With the second half of the regular season under way here then is a preview of which teams will be separating themselves from the rest of the pack:

1. Detroit: Having already set a franchise record for points in the first half of the season the Red Wings are strong Stanley Cup contenders.
2. Pittsburgh: Crosby and Conklin continue to work wonders with their team.
3. Calgary: Iginla continues to show why he should win this years MVP.
4. San Jose: Boring to watch, but tough to beat.
5. Philadelphia: Are the Broad Street Bullies back?
6. Ottawa: On par with last season’s run.
7. New Jersey: Contenders but they need to pick up their pace.
8. Vancouver: Luongo continues to inspire this team towards the finish line.
9. Montreal: No regulation losses since Christmas.
10. Nashville: Strong play against teams in the superior Western Conference.

The early buzz for the Hart Trophy is on Sidney Crosby and Roberto Luongo, with Nicklas Lidstrom thrown in for good measure. But there’s a guy out there named Vinny Lecavalier who just can’t seem to get his due.

In 2006-07, Lecavalier led the Tampa Bay Lightning and the league with 52 goals. But Crosby won the Hart after winning the Art Ross Trophy with 120 points (36 goals, 84 assists). Alan Ryder’s Player Contribution rankings had Lecavalier first at 135, while Crosby was in sixth place at 123.

Lecavalier is having yet another brilliant season in Tampa. At press time, he was two points ahead of Crosby for first place in scoring at 63 – that’s after just 45 games. But the Lightning are buried on the back pages and desperate for some goaltending. Crosby is getting the star treatment; he should eventually eclipse Lecavalier on the ice, but for now, don’t believe the hype.

The hockey world is upside-down. Boston and Chicago don’t suck. Only six teams are below .500. And Sidney Crosby is on pace to score 110 points this year, down from 120 last year.

The flattening of the NHL standings throws the field of potential award winners wide open. Tampa Bay’s Vincent Lecavalier leads the league with 51 points and is carrying the injured Bolts on his back; the Hart Trophy should be his if voting were held today.

Chris Osgood’s Lazarus impersonation will earn him the Vezina if he keeps things rolling in Detroit. Teammate Nicklas Lidstrom is so good on defense (27 points, plus-17 in 32 games) that they should rename the Norris after him. The Calder will be a tough pick between Chicago’s Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, who may split the Blackhawk vote and allow Atlanta defenseman Tobias Enstrom to take home the hardware. But Kane plus Toews does equal Jack Adams for Denis Savard.

Forget it. Vincent Lecavalier may just be leaving Crosby in the dust as you read this.

The Tampa Bay Lightning centre has 45 points in 29 games and is showing no signs of easing off.
“Once you start scoring, it seems like you can really see the net,” Lecavalier said on an NHL conference call. “But, you know, if you go three, four, five games (without scoring), you get to squeezing your stick a little bit, obviously you see the goalie a lot bigger. It kind of goes both ways.”

So far Lecavalier has been able to hold off defending Art Ross Trophy winner and Pittsburgh phenom, Sydney Crosby, as well as Henrik Zetterberg of the Detroit Red Wings.

The kid can scrap too. Earlier this year Lecavalier made hockey headlines when he dropped the gloves in back-to-back games- something Gretzky could only of fantasized about.

When an athlete becomes the best player his sport has ever seen, everyone wants to anoint a successor. The NBA hopes LeBron James will be the “new” Michael Jordan; NHL fans herald Sidney Crosby as their latest Next One to assume the throne once held by The Great One himself, Wayne Gretzky.

Talk about high expectations. Gretzky won nine Hart Trophies and four Stanley Cups while obliterating nearly every scoring record in the book. And he did it with iconic flair, taking both Hollywood and Broadway by storm.

Crosby is well on his way. In a league where scoring is at a premium compared to 20 years ago, “Sid the Kid” topped the 100-point mark in each of his first two seasons and won the Hart as a sophomore. Now all he has to do to match Gretzky is stay at the top of his game for another decade and lead a Pittsburgh Penguins dynasty. Piece of cake.

It had to have been an intimidating night for Sidney Crosby (aka “Sid the Kid”) as he made his first appearance at Rexall Place in Edmonton last night, home to many of the game’s best players — including one Wayne Gretzky. The media was out in full force and the fans were expecting to see some Gretz-like magic, but did any of the hoopla faze the young Pittsburgh captain? Uhhh…no. Well, at least it didn’t appear that way by the third period.

Playing his 187th regular-season game, the 20-year-old Nova Scotia native had three assists in the third period to help Pittsburgh rally for a 4-2 victory over the Oilers on Wednesday night.

“It’s great to come on the road and get a welcome like that. You never expect it, so it’s nice,” said Crosby, who is set to continue his Western Conference road trip in Calgary on Thursday night against the Flames before making his Vancouver debut Saturday night against the Canucks.

With regards to the kind of effect he’ll have on the Penguins’ winning the Stanley Cup? Oddsmakers have them at 12/1 odds to win.