So the Penguins have decided to send young Marc-Andre Fleury back to his junior team.
The Penguins are finally worried about his mental state. It didn't look like he was going to hit any of his "easily attainable" contract incentives. The Penguins are just a horrible team and Patrick Roy himself couldn't make them competitive. The Penguins are saying Fleury needs to play in a winning organization.
And with that thought in mind, Fleury's last NHL game of this season, where he backed up Jean-Sebastien Aubin, was a 5-1 loss to the Lightning.
I think every day Fleury doesn't fall asleep crying or wake up screaming should be considered a huge personal victory.

Where is Peter Bondra going?
Who knows. Just about every team is rumored to land him. But it seems the strongest murmurings are coming out of Ottawa.
Bondra with the Senators is a pretty scary thought. The Senators are just so freaking balanced. Every line can kill you. The one thing holding them back? They're not always physical or aggressive. They don't have that killer instinct. I'm not sure if Bondra would add that, either.
In other potential trade news, the Blackhawks said they won't be able to sign Alex Zhamnov to a new contract, so they're going to have to trade him. On the one hand, it's sad that Chicago can't hold onto their captain. On the other hand, I like that the Hawks are sticking to their guns and passing on a player they can't afford just to sign him. Team owners need to learn self-control. It's the only way to realistically keep salaries down.

Man oh man. Was Dany Heatley's return to the Thrashers a jolt or what? The Thrashers were animals on the ice. Their feet never stopped moving. They all looked electric. Almost too electric. They couldn't connect on a lot of plays because they were overskating. It was something to see. The Thrashers ended up tying St. Louis 1-1.
Also, Dan Snyder's family (Snyder was killed while driving with Heatley) continue to take the high road, releasing a statement of support for Heatley. If Heatley does return to his last-season form, it'll only be because of the support and kindness of the Snyders.

I love the NHL's new program of honoring active players who aren't playing that night.
First, the Devils had Scott Stevens Night without him (he's out with some sort of post-concussion syndrome).
Now, the Phoenix Coyotes are having Brian Boucher Night on an evening when Boucher isn't starting. The Coyotes are having a little pre-game ceremony to honor Boucher's breaking the modern-day shut-out streak.
Meanwhile, Sean Burke, who started the season as the Coyotes starting goalie, has basically resigned himself to being a back-up. It's probably easier to deal with when you know you're going to be dealt any second. Depending upon what Phoenix gets back in return, they could really be catapulted from a bubble team to a solid team. And a solid team with a hot goalie can go all the way to the finals, as the Ducks showed us last season.
There's a lot of talent out there that can be had for a solid goalie. Me? I'm still kind of thinking the Flyers might deal Mike Comrie for a goalie. You know. Once Tony Amonte is healthy.

It's a big week, or at least time of season, for NHL comebacks.
The Thrashers suddenly announced Dany Heatley's return to the line-up. He'll be back Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, over in Detroit, they're getting ready for the return of Dominik Hasek, out since December. They're expecting Hasek back in just a few weeks. Right as Joseph is starting to sag in goal. Of course, if the Wings thought it was tough dealing Joseph when he was an unknown quantity, they're going to love trying to deal him while he struggles. And what sucks is that even if he gets back to the form he had in December when he took over for Hasek, he's still getting dealt. All he can hope for is that Hasek is playing even worse.
If this season had a catchphrase, I think it would be 'poor CuJo.'

Geez. Maybe the Capitals should suit up Teddy Leonsis.
The 48-year-old team owner got into an altercation with a fan. Obviously, no one knows who started it. It seems the main ingredients were an obnoxious (I'm going to assume) fan and a public owner. Leonsis has already apologized, though.
He better be careful, though. If he gets any tougher, he's going to have to trade himself away.

Just a couple of weird things since I'm a bit pressed for time today.

*How crazy is this? The Buffalo Sabres go down to North Carolina and run into snow. Did they have to leave Buffalo for that?
*In semi-personal news, if you want to see what I look like, you can see me in THE STROKES — NEW YORK STORIES. Despite the kind of nasty title, it's actually a documentary on the band The Strokes. I'm interviewed about their place in the the New York City scene. I'm not a huge part, but it's probably the last time I'll be on DVD. Unless they finally release season ten of DIFF'RENT STROKES. I actually played Arnold for that season. We were only seen in syndication.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette looks in on goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and his contract. While it's long been said that the Penguins would send Fleury down to the minors before he could cash in on his contract's "easily attainable" incentives, it now seems those incentives are neither easy nor attainable for someone playing behind the woeful Penguins.
Fleury needs things like a 3.25 goals against average, a .890 save percentage, 20 victories, and four shut-outs. He doesn't need all of those — just two over 25 appearances of at least 20 minutes. Coming out of Pittsburgh's 5-3 loss to the Penguins, Fleury has a 3.56 GAA, one shutout and just four wins. All he's got going for him is his .898 save percentage.
The Penguins are concerned about having to possibly pay Fleury $3 million in bonuses. That's fair. It's a lot of money to them. But they should probably be more concerned that they're destroying their franchise goalie. The fact that this talented goalie can't make these basic incentives is not a good thing. The Penguins are going to end up saving money and losing their goalie. Until his career is resurrected with another team, meaning the Penguins are happy about the prospect of getting nothing for nothing.

Here's a sad report on LA King Jason Allison, out of hockey a year now.
Apparently, he trains at and leaves the Kings' training center before the rest of the team gets there. He's still got symptoms from his odd whiplash injury. Oddest of all, no one from the Kings is allowed to talk to the media about Allison except GM Dave Taylor.
It seems the next question Allison needs to ask is if it's time to leave hockey. According to the LA Times, the poor guy can't even put together five symptom-free days.