When a team has a little more money than everybody else, options are plentiful. Such is the case with the Red Wings, who are now taking applications after learning that defenseman Jiri Fischer will be out 4-6 months because of a knee injury.

	CHIRPIN'
	"Of course he'll play. No doubt. If he were a defenseman, he'd be playing." -- Red Wings forward Brett Hull on whether goalie Curtis Joseph would play in his return to Toronto on Saturday. Joseph was scheduled to play Friday at home against Anaheim.
	THE NUMBER
	23.7 The Columbus Blue Jackets' power-play percentage, which ranked third in the NHL heading into Friday's games. The Jackets also ranked second in power-play goals per game at 1.37.
	WHO'S HOT
	Dallas Stars winger Jere Lehtinen has four goals and an assist in his past three games and is plus-5 in the span. He ranks second in the NHL in plus-minus at plus-14.
	WHO'S NOT
	Los Angeles Kings winger Ziggy Palffy has just one goal this season. He's been bothered by a sore groin and is missing linemate Jason Allison ? But one goal? C'mon.
	THIS WEEK'S SIGN ...
	... Eric Daze can't return soon enough: The Blackhawks rank 29th on the power play at 11.0 percent after ranking 6th last season. Daze, who has been recovering from preseason back surgery, led the team with 12 power-play goals and 25 power play points in 2001-02.

Could the Red Wings simply re-sign Steve Duchsene, who has been waiting for just such an opportunity? Sure, it could have been done the minute Fischer was injured Wednesday against Nashville. But there are too many other great opportunities out there not to shop around a little bit.

The Sabres sent former Michigan State defenseman Jason Woolley through waivers this week, so he's probably available even if another team picks him up. Gary Suter, 38, announced his retirement at the beginning of the season but could probably be convinced to come out and play for the right team (and the Red Wings could easily be that team). Jiri Slegr is off the free-agent list, now that he has played a game in Russia, but Cory Cross could still be had and is just 31.

In addition, the Bruins are shopping Kyle McLaren and the Sabres would love to dump Alexei Zhitnik's $3.5 million contract. Now, both McLaren and Zhitnik would cost big money, but the Red Wings made that kind of money by winning the Stanley Cup last season.

If all it takes to get this team out of its mini-slump is to bring in a veteran presence on the blue line, then $3 million isn't that much to ask for a Red Wings team spending $68 million already.

Detroit could sit tight for a little while and try to test the pulse of Suter. Remember, he was Chris Chelios' partner in Chicago for a long time and he lives in Wisconsin, so playing for half a season might be very tempting.

Much ado about nothing?
Anyone else get the urge after the Brad Stuart contract was announced to issue the reply, "Huh?"

Because he agreed to not be paid for the time he sat out, Stuart will actually make less this season than he would have had he accepted the original qualifying offer of $1.1 million. He receives a bump to $1.75 next season and has an option for $2 million the third year. However, Stuart would have had arbitration rights after next season had he signed a two-year deal or just signed his qualifying offer twice.

In the end, it appears Stuart received just little extra for his holdout, which is confusing considering he had all the leverage with the team struggling so much. Colorado defenseman Derek Morris, who is a year older and has posted similar numbers to Stuart, will make $2.5 million this season.

The two that got away
Calgary GM Craig Button revealed last week that Bryan Trottier was his first choice to be head coach of the Flames back in 2000 when he first took the job. Trottier turned him down at the last minute.

"At the end of the day, maybe he didn't feel quite ready," Button said.

But even more interesting was the fact Button said he was also considering rehiring Brian Sutter, who had just been fired by previous GM Al Coates. Button's gut feeling was that Sutter was the best candidate to lead the team at the time (and still was under contract to the Flames), but Button backed off when he decided it could be a public relation's nightmare.

In retrospect, Sutter, who has enjoyed great success since being hired in Chicago, was probably the perfect man to take over the "new" team he had just left.

Canucks crack down on fans
In light of a recent rash of incidents in which fans have caused problems by getting onto the playing surface, the Vancouver Canucks announced last week that any fan who attempts to get on the ice or attempts to create a disturbance will be removed from the game and could lose season ticket or multipack privileges for the rest of the season.

A fan climbed on the safety netting during a game Tuesday against St. Louis and hung upside down at times. He was escorted from the arena and the Canucks said they asked police to press charges.

"If anybody else attempts anything like that, it will be the same thing," Canucks chief operating officer Dave Cobb told the Canadian Press. "We encourage the police as strongly as we can to file charges."

The depth chart