Random thoughts and more!

* Where art thou blue men? I know there is a group of fans out there somewhere that can make this happen next season.

* Will 61 be the first retired number to hang in the rafters of Nationwide Arena? With another 9 years under contract you can take that one to the bank.

* No word yet on when single game tickets go on sale.

UPDATE: Single game tickets go on sale Friday, Aug 21st
UPDATEX2: Apparenlty that is only for pre-season games.

* Will the in game presentation make improvements this season? I can only hope they ditch the steady stream of atmosphere killing Will Ferrell videos and corny skits.

More replays including questionable calls. More rock and roll. More cannon. More focus on why we are there -- the hockey game.

* Will the team go with a new entrance song? My guess is yes.

* Nice to see so many season ticket holders reading this site. Well over half of you who voted are either full or partial season ticket holders.

* Ladies you may want to avoid this one but fellas enjoy some good looking women in CBJ gear... I should say in only CBJ gear... courtesy of 971 fan girls.

* RDS is reporting that Nik Zherdev has signed with Yulaev Salavat Ufa in the KHL. I doubt many are surprised by this news. That trade just keeps lookin better and better for Howson.

* Check out Hockey's Future Calder Trophy candidates for the 2009-2010 season. Nikita Filatov makes their list. Check out this line:

Forwards Nikita Filatov, Cody Hodgson, and Ville Leino are all penciled in to start the 2009-10 season in the NHL on teams projected to make the playoffs.

* THN ranks the Jackets jerseys #23 out of 30. I mean seriously.... that Vancouver mess over the Jackets? I'm not big on the piping in Atlanta, Edmonton, Calgary or St. Louis either which are all also ranked above the Jackets.

I really disliked the Jackets old logo -- way to busy -- but love their new look. Homer or not my top 5 would be:

1. Hawks
2. Caps (those reds are sweet)
3. Bruins
4. Canadiens
5. Jackets

You know what they say though... opinions are like..ummm...belly buttons?, everbody's got one. Hey.. tryin to keep it PG here.

* USAToday wants you to vote on your team's offseason. Kevin Allen has them trending even. You can vote on the Jackets here.

* Lindsay Kramer who covers the Syracuse Crunch says we could see more of this next season:



Amazing how Mirasty can hang right in there against a man so much bigger in Sugar Sugden. Dude has balls of solid rock.

* Looks like some serious back tracking from the cabbie who accused Patrick Kane of assaulting him.

"There was a dispute over the fee and it just kind of escalated from there," LoTempio told the station. "It was not really a robbery. That is probably a large distortion of what happened."

Asked if the case would end up as a felony, he said: "Absolutely not."

"I think we should be able to work things out," he added.

The latest report out of the Buffalo News that the cabbie also has a suspended license and two DUI convictions.

I'm not at all surprised. This whole thing just didn't pass the sniff test from the get go. Dude was probably a Wings fan.

* Great article on Jeremy Roenick the video game god which can be found here.

In an era of virtual legends -- preceded by Vince Coleman from "RBI Baseball" and Philadelphia QB #12 from "Madden '92;" succeeded by Pavel Bure from "NHL '95" and Michael Vick from "Madden 2005" -- Roenick reigned supreme. No pixilated player -- not even Bo -- has been responsible for more dorm-room and frat-house money changing hands. He was, in short, the 16-bit answer to suspense writer Peter Benchley's Architeuthis. The beast. Roenick could not be stopped, couldn't be contained; the only real way to slow him down was to turn offsides and penalties "ON." But who wants to play like that?

Thanks to BHG for sending that one in.

* Thanks to Cathy for providing these key foundation dates for next season:

Oct 17th - Hats for Heroes night
Nov 15th - Hockey Fest

* Cathy also points out that some player numbers have been settled on:

#26 - Pahlsson
#32 - Garon
#12 - Blunden
#29 - Holden
#36 - Roy

You can find all of the numbers here.

-LTL