Noon Links: Islanders prospect buzz, NHL discipline fun

Just some fun links for lunch, before tonight's game preview goes up this afternoon...

• AHL dizziness: Michael Fornabaio has a series of links on recent rumors and efforts for franchise movement.
• Ducks GM Bob Murray has a point about consistency on the NHL's Wheel of Justice. (Hilariously, Gary Bettman described Colin Campbell's approach as "having a consistency and a sound jurisprudential way." You can't make this stuff up.) More on the topic here and here at From the Rink. ... Unfortunately Murray is stuck making his point in the context of, historically, Chris Pronger (Captain Elbow-Stomp-Slash himself) and presently, James Wisniewski, whose hit was so so wrong in multiple ways: Charge. Headshot. Arms up. Left feet. Stick high. (Who taught these players to check with their stick way up in the air like that, anyway?) Even if Wisniewski is being truthful about his intent with the "but we're friends" angle, he has to see why this is a dumb, dumb hit.
• Isles prospect and Denver captain Rhett Rakhshani, Hobey Baker nominee. One of 10.
• We've speculated about this around here, and Chris Botta gives it more weight: Aaron Ness is interested in saying goodbye, Lucia.
• Playoff Races: With between 11 and 13 games left to go for the interested parties, the 8th seed in each conference is still very much up for grabs. The Bruins' tailspin leaves Atlanta and the Rangers (who lost last night to the Blues, baby) with decent shots. It tells you something about the East that the Rangers, with a paltry 31-31-9 record, are three points shy of a playoff spot. Atlanta is 9th in the East with a record that would make them only 14th in the West.
• Lottery Race: The Hurricanes beat Washington in OT last night. The Islanders are as close to 29th overall as they are to 8th in the East (a 7-point swing in either direction).