A discussion over the state of hockey has risen straight to the top.

While introducing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Washington on Thursday, U.S. President Barack Obama tried to end the "which country is better at hockey?" debate by pointing to his hometown Chicago Blackhawks as the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Trudeau wisely pointed out the debate is a bit more nuanced than that:

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No further discipline.

St. Louis Blues forward Ryan Reaves will not be hearing from the NHL after he took out Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Christian Ehrhoff with a high hit Wednesday, according to the Chicago Tribune's Chris Kuc.

Reaves was given five and a game after he clocked Ehrhoff behind Chicago's net. The league concluded the hit was hard, but legal, according to Kuc's source.

The Blues won a chippy game, 3-2 in a shootout. Reaves played only 2:29 before being tossed, while Ehroff finished with 11:45 in ice time over 17 shifts.

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On Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET, the NHL's trade deadline will be 10 days old. Almost prehistoric. And that means it's time to look at how those players who changed addresses (since Feb. 21) are faring, and determine whether trades went boom or bust.

As for Lee Stempniak, it should come as no surprise that he's fitting in with his new team, the Boston Bruins. This is what Mr. Stempniak does - get traded, keep producing, rinse, and repeat.

Forwards

Notes:

• Stempniak is amazing. He should go to unrestricted free agency this summer with one request: a no-trade clause. He's earned it.
• Fact: When Maroon scores, the Oilers win. Look it up.
• Ladd's ice time has gone up in each game with the Blackhawks, and he hit the 20-minute mark Wednesday.
• Staal was acquired for the playoffs, but the Rangers have to be a little disappointed so far. Privately, at least.

Meanwhile, a couple of forwards who weren't traded have only two goals in seven games between them:

Defensemen

Notes:

• Eight points between Stempniak and Liles. Don Sweeney is a genius.
• The haul the Flames got for Russell, which included Jokipakka, still doesn't make a lot of sense.

The highest-scoring defenseman since Feb. 29 who was on the trading block but didn't get moved? Dan Hamhuis, of course.

Bravo, Vancouver.

Goalies

James Reimer was the only goalie of note to be traded before the deadline, acquired by the Sharks from the Maple Leafs.

Notes:

• Reimer's numbers look good, and he has his first shutout in over a year.
• Since the Feb. 27 trade, Sharks No. 1 goalie Martin Jones is 4-0 and has stopped 119 of 125 shots he's faced, good for a .952 save percentage. The Sharks appear set in goal.

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On the outside of the playoff picture, the Minnesota Wild will be without their starting goaltender for Thursday's game against Edmonton.

Devan Dubnyk will be unavailable due to illness, meaning Darcy Kuemper will draw the start. Steve Michalek, who was recalled from the AHL on an emergency basis, will serve as the back up.

The Wild sit two points behind Colorado for the Western Conference's second wild card spot, albeit with two games in hand.

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The Calgary Flames have Johnny Gaudreau to thank for salvaging a 3-2 overtime win over the Nashville Predators on Wednesday.

Gaudreau set up Mikael Backlund with a great pass on the OT winner, capping off an impressive three-point night.

Related: Johnny Gaudreau establishes 2 career highs in 10 seconds

The Predators nearly stole the victory from the Flames, who held a 2-0 lead before Mike Fisher went off for two points in the third period, including the game-tying goal with the goalie pulled and just 1:18 left on the clock.

The Predators' late-game heroics pushed their franchise-record point streak to 14 games.

With the win, the Flames now have a two-point cushion on the Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers, who occupy last place in the Western Conference.

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The Los Angeles Kings extended their gratitude to members of the visiting Washington Capitals on Wednesday, paying tribute to two players who contributed to the only two Stanley Cup championships in franchise history, Justin Williams and Mike Richards.

Richards was up first. And while his departure resembled a messy divorce, you wouldn't know it by the reception he received.

And though he should've expected nothing less than a rousing ovation, Williams, the Conn Smythe winner in 2014, didn't seem prepared for it.

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Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon didn't squander a great opportunity courtesy of teammate Erik Johnson.

Midway through the first period of Wednesday's contest, Johnson found MacKinnon darting for the net and hit him with a lob pass for the ages.

From there, he was able to fight off the back-checking of Anaheim Ducks defenseman Josh Manson before going shelf on goaltender John Gibson.

MacKinnon is now just three goals away from matching his career high of 24.

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Ten seconds after establishing a new career high in goals, Johnny Gaudreau went ahead and did the same with points.

With his 25th and 26th goals - scored four seconds off Lanny McDonald's franchise record for the fastest two goals by one player - the Calgary Flames star improved on his 24-goal rookie total, and then his 64-point rookie total, in a flash Wednesday.

To be fair, the first goal required a review, so there was a little bit of a wait. But based on that clumsy back cut from the Predators defender, the delay worked to his advantage.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs pumped the brakes on a six-game losing streak thanks to the soft hands of rookie Nikita Soshnikov.

The 22-year-old beat New York Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss with a deceptive backhand in the skills competition Wednesday to give the Maple Leafs a 4-3 victory.

The win snapped the Maple Leafs' six-game skid, which had seen their past five losses come in the form of one-goal defeats.

The goal proved to be only Soshnikov's latest achievement to catch the eye of head coach Mike Babcock, who made it clear that the Russian and fellow rookie Zach Hyman - who scored his second goal of the season Wednesday - have futures with the big club.

"He's not intimidated by anything," Babcock said of Soshnikov.

William Nylander also received accolades from Babcock, who called Wednesday's performance his best game yet.

The Maple Leafs seemed destined for yet another one-goal loss after Ryan Strome put the Islanders up 3-2 with 5:19 remaining in regulation, until Nylander responded with a power-play marker with just 1:13 left to send the game to extra time.

The Maple Leafs will look to string together back-to-back wins for the first time since Feb. 2 and 4 when they visit the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.

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