Ryan Miller seems to be the beneficiary of Sidney Crosby’s media shyness.
Crosby’s agent has now said Crosby didn’t do Letterman after the Olympics because his schedule was too tight.
I’m not sure if Team Crosby turned down any other high-profile gigs, but it’s hard not to notice Miller is now everywhere and Crosby isn’t.
Miller did the [...]

Coach Lindy Ruff is trying to stop the slide of the recently slumping Sabres.
The Sabres are stuck in a four-game losing streak. The surging Senators are nipping at Buffalo’s heels for the Northeast lead.
It’s a pretty complete reversal of fortunes as Buffalo is 2-7-1 in their last 10, while Ottawa is 9-1-0.
Coach Lindy Ruff ran [...]

Over the break I read BALL FOUR, Jim Bouton’s famous tale of his 1969 season pitching for the Seattle Pilots and the Houston Astros.
The book is famous because it was the first one to destroy the mystique of the professional athlete. We learned guys like to drink and curse and look at women.
The book is [...]

Last night was kind of interesting. There were 10 games played, with four shutouts.
Goalies Steve Mason (CBJ), Ryan Miller (BUF), Ty Conklin (backup; STL), and Nik Backstrom (MIN) each kept the red light off behind them.
So is this a sign defense is back in the NHL? Is the NHL reverting to its pre-lockout lockdown defensive [...]

How do you know the NHL season has started? People in Dallas start calling for Marty Turco’s head. Mike Heika has an interesting take: The Stars have decent goalie depth within their system and a plan to move everyone along, so they might as well stick to the plan. Plus, Heika points out, Turco is [...]

It’s corn Friday. Sorry!

Buccigross’ ‘Heatley will be a Shark’ call is just a big misunderstanding: he’s talking about an upcoming Ottawa production of WESTSIDE STORY. Also, don’t miss Jason Spezza as Maria.
The Sabres released photos of the commemorative bricks from the Aud, which they’ll be selling. So the Sabres will hold onto bricks from demolished [...]

I’m shocked the Blues are going to waive defenseman Jay McKee. Mostly, because he was so injured during his time in St. Louis, he usually wasn’t much of a factor for the team. I thought they’d want to get some return on their investment during the last year of his contract. The Blues are capped [...]

I love Joe Nieuwendyk taking over as GM in Dallas.
First of all, just the move to a single GM model is pretty huge for the Stars. That alone makes this a great move. But you also have to love Nieuwendyk’s pedigree. He’s a player who knows how to win. Not only did he win the [...]

Tim Panaccio says the Sedin twins are supposedly looking for $7 million each per season.
I don’t begrudge anyone their money, but what team can afford $14 million for two players?
Someone needs to explain the salary cap system to the twins. Unless they’re no longer that into playing with each other. Maybe that’s the whole point [...]

This year’s trade deadline was basically fantasy hockey. Not a lot of big names moved. It was a lot of second-tier players. The kind you spend a lot of time moving on a fantasy team.
Adrian Dater called it Tuesday: GMs are scared to death of the probability of a shrunken future cap.
Pretty much everyone GM’d [...]