Bluelines: A Second NHL Team for Toronto?
NHL comings and goings in the pre-season
- Denials of a potential Bruins sale to the contrary, some insiders believe that Jeremy Jacobs might quietly put his B's on the block, if he hasn't done so already. The hook is that Buffalo-based Jacobs has been eyeing the NFL Bills for a possible purchase. In this case, the pigskin might take precedence over the puck. That's one biggie to keep in your telescope.
Toronto Sun columnist Steve Simmons is pushing for a second NHL team in his favorite city. What Simmons – and most of the civilized world – does not know is that in the not-so-distant past the league conducted an expansion study. Top recommendation was a second Toronto big-league club. However, overriding objections from the Maple Leafs always will be a stumbling block. Maple honchos figure there's too much to lose in TV lucre by allowing an intruder into their market.
- Jimmy Devellano, who deserves to be firmly voted into the Hall of Fame's Builders Section, has a biography on the shelves. It's called The Road to Hockeytown and was authored by Jimmy D and Roger Lajoie. Bill Torrey and Al Arbour deservedly have received kudos for developing the Islanders.
- It might be too soon to tell but Rangers 20th overall Draft pick, Mike Del Zotto, appears to us the way Marc Staal did two years ago. A keeper!
- Sorry to see a warrior like Derian Hatcher placed on the "Long Term Injury" (knee cartilage, bone spurs) list. Derian would love to make a comeback but Flyers medics are nixing the possibility.

- There never – ever! – was a more dedicated hockey scribe than author Jack Falla. How many writers can say that they built their own backyard hockey rink as Falla did at his Natick, Mass. home? At age 64, Jack passed away last week. That he was so beloved is apparent from the number of adoring obits; many of which mentioned that he mentored folks like the Boston Globe's Fluto Shinzawa at his Boston College classes.
- Give the NHL credit for adding classy ex-New York Daily News vet stickhandling savant, John Dellapina, to the loop's PR staff. JD's title is Director of Media Relations. Those relations should be very warm – and knowledgeable.
- Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, co-stars of Chicago's hockey revival, recently put their lesser-known skill, singing, onto display during the 7th Inning Stretch at Wrigley. Said Toews of his performance of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame", "I didn't screw up the words, [so] that's good." We've certainly seen worse, but it's fortunate that the lads' true talents lie elsewhere.
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