The Biggest Takeaways from Week 7 of the 2013-14 NHL Season

The NHL has run the gauntlet with its game slate from the last seven days. Across the league, some teams and their players are enjoying great highs, while others have crashed up against unexpected adversity. 

Injuries took center stage in the week's big stories, with spotlights falling on a Canadian scorer and a cadre of goaltenders. The once-again mighty Ducks got hit hard by the flu, the Jets, Kings, Stars and Coyotes made statements that they weren't to be taken lightly and the Avalanche began to crash back down to earth.

Here's a look at the biggest takeaways from Week 7 of the NHL season.

It's 1996 in Buffalo

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On Wednesday, the Buffalo Sabres took a look back in order to move forward when they hired former coach Ted Nolan and former star player Pat LaFontaine to replace the fired Ron Rolston and Darcy Regier, respectively.

Nolan coached the Sabres for two years in the late '90s. Buffalo missed the playoffs in his first season but jumped 19 points in the standings in 1996-97 to claim its first division title in 16 years. Nolan won the 1997 Jack Adams Trophy as coach of the year, but a tumultuous playoff run led to Nolan and the team parting ways that summer.

Around the same time, Pat Lafontaine's career as a Sabre was wrapping up due to ongoing concussion problems. After having his best career year in Buffalo with 148 points in 1992-93, Lafontaine played his last 13 games as a Sabre in 1995-96 before finishing out his career in New York with the Rangers.

Since the Nolan era, the Sabres have won two division titles, reached Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final in 1999 and made it to the Eastern Conference Final in 2007. With the team now last in the NHL and in the midst of an ongoing rebuild, new leadership that harkens back to past success is the first step toward creating a fresh identity going forward.

Stamkos Injury Reverberates Through a Nation

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Among my Takeaways last week, I gave props to the Tampa Bay Lightning and their leading scorer, Steven Stamkos, for their quiet domination of the Eastern Conference standings. At that time, Stamkos was tied for the league lead in both goals and points.

During a Monday matinee game that would have otherwise gone largely unnoticed, everything changed when Stamkos crashed heavily into the goal post on a defensive play. He fractured his tibia and underwent surgery on Tuesday, per TSN.ca.

Though Stamkos is just 23 years old, he has already established himself as one of the NHL's most consistent goal scorers. At age 20, he shared the Rocket Richard Trophy with Sidney Crosby as the pair led the league with 51 goals, but Stamkos was not a part of Canada's 2010 gold-medal winning Olympic hockey team.

The upcoming Sochi Olympics were supposed to be Stamkos' time to shine and a chance for Canada to fall in love with a pure sniper who plays in a low-visibility market in Tampa Bay.

Stamkos is in fantastic shape and his work ethic is unquestioned. If sheer will can get him ready for the Olympics in February, it'll happen. He's young enough that he should heal quickly, but rehabs are unpredictable things. Canadians will wait expectantly for news on the progress of their injured star.

Teams Have Holes in Goal

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As USA Today reports, Saturday was a rough night for goalies around the NHL.

- Nikolai Khabibulin of the Chicago Blackhawks won the "Never Say Die" award for crawling across his crease after being injured to make one last save in a losing cause before leaving the game.

- Ben Bishop of the Tampa Bay Lightning left his game after taking a puck off the mask as the Phoenix Coyotes took a 3-0 lead. Anders Lindback finished the game, where the Lightning took a 6-3 loss for their first defeat of the year against a Western Conference team. Bishop has been a revelation in Tampa Bay this season; losing him for any period on top of Stamkos' injury would be a huge blow to a team that started so well out of the gate.

- Evgeni Nabokov of the New York Islanders suffered a groin injury on the first shot of the game from the Detroit Red Wings Saturday night. Kevin Staple of Newsday reports that he'll be on the shelf for about four weeks, but the shift was already on toward making Kevin Poulin the team's No. 1. This will be a tremendous opportunity for him to prove himself.

- Earlier in the week, the Los Angeles Kings' Jonathan Quick was forced from a game in Buffalo during overtime after suffering what has now been diagnosed as a Grade 2 groin strain, per L.A. Kings insider Jon Rosen. There's no timetable for his return, but groin injuries tend to be particularly tricky for goaltenders with the athleticism that's required for their position. 

Losing Quick should have been a big blow for L.A., but backup Ben Scrivens has taken advantage of his time to shine. The Kings won all three games in their trip around New York City. By pitching back-to-back shutouts at the Rock in New Jersey and Madison Square Garden over the weekend, Scrivens now leads in both save percentage and goals-against among all NHL goaltenders.

Kadri's Suspension Forces the Leafs to Deal

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With the Toronto Maple Leafs already missing their top two centers in Tyler Bozak and Dave Bolland due to injury, usual No. 3 Nazem Kadri gave the NHL virtually no choice but to suspend him after a nasty run at Minnesota Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom Wednesday.

Backstrom was forced out of the game and Kadri was suspended three games for the hit, putting his team in an even deeper rut down the middle.

Leafs general manager Dave Nonis was able to swing a deal to bring in some reinforcement by the weekend in the form of minor league prospect Peter Holland. The incident shines a nasty light on Kadri, both in terms of the play itself and its impact on the team and its roster.

Toronto is 1-1 in the first two games of Kadri's suspension. He'll be eligible to return to action after Tuesday's game against the New York Islanders.

The Flyers Have a Pulse

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Don't look now, but the Philadelphia Flyers are making a move.

After a 4-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers at home a week ago, the Flyers embarked on a three-game road trip through Ottawa, Pittsburgh and Winnipeg. They went 2-0-1 to collect five of a possible six points, shutting out the Sens 5-0 and earning a 2-1 victory over the archrival Penguins before falling in overtime to Winnipeg in their third game in four nights.

The four-game point streak doubled the Flyers' total points to 16 in just one week. They're still last in the Metropolitan Division but are now just four points away from third place and the final guaranteed playoff spot.

Alexander Steen Is About to Get Paid

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Through Sunday, Alexander Steen of the St. Louis Blues leads the NHL with 26 points and is tied with Alex Ovechkin with 17 goals—a blistering pace for a 29-year-old whose previous career high was 24 goals in 68 games. That came in 2009-10, just before he signed his current four-year contract.

Steen has always had a scorer's touch, but his output so far in this young season has been unprecedented. Playing primarily on a line with David Backes and T.J. Oshie, the second-generation NHLer has helped to carry St. Louis to its best start in franchise history.

Steen's name could be on everyone's lips when free agency rolls around next summer. He's in the last season of a four-year deal with a cap hit of $3.36 million, according to capgeek.com. If he can keep producing at his current rate, he'll be in line for a huge payday. Alex Ovechkin has a cap hit of $9.54 million this year for the same production.

The Blues will have cap space available next year, with six players scheduled to become unrestricted free agents. The hockey world will be watching to see if he gets signed to an extension before the trade deadline.