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That was beautiful.

Surprised no-one has mentioned this one: Montreal Canadiens It's mostly about their dumb fans and their sense of entitlement. You think your team deserves to win the Stanley Cup every decade. And you think all French Canadians have an obligation to play in Montreal and you should only draft players from Quebec. Well, which is it? Should the team draft all French Canadiens instead of the best player available? Or should it put together the best possible lineup, which might include players of other nationalities? Quick facts for Canadien fans: 1. Saku Koivu does not hate French Canadians just because he didn't announce the starting lineup in French. Do you know what his first language is? Finnish. His second? English. French is his 3rd language and you can't blame him for not wanting to address 18,000+ in it. 2. Vinny Lecavalier is not going to play for the Canadiens. Montreal is not a Mecca that every French-speaking player needs to make a pilgramage to. 3. Aren't you glad now you didn't waste a draft pick on Angelo Esposito and picked the best player available instead? 4. You can stop your Shane Doan grudge-fest now. The NHL cleared him. Canada's already having enough trouble playing international hockey, and you want to suspend your captain based on rumors? Lastly, I don't hate French Canadiens. I hate dumb fans.

Anyone know what happened to this mask? I think it's way better than Jimmy's purple octopus mask.

I think he still wears an A, if I remember correctly.

That really seems like a dumb rule. There should be some kind of age cutoff. Now the leafs are going to have to bring up Schenn, which is really going to mess his development.

If you can be mediocre in the east and still make the playoffs (i.e. Boston last year), why bother spending more money. The eastern teams just play each other for the most part. If none of the east teams are getting any better, I guess you don't have to get any better yourself. If I made one list of the teams that have gotten better, all but one (Tampa) would be in the west. I really hope we don't start seeing an NBA-like difference between the two conferences. This is why the two conferences need to play each other WAY MORE.

I don't think we'll see anyone wear #39 soon, partly out of respect for Hasek and partly because it is an obscure number, but I think we'll definitely see someone wear it again someday.

It's a lot more like Sergei Fedorov going to the Ducks. And a lot of us still feel bitter about that.

Mursak is probably the forward I'm most excited about. He might be the fastest skater in the system, and he finished second in OHL voting for "Best Stickhandler" only to phenom-to-be John Tavares. He could be a lot like a left-winger version of Filppula. And he's Slovenian. 100% of the Slovenians in the NHL (Kopitar) have been awesome players.

I'm glad they got a picture of him doing his signature move, the no-goal wave-off.

I don't think this is dumb at all. There's nothing wrong with a writer looking at the glass as half full. Who, in the east, is clearly better than Pittsburgh right now? I don't think anyone is clearly better. They'll still contend for the conference title this season.

Here's part of a thread I made before the draft. It's not everybody (there are some russians who we still hold rights to, but have no plans for), but it's pretty much everybody who is under contract or could still be given a contract (not including this year's draft picks obviously). If you want to know which ones to look after, I'll put some stars by guys who are guys to pay attention to. Enjoy:

Nothing against you or the video (it was awesome), but they're really two completely different types of players. Datsyuk is a playmaker and possibly the best stickhandler in the league. Bure was a scorer and one of the fastest skaters the league has ever seen. I think Bure/Ovechkin would be a better comparison.

There's been at least one offer sheet: Ryan Johnson.

I don't think any team coached by Mike Babcock will have trouble working hard. I expect there might be a little bit of a cup hangover, but Babcock's whole system is based on out-working the opposition, so I expect it won't last long.

Western Conference standings (as of April 2009): 1. Detroit 2. Dallas 3. Calgary 4. San Jose 5. Anaheim 6. Nashville 7. Minnesota 8. Chicago 9. Colorado 10. Phoenix 11. Edmonton 12. Columbus 13. St. Louis 14. Vancouver 15. Los Angeles Eastern Conference: 1. New Jersey 2. Ottawa 3. Carolina 4. Pittsburgh 5. Montreal 6. Philadelphia 7. Washington 8. Buffalo 9. Boston 10. New York Rangers 11. Tampa Bay 12. New York Islanders 13. Florida 14. Toronto 15. Atlanta

I know they say you have to make sacrifices to win, but human sacrifices...? Talk about selling your soul for a championship... Is Miroslav's agent a devil's advocate...? Miroslav Satan jokes just never get old.

Columbus has made so many changes, I really have no idea what to expect next year: Lost: Gilbert Brule Nikolai Zherdev Dan Fritche Ron Hainsey Added: R.J. Umberger Raffi Torres Fedor Tyutin Christian Backman Mike Commodore Kristian Huselius (maybe Nikita Filatov too) I might have even missed some, but it's hard to know what they'll be like. They could be way better, way worse, or about the same.

there was practically zero chance of him getting any playing time last year. Has anyone ever noticed how much Stafford looks like Doug Weight?

I knew I forgot someone. I'll add it.

He was probably mad the Red Wings didn't sign Eric Lindros in 2001. Hindsight...

Ken Holland hockey log: Jun 04, 2008: Win Stanley cup. Celebration ensues. Jun 20-21, 2008: Do what my scouts say at the draft. Jul 01, 2008: Solidify goaltending by signing best backup in the league. Jul 01, 2008: Cement Detroit as the best defensive team in the league. Jul 02, 2008: Ensure that Detroit also has the best offense. Jun 03-Oct 01, 2008: Figure out what to do with all the cap space still left. Man, the last time I felt like this was when we signed Brett Hull.

You can't be telling me news like this while I'm at work. I don't think I'll be able to sit still the rest of the day.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=242167&lid...s=topStory_main Can't stand Torres and now we have to see him 8 times a year.

Should've stayed a Panther. Then we'd still have Matthias. Was I not paying attention in previous years, or are there a TON more buyouts than ever before?