So remember that short leash in Dallas I mentioned? I thought it was on coach Dave Tippett but apparently it was on GM Doug Armstrong. Armstrong was fired yesterday, with Brett Hull and Les Jackson named co-GMs. I'm not sure how that'll work. Who's going to break ties between the two GMs? Are their desks across from each other? What if they both trade the same player? I'm kind of wondering if Hull will start next season coaching the Stars.
Also, Sports Illustrated recently had an interesting interview with Dennis Miller. I saw a ton of promos for his new show on Versus, a lot of them with semi-forced hockey jokes. I watched the first episode and once he relaxed, it had some nice moments. The SI interview is pretty good and Miller does have some funny hockey bits. The show (SPORTS UNFILTERED — no link because the site has a lot of annoying audio) has potential, especially if Miller gets out of the rigid structure that's defined his last three shows. Does he really still need the faux WEEKEND UPDATE thing now? It's been 16 years. Does he still need the one major "rant"? Is it not enough to just tell some jokes without a closer? Or to finish the monologue without changing the lighting?
Speaking of cable, did anyone know HBO used to show hockey?

This is interesting. The Dallas Stars are 6-1-3 when leading after two periods. It's interesting because Dallas basically stood pat at the end of last season, so while they didn't get better, they shouldn't have gotten worse.
Mike Heika says that while coach Dave Tippett is on a long leash, it's still a leash.
Also, did anyone else know Todd Bertuzzi's uncle was the arbiter who settled the Eric-Lindros-traded-to-two-teams thing in 1991? Apparently Uncle Bert is some kind of power forward magnet.
Finally, my fantasy hockey column is up on RotoRob.