Random thoughts

* Didn't have a whole lot of time to comment on the Klesla extension but to sum up my thoughts.. if he plays like he did in the playoffs last year the deal is a steal... if he doesn't then it has the potential to be a bit of an anchor. Another way to look at it and this is the same line of thinkin I had with Vermette - who could Howson sign at a similar rate for similar pay at a similar age this summer? Not a whole lot of options.

Also it is pretty cool at this day in age to have someone basically play out there entire career as a Jacket -- he and Nash are well on their way to being two of those guys here.

* I watched Leclaire alot on Center Ice tonight vs. Toronto and he looked good. Only problem I had is that every time he went down I was wondering if he was hurt or not!

* So now that Jim Balsillie has officially been eliminated from NHL ownership - where does that leave Dougie Mac? Is there yet another sucker out there willing to punch his ticket back into the NHL?

* Bare with me over the next couple of days as I work behind the scenes to transition this blog to a new home. Not to worry as you'll still be able to find me at lightthelamp.com.

* Brassard is off to a bit of a slow start. I don't figure that to last long.

* Hitch isn't the only one who benches young players in 3rd periods. Ottawa's young d-man Erik Karlsson hasn't sniffed the ice in the 3rd period for the Sens.

* I typically use CBSSports Game CenterCenter to follow all the game online - I love their interface. I just noticed that NHL.com now has their own version of GameCenter... I gave it a whirl but they still have some work to do. I do pull up the "event summary" for every game I follow though.

* Next up for the Jackets their first look at Manny Malhotra in a Sharks uni. Hopefully he lines up against the Nash line ;) It should also be our first look at Anton Stralman in a Jackets uni.

* Bank on Garon getting his first start in Phoenix. Would be pretty tough to resist giving Mase the pipes again against a powerful San Jose squad at the shark tank.

* What a great game between the Flyers and Caps tonight. Currently tied 5-5 with 2 mins left in OT. All the stars showing up on the stat sheet in this one.

Now to point you to a couple of "must reads" on the interwebs:

* Great must read here about the beauty of hockey and how it seperates from the other sports in this country. Thanks to Paul for calling that one out.

* Check out Bob McKenzie's article about the hit on Boll here. If you read the stoplight you read that I already thought the hit was a chicken sh** shot by a cheap shot player in Hordichuk. I have my doubts that Campbell will do any suspending. Thanks to Kevin for sending that one in.

* One more read for ya about horrible contracts in the NHL that Stephen points out. Check it out for some great comments on Howson.

Thanks as always everyone for the emails. If anyone has any pics they'd like me to post from opening night please shoot em over to light.the.lamp@hotmail.com.

-LTL