Dee Lux DX7's World of Hockey

Whaa...? Don't tell me Benning has been extended? That's a death sentence. I never planned to move away from following the team, but just find myself with better things to do than watch their games. They aren't exciting, emotional, or ballsy...they aren't sore losers, The Sedins want to keep their parking spots at the country club, the people running this thing think that what we want is "THE PLAYOFFS" and is willing to sign every Vanek and Del Zotto down-and-outer every summer in a misguided attempt to do it. They don't get it, it's not "THE PLAYOFFS" fans want, Hockey is cyclical, one era ends, you go down you come up, a new era with hungry new payers with new personalities come up. THOSE guys take their shot, That whole ride is part of enjoying the story of following an NHL franchise, it's no different than a movie, you need act 1 act 2 and act 3 sometimes (all the time with this team) the story ends up a trage...

Ahh, summer! It's not all bad for the hockey fan..the sun is shining, the sky is blue the Parrots are chirping.........wha?.... Yes Parrots, y'know, the ones who pick up on whatever issue the media feeds them along with one of two sanctioned opinions? Then they act out the same argument they saw on TV in bars and beaches the world over. Take "Tanking" for instance, Listening to Vancouver Canuck fans it would almost seem as if they think they are having a totally fresh and original conversation and not reading off the script assigned to them by whatever sports talk show they heard it first on. The arguments become so emotional one occasionally feels like tapping one of the combatants on the shoulder and reminding them: This is the entertainment biz.....period, If some are more entertained by watching the intricacies, intrigue and "what goes down must come up" realities of building a team who might conceivably win a championship, who are you to tell...

The #1 most crucial step in a rebuild is removing the cornerstone players of the old core. While they are still in place team culture, attitude and identity remain the same getting progressively more stale by the year until it becomes bull blown rot. The old leaders most be moved out so the young guys coming up can grab those leadership spots and re-make the team in their own image. Look at Calgary, they stubbornly refused to move out Iginla, who is as important to them as Trevor is to us, the moment they surrendered and moved him things started to go right for that team, new leaders popped up out of nowhere and the team became exciting vibrant and fun to follow. This year or last should have been the season the Sedins moved on to Washington or Montreal or even FLA or NAS to go get their cup. and the year Horvat and other top picks made this team their own,  Burrows and Hanson could remain to make sure the kids stay on track. But.....  there is a big ...

Remember last season? The one before maybe? I doubt it.  Psychiatrists say that extream boredom over a prolonged period can cause long term memory loss and actual brain damage if the mind isn't positively engaged at some point. In light of that, just concentrate on getting those mashed peas into your mouth, I'll assume the answer is "Nyaha..." No biggie, there really isn't much worth remembering, if you followed the Cancuks recently you have probably considered calling up the front office and demanding to be put on the payroll, because you can see no other logical reason to subject yourself to this drudgery. In fact, I'm willing to guess that if you remember much of anything it's not the stuff on the ice that caught your eye, more likely it was the noise from the stands that remains tattooed on your poor gray matter. "Tanking is for losers!" "Baertschi is going to break out for 30!" "Erickson is just what the twins need!...