from Elliotte Friedman of CBC,

- I will be curious to see how hard Vancouver Canucks head coach John Tortorella pushes his best players in pre-season. Everybody knows the shot-blocking, grinding style he wants the Canucks to play. But will he wait to demand it at its hardest? Full-season, Olympics and, perhaps most importantly, a team with much harder travel than the Rangers. Does he relax a bit early?

- Is there a more polarizing free-agent-to-be than Dion Phaneuf? There is such a wide range of opinion. But here are the facts from last season: 48 points pro-rated over an 82-game schedule, while playing some of the NHL's toughest minutes in terms of opposition and zone starts. His invitation to Canada's Olympic orientation camp was on merit yet it would not be a surprise if some of those coaches and GMs -- who need defence -- wanted to get to know him.

- A few tweeters asked about when teams have to get down to the salary-cap limit. The answer is Sept. 30 and players can be put on long-term injury the next day. So if a club like the Philadephia Flyers sends a player like Sean Couturier to the minors, it's just a paper move (he is technically still on a two-way contract) until Chris Pronger can be put on the injured list.

more including some uniform and equipment rule talk...