When I first read former Panthers coach Doug MacLean was part of the group buying the Tampa Lightning, my first thought was that the Bolts were out of Florida.
George Richards says they're staying put, though.
I was kind of surprised until I looked at Tampa's attendance figures. They're really good. Maybe the Panthers should leave Florida instead. Kansas City is still dying for a team.
Or maybe the Blues should leave St. Louis. At least they could stay in-state.

Just a few quick things, since I just got back from a week in Seattle (a great sports town that really should have an NHL franchise, especially with the Sonics about to leave. Plus, you have to love the location, right between California, the US mid-West, and Alberta/Vancouver):

• A bad week for other sports is always a good week for hockey, as this cartoon illustrates. The Times also had a hockeyish cartoon in the Sunday paper by illustrator/cartoonist Bob Eckstein, but it's not online.
• Also, Larry Brooks doesn't think it was that crazy for Edmonton to sign Dustin Penner away from Anaheim for $21.25 million over five years (plus first, second and third-round draft picks). Brooks sees it as Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe exercising a contractual right, which is true. I just don't see the need to overpay so dramatically over such a long period, for a pretty unproven talent. Edmonton needs bodies. But does anyone think there won't be teams who fall out of playoff contention who'll be unloading surer things for a much better price? What's another year out of the playoffs for Edmonton?
• Brian Boucher, the goalie who kind of randomly broke the NHL shutout record (332 minutes, 1 second over two weeks or so), is trying to break back into a regular NHL gig with an AHL contract.
• I finally read SEARCHING FOR BOBBY ORR, which sat on my shelf for longer than I care to admit. Acknowledging how lame it is to quote your own GoodReads review, I wasn't knocked out by it. It tried to put Orr's career in a social/cultural/economic context, but author Stephen Brunt never really brought the ideas home. Still, it's a decent enough read if you're an Orr fan (which I am).
Posted by Steven Ovadia on Monday, August 06, 2007, 06:05 AM