Went the Braves game today; I still do not know how Terry Pendleton still has his job. Braves are like Billy Ray Cyrus-both 1 hit wonders.

Nice breakdown Brendan-you know more that than some of the guys in the business that are paid to know.

Thanks for the scoop on Charter, Sara.

Bear in mind, rosters aren’t set. Things could change. What if Ottawa does move Heatley for a good return? What if the Thrashers do add Zherdev? Or trade for a defenseman? These rankings should come out in October.

Here’s how I see the Top 16 teams. #16 Buffalo, #15 Columbus, #14, NY Rangers, #13 Montreal, #12 St. Louis, #11 Philadelphia, #10 Calgary, #09 New Jersey, #08 Vancouver, #07 Chicago, #06 Washington, #05 Carolina, #04 Boston, #03 San Jose, #02 Detroit, and #01 Pittsburgh.

The bubble race is going to be great in both Conference this year. Look at the West for position #8. Edmonton, Los Angeles, Nashville, Anaheim, and Columbus could all well be duking it out for those 7th and 8th seeds. In the East, it should be quite a battle between Buffalo, the NY Rangers, Atlanta, Montreal and Florida for the 7th and 8th spots. Do the Rangers have just enough, with Tortorella behind the bench, to make it to the playoffs for the fifth (5th) straight year? Before the lockout, the Rangers missed the playoffs for seven straight years. Could Buffalo, with healthy players, and assuming they do re-sign Drew Stafford, make it back? They got tougher when they reacquired Mike Grier as a grinder. Montreal’s offseason smacked of “desperation.” With all those new faces gel? Will Bob Gainey survive the year as GM? They spent a lot of money … and they expect BIG results. Two years ago, they were the #1 seed. Last year, the Habs barely qualified for the playoffs at #8, and got swept by one of their arch rivals, the Boston Bruins. Gainey has to be feeling the heat. What about the Florida Panthers, sans Bouwmeester? They just barely missed the playoffs, on a tie-breaker with Montreal. Will they move into the playoff field, or slip back to their more traditional spot outside of the playoffs? How much BETTER is Tampa Bay? We’ll just have to wait and see.

In the West, I’m very interested in the race between Calgary and Vancouver. Calgary has a new Coach. Vancouver’s GM, Mike Gillis, replaced David Nonis for the purposes of advancing the Canucks into the CF. In Game Six, in Chicago, the Canucks gave up seven (7) goals in a game in which their very existence was on the line. That’s too many goals in an essential game. They lost. Chicago moved on to face Detroit in CF. The Flames have Bouwmeester this year. Will that be the difference? Minnesota has a new GM and new Coach. I applaud their gumption in moving their franchise forward. I wish the Wild every success, as one of my two adopted Western Conference teams this year. The other, is the Los Angeles Kings. Call me crazy, but I think Kings have a shot at that #8 seed. There’s a fantastic young corps of players. Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson, Anze Kopitar, Brown, Frolov, Bernier in net, potentially. Maybe even young Brayden Schenn?? Who knows? The Kings have paid their dues, with a slow build. I hope they make it in. For once, the Kings might be BUYERS at the trade deadline. Imagine that!

Yeah, total BS… there’s no way Toronto is better than Tampa and Atlanta in my book. How can a completely retooled Leafs team, with no scoring threat and questionable goaltending be ranked higher than Atlanta and Tampa?

… Canadian bias, that’s how.

Looks like Comcast and Versus are in a pissing match. I hope that they get it figured out by the playoffs. Otherwise thank God for Center Ice!