Further thoughts

Vladimir Mihalik got sent down to Tampa Bay's AHL affiliate after the teams return to the US. Why, I wonder. He had two good games in Prague and I belive he'll be back in the NHL within a foreseeable future. He has a good eye for the game and I reckon he'll do well this season. Perhaps I'm totally wrong here. But I really liked his way of playing in Prague.

It is nice to see that Markus Naslund has found his place in New York Rangers so fast. Two victories and two goals for him does count as a pretty good start to the season. Scott Gomez and Chris Drury do have some more tricks in their books than the Sedin brothers did. Speaking of those two, they've actually done pretty good during the pre-season with new-boy

Defenseman Kyle McLaren has been put on Waivers by the San Jose Sharks, thus possibly ending an era. The veteran could move to Worchester Sharks, San Jose's AHL affiliate, which would still keep him in the organisation but his salary ($2.5M) would not fall into the Sharks' total cap. I like McLaren and I hope he will be able to play most of the season this year. Last year, he was plagued by injury and only played in a few games. But with new guys Dan Boyle and Rob Blake, a place in the Sharks seems rather unrealistic for McLaren. A team in constant need of defensive improvement is the Phoenix Coyotes.

Speaking of Prague. The Champions Hockey League kicks off tonight. My "boys" are in Prague to watch Linkoping HC play away @ Slavia. There will be a fight on ice. Will there be one in the streets?

The real NHL premiere is on Friday night. See you around!