In a lot of ways, it's not all that surprising that Mario Lemieux is coming back to play another season for the Penguins.
He's the franchise. The team has literally sold every other asset. The only other player of any note is Marty Straka. And maybe first-round draft pick goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, depending on how things work out.
But if Lemieux left, the Penguins would be in even worse shape, difficult as that is to imagine (I like to imagine it as Penguins spontaneously combusting on the ice, if that helps, though).
On the other hand, it's also kind of surprising that Lemieux came back. He's old. His back, while not too bad this season, still isn't great. There's no doubt he loves hockey, but would he love skating a trap with players of minor league talent all season? It's just not what he's used to.
But there's more to hockey than scoring and winning. One thought is that Lemieux is looking forward to mentoring younger players. While Lemieux may have had a reputation as a puck hog in previous seasons, dedicated Penguin-watchers are saying that he's getting more generous, realizing each pass helps a young player get a little better.
Hopefully.
The Penguins also signed a bunch of players Thursday — including Rico Fata, who I love. He's a sparkplug. He's hitting and skating and shooting on just about every shift. Keep an eye on him. Being on a talent-thin team like the Penguins could end up putting Fata's career into overdrive. He's going to see a lot of ice time. More than he was seeing on the Rangers, anyway.

Oh man! There's a lot of intrigue in Toronto.
Supposedly, the Leafs are looking at Neil Smith to be the new GM. But the league is pushing for Colin Campbell or Mike Murphy.
The league is supposed to be pretty anti-Neil Smith.
Obviously, I can't say for sure, but if I had to guess, I would say it's because of how he treated Wayne Gretzky in Gretzky's final days as a Ranger. Smith allegedly talked a lot of trash about 99, maybe even shortening his career by a season or so.
Who knows what Smith might have been trying to accomplish by doing this.
And I'm just guessing anyway.
Talking head Glenn Healy is still being rumored for the GM slot, too. I think it's because Leaf management-type Ken Dryden was a goalie and they're trying to create an organization run by ex-goalies. But it's only a theory.

Does anyone else think it's weird that Bobby Hull is getting the Wayne Gretzky International Award from the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame? Hull is like 22 years older than Gretzky. Hull helped to build the WHA and Gretzky came into hockey through it. Nothing against Gretzky, but shouldn't it be the Hull award? I realize it's kind of a pointless, stupid award no one really cares about, but still — shouldn't the older guy have the award named after him? Or shouldn't it at least go to players younger than Gretzky?
Or am I just overly sensitive? That's possible, too.

Hey! Capitals fans! Does anyone have a relatively recent picture of Chris Simon? Like from the playoffs? How long is his hair now? I know it's been short for a while — I'm just trying to make sure it's still short. If you have a picture or a link or any insights, drop me a line at puck-at-popupdate-dot-com. You know how to translate that, right?
Thanks!
UPDATE: Eric from Off Wing Opinion helpfully reminded me that Simon last played in Chicago.
I soooo need a public editor here.

Speaking of the Capitals, everyone knows they're shopping Robert Lang.
You know. Because he's good and the Caps seem to be trying to shed talent.
Anyway, guess who might be interested.
Rangers?
Probably. But that's not who I was going to say.
Guess again.
Did you say the Red Wings? Because if you did, you're right.
The rumor wind out of Detroit whispers that the Wings might be interested in signing Lang.
He's solid. He's consistent. He could even end up playing in front of Steve Yzerman, depending on how Yzerman's healing continues.
Pretty crazy stuff.

Geez. Is there anything worse than arbitration? Probably. But not many things.
Arbitration is the time of year when players and teams try to figure out salary. Teams usually do this by slamming the player ('Twenty-five goals? You should have had 50. You're awful'). Players usually do this by exaggerating their accomplishments ('Who scores 25 goals nowadays? Do you know how big goalie equipment is?').
It's pretty awful stuff. That's why so many players re-sign before their arbitration date. Last year only 11 players went through arbitration — 29 filed and settled.
Here's this year's arbitration schedule for you morbid hockey fans out there.
Maybe the Player's Association will start releasing root canal schedules, too.

Shockingly, the Rangers finally signed Brian Leetch.
Rumor is he got a two-year deal for $6.5 million/year, plus incentives.
Rangers coach/GM Glen Sather is so full of crap, though: "We are extremely excited to have him remain in a Rangers sweater."
Then why didn't you sign him sooner?
Leetch obviously has ties to New York, having played here for 16 seasons. He can't just up and leave for a better offer. Since the Isles, Devils, and Flyers weren't going to make him an offer, Sather had him pretty much dead to rights.
Leetch had to either uproot his family or take what Sather gave him.
Leetch took what Sather gave him.
Don't get me wrong. $6.5 million is great money. But Leetch made a little less than $10 million last season. You don't slash the salary of loyal employees just because you can. Especially not when much of your bench is filled with overpriced "talent."

Female hockey sensation Hayley Wickenheiser is gearing up for another season in Finland.
Wickenheiser spent last season playing in the men's league there, racking up two goals and nine assists.
She said she's expecting less media scrutiny this season since the novelty of a female ice hockey player is starting to wear off.
You've got to love Wickenheiser. Playing far from her loved ones, living in a fish bowl, under a microscope, all for the love of the game.
**And that's the cliche hat trick!**
Too bad the NHL can't clone her heart.

Shocking! The Bruins are retiring Cam Neely's number 8.
Why shocking?
I assumed they did it seconds after he retired in 1996. The man was (and is) the Bruins.
And the number has sort of been retired anyway. No one has worn it since Neely.
Good stuff.
On another Boston front, the Globe is saying the Bruins should think about bringing Adam Oates back into the fold (Anaheim still hasn't re-signed him).
Everyone talks about Oates and faceoffs. Sure he's good, but are faceoffs worth whatever the Bruins would have to pay Oates? Anaheim's dominance in the faceoff circle impacted this year's finals, but that was a pretty extreme case. New Jersey only had one dedicated faceoff guy (Joe Nieuwendyk) and he ended up injured. But how many other teams have so little depth (besides Pittsburgh...)? The faceoff advantage would end up being a wash.

You don't want to look but you have to.
Theo Fleury is talking to the press again.
He's pissed at Chicago, who placed him on waivers without telling him. He's not in rehab, but going to therapy. He's also taking an online course on Internet marketing.
That's my favorite part. Is he getting ready to launch a dot-com? Maybe the business model will be that for $9.95/month, Fleury will make poor life and business decisions for you. You know. For people too busy to mess up their own lives.
Fleury can apply for NHL reinstatement October 11.
I'm sure all of Chicago is holding its breath.

Geez. Everyone is really into this whole Mark Messier back to Edmonton thing.
First the New York Post was talking about it (see below). Now the Edmonton Sun has caught on.
Oilers GM Kevin Lowe and coach Craig MacTavish said they're thinking about bringing Messier back. Assuming he doesn't re-sign with the Rangers and assuming he'd be willing to take a pay cut. Oh. And assuming he doesn't retire.
The Sun points out, rather astutely we might add, that Messier is old. That's what it boils down to. Great guy. Great player. But he's Edmonton history.

This is cool. New York Sports Express has their site up and running. This is this week's column from me, on Mariusz Czerkawski's return to the Islanders. And this one is last week's on NHL mascots. Check it out if you get a chance.

Sorry about the lack of posts yesterday. I was off from work, and in my world, that means I'm off from Puck, too. Weird, right? I need to get that looked at.
So what did we miss?
Not much.
The weirdest thing is Larry Brooks' suggestion that Mark Messier play out his final year (or years) with the Oilers. According to Brooks, there's just no room for Messier in the Rangers' organization.
Getting old is a bitch. Messier is a Ranger god. I can see how it's a little awkward in the locker room. He's not the 1994 Mark Messier — but it's the same person, so you kind of have to defer to him.
Like I said, weird.

OK. I'll admit it. I'm a sucker for those 'What I did with the Stanley Cup' stories. This is one about Devil defenseman Brian Rafalski.
He took it to Wisconsin, where people tried to drink coffee from it:

But not everybody who sneaked a peak knew about the Cup's history. One elderly couple glanced into the restaurant and proceeded to walk right in. But before Felicity could ask them to leave, the couple inquired, "Excuse me, but where are the coffee cups?" Felicity responded, "I'm very sorry, but this is a private party. That's the Stanley Cup," to which the gentleman, shocked, said, "Oh my, we do apologize, but I thought that was an ornate coffee urn!"

Man. Now I want a coffee urn shaped like the Cup. Oh! Or maybe a coffee cup shaped like the Stanley Cup!
I gotta start selling this stuff.

Oh wow. John Larsen is working on the Federal Hockey League. It's an all-Candian pro hockey league.
I always get excited about new leagues even though they're usually pretty low-key. This league wants just 5,000 fans per game. That's not a heck of a lot.
Good luck, though.