Just some thoughts.

Some thoughts that rattled around after the first night of the 2008 playoffs.

Evgeni Malkin’s goal. Oh. My. God. Seriously, he kicked it to his stick, which was being lifted at the moment he kicked the puck, got his stick back down, and flipped the puck past Martin Gerber from a nearly-impossible angle. Just wow.

Still in the Ottawa game, just one night ago, this very space criticized Wade Redden, and wondered what Wade’s got left in the tank. And while even my little sister could tell you Redden has been playing like hell lately, that fight was huge. Sure, he fights about as well as he’s played this season, but it was the message he sent to his teammates. The Senators were written off by almost everyone going into this game, and were sure to be written off by even more after. But Redden may have helped get the team focused again.

Out west, sure Colorado won, but they had to blow a two-goal lead to do so. Andrew Brunette is one of those guys that just gets the job done in the playoffs. He had an assist, and provided the screen on Joe Sakic’s overtime winner. If I may borrow from, and butcher a line from Wesley Snipes: always bet on Brunette.

Martin Brodeur looked pretty ordinary in game one. TSN showed a great clip of Brodeur at the end of the warm-up, leaning against the boards at the bench, looking completely disinterested. It followed a clip of Henrik Lundqvist looking so pumped up he might burst. None of this bodes well for the Devils. Of note, Sergei Brylin is another one of those playoff guys.

Speaking of those playoff guys, the Calgary Flames have one in Stephane Yelle. Maybe it was a one-off, and maybe Yelle goes back to his normal unproductive ways in game two, but I don’t see it. Playing with Jarome Iginla, Yelle is too smart, and too good to falter. Ryan Clowe scored a pair of goals for the Sharks, and while it’s premature to give him the label, he may be on his way to being one of those playoff guys as well.

Last note on the Sharks. The last minute of game one was nothing short of frantic, but is it just me, or did the Sharks seem a little too desperate to not lose? Might be worth keeping an eye on.

Elsewhere, this has been eating at my brain since the draft lottery, so I’m just going to put it out there: is there any way Tampa Bay doesn’t screw up the first pick? They don’t have amateur scouts (or so it seems), and don’t seem to know how to properly evaluate talent as said talent would fit within the organization, so they can’t afford to trade down-- not even to flip with Los Angeles. The Kings will at least be able to decide between Alex Pietrangelo (can’t tell you how happy I am to have that surname back in my world) and Drew Daughty with the number two pick. And they’ll be wise enough to not rush their pick to the NHL. Can’t say the same about Tampa.

We know Tampa is taking Steve Stamkos first overall. We know Stamkos is too small to play in the NHL and dominate right now. We know he needs at least one more year in junior. We know John Tortorella rides his players exceptionally hard. And we know Tampa is more than likely to rush Stamkos to the NHL.

This is not a Patrick Kane-and-Jonathan Toews or Kyle Turris situation. The Bolts won’t look at Stamkos as the first perfect chip in a rebuilding project, and there will be a lot of pressure on him, and him alone, to take the Bolts back to the promised land-- in year one.

Please, Tampa Bay, do all hockey fans a favour, and trade the pick to Columbus for Nik Zherdev and their first-round pick. It’s the only way to save this kid’s career.