I have to admit that I love when fired coaches and traded players dish on what was really going on behind the scenes in the club.
Former Lightning coach John Tortorella is the latest to dish (thanks to Damian Cristodero transcribing an Ottawa radio interview). There's a lot of semi-cheap shots, like Vinny Lecavalier being a fantastic NHL player, unless he's not coached in a certain way (I liked this one best because it's a shot at Lecavalier and at new coach Barry Melrose). Tortorella also wonders aloud if goalie Mike Smith is truly a number one goalie, which isn't a fair question, since Smith has been fine, both in Tampa and in Dallas, his previous stop. But beneath the petty carping, there's a great story about Dan Boyle:

I knew [ownership was going to trade Boyle]...during the trading deadline where myself, Jay Feaster and all the administration of that team were locked in the room with owners that were still in the process of trying to buy the team. It turned ugly in there because of some of the thoughts they had, and they still hadn't even dropped a penny on the club. I sat across from Lennie Barrie and Lennie Barrie started talking to me about Dan Boyle when he played with him seven, eight years ago in Florida, which makes no sense to me because I think after seven or eight years a guy may mature and improve his game. I begged them to sign Danny Boyle.

I'm not a huge Boyle fan, but I did find it strange the Lightning would sign him longterm and then trade him. It seemed like a waste of everyone's time. While I'm sure salary was a factor, it seems the big issue was how the new Tampa ownership remembered Boyle. So apparently my mom was right: first impressions really do count a lot.
Also, over in Philly, Simon Gagne is getting ready to come back to the Flyers, who missed most of last season with concussion symptoms. If Gagne's post concussion symptoms are truly gone, he kind of cured himself. Gagne saw a news report about an old-but-rare headache treatment and wound up contacting the doctor to help with his headaches. And given Philadelphia's track record with concussions, I think it was pretty smart of Gagne to look outside of the organization.

Yesterday's Times had had a KHL preview. True, it was their hockey blog and not the print edition, but you can't help but wonder if all of this interest KHL will eventually lead to some kind of TV package. I would love for the NHL to take a leadership role in this, maybe showing games on the NHL Network. And how great would an NHL/KHL All-Star game be? And for something like that, the NHL wouldn't even care when a talented player left the league, since the player would probably return for the All-Star game, which would have to rate higher than the current All-Star game.
Speaking of NHL All-Stars, Ed Moran says Eric Lindros should be at the Philadelphia Spectrum farewell game (the Spectrum is being demolished). Moran acknowledges Lidros' tortured history with the Flyers but says Lindros needs to be the bigger person. I wish Moran had said that instead of Lindros forgiving the Flyers, the Flyers need to formally or informally apologize to Lindros for basically torturing him during his final years as a Flyer. It's not like he chose to be concussion-prone.
Also, I totally don't remember goalie Ty Conklin signing a one-year, $750,000 deal to be the backup goalie in Detroit, but apparently he did.
Who's his agent? How could he not turn last season's work for Pittsburgh into a better deal?
Of course, last year Detroit's backup goalie, Chris Osgood, wound up winning the starting job and then the Stanley Cup, so maybe Conklin is hoping lightning will strike twice.
Also, Darren McCarty will be back in Detroit next season, on another two-way contract. I don't feel like it's truly a Detroit team unless McCarty is around somewhere.

I knew Freddy Modin spent a lot of time injured last season, but I had no idea how bad it was: "[Modin] played in only 23 games, never in uniform for more than eight in a row while suffering a back injury, a torn hamstring and groin pulls and a concussion."
I guess it's a source of pride that he still managed to get in more work than Carl Pavano.
Blue Jacket coach Ken Hitchcock says getting back a healthy Modin is like getting a brand new player. Modin is expected to play on the Columbus second line with rookie Derrick Brassard.
Also, if you're looking for a pickup hockey game, someone just emailed me some information about www.pickuphockeyfinder.com. Right now, it seems to only work for Minneapolis/St. Paul, but it sounds like there are plans to expand it. I hear the Wild are going to use it to draft players.

It probably goes without saying given how long it took him to decide, but Joe Sakic had a hard time figuring out if he wanted to come back for another NHL season. He told Terry Frei the big issue for him was his hernia injury, which kept him out almost half of last season.
I'm not sure if Sakic did a pro/con list or if he brainstormed but however he came to a decision, he might want to share his process with Teemu Selanne, who's been in talks with the Ducks but still hasn't told the team about his plans for next season.
Maybe it's just the time of the year, but I'm kind of ready for team conventions where fans vote on which players they want to re-sign and which players they want to retire. In fact, given that the Democratic National Convention is in Denver, I'm wondering if some kind of shadow delegation voted Sakic back to the Avs.
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There's a very famous Yiddish joke that features people at a wedding complaining about the food and then finishing up with "And the portions? They're too small." With that in mind, FSN and Sun will only show 65 Florida Panther games this season.
Also, it seems the Minnesota Wild are looking for a mascot. Given their team name, I'm guessing it will be some kind of rabid or feral animal. Maybe fans can "shoot" the mascot out of its misery between periods. Kind of like in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.

Joe Sakic re-signed with the Avs yesterday. He actually took a tiny pay cut from last season's salary, something which kind of got lost in everyone's shock over Sakic finally deciding what he wanted to do next season.
I guess you can cross Colorado off of Mats Sundin's list of teams to play for, although Colorado is still under the cap.
I'm very curious how Sakic's indecision will be seen in the Colorado locker room. Will they see it as a sign he's not 100% committed to playing in the NHL? Or will they see it as an NHL All-Star making sure he's 100% committed to coming back before signing a contract? The cycle of playing life for a bona fide NHL star like Sakic can be challenging to navigate. It's Great Player --> Amazing Player --> Legend --> Weird Old Guy. I'm guessing Sakic doesn't want to his the end of that cycle, although the last two stops certainly aren't mutually exclusive.
In other Sundin Quagmire news, Michael Russo reports Mark Parrish is waiting for an offer from the Canucks while the Canucks wait for an answer from Sundin.
Kevin Allen has a nice look at other players trapped in the Sundin Quagmire.
Finally, Jean Lefebvre weighed in on the media obligation to always ask Todd Bertuzzi about his brutal attack on Steve Moore. Lefebvre said it can't be ignored at the start of Bertuzzi's Flame residency but can be tabled once the season starts and his on-ice performance is more of an issue. Apparently, some Calgary fans didn't like the media spending so much time on Bertuzzi's past. It's such an odd coincidence that fans only care about Bertuzzi's attack until he puts on their team's sweater. Then, suddenly, it's old news.

I don't know why the Flames waited so long to unveil their free-agent signings. Maybe they wanted to make a big summer splash? Anyway, they unveiled the newest Flames Tuesday. Nothing crazy was announced. Todd Bertuzzi said he's looking forward to getting his career back on track.
Meanwhile, down in Anaheim, Brendan Morrison, Bertuzzi's former Vancouver center, is preparing to come back from ACL surgery. It sounds like the Ducks want Morrison on the top line, which seems like a tall order for a guy coming off of that kind of surgery.
Finally, I'm not sure how big a deal MIKE AND THE MAD DOG were outside of New York City, but here in the city, when Chris Russo left the radio show, it was kind of a big deal. Bill Simmons interviewed Russo about his move to Sirius XM. Russo credited the 1994 Rangers Stanley Cup run (as well as the Knicks run to the finals that same year) with helping to cement their show in the minds of New Yorkers. It was nice to hear hockey get some sports talk radio respect. I'm hoping Russo's new channel will have at least some hockey talk but I'm not holding my breath.