Like Dale Tallon gets whacked in Chicago, and Martin Havlat jumps on Twitter to drop some cryptic messages:

I guess everyone saw what happened to Dale….yes, the story is starting to come out but it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

What are we even supposed to do with that? Is Havlat confusing Twitter and LiveJournal?

It’s cool that Havlat is so accessible, but some of his work needs to be edited:

As I said before, I didn’t leave Chicago, it left me.

If you substitute Chicago for New Jersey, you have the shell of a really great Bruce Springsteen parody.

My favorite Havlat Tweet from yesterday was this one. Mrs. PuckUpdate and I are re-watching THE X-FILES, so I like to pretend David Duchovny is saying it:

Lot’s of people are telling me to stay quiet but shouldn’t the fans know the truth? It’s your loyalty, season ticket money and emotions here

I’m totally getting Havlat this poster for his birthday:

As weird as all of those Tweets were, though, I truly did enjoy watching an athlete get so candid in such a public way. While I’m making fun of said candor, there’s actually something very sweet and innocent about Havlat, and I’m not sure I would have seen that side of him without Twitter.

I wish Sergei Zubov was on Twitter. Then maybe we could get some insight into where he’s heading.

First, it sounded like he’s out of Dallas and now it seems like the Stars are open to keeping him, assuming he’s healthy. Zubov’s last season was rough, but he’s a smart player, so while he does need a baseline level of fitness, he can really get away with playing at like 75%, just by knowing exactly when and where he can cheat. If the Stars can get him to re-sign for a decent price, I don’t know why they’d even consider letting him leave for nothing. Even if he spends half the season injured again, you can still put him to work mentoring your younger defensemen. There just aren’t a lot of offensive defensemen like Zubov kicking around the league. The Stars should do what they can to keep him around. He can’t leave Dallas and Dallas can’t leave him. The truth is in him.

In fact, the whole restructuring of the Devils seems to indicate a longer range plan that might not include Lemaire.

Devils hero John MacLean, perennially passed over for the head coaching job despite being an assistant coach in an organization that pretty much changes coaches once a season, will be the head coach of the Devils AHL affiliate in Lowell. Scott Stevens will also have a larger role in the Devils organization. My theory is both are being groomed as future coaches. Last man standing will inherit Lemaire’s job. But it seems like MacLean’s job to lose. And if he doesn’t replace Lemaire, he’ll replace the next Devils coach. Or the one after that one. Eventually, MacLean will coach the Devils, though. Lamoriello is running out of people to fire and then re-hire as coach.

Lemaire spent his first day on the job playing down his trap leanings, but I don’t recall seeing any kind of attacking schemes in Minnesota. It seems that Lemaire knows New Jersey saw some success last season under former coach Brent Sutter’s more aggressive, forechecking style. Lemaire might be under pressure to repeat that success with a similar attack. And if it doesn’t work out, Lamoriello has two solid coaching candidates already under contract.

I feel bad for Lemaire. It seems like he’s being brought in to coach a style that he might not be entirely fluent with. It almost feels like he’s being set-up to fail so that John MacLean can finally get his moment in the sun. Lemaire surely knows the risks. No one ever gets a job coaching the Devils and then buys a house. Usually, you’re looking for a week-to-week lease.

A lot of people don’t know that in addition to hockey blogging, I’m also a prolific children’s book author. I’ve written over 800 children’s books, and while I’ve yet to sell one, I have a very good feeling about my latest, which I’m happy to be able to share here.

Four Brothers

I love my brother. I cannot picture skating without him.

I love my brother!

Once, I thought we would have to play in different cities and skate with different people, but then we didn’t.

We were so happy!

We'll never be apart!

Me!

I love my brother. I do not want to take with him, though.

My brother! :-(

It just does not feel like a good idea.

I do want to play with my friend, though.

My buddy!

Sometimes brothers want to play with each other and sometimes they don’t. My old mommy says blood is thicker than water. My new mommy says ice time is the increment in which we measure love. I don’t know what those things mean. Maybe when I’m older!

Wonder goalie Jonas Gustavsson signed with the Maple Leafs, leaving the Dallas Stars scrambling to find a “backup” for Marty Turco who can step in and start when Turco inevitably flounders. Again. Not that Turco is going to go quietly into the night. He wants to play less to get more quality starts. He’s also going to try and work more closely with goalie coach Andy Moog.

I don’t think Gustavsson is the magic bullet everyone thinks he is and I think he’s going to be the latest in a long line of Maple Leaf goalie flops. But I do feel bad for the Dallas fans who were really looking for the anti-Turco. But looking at Mike Heika’s free agent goalie roundup, I only see three solid goalies off the table (Craig Anderson, Scott Clemmensen, and Nikolai Khabibulin). Dallas can still fix their goalie woes, if new GM Joe Nieuwendyk is ready to throw starter money at a goalie who is going to start the season as a “backup” and most likely finish as the number one.

Also, Joe Sakic announced his retirement, causing tears around the Avs community. Sakic was an incredible player. I wish he could have ended things on his own terms. His last two seasons were rough, but before that, he finished with a 100 point campaign. It’s too bad he couldn’t finish his career with that kind of season. Although, I suspect if he thought he could be the least bit helpful to Colorado, he would have signed on for another tour of duty.

It’s pretty interesting to look at Sakic’s career and leadership and juxtapose that with Dany Heatley’s. Sakic let his on-ice behavior speak for him. I felt like I knew Sakic just from watching how he handled himself on the ice. Never angry, but always aggressive. Willing to share the puck but not scared to shoot. The man was almost like the personification of balance. Meanwhile, Heatley is practically auditioning spin doctors to find a way out of Ottawa. I hope he gets a chance to watch some video of Sakic this week. I think it might do him some good.

For someone who made a very big deal about where he would sign last year, he sure seemed ready to get the heck out of Denver. And while the Banff native was probably happy to get a little further west, why would anyone willingly go to the Kings (Smyth had a no-trade clause), who are still lots and lots of pieces away from being successful.

Adrian Dater says the writing was on the wall; that all signs indicated the Avs were going to try and unload Smyth and his salary and they go into rebuilding mode. Perhaps Smyth figured if he was going to be a part of a rebuilding effort, it might as well be someplace sunny. Or maybe he realized if he didn’t OK the trade, he could just be waived and claimed without consent.

I also suspect he welcomed the chance to play for a team that’s fortunes were on the way up, rather than on the decline. The Avs are in an absolute freefall, the sharp signing of goalie Craig Anderson aside. The Kings still have a lot of question marks, including their work ethic, but work ethic is certainly something Smyth can help with. His skills are not what they were, but he’s a guy who always goes straight to the net, regardless of what’s going on around him. Or to him. The Kings will learn a lot by watching Smyth.

Speaking of getting to the net, Larry Brooks isn’t a big fan of the Rangers signing Donald Brashear, a bit of a Ranger-beater over the years.

My suspicion is the Rangers want Brashear’s size to set-up in front of the net. New York still lacks any kind of big body and Brashear is big, with decent hands and shockingly OK speed. A lot of teams, most notably Anaheim, are experimenting with using lower-skilled players on the powerplay, to just sit in the slot, looking for rebounds. Even if they can’t convert, the gigantic bodies still acts as a screen for the opposing goalie. Brashear can’t do much, but this is something he can probably handle.

That’s the only reason I can think of for signing an enforcer that old. Of course, most Ranger fans will tell you they’d much prefer a legitimate big man. But the Rangers have never seemed very into that idea. I feel like they’re looking very wistfully at Montreal’s pee wee line.

Like why are the Oilers so hot for a player who so obviously doesn’t want to play for them? Are they only interested because they know he’ll demand a trade in another two seasons? Do they think they can change him?

And as the demand for Heatley has pretty much entirely evaporated (which is really saying something in the NHL, where there was even a market for Sean Avery after his “sloppy seconds” penance was over), Ottawa is increasing what they want back for Heatley. You just have to bow down to Ottawa GM Bryan Murray’s business sense/powers of denial. He wants more for a player no one else really wants and who everyone knows doesn’t want to play in Ottawa. Most GMs would just love to have an ungrateful Heatley’s salary off of their cap. Murray is looking to make the deal of the century. I’d love to give him a really basic ECON101 textbook, just to see his mind blown as he sees the actual rules of supply and demand.

And I’d love to see Edmonton take a stand and stop chasing players who don’t want to play for them. If you want a contract offer from the Oilers, the quickest path is to say you prefer not to play in Edmonton. And somehow, players like Jay Bouwmeester and Ryan Smyth, who actively wanted to play there, wind up someplace else.

Also, people are making a big deal about Marian Hossa’s mammoth Chicago contract and it’s really overshadowing one of their very smart, smaller moves: their signing of John Madden. Madden still has tremendous speed, even at 36, so he won’t slow the ‘Hawks down. His defensive prowess is legendary. His work ethic is unmatched. He’s the perfect players for the Blackhawks. I think he’s going to have some real influence on the team’s development.

There’s never been an exception to this until recently. When Donnie Walsh took over the Knicks last season, he announced he was getting the team under the salary cap so the Knicks could make a run at LeBron James in 2010. ‘But isn’t it highly unlikely that James will leave Cleveland?’ the city asked. ‘Sure,’ Walsh said. ‘But if he’s not available, we’ll find someone else. We’ll be under the cap. We’ll be able to sign whoever we want.’

And that’s all Walsh has done. Dump salary and not take on more salary. And everyone loves it. The Knicks are still a horrible team, but there’s this idea that the cap space creates the potential for success. Obviously, it’s unrealized success, but the fans and media have been happy to wait two seasons for the Knicks to start moving forward.

Now the Knicks and Rangers are owned by the same family. And I’m sure Rangers GM Glen Sather has noticed that just about any Walsh move is forgiven if it creates or does not add cap space. So when he had the opportunity to trade away Scott Gomez and his awful contract for a solid player, a solid prospect, and a throw-in, he went for it. And everyone loved the move. Even the fans. Sather wasn’t making the team better, but he was creating the idea the team could become better. And apparently just the potential holds fans and media members for quite a while.

People are saying the Rangers now have the cap space to make some major moves. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Sather take this very slow, though, as he seems to have learned from watching Walsh that moves will always be criticized unless you can hide behind the idea of creating cap space. If Sather doesn’t make many moves and keeps some cap space, the idea of the next big move being right around the corner will comfort people. No one will call for his job since they don’t know what he might have up his sleeve.

Now this probably seems crazy to people in smaller markets, where cap space often represents unfulfilled potential; players that will never play for your team. But here in New York, a restrained payroll is a very new idea and the fans and media have really taken to it. They see cap space not as a limitation but as a blank canvas.

If Sather is smart, he has put away his paint for the time being.

McKee came to the Blues as an unrestricted free agent out of Buffalo. His last season in Buffalo was what many thought represented the Sabres return to NHL glory. They made it to the Eastern Conference finals, falling to Carolina in seven games. The Sabres seemed just a few player tweaks away fro the Stanley Cup.

Of course, rather than keep together their successful core, the Sabres allowed themselves to be dismantled. McKee was one of the first to go from that core. It’s interesting to look at how many from the 2005-06 Sabres lineup haven’t aged very well.

Chris Drury and Danny Briere are each the subject of trade rumors with their respective teams. Neither is a dominant force on their team and neither is playing up to their contract.

Maxim Afinogenov, whom the Sabres decided to retain, has struggled to find a consistent game. Dmitri Kalinin’s game (he eventually left for the Rangers) has completely disintegrated. To the extent that you have to wonder if he’ll be back in the NHL next season.

Of course, not everyone from that 2005-06 Buffalo class has failed. Thomas Vanek was one of the rare players to get an extension out of the Sabres, and he’s played well for them. Defenseman Brian Campbell is doing well for the Blackhawks. And JP Dumont is solid enough for the Predators.

So while there’s no 2005-06 Sabres Curse, it is interesting to see how some of the more high-profile players have struggled apart from each other.

Also, my draft recap is up at RotoRob.

Some people say Jay Bouwmeester’s building a house in Edmonton is a clue he wants to play out west.

Marian Gaborik’s buying a house in Vancouver seems to be a clue he’ll sign there as a free agent.

And now, upcoming free agent Sergei Zubov has placed his Dallas home on the market, a sign he might not be returning to the Stars (It has a dipping pool, which sounds dirty to me). But since Zubov has a Florida home, would the Panthers want Zubov as a much, much, much older Bouwmeester replacement? The man can still run a powerplay and work a point. We saw that in the playoffs.

I’m off to show a lovely junior four in a great school district. The maintenance is shockingly low, too. Hit me on Twitter if you want in on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Greg Logan had an interesting piece about if teams should take the player they value most highly or the one the market values. For instance, Logan wonders if the Islanders should take Matt Duchene first overall, even though the market has him valued as a third overall.

I’m not a huge fan of the “take the player you value” approach as you’re leaving money on the table. If GM Garth Snow doesn’t want John Tavares or Victor Hedman, he should trade down and get some talent, or talent potential, back. If the Islanders don’t take Taveres at first overall, I suspect the Islander fans are going to freak. A trade-down might soften the blow. Unless Snow plans on drafting Ricky Rubio. I think that might hurt a lot of people.

The Flyers, with the 21st overall pick, might be looking to trade down if they’re not able to trade up, which is a vote for picking the best player, not the most valued. By the 21st player, you’re definitely seeing some dropoff in quality and there probably isn’t a ton of difference between 21 and say, 27, Why not drop down and get the same level of player, plus something for letting another team move up?

Although not necessarily. Bleacher Report had an interesting look at the 10 best draft steals since 1990. And if you learn one thing, it’s that you can, occasionally, find gems in the later rounds.

Also, former Habs GM Sam Pollock’s business card is for sale on eBay for US$2000. Pollock is dead, so the contact information on the card really isn’t going to help you very much. Just an FYI. Thanks to Alain for the link.