What a day!

Wow... even if today we'd been able to update this blog as things were happening, ~czechtacular and I would have had quite some work on our hands. (Donations to the Hab It Her Way Manicure Fund, which we don't dip into that often but a girl's gotta take care of herself sometimes, are heartily accepted.)

I guess days like this make up for those lazy summer days when there's no trade news, no gossip, and nothing hockey-related to look forward to.

So I guess we should get to today's business:

Mats Sundin announces retirement. Tells journalists he plans to use his free time growing hair.

And yes, if you're interested, we can start taking bets on when he'll un-retire and at what price.

His announcement was marked by a severe lack of nostalgia regarding the year he won the Stanley Cup.

(Which reminds me, I wish Patrice Brisebois all the best.)

Sergei Kostitsyn suspended and stuff. So he refused to be sent to Hamilton, and was so upset that he demanded a trade, and as a result the organization suspended him. Tsk.

Why, Sergei, why? We've seen his potential, and he could be much more important to the team than he is right now with the skills he has, but there's something that's holding him back from doing anything. I don't know exactly what it is (I doubt very many people do) and I'm probably better off not knowing, but I'm just disappointed that this is all happening.

I guess at this point we can only hope that whatever this problem is gets sorted out (whether it's a question of ego or an actual conflict) because honestly, what team would take a player who got himself in the news this preseason for being a diva? (... okay, maybe San Jose, but this Heatley business is a story best told by someone else at another time.)

All this to say that I want the old Sergei back. The fast, energetic, scrappy Sergei who helped the team win games.

Three players get A's. (And they didn't even have to study!)

From the press release:

"Montreal Canadiens’ Head Coach Jacques Martin 

announced today that defensemen

Andrei Markov, Hal Gill and forward Brian Gionta 

have been named assistants."

(I'd like to start by saying that as a perennial rookie, it's good to know that "assistant captain" is an acceptable term to use, and whoever told me that I had just made up another term for what should be called an "alternate captain" was wrong.)

All great choices. I think Jacques Martin could have expected to have some heavy objects thrown at him if Markov didn't have that A on his jersey. Gill is an experienced player, and he's coming off of a Stanley Cup win, and he just seems like the kind of guy that his teammates would have trouble hating, so he's a very logical choice. Gionta's shown us what he can do, and he's a great player, and I've heard he's a pretty good leader and he's come off as very personable in interviews so I'm sure that his teammates and game officials will like him.

(Dear Josh Gorges: I would probably have given you an A, but you'll be just fine without the extra responsibility.)

Lost at "C". We've got three assistants, but no captain yet.

I'm still not clear on whether this means that Markov, Gill, and Gionta are out of the running to become captain, but I guess we'll find out in due time.

Or will we? Didn't Jacques Martin promise to name a captain before the season started? I may have expressed my distaste for this idea, but I've got to be honest that I'm not happy he reneged

on his promise. He's only been coach for a few months and he's already going back on his word? For some reason that doesn't give me a very good feeling.

But the biggest (and best) news that I have to report to you?

There's less than 24 hours left. Yay!