Some short thoughts...

Wow, the NHL slowed down again...what a surprise, considering that it's summer, eh? Just kidding...

- After seeing James Mirtle's article on Patrick Roy's number getting retired, I was reminded of a sarcastic piece I read in The Hockey News that wondered when NHL teams would have to start retiring numbers such as 24A or 33B. It got me thinking, when will they have to retire names? The whole league should retire Gretzky, they could never have another player with his name. Of course, though, when "The Great One's" son makes it to the NHL, they might have some jersey problems...

- I can't believe nobody other than myself and a young man named Salim Valji voted in favor of having fan articles replace the spot usually taken up by the recently departed Mike Brophy, who took a full-time job with SportsNet. I respect the writing talents of such nominees as James Mirtle (actually one of my favorite bloggers), Bill Meltzer, and Eric Duhatcek, but here was my reason for voting for fan articles: If those bloggers have successful blogs (check), and even part time jobs writing for big companies (Mirtle has written for the Globe and Mail), why not be satisfied with reading them there? Honestly, I'd at least prefer someone who writes well, but is lesser known. Surely someone could be found simply by searching blogger for hockey blogs and scrolling the list a little?

- We're still waiting on a word from a team that says they are willing to sign either Teemu Selanne or Brendan Shanahan. Reports have come out that both players have expressed wants to return to their 07-08 clubs (Anaheim and the New York Rangers), but no contract talks or offers from the team's side of things has come to the surface.

- I'll be attending a 'Meet-and-greet' of sorts for the Dallas Stars tomorrow in Dallas. I'll try and have some sort of report other than "It was fun...", and if I'm lucky, there'll be a player available for a quick interview. I'll at least be able to post some pictures of player autographs.



That's all my short thoughts for today, and I can hardly blame myself. Nothing new happened today in the NHL.