As the A2Y social committee makes preparations for what we’re sure will be a party like none ever held on Guam before, I’ve had some thoughts while “working” in Hawaii.

In no particular order and regarding subjects that could very well be outdated:

Uncle Mike is not being honest with you. It’s an institutional problem, one that we admittedly dig.

Deep Digger: Kulfan

“The best people will be on the team,” Babcock said. “The best players play here.”

OMG. We got you this time you conniving bastard. You, Mike, are a lying liar. That is a lie and it’s a dirty one.

Yes, I know. “Abundance of riches.” It’s a “good problem to have.” My lips, “they’re so cold.” We’ve heard them. But, “The best people will be on the team”?

No they won’t. Yabbadabafuturecaptaindoobiedoo won’t be there. Nor will Darren Helm. Ville Leino, who I shouldn’t even mention because I haven’t seen a single clip of him wearing something red and white that wasn’t obscured by Finnish Viagra ads, won’t be there. Jonathon Ericsson won’t and neither will Daniel Larsson or Jimmy Howard. Derek Meetch won’t be there either.

They’ll be in Grand Rapids, filling out a roster that—and I’m not kidding bitches—should be able to beat at least ten NHL teams. Dude. At times I’ve wished I lived in Grand Rapids. I understand Kettering was a fun place to go to high school. But I’ve never aggressively sought orders to that traditional Navy town until right now. Those of you fortunate enough to live there, or close by? What a hockey team they’re going to ice and we didn’t even mention Mursak, Emmerton, Kindl or A2Y favorite, Hat Trick Dick. (Note: Thanks to Pharazon for pointing out that HTD won’t be in GR this year. Headed back to Sweden for more seasoning and more tricks.)

Meanwhile? Back in Detroit? The “best” players will include Kirk Maltby, Darren McCarty (or Aaron Downey), Andres Lilja. Oh yes, Khan(!) literally wrote this today.

When asked about the inevitable trade of a defenseman, our Deep Digger captain drank the koolaid.

It won’t be Andreas Lilja, if Babcock has any say.

“We got some huge decisions on the back end,” Babcock said. “I thought Lils was real good tonight. Lils for me is a real solid, NHL five-six guy (fifth or sixth defenseman), big body, good penalty-killer, real important part of our team. So when you go through everything, the math doesn’t work out. We got five more (exhibition games) to figure it all out.”

I’m not sure if Ansar read that off the “Lilja for sale” ad Tick Tock Kenny Holland’s placed on Ebay or if Uncle Mike actually said it.

I love this line: “So when you go through everything, the math doesn’t work out.” Which math? What heavy-duty calculus are we talking about? The math that tells me Ericsson’s better? Or is it the salary cap math that says Lilja’s making 1.25? Here’s my math: Lilja’s been on the block for about 93 days.

October 9th? I think I’ll still be in Guam, where Little Gary plans to hold next year’s “Winter Classic.” Oh hey. Seen any ticket info on this year’s yet? Where are all the whiners who said back in July that I was bashing our buddy Bettman unnecessarily? Right. Got it.

Anyway, I’ll be in Guam for the season opener. For at least five or six minutes I’ll bet two other guys will wish they were there too. Hossa and Conklin. Man, what fun they’ll have watching that banner raised. Talk about an “awkward moment.” The last time they would have heard a Detroit crowd that raucus would have been with about 34.7 seconds left the last time they played a meaningful game in Detroit. Dammit. Yeah, they might be smiling a bit.

Nope. Still haven’t gotten over that, in case you’re wondering.

Sobbing Dive Apologist Terri Frei has written a hockey-centric Paul Newman obituary. And because he’s a Denver chablis sipper at heart, he couldn’t resist throwing a jab at the “transplants.”

Hockey fans tend to be proprietary about their sport, acting as if nobody should be allowed in the arenas who can’t name all three members of the Red Wings’ famed “Production Line” — or at least be able to explain why you shouldn’t get excited when a home-team winger takes a pass after crossing the blue line eight feet ahead of the puck.

Yep. We’re proprietary Terri. We kinda like our traditions. Be sure and tune in to Versus! on 9 October when the Wings continue one of theirs. You’ve seen a similar event in Denver…like the night you raised a piece of cloth to the rafters at the Ass Can or whatever they called it back then. Naturally, that was a jersey of a player who’d spent less than 1.5 seasons there, but whatever.

One more little ditty from the girls in Denver. By now you know who’s thinking comeback. And you’ve assumed there’s only one team stupid enough to give him a shot. Well, it looks like you might be right.

Dater

I got Claude on the phone and he’s pumped about this. “I know I can do it,” he said.
There should be a full story on denverpost.com any minute with more of his quotes. He very much would love to play for the Avs again, but we haven’t talked to anybody from the management yet. I’m sure Pierre Lacroix could be talked into giving him a shot, at least in Lake Erie. We’ll see.

Please. Please, please make it so.

Dammit. That seemed like such a good note to end on, until I read this. Puck Daddy did a good interview with the Emperor about the site re-design. A few comments have filtered in. First was Bubba blogger Paul Nicholson. Not a fan.

“Was there any concern about opinion pieces gumming up the works”

Have you ever *read* A2Y? Its the most opinionated, juvenile stuff i’ve read.

Exactly. Welcome to the sidebar Paul.