Bettman: "The league is healthy". Reality: "Not so much".

"The dark side of the Commissioner's Office is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural."

We're not going to delve into the mind-numbing details and theories behind expansion and contraction...again. But a new column by The Globe & Mail's Eric Duhatschek takes a close look at the current health of the league as told from those outside the commissioner's office.

"The Tampa Bay Lightning's new owners reportedly needed help from previous owner, Bill Davidson, to complete their purchase.

The Florida Panthers are papering the house with ticket promotions and giveaways: present a Florida driver's licence, get a free ticket.

The New Jersey Devils moved to a new facility in Newark two years ago, but it has not been a cure-all for their economic struggles either. At the moment, as one of 17 teams experiencing attendance downturns in the first quarter of the season, the club is fighting the city and contractors over who should pay utility bills - and it's hard to make ice without water and electricity.

Against this mounting evidence, amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, commissioner Gary Bettman recently reported a sunny forecast for the gate-driven National Hockey League, buffeted by increased attendance in October and brisk ticket sales in many markets.

Looking forward, the picture isn't so cheery."

A most interesting read, and for us locals it's stunning and rather positive in that the Panthers are not the focus of the piece. Lots of insight on the situation in Phoenix...kinda grim.

Quickies: End of Two - Cats up 2-0

Cory Stillman scores his first Panther home-ice goal, on the PP.

Notes: Cats keeping the momentum going with stronger posession play in each zone. Much more fluid and strategic. Isles continue to be frustrated, still taking penalties, hence the Stillman tally. Ballard remains in the running for "Best Bouwmeester Lookalike". Radek Dvorak has had more odd-man rushes than at any point in the last five years of his time in the league. Looks phenomenal, except for the not-scoring part. Still waits too long to shoot. Dubbing him "Dvolesz".
Play has been mostly confined to NY end. Superstar-to-be Kyle Okposo for the Isles has been strong and making his presence known with little support. DP settling down. Vokoun not tested this period. NY opens the third on the PP. Can't imagine where we might be without Bouwmeester. This cannot be over-emphasized.

Quickies: End of One - Cats up 1-0

Goal by Boynton, even strength, eeeeearly, off long rebound from crossbar. His second of the year (had 3 all last season!).

Notes: Panthers look much more poised than Thurday. Shots appear a bit more focused. DePietro shaky - lots of rebounds - in first start since March. Power play absolutely sucks (0-3). Vokoun awake. Better crowd than against Minny. No real physical stuff yet. Cats shooting. A lot. Not necessarily dead-on, but releasing. Ballard is the mini-Bouwmeester; all over the ice, slick moves on the PP, crisp passing. Hitting and board-work has increased over Thursday. Isles not without some pressure in Florida zone, couple of hairy moments. Can't get over Vokoun's tendency to rise slowly following a drop to the ice, even after a year of exposure. The primary word there is "exposure". Ballard and The Beach have obvious chemistry from three-plus years together. Jokinen trade not only supplied a good pair of D-men; it supplied a defensive line. Isles wwill start second on the PP.

AccuScore Prediction: Cats Over Isles 3-2

Sponsored by The Sporting News (which has significantly ramped-up the quantity and quality of their hockey coverage recently), AccuScore hosts in excess of 10,000 computer simulations of single NHL games before the real puck is dropped. Goals scored, player stats, everything we get all squirrely over after the final bell sounds. As expected, many factors are included in the final outcome. I personally enjoy the "Probably of a Fight" calculator.

Anyway, according to AccuScore, the Panthers will prevail 3-2. Check it out here.

For the record, this simulation correctly predicted the winner of the first three Florida games (L @ CAR, W vs. ATL, L vs. MIN). Hmm.

Nothing to See Here: Isles' Chris Lee Released from Hospital

Defenseman Chris Lee was cleared to return to New York today, following an overnight stay in a Broward hospital due to a hit from behind by the Cats' Rostislav Olesz.

Been unsuccessful in finding any video of the incident - cuz, you know, this is Florida - so your guess is as good as mine unless you were in the building. And if by chance you were one of the illustrious 8,800, send me a line and fill me in. Hard to believe - under any circumstance - that Rusty would go out of his way to hurt anything. Still in a holding pattern regarding whether or not a suspension is being considered.

Either way, kudos to Lee and bravo, kid. Good luck making the big club.

UPDATE: Thanks to Ken M. who was at the game and submits the following:

I was at the game and it definitely was not a dirty hit. Rusty got him mostly from the side, I think what led to the injury was that Rusty's momentum took him and Lee into the boards together and Rusty sort of fell on top of Lee awkwardly and he must have landed weird or gotten caught somewhere sensitive.

Cats Destroy Isles 6-0 to End Preseason 3-2-2; Stewart Turns Corner?

Cory Stillman only has eyes for Ricky D.

A game that featured six Panthers goals, a coming-out party for Anthony Stewart, and Rusty Olesz with an uncharacteristic boarding penalty and game misconduct, came and went in front of 8,800 at the BAC. Next stop: Raleigh.

Looks as if Stewart may have locked up that coveted final roster spot that was all but handed to Shawn Matthias, or to a lesser extent, Michael Frolik, at the start of camp. Outside of JM's office, no one gave Stewart the time of day going into the exhibition season. Including myself. Man, has he picked it up.

A pall over the evening featured Isles' defenseman Chris Lee, after the - unintentional - hit from behind by Olesz. Removed by stretcher, he was expected to have stayed the night under observation.

I can't say enough about Stewart. I love being proven wrong.

Game Night! Isles at Cats

Poor kid.

On the Glass - Sunday: Cats fall to Isles, Notes

It's still the preseason, right?

Good thing, too. Otherwise we, the Illustrious Twelve, might be looking a bit confused, as in "Is this 2005, 2006, or 2007 all over again?"

Fear not, loyalists. Just workin' out the kinks. Behold the third kink in a row, last night's neutral-site game against the Isles in PEI. A 4-2 loss. Not much good can be taken away from this one. Collectively, the Cats have netted 6 goals in the past three contests, while giving up 15. At least yesterday they were only down by two at the final buzzer. Craig Anderson took the loss. Oh well. Today holds game 6 of 6 straight. In Montreal. I don't know whether this Panther club is composed of heroes or fools. We'll see.

Anyway, for a local gander at the loss, The Guardian provides a bit of insight.

"The first-ever NHL pre-season game on Prince Edward Island attracted 3,129 fans to the 3,500-seat Credit Union Place."

Back in South Florida, The Miami Herald looks at Bryan McCabe's whirlwind first few weeks with the Cats.

"McCabe said one of the reasons he wanted to play for the Panthers was that he liked what he saw in the Panthers' young core. Nathan Horton, Stephen Weiss and Rostislav Olesz are locked in long-term, and McCabe has talked about Florida finally making that next step and getting into the playoffs."

The Palm Beach Post has crickets.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel offers up an interesting article covering not only the game, but the welcoming party which came before it.

"We got off our flight [Friday], spent over nine hours traveling here and to have people show up like that is exciting," (Gregory) Campbell said. "For us to have a warm welcome like that after a long day is pretty special."

As for the game itself:

"Three Islanders goals were on the power play, including two on 5-on-3s. New York outshot the Panthers 29-20."

Not so welcoming. Is it discipline, or a lack thereof? How many years have we watched this club take bad penalties? Granted, some nights it's injuries. On others it's the officials. Still others display a lack of skill or competition with the rival team. A bad omen, especially against a - sorry, Isles fans - beatable New York squad. C'mon Pete...get 'em into game shape. Year after year we hear the blather about getting off to a quick, successful start. And every year it fizzles. Cut the kids, assemble an NHL lineup tonight against the Habs and rock their world.

Awesome Picture of the Day

"I got yer fifteen years right here, Ricky..."

Kamil undresses DiPietro at The Bank, March 12th, 2008.

Because it never gets old...

...thanks, Craig!