The other part of following a sports team is the yearlong, all-consuming white noise of gossip and conjecture: hirings, firings, trades, executive machinations and maneuvers that sometimes happen but usually don’t. This stuff has always occurred but now it’s goosed and amplified and elevated into a mandatory part of the experience, requiring an attention span stretching well beyond the reasonable boundaries of the season. It’s exhausting. Sports are no longer hobbies. They’ve become graduate school.

There is one difference. Even if you go to graduate school, there’s still time for Summer vacation.

The first figure represents the odds that were published on January 7, 2013. The second figure are the odds Bovada is offering as of April 29, 2013. It makes for some interesting reading.

Keeping the original Bovada odds in mind, the Philadelphia Flyers have to be considered the biggest disappointment in the field, failing to qualify for the playoffs after getting out of the gate at 12/1. The Carolina Hurricanes also have to be seen as something of a mild disappointment, also failing to make the playoffs and starting the season at 22/1 following the offseason additions of Jordan Staal and Alexander Semin. On the surprise side, you’d have to include the Montreal Canadiens (a 30/1 shot that’s already won the Northeast Division title), Toronto Maple Leafs, Anaheim Ducks (40/1 at the start of the season, but also a division winner), Ottawa Senators and the New York Islanders, though it looks like Las Vegas isn’t counting on them getting out of the first round.

So who do I favor now, while keeping in mind that I provide this advice for entertainment purposes only? At this point, I think the Ducks offer the best value bet at 12/1. Back East, I really like the Capitals at 16/1, especially in the wake of their late-season surge.

10. The Empire Stole My Medicaid
9. The Return of the Geriatric
8. Han Dies at the End
7. Cash on Delivery
6. Wookies in August
5. Dazed and Confused
4. Silver Alert on the Kessel Run
3. Grumpy Old Space Smugglers
2. Driving Captain Solo
1. Alzheimer’s Strikes Back

Feel free to share your own in the comments.

Unsurprisingly, the Pittsburgh Penguins are coming out of the gates as the favorite to win it all at 8/1. Meanwhile, our local heroes, the Washington Capitals, are going off at 22/1 — the same odds as their Southeast Division rivals, the Carolina Hurricanes. You’ll recall that Carolina added Jordan Staal and Alexander Semin to their lineup, while the Caps patched up their lineup with the moral equivalent of spit and bailing wire by acquiring the likes of Jack Hillen, Wojtek Wolski and Joey Crabb.

Please be reminded that these odds are being provided for recreational purposes only.

Odds to win the 2013 Stanley Cup

Pittsburgh Penguins 8/1

New York Rangers 17/2

Vancouver Canucks 9/1

Los Angeles Kings 12/1

Philadelphia Flyers 12/1

Chicago Blackhawks 14/1

Boston Bruins 16/1

Detroit Red Wings 16/1

St. Louis Blues 16/1

Minnesota Wild 18/1

San Jose Sharks 20/1

Carolina Hurricanes 22/1

Washington Capitals 22/1

Buffalo Sabres 25/1

Edmonton Oilers 25/1

Nashville Predators 28/1

Tampa Bay Lightning 28/1

Montreal Canadiens 30/1

New Jersey Devils 30/1

Toronto Maple Leafs 30/1

Anaheim Ducks 40/1

Colorado Avalanche 40/1

Dallas Stars 40/1

Florida Panthers 40/1

Ottawa Senators 40/1

Phoenix Coyotes 40/1

Calgary Flames 50/1

Winnipeg Jets 50/1

New York Islanders 66/1

Columbus Blue Jackets 100/1

Gentlemen,

I am a long-time hockey fan, and have been a season ticket holder for the Capitals since the 1990′s (and a partial season plan holder prior to that). I have a suggestion, or at least a possibility for what to do regarding the violence, thuggery, what have you in playoff hockey.

Why not go to a three referee system?

I know that one of the complaints is that there aren’t enough “good” referees now, so increasing the need by 50% seems to be counter-intuitive. But isn’t it possible that the game is just so fast and there’s so much going on that two referees (assisted by two linesmen) just aren’t enough?

Here’s how I imagine it. You keep one referee on each side of the red line (or blue line if you prefer), and the third acts as a rover and goes wherever the play goes. The one who stays on half of the ice is responsible for goals and goalie interference, plus whatever else they happen to see, but mainly goals and goalie interference. The rover is responsible for watching other things that are going on around the play. The referee from the back side of the ice is responsible for watching what is going on BEHIND THE PLAY!

It’s instinctual to watch the puck and what’s going on with it at any given moment. But to have someone who is specifically supposed to NOT watch the puck at all times means that there’s less of an opportunity to pull shenanigans that aren’t seen by the refs.

It’s almost like in football, where each part of the officiating crew is assigned to watch something different, so that (most) everything gets seen. If you’re responsible for NOT watching the puck, that frees you up to notice other things that are going on.

Maybe this would prevent headshots away from the puck, provide more consistency on goalie interference calls (as that, and goals, would be the only responsibility of that referee at any given moment), and so on.

I know it’s not perfect, and you’re potentially diluting a shallow pool, but think about how much changed after they went to a two referee system, and how players found they couldn’t get away with stuff away from the play. Or think about how much the NBA changed when it went from a two referee system to a three referee system.

Anyway, just a thought. And as you are some of the most thoughtful hockey writers out there, I thought you might want to ruminate on it.

Keep up the good work.

Todd

Thanks to Todd for including me in his email. While I share his concern about some of the more recent incidents we’ve seen in NHL playoffs this season, I don’t believe that adding another referee would have deterred any of the more egregious actions. Over and above the fact that adding another official would crowd the ice, I’m afraid it wouldn’t get to the heart of the problem we’re seeing right now.

Like many other observers of the game, I think the league made a real mistake when it declined to suspend Nashville Predators defenseman Shea Weber after he smashed Detroit Red Wings center Henrik Zetterberg’s head into the plexiglass WWE-style during Game One of that Western Conference quarterfinal playoff series. Limiting Weber’s punishment to a $2,500 fine seemed to send a pretty clear signal to coaches and players that the league would be easing up on discipline in the postseason. Given what we’ve seen since, beginning on Saturday with Ottawa’s Matt Carkner attacking New York Rangers center Brian Boyle even as Boyle declined to defend himself, the thesis seems to have been borne out.

At the same time, I don’t want anyone to think I’m delivering this judgment with a tone of high dudgeon. The fact is that I believe that this playoff has been the most exciting in recent memory. The play, at least in my estimation, has been incredibly intense, something that has been borne out by the increasing television ratings. And it wasn’t lost on me that coverage of a hockey game was part of the intro on Sunday night’s edition of SportsCenter. Not only did the program recap the entirety of Game Three of the Pens-Flyers series, it followed it up immediately with a complete segment featuring Steve Levy and Barry Melrose — just the sort of attention that the league would have killed for back when ESPN was its cable television partner.

Like it or not, refereeing the NHL and policing on-ice discipline is an art, not a science. Use too heavy a hand, and the games will bog down into dueling power plays, something we saw frequently when the league returned from the lockout. In contrast, when you ease up too much, you get exactly what we’ve seen over the past week, with intense play escalating into something resembling street thuggery. To be honest, we’ve been very lucky that a player hasn’t been more severely injured.

I don’t envy the task at hand for NHL officials and league disciplinary czar Brendan Shanahan. In essence, they have to figure out how to keep a pot of water steadily simmering without boiling over onto the stove top. Crack down too hard, you’ll spoil the flow of the game and the television viewers will find something else to watch. Ease up too much, and you’ll get more UFC on ice.

So while I don’t think adding another referee will solve the problem at hand, don’t believe for a second that I don’t wish that the solution was that simple.

I put that question and others to Marc Masferrer, a veteran journalist and persistent critic of Castro:

The Daily Caller (DC): What was your first reaction when you read about Guillen’s comments to Time?

Marc Masferrer (MM): My first thought was that it was typical Ozzie Guillen, talking nonsense about something he obviously knew nothing about, being provocative for the sake of being provocative. Unfortunately, there are many people who really do admire Fidel Castro, so it was not a stretch for me to believe Guillen really believed what he was saying. I also was struck by how insulting he had been to a group of people who through ticket sales, souvenir purchases, etc., will be paying a large part of his salary as manager of the Marlins. He had really stepped into it.

You can read more from Marc at his blog, Uncommon Sense.

Columbus Blue Jackets 10/11
Edmonton Oilers 13/4
Montreal Canadiens 9/2
New York Islanders 6/1
Toronto Maple Leafs 7/1

And here are the odds on who will actually win the lottery, a team that after all could ultimately decided to deal the pick …

Columbus Blue Jackets 5/2
Edmonton Oilers 13/4
Montreal Canadiens 9/2
New York Islanders 6/1
Toronto Maple Leafs 7/1
Anaheim Ducks 11/1
Minnesota Wild 14/1
Carolina Hurricanes 18/1
Winnipeg Jets 20/1
Tampa Bay Lightning 20/1
Colorado Avalanche 25/1
Buffalo Sabres 25/1
Dallas Stars 33/1
Calgary Flames 33/1

Pittsburgh Penguins 4/1
New York Rangers 11/2
Vancouver Canucks 11/2
St. Louis Blues 15/2
Boston Bruins 8/1
Detroit Red Wings 12/1
Nashville Predators 14/1
Philadelphia Flyers 14/1
Chicago Blackhawks 16/1
San Jose Sharks 18/1
Los Angeles Kings 20/1
New Jersey Devils 25/1
Washington Capitals 30/1
Florida Panthers 35/1
Ottawa Senators 40/1
Phoenix Coyotes 40/1

The hometown Caps going off at 30-1 seems about right, though I like them to take down Boston, the defending champs, in Round One. In terms of value, I like Nashville, Philadelphia and Chicago. Odds on winning the Eastern and Western Conference are after the jump.

Odds to win the 2012 NHL Western Conference

Vancouver Canucks 9/5
St. Louis Blues 3/1
Detroit Red Wings 13/2
Nashville Predators 7/1
Chicago Blackhawks 15/2
San Jose Sharks 10/1
Los Angeles Kings 12/1
Phoenix Coyotes 18/1

Odds to win the 2012 NHL Eastern Conference

Pittsburgh Penguins 9/5
New York Rangers 11/5
Boston Bruins 9/2
Philadelphia Flyers 7/1
New Jersey Devils 12/1
Washington Capitals 16/1
Florida Panthers 20/1
Ottawa Senators 22/1

WFY: Are the “new” Mets uniforms (really the old Mets uniforms without the black) the best thing about the 2012 Mets? Do you prefer the classic pinstripes or the white “head spoon” home jersey?

EM: While I am happy about the new “old” uniforms, there are some reasons to be interested in the 2012 Mets. They’ve moved the fences in and made sure they were painted with the traditional blue and orange color scheme. David Wright seems completely healthy as does Johan Santana. And seeing Lucas Duda in the lineup every day is potentially exciting. The kid has got a big bat — I watched him hit a pair of dingers on Saturday afternoon — and he has the potential to turn even routine fly balls into an adventure.

There’s one thing I already got wrong: after winning three straight to open the season, I said the Mets were due for a fall. Then they went out and beat the Nats with a walkoff victory in the bottom of the ninth last night. Gotta love it when you’re wrong like that.