In honor of the Super Bowl here’s something else that’s periodically entertaining, the Monday morning musings and meditations on the world of sports.

The stars seemed to be lining up for the Canucks and Capitals before NBC’s cameras caught Canucks’ GM Mike Gillis in Washington on Sunday.

Now? Prepared to be bombarded with intel about the bounty the Canucks are going to reap from the Caps.

Admittedly, the circumstances couldn’t be better from Gillis’s perspective. The Caps are built to win now and they’re struggling under rookie head coach Adam Oates. GM George McPhee is starting to feel the heat and his goaltending has been shaky.

The Caps also have three high-end forward prospects in their organization. Evgeni Kuznetsov might be the best player in the world not in the NHL although his desire to play in North America is in question. The Caps also had two first-rounders this summer in Filip Forsberg and Tom Wilson. There’s a dropoff after Kuznetsov, Forsberg and Wilson but there are still intriguing players.

The calibre of the Caps’ top three, in fact, suggests the deal could involve Cory Schneider. It doesn’t figure the McPhee would trade one of their blue-chippers for a 33-year-old goalie whose contract runs to the end of days, that would be Roberto Luongo.

But who knows where this is heading?

On Friday night, Alain Vigneault coached his 500th game with the Canucks and if you were looking for a microcosm of his career in Vancouver, the win over Chicago serves nicely.

The milestone, for starters, was passed without much fanfare. That night, the Canucks recorded a 2-1 shootout win over their rivals from Chicago who’d come into the game as one of the hottest teams in the NHL. Afterwards, several callers to the post-game, open-mouth show complained about the lack of offence in the Canucks’ game..

Typical. By any reasonable measure, Vigneault is the most successful head coach in franchise history and his record places him among the top two or three of his contemporaries. Vigneault’s career winning percentage, just below .640, is behind only San Jose’s Todd McLellan, Anaheim’s Bruce Boudreau and Detroit’s Mike Babcock. In terms of tenure, he’s fourth behind Lindy Ruff, Barry Trotz and Babcock.

The difference between Babcock’s regular-season record and Vigneault’s, in fact, is infinitesimal.

That, at least, is the objective analysis of Vigneault’s career with the Canucks. As for the subjective, there persists the curious opinion in this market that Vigneault mismanages this team to the brink of disaster and is only saved by luck or divine intervention or the super human efforts of his players. That opinion, frankly, is so biased it’s barely credible and the hope here is the faithful can see through the agendas in play.

But, again, let’s stand back and look at Vigneault objectively.

Does he get the most out of his players? Not all of them but most of them. Keith Ballard hasn’t delivered what was promised. Mason Raymond has been inconsistent. After that, it’s hard to find a Canuck who’s chronically under-achieved under Vigneault.

Do young players get better? Let’s see. Ryan Kesler, Cory Schneider and Alex Edler have all emerged as frontline NHLers. Chris Tanev appears to be doing the same. Zack Kassian has been a revelation this season. It’s hard to identify one young player whose development has been impeded by Vigneault. Maybe Raymond but it seems there was a broken back in there somewhere.

Do the players respond? Well, seven seasons in they haven’t shown any signs they’re tuning out Vigneault. This season they’re staying competitive without Ryan Kesler in the lineup and with a goaltending soap opera in the team’s locker room.

So add it up and you’ve got a coach who’s won under a variety of circumstances, who develops players and gets the most out of his team.

Sorry, we’re just not sure what else is expected from Vigneault.

Another thing to keep in mind while Goalie Confidential plays out with the Canucks. The Kings’ Jonathan Bernier is still in play and the defending champions are off to a slow start. Playoff hero Dustin Penner has been a healthy scratch. There’s a drama between the organization and Willie Mitchell over Mitchell’s return to the lineup. The power play is 2 for 33.

There’s no cure for the common hangover. There doesn’t appear to be a cure for the Stanley Cup hangover, either.

0 Finally, fresh off their expert handling of the lockout, the NHL authority is back weaving its magic in Phoenix. There is a gift, 20-year, $308 million lease just sitting there in Glendale and it still can’t attract a legitimate buyer.

What else does the NHL need to know? The Coyotes aren’t viable in Arizona. That was the case four years ago when this farce started. Nothing has happened since to change things.