News Cycle: Do any NHL players fit Sports Guy's "underrated" criteria?

Tim Thomas provides a rare flair for the dramatic in net

• Last night, I posted a stream of consciousness about an exciting Washington Capitals - Boston Bruins game. One of the lines was, "Marc Savard is still underrated." After reading a new column by Bill Simmons, it got me wondering: are there any NHL players who are truly underrated?

It's tough to say. Savard does indeed meet some of the requirements since he has been producing at an impressive level for quite a few years without being mentioned in the upper ranks of NHL forwards. That said, he did make the All-Star team and there is a question of if he "matters" much in the grand scheme of things on a deep, talented Boston Bruins team.

Tim Thomas might actually be a more appropriate case, because he's putting up one of the better cases for the Vezina trophy this year - and has a knack for producing highlight reel saves.

Can you think of any NHL player who would fit the Sports Guy's standards of underrated?

• One player who absolutely is not underrated is Montreal's Carey Price (or "Jesus Price"). There's a pretty interesting little feature on Price in ESPN the Magazine which focuses on the pressures that come with being the Montreal Canadiens' netminder.
  
  
• Big news out of Detroit: the Red Wings signed Henrik Zetterberg to a massive 12 year, $72 million contract. As with most contracts that feature big money and long terms, it's a mixed bag of a deal.

On one hand, the Red Wings will keep Zetterberg around for a cap hit of only $6 million per year, which is only one million more than Mike Ribeiro. That's a very nice deal for a player who produces nicely and plays a solid two-way game.

That being said, Zetterberg is a little bit on the fragile side. He's not quite as delicate as, say, Patrice Bergeron but he tends to miss about 5-15 games per year (career high GP: 79; career low GP: 61). At 29, Zetterberg might already have his peak years behind him.

It's not an awful contract overall, but it's possible the last six years could cause the Red Wings some issues.

Now the hot topic changes to: can the Red Wings find a way to keep Marian Hossa or Johan Franzen? It would be impossible for most teams, but you never know with Detroit.

• James Mirtle focuses on the blandness of video game phenom Jay Bouwmeester.

"Does he LOOK ... LIKE ... A ... Bouwmeester?" just doesn't have the same ring to it...

The photo of Bowmeester in glasses brings back memories of Pulp Fiction, when Quentin Tarantino says that Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta look like "a bunch of dorks." Bowmeester is a pocket proctector short of getting an atomic wedgie, right?