1. If I'm Islanders rookie GM Mathieu Darche, my first overall Draft pick tonight will be defenseman Matthew Schaefer, 17, out of Erie.
2. The 6-2, 186 pounder is clearly the consensus "Best" so why quibble?
3. When I covered the 2009 Entry Draft in Montreal, we figured that the Isles picked the right #1 guy in John Tavares. WRONG! As it happened, the better pick would have been – and has proven to be – Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman. (Not even close.)
4. The way it worked with Tavares is that I was given first dibs on interviewing Tavares love on TV after he left the stage. This was a big "coup" for me so I figured I'd open the interview with a Maven joke to loosen him up.
5. I picked one of my guaranteed, 14-carat gold best gags and a minute before we went on camera, I told him the classic Penguin On Fifth Avenue joke. In return, Tavares did something akin to inhaling that that was that. (I'm still waiting for the laugh.)
6. All things considered, J.T. proved to be a decent interview and a good pal on the Isles. Then, one day he pulled a "Good-Bye My Coney Island Baby" on the Isles and, well, you know the rest.
7. Just a silly thought but every time GM Bill Armstrong makes a deal in Salt Lake City it has to be considered "a Mammoth transaction."
8. Suggestion for Mammoth's official song: "My Dear Old Mammy."
9. I like that Alex Ovechkin is an animal-lover and I LOVE the fact that the Big 8 is on the cover of Washingtonian magazine holding a baby goat!
10. Strange But True Hockey Tales: The NHL's Winter Classic will be held on January 2, in Miami, Florida. (No, no, no – not on roller skates!)
Will The Rangers Trade Back Into The First Round?
Will the New York <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-rangers" target="_blank">Rangers</a> trade into the first round of the 2025 NHL Draft? The answer is likely no.
11. I'd buy one if goalie Bob comes out with autographed beach chairs.
12. If I belonged to the Province of Alberta Legislature, I'd make August 31, 2025 as the final date for an Edmonton columnist's whiny complaints about referees being the cause of the Oilers playoff demise.
13. Sorry – very sorry, in fact – but the Edmonton Oilers are the 1946 Boston Red Sox of hockey. (Ergo: A team of losing All-Stars when the chips are down; and you can look it up.)