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PHT Morning Skate: Where size doesn’t matter

Nicklas Lidstrom

Detroit Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom, of Sweden, watches the Nashville Predators celebrate after the Predators won Game 5 of a first-round NHL Stanley Cup hockey playoff series on Friday, April 20, 2012, in Nashville, Tenn. The Predators won 2-1 to win the series 4-1. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

AP

PHT’s Morning Skate takes a look around the world of hockey to see what’s happening and what we’ll be talking about around the NHL world and beyond.

Bill Barnwell’s one of my favorite football writers when it comes to blending stats with digestible, interesting analysis. It turns out he’s a great fit for hockey, too, as he reveals that bigger teams don’t have an advantage in the playoffs. If anything, smaller ones tend to have a tiny advantage. It’s a great read, unless you hate things that have nice things to say about the Detroit Red Wings. (Grantland)

CSNPhilly.com’s Tim Panaccio presents a four-part series on the Jeff Carter/Mike Richards trades, focusing on how the two forwards moved on after their departure from the Philadelphia Flyers’ fold. (Part I, II, III and IV)

The Royal Half recaps Game 1 ... of the 1993 Stanley Cup finals. (The Royal Half)

One of Fake Chris Kontos’ point from that recap is that the Los Angeles Kings were up 1-0 in the 1993 Stanley Cup finals only to fall to Patrick Roy & Co. It also should be noted that the New Jersey Devils have become accustomed to dealing with 1-0 deficits in this year’s playoffs, as this NHL.com story discusses. (NHL.com)

Considering the strong possibility that the next CBA will change how the salary cap is determined, it might be hasty to try to estimate what next year’s cap ceiling will look like. Still, it’s worth noting that another record year of reported revenue would give it every chance to go up - as much as it’s allowed to go up - next season. (The Hockey Writers)

Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman discusses the team’s weaknesses heading into the off-season. (CSNChicago.com)

While mainstream writers offer effusive, reverent praise for Martin Brodeur, stat bloggers often hold his good-but-not-great save percentage and other individual numbers against him. Check out this interesting bit, which weighs some of the arguments for and against the future Hall of Famer. (NHL Numbers)

Joe Haggerty’s 15 thoughts from Game 1. (CSNNE.com)