Mid summer check in

You know that there is little hockey news to report on when Damien Cox of the Toronto Star and Bob McKenzie of TSN both have disclaimers on their respective blogs that they are on vacation and will not be returning until the end of August.  The Hockey News itself cuts back their weekly publication to once a month in July and August.  The guys who get paid to write about hockey for a living realize that the dog-days of summer provide little fanfare in the hockey world and get out to enjoy the few weeks of good weather we get in the Great White North.  I too have been out enjoying the summer so I apologize that there has been little content added over the past while.  I could write about our trip to Sarnia to see Stone Temple Pilots at Bayfest, but the only person that would interest is my mother.  And this is a hockey blog, not a forum to air out what is happening in my life.  Man, that blog would be boring.  That being said, lets get caught up on what has been going on in the NHL.

Brian Burke gone fishing

One thing to say about the Toronto media is that they cover everything.  They even let us know that Leafs GM Brian Burke was going fishing in British Columbia so that they could stop speculating what his next moves would be every day in the paper.  Burke’s fishing trip is well deserved after his foray into the free agent market and the trading of Pavel Kubina but I hope that Burkie lands a bigger fish in a top six forward when he gets back from his vacation.

Len Barrie told to ante up

Tampa Bay co-owner Len Barrie has been ordered by Gary Bettman to hand over 10 million dollars to the team by the end of the week.  It seems that while Len has been calling himself an owner of the team, he has yet to fund the team in any way.  Sometimes it seems like the NHL will let just about any snake oil salesman to be an owner in the league.  Unless of course you happen to be Jim Basillie.

Zombie Hockey reborn in New Jersey

Devil’s G.M. and dark sorcerer Lou Lamoriello must have seen enough of entertaining hockey the past two seasons with Brent Sutter as head coach to last him an eternity in Hades.  To ensure that the few fans who actually go to a Devil’s game will be bored enough to ponder taking their own lives to end the suffering, Lou has turned again to the leader of the undead, Jacques Lemaire to take the reins of the team.  This is Lemaire’s second stint with the team.  During his first he ushered in the trap and the ‘dead-puck’ era.  Expect the Devil’s to be about as exciting as plain toast next year.  Just the way Lou likes it.

Habs add beef

Bob Gainey addressed the concern that he will be icing a team of smurfs this year by signing 6’4” Paul Mara to a one-year deal.  Mara and 6’7” Hal Gill will be twin towers on the back end this year in Montreal.  Too bad the rest of the team can still fit into the same clothes they wore when they were 12.  Intimidating they are not. 

Blackhawks punt Tallon to other job

Everyone and their dog saw this coming.  First the Hawks hire Scotty Bowman to be a special advisor, then his son Stan gets the G.M. duties after Dale Tallon is pushed aside.  Nepotism is alive and well in the Windy City.  I think Tallon got the shaft.  He drafted Toews and Kane and took this team from a laughingstock to the Western Conference finals.  Tallon’s only blunder was when the team president ordered that the Hawks dip into the free agent pool last year to keep their growing profile high in the city.  The bloated contracts to Brian Campbell and Christobal Huet became an albatross around his neck and the mishandling of the contracts to the Hawks restricted free agents did not help as well.  It was not Tallon’s fault, but like a good leader, he took the blame.  And the Bowman’s used that to get a better position.  Scotty was always a shrewd man.  Looks like Stan is a chip off the old block.

Good-Bye Burnaby Joe

Joe Sakic hung up his skates.  Joe was as classy as you could get and a great hockey player to boot.  He played his entire career with one franchise, saw them through many ups and downs, and in the process, cemented his place in the Hockey Hall of Fame.  One of my prized hockey collectables is Joe’s rookie card from the O-Pee-Chee 89-90 set.  I bought it one day on a whim, passing by a hockey card table in a local mall.  I will never be accused as being a Nordiques or Avalanche fan, but when Joe played the game of his life in the 2002 Gold Medal game in the Olympics, I was quite happy to have that card in my collection.  Thanks for the memories Joe

And finally, a funny take on the Heatley saga

Just got this video sent to me by McRedWing.  Funny stuff.  The language gets a little blue for those of you that mind that kind of thing.  But odds are, if you are reading this blog, you won’t mind at all

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnE_cBLPYJI&eurl]

Have a great summer and we’ll chat when things begin heating up

The Greener \m/