Frozen Ponderings

Nashville's Mike Dunham was a hot name on the trade rumor mill, but in the end, he remained with the Predators. Word is that the Preds know Dunham will be an Olympian and has a chance at being the Americans' No. 1 goalie. Why compromise the great publicity of having the U.S. goalie to land a prospect and some picks? Keith Tkachuk (29-42-71) skated on a line with Scott Young (37-27-64) and Pierre Turgeon (27-44-71) most of the game during his debut Wednesday night against the Wild. Between the three players, that's a combined 93 goals and 206 points. Speaking of St. Louis, Brent Johnson shut out the Wild on 21 saves. That gave the struggling Roman Turek a breather and might heat up the goalie debate in St. Louis. In his last four starts, Turek is 0-3-1 with a 3.70 GAA and .857 save percentage. Keith Tkachuk follows Rob Blake as team captains getting traded. Los Angeles has no immediate plans to elevate one of their three assistant captains (Luc Robitaille, Mattias Norstrom, Kelly Buchberger), but Phoenix might make a move sooner. Coach Bob Francis gave Shane Doan an "A", having him join Jeremy Roenick and Teppo Numminen. Team sources indicate they might make one of the three captain as early as next week. Meanwhile, Buffalo has quite a few assistant captains (Stu Barnes, Doug Gilmour, Rob Ray, Rhett Warrener and Jason Woolley) but hadn't named a captain out of respect for holdout Mike Peca. Now that the trade deadline has passed, coach Lindy Ruff is considereing rotating the captaincy. New Sharks forward Teemu Selanne has begun light skating on his own and remains on schedule to return around two weeks after his knee surgery. Vincent Damphousse also has been skating, and although his shoulder isn't 100 percent, he has been seen taking shots in practice.

There is no honeymoon for first-year coaches. Just ask Don Hay -- he's already been fired by the Calgary Flames.

Alpo Suhonen, Chicago's rookie coach, never felt a moment this season when there wasn't pressure. And like Hay's Flames -- which came out of the gates 3-9-2-1 -- Suhonen's group began slowly, winning just five of its first 15 games.

"Up to December, it was tough," Suhonen said. "But that's part of the profession."

After the first 15 games, both Calgary (20-20-11-3) and Chicago (23-24-7-1) have had roughly the same record. For some reason, Suhonen survived, while Hay didn't.

The major difference between the two situations could be how the players reacted to the coach's system. As Flames players seemed to respond less and less to Hay, Suhonen seemingly won people over to his hockey philosophy. So much so that disgruntled forward Eric Daze stopped asking for a trade and is just one goal shy of tying his career high of 30.

"I think the turnaround started in December," Suhonen said. "We have been playing over .500 since December.

"There were so many changes, changes in styles -- practicing, how we practice, the style we play. In every different direction, there were so many changes. So, it was kind of tough for the players, but they did it very well."

Suhonen preaches a different on-ice philosophy. To him, puck possession and individual skill is the springboard to everything, even defense.

"I'm not a big believer that you can build a successful team without the puck," he said. "Defense is important, but if you're not able to play with the puck, you're not going to be successful. No one is going to win the Stanley Cup from the penalty box."

One example suffices to explain the difference between Suhonen and about every other NHL coach. When there's a faceoff in the offensive portion of the neutral zone after an offsides call, Suhonen can't understand why the attacking team would dump the puck right in the offensive zone if they won the faceoff.

"You win it, and then just give it right back?

"It's simple: Keep the puck, and if you lose it, try to get it back right away."

And skilled players like Daze, Tony Amonte and Steve Sullivan have begun to thrive in the system.

However, the Original Six Blackhawks won't make the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season. Improvement and better karma is one thing. But at some point, Suhonen's team will have to become playoff competitive.

"Of course, there is that kind of point sooner or later," he said. "Teams that are successful change coaches and players, but very seldom does it bring anything if the people aren't capable of being very patient.

"It's a process. What we've been going through leads to the playoffs, for sure. But how and when is difficult to say."

The Blackhawks aren't deep, and they've virtually made wholesale changes on defense. Defenseman Steve McCarthy, the Hawks' first-round pick from 1999, seems to be finding himself on the blue line, as is Jaroslav Spacek -- plus-11 since coming over from Florida. Up front, players like Chris Herperger and Kyle Calder are showing some promise.

But that's not nearly enough to give Chicago the depth to compete with the Colorados and Detroits of the world.

"Last summer was a very good draft already," Suhonen said. "This team has to wait a few years to get those players here. Calder, McCarthy, Herberger -- there are three or four guys who can be a good factor for us.

"The help is there, but it will be two-to-three years."

Suhonen hopes he's still around then.

Mailbag
During the season, a question or two from ESPN.com users will be answered in every edition of In the Corners. If you want to get a question answered, click here and ask away.

Question from Ivan Winter: Are the Capitals being overlooked?

Response: Absolutely. The Capitals are so difficult to beat at home, and with the addition of center Trevor Linden, Washington is even stronger up the middle -- goalie and center. Olaf Kolzig is second in the league with 34 wins. And Linden joins the surging Jeff Halpern -- nine goals in last 18 games -- and Adam Oates, who leads the entire NHL with 62 assists.

The acquisition of Linden and Daniuis Zubrus came at a price -- Jan Bulis and Richard Zednik. That signifies the Caps are making a run for the Cup. With 12 games remaining, Washington trails Ottawa and New Jersey by five points, which isn't unsurmountable. A seed higher than No. 3 might help Washington's chances because as it stands, the Caps would face Mario Lemieux and Pittsburgh in the first round. That was a poor matchup last year, and Lemieux was in the owner's box.

Brian A. Shactman covers the NHL for ESPN.com. He can be reached at brian.shactman@espn.com.