Does the Boris Mironov trade look like anything more than a short-term fix for the Rangers? I think they have too many aging offensive defenseman as it is, and that Mironov is at best a Band-Aid on a more serious problem. -- Matt, New York

Melrose: It all depends on which Mironov they get. He has played well at times, is a talented guy with great size (6-foot-3, 225 pounds), and he can shoot the puck a ton. But he has also had some very poor stretches during his career and there have been some character issues, most notably leaving the team in both Calgary and Chicago.

This move is a case of a team with serious injury problems needing to make a move quickly, a desperate acquisition by a desperate club. The Rangers basically got Mironov by agreeing to pick up the rest of his salary and it was kind of a no-lose situation for them. He is capable of playing well for stretches and New York is hoping he can come in and do that for the next 35 games.

What can the Carolina Hurricanes do to get some offense going? What options do they have for a trade? If they don't find some goals soon, they're gonna dig too deep of a hole to get out of. -- Lee Taft, Durham, N.C.

Melrose: The Hurricanes just need to open their system up a little bit. They have a very defensive-oriented system. When they have had success with that, they look great. But Carolina is not playing defense like it did last year and is also struggling to score goals, and that is a bad combination.

The 'Canes have guys who can score in Rod Brind'Amour, Ron Francis, Jeff O'Neill and Sami Kapanen, but the system is defense first and then worry about scoring. So unless the system changes or the production picks up they are going to have trouble winning games.

As for trades, the guys with value are the players who can eventually score goals, and the Hurricanes don't want to lose them.

What did you think of Ilya Kovalchuk after you coached him in the YoungStars game last year. It seems like this kid is money in the bank when he has the puck. Should the Thrashers get someone young to complement him and Dany Heatley? -- Madhan, Atlanta

Melrose: Kovalchuk is awesome. He is an exciting player who loves to score, and he and Marian Gaborik are probably the best young offensive players in the game today. Ilya is flashy and can put people in the building.

Atlanta has a pretty good team offensively with Kovalchuk, Heatley, Slava Kozlov and others. They can put the puck in the net, but the Thrashers' problem has been keeping it out. They are the worst defensive team in the NHL and that is what they need to worry about. Atlanta has to get some guys who are good with the puck in their own end.

I'm a very frustrated Buffalo Sabres fan. The names Alexei Zhitnik, Chris Gratton, Martin Biron, Mika Noronen and Miroslav Satan are being tossed around in trade talk, but can the Sabres expect a decent return on these players? -- Paul, Oswego, N.Y.

Melrose: No. A struggling team is always in a weak position as far as trading. The teams looking to trade with Buffalo are circling like vultures because they know the Sabres franchise is in trouble and is looking to deal players who make decent salaries. The other teams have the leverage there and will win the trade nine times out of 10.

Does Blues defenseman Barret Jackman have what it takes to be an elite D-man in the NHL? He seems to have all the tools to be the next Pronger, Foote or Hatcher. He is strong, mean, and smart with the puck. -- Nathan Murray, St. Louis

Melrose: There are very few "elite" defensemen around, maybe 10 or 12 in the whole league, and I don't know if he will be in that group, but he can certainly be a good, solid guy on the blue line. And every team in the league needs as many of those players as it can get.

Jackman is big and tough, is good with the puck and understands how to play defense, and he has been thrust into a tough position because of the injury to Chris Pronger. He has handled that well and is tough to play against, as he proved by getting under Owen Nolan's skin Thursday night.

It has been rumored that if the Ottawa Senators are forced to fold or the Sabres forced to move, the Red Wings may be moved into the Eastern Conference to reunite them with the majority of the Original Six. Do you think that is a likely scenario? -- Brad Zawacki, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Melrose: I don't think the NHL wants to move any more teams at this point. The league wants 30 stable franchises. I think the situation in Ottawa will be resolved because the Senators have a beautiful building and average over 16,000 fans per game, and the new ownership in Buffalo is hoping to stabilize a team that has been there for a lot of years.

The league has done enough shuffling in the last 10 years that it will try to do everything it can to stabilize both situations. It wants to help build more rivalries like Detroit-Colorado and Detroit-Dallas, so I can't see that happening in the near future.

What do the Blackhawks have to do to contend with the upper-tier Western Conference teams? Is getting faster and tougher on the blue line part of the answer, and can Jocelyn Thibault perform down the stretch and into the playoffs given the amount of work he gets early in the year? -- Jim, Marysville, Mich.

Melrose: Chicago is competing with those teams right now, playing well in an overtime loss to Dallas last night. They are in a playoff position right now, Brian Sutter has them playing great and Theo Fleury has made a huge difference since he came back in early December.

Eric Daze is hurt right now and that is a bad break because he has been scoring some big goals, but this is a workmanlike team that plays super defense and scores enough goals to win. Thibault has been great, too, and the team has just been trying to get him some rest because he tired down the stretch a little last season.

I can't really argue with Doug MacLean's dismissal of Blue Jackets coach Dave King, who seems to be a good coach and teacher but hadn't instilled the fire and passion in his players to win from night-to-night. Can MacLean can right the ship behind the bench, and who do you think might be tapped to coach Blue Jackets next season? Is Ted Nolan FINALLY going to get a shot? -- Jonathan Barnes, Columbus, Ohio

Melrose: Doug is in there just to finish the season, and if Lindy Ruff is available I think he will be the next coach in Columbus. The Blue Jackets just want to be competitive and avoid finishing in the bottom five of the league, because Florida would get that lottery pick if Columbus finished that low.

It's too late for the Jackets to get into the playoffs, but they just want to win some games and get a little bit of a return on the money they spent this summer.

And I don't know if Ted Nolan will get another shot to coach in the NHL. He deserves a shot but has been overlooked recently.

I've always learned there are two ways to operate the power play: pepper the goalie with guys in position for rebounds or methodically work the puck and wait for screens and one-timers. The Minnesota Wild have been getting very few shots on goal during their power plays because they are using the second method and not adjusting their game. What are your thoughts on how to maximize power-play scoring? -- Matt McNeil, Twin Cities

Melrose: Not every team can run the power play through a guy like Mario Lemieux, so for most it's just a matter of getting the puck on net and out working the four penalty killers. A good power play gets the puck to the goal as much as possible and creates rebounds, opening up other things like backdoor passes and one-timers for open defenseman. Minnesota just needs to shoot often and consistently and good things will happen.

What do you think is the greatest line of all time and what was the greatest defense pairing of all time? -- Dennis Brand, Auckland, New Zealand

Melrose: Two of the best lines I have ever seen came out of Winnipeg. When I was playing in the WHA the Jets had Anders Hedberg, Ulf Nilsson and Bobby Hull on the same line and they were unbelievable with their skill level. And when I was coaching in Los Angeles, the line of Teemu Selanne, Keith Tkachuk and Alexei Zhamnov was great for Winnipeg. They were so good Teemu scored 76 goals as a rookie in 1992-93. As for defense pairings, Bobby Orr and whoever was playing with him were arguably the best duo ever.

Barry Melrose, a former NHL defenseman and coach, is a hockey analyst for ESPN.