1
13	Tampa Bay	61	20	29	12	52	155	196	11-12-8	9-17-4	3-5-2	Lost 1
14	Atlanta	61	22	33	6	50	180	214	10-17-2	12-16-4	5-4-1	Won 1
15	NY Islanders	60	18	36	6	42	144	199	12-13-4	6-23-2	2-7-1	Lost 1
Western
Rank	Team	GP	W	L	OT	PTS	GF	GA	Home	Away	Last 10	Streak
1	San Jose	59	41	9	9	91	201	144	26-2-3	15-7-6	5-2-3	Lost 1
2	Detroit	61	40	13	8	88	232	178	23-4-3	17-9-5	7-2-1	Won 1
3	Calgary	60	36	18	6	78	191	174	21-7-4	15-11-2	6-2-2	Won 3
4	Chicago	59	34	17	8	76	197	148	15-5-5	19-12-3	6-4-0	Lost 2
5	Vancouver	60	30	22	8	68	181	173	14-11-4	16-11-4	8-2-0	Lost 1
6	Columbus	61	30	25	6	66	166	173	19-10-2	11-15-4	6-3-1	Lost 2
7	Minnesota	59	30	24	5	65	152	137	18-11-5	12-13-0	5-3-2	Lost 1
8	Dallas	59	29	23	7	65	174	180	17-9-4	12-14-3	5-5-0	Lost 2
9	Edmonton	60	30	25	5	65	170	185	14-11-4	16-14-1	5-3-2	Won 1
10	Anaheim	62	30	27	5	65	176	179	15-13-3	15-14-2	5-5-0	Won 2
11	Nashville	61	29	28	4	62	147	171	17-11-2	12-17-2	5-4-1	Won 2
12	Los Angeles	60	26	25	9	61	157	173	13-13-8	13-12-1	4-4-2	Lost 1
13	St. Louis	60	26	26	8	60	167	179	16-11-5	10-15-3	5-2-3	Won 1
14	Phoenix	61	27	29	5	59	157	186	17-12-2	10-17-3	3-7-0	Lost 1
15	Colorado	61	28	32	1	57	168	190	17-14-0	11-18-1	4-6-0	Lost 2

Comments

[jh]

gotta root for Buffalo and maintain speration of top 8, and moreover NO 3 POINTER!!!!!

Glad you didnt go to Hells Kitchen, you wouldnt find many appliances...

Word has it GR youl be the first to start a whistle chant tonight? :-)

[George Richards]

nice one JH...knew I missed one...

[Big Slap Shot Bob]

I may just have to flip between tonight's game and the Philly-Mtl game to listen to all the rumors about JM being at that game and Bouwmeester going to the Flyers. You've got to love what the trade deadline does to people...