Keep your head up around these guys: 1. Garnet Exelby (Atlanta); 2. Dion Phaneuf (Calgary); 3. The Toronto media; 4. Jordin Tootoo (Nashville Predators);
5. Dustin Brown (Los Angeles Kings).
What hasn't worked thus far: 1. The Los Angeles Kings' offseason retooling; 2. G Vesa Toskala going to Toronto; 3. The Oilers' restricted free agent raid. Dustin Penner is a 14-goal scorer and Thomas Vanek, whose offer sheet was matched by the Buffalo Sabres, isn't performing like a $7 million player. 4. The Sabres' decision not to extend Brian Campbell before this season; 5. The Lightning's decision to keep their goalies from last season.
Midpoint report: Luongo among midseason stars (USA Today) 
