June 23: Move done; draft preperation

I've moved into a new place after the last two days. It's cramped and cluttered (was before I moved in). A bit of an adjustment, but the hope is I will be employed somewhere soon so I can move again.

Hockey: Vancouver is picked up a new, full-time goaltending coach. Ian Clark, who was a major reason why Luongo signed long-term in Vancouver, is out and is being replaced by Roland Melasnson. The move is more for Cory Schneider than for Luongo, but after the last up-and-down season, the current Canucks captain could use a change in perspective.

Montreal has made the move to keep two contributors from last season. "Young" Matthieu Darche, who is 33, has finally earned a one-way contract. He'll be spending the next season on the 4th line, rare appearances on the 3rd, and healthy scratched then; or, he'll be picked up off waivers. Montreal has also resigned Tomas Plekanec. Sticking with his recently announced paradigm, Gauthier is signing veteran players to big contracts, which is going to leave little room for the free agent signings they are going to need for another playoff run. Remember, this year they don't have Halak, which means Montreal will have to do even more on the front-end defensive side of things to keep themselves in games.

Edmonton, still a reeling team from last season, has made a minor coaching change. No longer will Grizzly Quinn be leading the bench--he's been move to the front office! Tom Renney will take off as head coach now, clearing up any possible chance that the issues were derived from a "lack of coordinated effort by the coaches". Which is not the case and would not be the case in the future. Quinn and Renney were a think that that pushed ideas forward and did what they could. Edmonton lacked a lot of things last season, but good coaching wasn't one of them. I doubt this will be part of the answer. Consider how the Flyers played through the playoffs and compare that to Edmonton; Philly was a unit, always a coordinated group that trusted and relied on each other. Edmonton players didn't trust one and other, resulting in haphazard play and numerous turnovers per game. Until that team can trust they will not be able to grow. Taking Quinn out of the mix isn't going to solve the trust issue.

And, lastly for now, Scott Niedermayer has retired. He was a great player because he brought everything you wanted: smarts, skills, power, cheap tactics, and leadership. All things that help teams win in the NHL. Will Teemu retire as well? Who knows yet?