Welcome to the first in a weekly feature here at Bladejobs of Steel! The premise of the Weekly Plus/Minus is pretty simple. Highlight some people or groups in the hockey and wrestling world who have had great weeks, and some who have had not so great weeks.

Triple H and Shawn Michaels: These two flat out delivered on the microphone this past Monday night. When the rumours started to swirl that the WWE was planning on doing HHH-Taker III at Mania, I was very underwhelmed. I was really hoping for Triple H to go one-on-one with The Miz and Taker to face either Chris Jericho, or an young up-and-comer like Sheamus or Wade Barrett.  But as the weeks went on I grew to accept the showdown between two franchise cornerstones. This week though, I bought it. I’m damn excited for this match now. Triple H was fully believable in his respect for The Streak, and it’s impact on the bottom line, while Shawn was right in calling him out on it.  Taker’s video appearance was great as usual, and I can’t wait to see them all stand in the same ring. I hope that everyone in the business was watching this past Monday, as they gave a true lesson in hype. Not only am I excited to see the inevitable showdown now, but also I’m even more intrigued on how exactly they will get there.

Hey, speaking of streaks…

Red Wings Haters: This week the Detroit Red Wings won at home for a stunning 21^st straight time, passing the 1929-30 Bruins and the 75-76 Flyers to set a new NHL Record. As they approached you could hear the haters start to add asterisks to this mark as they won three of those games in Overtime and one in the Shootout. The Flyers did not have the benefit of the extra period while neither team had the benefit of the regular season skills competition. This attempt to disregard the truly remarkable feat of the Red Wings is just plain sad. While I have tended to root against the Red Wings, it’s foolish to not be in flat out awe of their accomplishments this year. It’s flat out impossible to stack up teams across different eras, as the game evolves and rules change over time. It’s not the Red Wings fault that there is a shootout, so to try to hold that over their head is flat out wrong. If anything, the current streak of the Red Wings is more impressive now in the Age of Parity that the Salary Cap has given us. Remember the Flyers were playing in a time when the NHL had just tripled in size in a very short amount of time, so there were some pretty terrible, watered-down teams. Shall we put an asterisk on them too?

Evgeni Malkin, Mega Beast: I honestly feel like Evgeni Malkin is the most underrated player in the world. Sure he’s an All-Star, sure he’s won a Conn Smythe, but he’s never in conversation with the Crosby’s, the Ovechkin’s, the Sedin’s, or the Toews’s’s’s’s’s as the best in the world. On Sunday, Malkin had five points in a game for the third times this year and he’s really separating himself from the rest of the pack in the scoring race. The first few months had everyone strapping their cart to Kessel, Giroux, Stamkos, or one of the Sedins to win the scoring title, and now there is very little question as to who will be the winner. Sure he doesn’t have the good looks of a Crosby or Sedin, and he doesn’t have the personality of an Ovechkin or Kane, but he’s getting it done. If he wins the Art Ross he’ll be the first two-time winner since Jagr won his last one in 2001. No matter how much you may love your own favourite star, it’s time to acknowledge that it’s Evgeni’s world and we’re all just living in it.

Kane, Ryder, and Cena: This Kane-Cena feud sounded great in theory. It gives Cena a big name to kill time feuding with until he gets ready to face The Rock. The “Embrace the Hate” idea sounded like it could be interesting and could lead us down some interesting paths. Instead, it has failed in every conceivable way.  The cheesiness involving Zack Ryder, Eve, and the return of Kane’s evil magic has made for some of the least compelling TV in recent months, and that’s saying something. This has really done a lot of damage to Zack Ryder, distracted Kane from a simple Monster Feud with Mark Henry, and has not done anything to get me more excited to see Rock-Cena. If we don’t get a Ryder-Kane grudge match at Wrestlemania then the WWE may have another Hurricane Helms in ’03 on their hands.

The Columbus Blue Jackets:  With the rumours swirling about them deciding to trade the Face of the Franchise (Trademark: Smyth, Ryan 2007), they did something no one else has done this year. They added intrigue to an otherwise dull trade season. I don’t want to watch Bob McKenzie and Darren Dreger talk about who will win the Hal Gill or Travis Moen sweepstakes; I want them to talk about stars. I want to see exactly who will pony up what for a truly elite talent in this league. The Blue Jackets massively overestimated their team this year and it quite obviously has blown up in their faces. If they can get some real, tangible assets for Nash, and possibly Carter, then they can seriously fast track their rebuild, which will help this team out tremendously long term.

This segues nicely to…

Maple Leafs Trade Rumours: Let me get this out of the way first, I’m a Sens fan, so perhaps I’m a tad biased here. But  do the Leafs have some sort of a clause in their league contract that requires them to be in every single trade rumour? Toronto does not have anywhere close to the assets to get Rick Nash, they just don’t. Schenn, Kadri, and Kulemin is a decent start, but it doesn’t compare to the offers that the Jackets are no doubt going to field. Also, Rick Nash has a No Movement Clause, if you were he would you want to go to Toronto? He’s spent his entire career in relative anonymity on a losing team. Why would he want to be in the supreme spotlight on a losing team? Sure the Leafs are trending upwards, but they are a long way from being a true contender. Nash wants to win, and he wants to win now. Toronto is not the place for that to happen. Besides, Nash hasn’t found the connection with Carter, a fellow sniper, would he really find it with Kessel? In my own personal opinion, I think that he’ll end up in LA, Boston, or New York, although I would kill to see him go to Pittsburgh.

Prediction for Next Week: Jericho leaves the Chamber with the WWE Title after not spending anytime in the match with Punk.