So this is pretty meta (and awkward).
The Arizona Republic article about Jeremy Roenick maybe playing last night (he didn't), features an ad for the Coyotes featuring Jeremy Roenick:

If this was one of those new American telenovelas, everyone would be slapping everyone else right now.

Life can be very funny.
Yesterday, I was looking for a Marc-Andre Fleury bobblehead on eBay (I'm still in a holding pattern on that, FYI).
I caught the word Fleury in the search bar and I was suddenly thinking 'I wonder what Theo Fleury is up to.' So I pop into Nexis and discover a Calgary Sun article from Tuesday of this week.
Crazy, right? What are the odds? This is totally a MEDIUM episode.
So anyway, Fleury now runs his own business, working as an acrylic sealer.
He's sober 18 months and seems happy. At least he seems happy to not be a part of the new NHL:

You can't be a (jerk) on the ice because there are two officials and 12 guys in Toronto watching every move you make. For a guy like me, I needed that aspect of my game to be effective. The craziness, the intimidation, the unpredictability -- there's no more of that in the game. They've taken personality right out.

I'm glad he's doing OK. Fleury never seemed to have any kind of inner calm. I really hope he's found it now.
And I hope Versus considers him for some studio work. I think he and Brett Hull would have a lot to talk about.
Also, is there anyone working harder than the Islanders to get fans in the building? Their latest idea is Bring-a-Fan-to-Work day, which is actually going on over two days. They invited fans into the decrepit Nassau Coliseum and let the magic happen:

More than 60 team employees - from team captain Alexei Yashin, to the "ice girls" who sweep up chips during games, to the all-important sales staff - ushered fans through the building, in which orange sheets of paper were taped to about one-third of the seats proclaiming, "This seat available."

You really have to hand it to the Islanders. They really are doing everything they can to sell tickets. But should a pro team really have to work that hard?

That was quick.
As speculated, Blues coach Mike Kitchen is out and ex-LA Kings coach Andy Murray is in.
Murray is an interesting choice. He's an up-tempo kind of coach and the Blues are very much a slow, old-school kind of team (I sometimes feel like they're still trying to clear the front of the net for an Al MacInnis cannon blast). It's pretty much a given they're going to break the team into parts for other teams who are playoff bound and you have to wonder if the plan is to go younger (which they didn't do this off-season) and faster under Murray.
Murray is probably hoping next season's Blues are a lot healthier, too.

So is Blues coach Mike Kitchen the next NHL coach to go? The St. Louis Post-Dispatch seems to think so.
I think the only reason Kitchen is still behind the bench is that the Blues didn't pounce on Ken Hitchcock right after the Flyers let him go. You might recall Hitchcock actually signed with Columbus while the Flyers were firing him. I think he signed the Blue Jacket paperwork while he was packing up his office, even.
You also might recall that in Columbus, Ohio, NHL hockey is often bumped off the radio for high school sports.
Ouch.

I was at the Garden Thursday night for the Rangers shootout win over the Penguins. Man, Madison Square Garden is an amazing place. The whole Garden was on its feet for the shootout, the chants alternating between support for goalie Henrik Lundqvist and booing whoever was shooting for Pittsburgh. The energy in the building was simply stunning. It was more religious service than sporting event.
I report on this only because Alan Hahn, who used to cover the Islanders for Newsday and is now covering the Knicks, had a cool blog post about how different sports are in New York.
Obviously, some people might call it fickleness, but it's really much more complex. New York fans only respond to hard work. It's not about scoring and it's not about stats in New York. All most serious fans want to see is effort and engagement. And if they don't see it or feel it or sense it, they're going to boo. No one gets a pass. Maybe Derek Jeter, but no one else. Certainly no one in hockey, though.
Speaking of the Penguins, Versus is really plugging their Monday night game featuring Pittsburgh against Washington. Both Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin will be mic'd, which is pretty cool, because since caller ID became pretty common, you just don't get that heavy breathing action a lot of us miss.