Some musings right before the opening face-off

A) Roster spots aren’t guaranteed for anyone. Look at the dudes who got chucked on waivers lately: a bunch of semi-reliable veterans who, in the “old NHL” (by the way, when will broadcasters stop using this retarded phrase? I stop calling underwear “new” after I wear them once. The post-lockout NHL has now had 3 Stanley Cup champions. Give up the “new” already.”) would still have NHL jobs. Now they’re super expensive bus jockeys in the AHL, shipped to the mobster-laden KHL, or ride the pine hard for an NHL team that doesn’t want them. I guess being a multi-millionaire with a wicked hot hockey wife isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

B) Tampa looked like shit. The Lightning were outshot 2-1 in their opening Euro-games with the NY Rangers, and seemed unable to move the puck from their backend or sustain any pressure in the Ranger zone. Luckily, Mike Smith and Ollie the Goalie were on fire, but they can’t expect their goalies to be late-90s Dominik Hasek all season. Either the Rangers are way better than I thought, or Captain Mullet had better get his shit together and organize his club. Picking up Louis Kraijeck is not the answer, and pretty well duplicates the other young d-men on the roster.

C) Some teams are in big trouble on and off the ice. Echoing an earlier rant I wrote, it’s nice to see the NHL kicked off in Europe while hearing that:

a. The Atlanta Thrashers only had 40% season ticket renewal and look poised to be fucking terrible this year.
b. The continuing ownership clusterfuck in Nashville is alive and well.
c. The tanking economy threatens league revenues.

Well done Monsieur Bettman. Continue to fiddle while Rome burns. Dipshit.

Taking a look at all that, I guess it’s safe to say I am stoked for the season to start in full. Bring on the sweet goals, big hits, and brutal fights!

JB