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Pre-game reading: T.J. Oshie picked a good year for a career year

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T.J. Oshie gets into the mix with a stellar goal, but was it the best goal of the week? You decide!

-- Up top, T.J. Oshie leads off the “Goals of the Week” with a beauty backhander against the Stars.

-- Speaking of Oshie, he’s on the verge of setting a career high for goals in a season. He has 25 now. Two more and he’ll break the mark he set last season with 26. And did we mention he’s a pending unrestricted free agent? “Some players have career years on those years,” said Caps coach Barry Trotz. “Some players wilt under that pressure. He’s real focused. He’s having an exceptional year.” (CSN Mid-Atlantic)

-- The latest news on the NHL and the Olympics is that there’s, well, no news. According to commissioner Gary Bettman, “There’s absolutely nothing new. I think the overwhelming sentiment of the teams is that it’s very disruptive on the season, and there’s somewhere between fatigue and negativity on the subject.” Don’t lose all hope, though. There’s still time to make a deal, and these things usually go right down to the wire. (NHL.com)

-- A profile of Gabe Vilardi, who could be the third center drafted this summer after Nolan Patrick and Nico Hischier. Vilardi, 17, has 28 goals and 31 assists in 43 games for the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL. His 59 points are tops on his team. (The Hockey News)

-- The Chicago Blackhawks do a great job staying out of the penalty box. In fact, as noted by Mark Lazerus of the Sun-Times: “With 196 penalties in 65 games, the Hawks are 29th out of 30 teams. In fact, they’ve been 27th, 28th or 29th in the league in penalties for eight consecutive years, dating back to the 2009-10 season, when they won their first Stanley Cup of the modern era.” (Chicago Sun-Times)

-- How would changing the NHL’s points system -- say, to three points for a regulation win -- change the way games are coached? That’s what Postmedia’s Michael Traikos tried to find out this week during the general managers meetings in Florida. Devils GM Ray Shero had some interesting thoughts on the subject. (National Post)

Enjoy the games!