Here's this week's New York Sports Express column. It's about the Rangers finally beefing up their left side. Check it out. I think you'll enjoy it.
Speaking of the Rangers, goalie Mike Richter announced his retirement Thursday. The Rangers said they'll retire his number in February.

Things are really coming together for the Leafs.
First they actually hire a GM and now, Robert Svehla has retired. You might recall that Svehla held the Leafs hostage by not signing his retirement papers, meaning they didn't know if they'd have to pay him or not.
Kind of hard to run a club when you don't know your budget.
There was some talk of a mutual release form that would allow Svehla to leave the Leafs and jump to another team. That didn't happen, though. Svehla is out of the NHL for this season unless all 30 teams agree to let him back in.
In anticipation of the defenseman vacancy, the Leafs were sniffing around Ken Klee. Guys like Klee are having a rough time of it this summer. He's a good, solid player, but also a bit expensive. Teams are looking for either superstars or journeymen. No one in between fits into the expected strike.
Oh. And speaking of the Leafs, be sure to check out budBlog, a brand new Maple Leafs blog. There's a pretty crazy statistical analysis of ties up now, though. That's interesting to everyone — even if you hate the Leafs. Show some love and check it out.

Very strange. Alexandre Daigle, the great NHL bust, said he'll show up to the Minnesota Wild's training camp.
Everyone pretty much agrees that playing for the Wild is like being in a cult, so I wonder how Daigle, who spent the past 2 years not playing hockey in Hollywood, will fit into coach Jacques Lemaire's system. Assuming Daigle even makes the team, which is a big if.
Also, the Wild could be starting the season without Marian Gaborik.
There are some contract issues.
He's going to be playing in the Slovakian Elite League while everything is worked out.

OK. Today is a theme post. Go in the crease with PuckUpdate as today we look at goalies.
(Pause for applause)
First, the weird. And the late. The Sun-Times had an interesting piece on goalie Jocelyn Thibault last week. Apparently, Thibault's season-ending concussion was pretty bad. He hurt himself March 9 but didn't realize he had a concussion until he started forgetting things, like hotel room numbers and things he had already said. He played his last game of the season March 19. Shockingly, Thibault was 3-2 with the concussion.
He says he's all better and ready to play this season. Look for the Blackhawks to work him for 90 games or so. The Hawks never give Thibault a rest.
Speaking of goalie concussions, not every goalie can escape a concussion unscathed. New York Ranger Mike Richter couldn't. He's expected to announce his retirement today. The longer it took Richter to come back from his injury, the more likely his retirement seemed. It's a sad day for New York fans, though.
In more (and happier) goalie news, the Bruins finally got a goalie. They signed former LA King Felix Potvin. He's solid. He's not spectacular, but he should be fine. And he's got to be cheaper than Curtis Joseph. Which raises an interesting question. With Boston now officially set at goalie, just which team is interested in CuJo? His salary is backbreaking, even without the threat of a 2005 strike looming over the NHL. Or have teams figured out that by not offering Detroit anything, they can either steal Joseph away or force the Wings into bankruptcy?

The Phoenix Coyotes unveiled their new logo and uniforms yesterday. They got rid of the cartoon coyote and now sport a pretty realistic one. How did that happen? According to team president Douglas Moss, "we are very proud to unveil our new logos and uniforms today after more than a year and a half of research including extensive fan surveys and focus group studies."
That's right. Extensive fan surveys and focus group studies.
That means that a bunch of people said things like "Make the coyote look real" and "Make the coyote howl."
I'm glad the coyote doesn't have a recently-killed chicken it its mouth. And really, isn't that what all great logos are? The absense of poultry being slaughtered?

Good news for Detroit? Maybe.
Captain Steve Yzerman is skating.
He's still not sure how his knee is doing, though.
If Yzerman and coach Dave Lewis are smart, they'll give that knee a nice long rest. Like maybe most of the season. They need to worry about one thing: getting Yzerman set for the playoffs. If that means he plays 20 games this season, so be it. Detroit is deep as hell. They don't mean Yzerman to get to the playoffs. They need him to get through the playoffs, though.
And geez. I really kind of agonized over mentioning this, even though it's public knowledge: Red Wing grinder Darren McCarty is back in rehab after relapsing. McCarty is an alcoholic.
It just seems like battling any disease is hard enough without having to do in public. For some reason, when Theo Fleury slips, it's almost like he's trying to garner a public response. With McCarty, it felt invasive reading about it.

Last night I started watching game 1 of the 1972 Summit Series, courtesy of the amazing CANADA'S TEAM OF THE CENTURY collection.
The hockey is amazing on many levels. In the first period alone, you see Canada starting to play an east-west game, almost in tribute to the beauty of the Soviet game.
But the little things are really interesting, too. Like the fact that the broadcast doesn't have the score or the time up on the screen the whole time. Sometimes it was nice to be able to just watch the game, but sometimes I found myself wondering how much time was left on the power play.
Also interesting is the speed of both teams. No one is as fast as any of today's players. No one is as big, either. It makes for a better game, too. You can watch the game unfold more easily, watching the players cycle through their options before making a move. Watching modern NHL games, it can be hard to see what's going on.
Is it possible hockey players have gotten too athletic?

Happy Labor Day to all!
Posting will resume Wednesday morning.