Is it just me, or have you ever seen so much hype around an expansion draft before.  I mean, they are actually going to televise it across North America!  At the original expansion draft, way back in 1967, most of the players didn’t find out they were going to Minnesota or Oakland until they heard about it on the radio the next day.  I don’t know if anyone realizes that there not going to be any superstars playing in Vegas this October unless you count the days when Pittsburgh and Washington come for a visit, so I don’t understand all the hype surrounding this year’s expansion draft.  Should we really get all that excited that Marc Methot may end up playing in the desert, or that Nail Yakupov might get a fourteenth kick at the can?  Still, who am I kidding, I’m actually looking forward to seeing how the Golden Knights are going to look on Day One, knowing full well that whatever real talent they draft, it is probably going to be traded away for prospects and draft picks. That’s because I’m a giant hockey nerd who loves analyzing the mundane details about rosters for the upcoming season.  And I’m going to watch TSN and Sportsnet, and listen to Bob McKenzie, and Nick Kypreos, and Doug McLean, and Bob McCown, and Damian Cox discuss all of the ins and outs of the Vegas roster.  And I’m going to watch the draft on TV as well because there’s always that hope, that teeny tiny little morsel of optimism that something earth-shattering will happen at next week’s draft.

With an expansion draft just around the corner, that means another season has come and gone, and a new (familiar?) Stanley Cup champion has been crowned.  The Pittsburgh Penguins certainly were not anyone’s favourite to win another Cup, considering no one else had gone back-to-back in twenty years, and the Penguins had more injuries than a World War I infirmary, but lo and behold, the Pens are champs once again.  To celebrate the occasion, we have a very special addition to the Overexposed wing of the Hockey Hall of Shame, that being a shot of L.A.’s Alex Martinez showing us what he did when he got to spend his day with the big mug.  Or should I say, the big cereal bowl.

That’s about it for this week, I’m afraid, as I’m currently elbow deep in reading my Seals manuscript for the thirty-seventh time, but this time it is to go over the typeset proofs, check for any last typos, and put together an index, which will probably mean reading the book over for a thirty-eighth time.  Then it will be out of my hands, and up to everyone else to do their part and read it (hopefully).  That being said, you can head on over to Amazon right now, if you want to pre-order it before the November 1 release date.

Don’t forget to vote for the player you feel should be inducted into the Seals Hall of Fame.  The voting will close July 14, and the inductees will be announced shortly afterwards.

Until next time, stay gold!