Off Day Notes

It looks that Peters will be playing on Wednesday against the Blues. He has been playing on a line with Mair and Gaustad. This means that Kaleta is going to see the press box with Stafford. It also may seem that Jay McKee may not play on Wednesday. He was the seventh defenseman in Blues practice. Coach Andy Murray looks like he was trying to send a message to McKee but it will be interesting to see if he will play.

The Globe and Mail had a couple of articles today of note. First was a survey of hockey broadcasters and how they should change the game. The major consensus was to lower the number of regular season games about 10. Honestly, I enjoy the season dragging out through the winter. Lowering it 10 games probably would not change how the game is played.

Second was a review of Bettman's interview on TSN's Off the Record. In the interview Bettman noted that he is not currently looking into a second Toronto team because "all 30 clubs are in good financial shape" and expansion is out of the question. This is bullhonky but he does have to say it on television. When pressed about problems with teams like the Panthers, Predators, Thrashers, and Coyotes he said that improving their on-ice performance would help their financial picture. "When you look at teams that haven't been in the playoffs for five to 10 years, then those are the teams whose attendance suffers," Bettman said. If you look at the Predators, they have made the playoffs the last few years and still cannot seem to draw a crowd. The Predators have had good teams and still there isn't much of an interest. Therefore, if you put out a good product and it still fails then move the damn team.

Finally, the Toronto Sun came out with the shootout standings thus far in the season. The Sabres are 4th in the East when it comes to the shootout which is refreshing because this team was just so terrible in the skills competition last season. Here are the standings:

NY Rangers 2-1

New Jersey 2-1

Pittsburgh 2-1

Buffalo 2-2

Montreal 2-2

Atlanta 1-0

Washington 1-1

Tampa Bay 1-2

Toronto 1-3

Carolina 0-1

Florida 0-1

NY Islanders 0-1

Ottawa 0-1

Philadelphia 0-1

Boston 0-3