The Toronto Sun's Steve Simmons offers up his usual smorgasbord of Sunday observations, including an explanation as to what went wrong between himself and Brian Burke, but this paragraph's worth of thoughts stood out to me:

Question that wasn't asked after Carlyle admitted he was spotted in a Swiss Chalet in Parry Sound over the break: Did he order half-chicken or quarter-chicken? ... Not surprised that tickets for the outdoor game in Los Angeles between the Kings and Ducks aren't moving. Part of the charm of these over-hyped events is the back-to-roots element of the game. It's hardly back to roots when fans are wearing short-sleeved shirts at Dodger Stadium ... The Sunday assignment: Go through every NHL roster and make a list of defenceman you'd rather have than Phaneuf. It's not as easy you might think. I got to 15 and then started arguing with myself ... The new contract, when it's officially signed, will make Phaneuf the sixth-highest-paid defencemen in hockey, tied with Drew Doughty and Zdeno Chara. The top three paid defencemen in the NHL are Shea Weber, Ryan Suter and this year's Norris Trophy favourite, Duncan Keith ... Why Jamie Benn will be on Canada's Olympic team. His coach is Lindy Ruff. Ruff is one of Mike Babcock's assistants with Team Canada. All Ruff has to explain is what he sees every night with Benn

(Yes, Saturday's HBO's 24/7 episode basically revealed that Phaneuf and the Leafs have indeed agreed to a 7-year, $49 million contract extension)

You may most certainly read the rest; the Burke stuff really is fascinating.