NHL Blog Beat – January 10, 2012.

Puck Daddy’s NHL mid-season awards…Do the Canadiens still have a shot at the playoffs?…How the Blackhawks will address Patrick Sharp’s absence…Lessons from an unsuccessful Capitals powerplay…Is the NHL headed for another work stoppage?…The under-rated Sergei Zubov…Looking back at when Mike Milbury traded away J.P. Dumont…Down Goes Brown’s mid-season review.

PUCK DADDY: Greg Wyshynski presents his mid-season nominees for real NHL awards, and those he dreamed up all by himself. It’s funny AND educational!

HABS EYES ON THE PRIZE: Are the playoffs a possibility for the Canadiens? Yes, but they’ll need a much better effort in the second half, and a couple of teams ahead of them will also have to falter. One more lengthy losing skid, and they’re toast.

THE HOCKEY WRITERS: Michael Wagner on how the Chicago Blackhawks will look to within to replace the injured Patrick Sharp, because let’s face it, they won’t find a suitable replacement via trade.

JAPERS’ RINK: Rob Parker provides informative lessons learned from an unsuccessful Capitals power-play.

NBC SPORTS PRO HOCKEY TALK: Jason Brough injects some common sense into the recent nervousness over the PA’s rejection of the new realignment plan becoming the first step toward another work stoppage.

Zubov was an under-rated superstar during his NHL career.

GREATEST HOCKEY LEGENDS: Joe Pelletier examines how former NHL defenseman Sergei Zubov was an under-rated superstar during his NHL career. The NY Rangers and Dallas Stars wouldn’t have won their respective Stanley Cup championships without him.

LIGHTHOUSE HOCKEY: Looking back on one of Mike Milbury’s lesser-known blunders when he was GM of the NY Islanders: trading away J.P. Dumont. Remind me again why CBC and NBC hired him as an NHL analyst?

DOWN GOES BROWN: Winners and losers of the first half of the NHL season.