More than a few AHL observers raised an eyebrow when the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers engineered an AHL-style blockbuster just prior to Clear Day.

Did leaving the hot zone that is Leafs-Habs at the Bell Centre on a Saturday night for the quiet confines of New Jersey’s Continental Airlines Arena in New Jersey benefit Pat Quinn’s Leafs?

No charter flight awaited to whisk Ottawa Senators defenseman Filip Novak back to the nation’s capital and to the NHL’s good life after the Philadelphia Flyers flattened Novak’s Sens by a 6-3 count Saturday night at the Wachovia Center.

The Toronto Marlies have more or less cruised this season, and defenseman Ian White has been a significant part of that steady-as-she-goes picture for head coach Paul Maurice’s Marlies.

As difficult as this season has been for the Rochester Americans, the Rochester-Buffalo pipeline continues to churn.

New NHL, new rules, new brand of hockey. This was supposed to be season in which players like John Erskine were tossed to the pro hockey scrap heap. Instead, Erskine has found a new NHL life in a new organization.

Can someone hold a job with one of the NHL’s best teams, have a first-round pedigree and yet be completely adrift? If you are Maxime Ouellet, the answer appears to be yes.

Los Angeles Kings netminder Jason LaBarbera’s workload now pales in comparison to the burden that he carried with the Hartford Wolf Pack in recent seasons.

The AHL blockbuster deal that sent Albany veterans Pascal Rheaume and Ray Schultz to the San Antonio Rampage for the still-young-enough Brad Ference last month perked up what has been a mostly quiet AHL trading post.

As much as the AHL is rightfully seen as a stepping stone to bigger and brighter lights, it also has plenty of quality individuals who quietly serve as the league’s caretakers and are to quick to speak up when it comes under fire.