Say it with me, 'Blue Sky' McGuire...

A note from that marathon in Vancouver last night – and why do the marathon overtime games always seem to happen on the west coast? – and some other thoughts….

Markus Naslund

- We don’t get to see him very much, but Markus Naslund is a splendid hockey player. If any Leaf fans want to see a Swedish captain playing with heart and desire, tune in to watch this guy play. I don’t think Sundin ever had the burst, agility and drive that this guy has.

(And if Sundin was truthful with himself, he would admit a change might do wonders for him as well. C’mon, the Leafs are two years – with a miracle – away from making any sort of run deep into the playoffs. Sundin is 52 now – in athlete years – and like most 52 year olds, he is going to want to spend more time on the golf course than he does at work. Signing him makes no sense and is a PR ploy at best. He needs to be somewhere where he will be the missing link to a Cup run. Like Ray Bourque did in Colorado, he needs to go to…… Buffalo, Dallas, Vancouver, somewhere he can be a compliment, not the focus. We will all be better for it.

First round notes;

- I know I picked the Islanders to upset the Sabres in the first round, but, uh, there is no way in hell the Islanders are going to win with Wade Double V in net. In fact, they will be hard pressed to win a single game. I foresee a desperate New York islander team rushing Rick Dipietro back into service for either game three or game four with disastrous results.

- Jeremy Roenick has been a splendid hockey player. He is one of the best American Hockey players in the history of the game, and I think he is his way to the HoF. At the same time, his hair leaves much to be desired. His over frosted hair gives him the look of someone who has a giant white spider perched on top of his head. Someone needs to tell him that he is on Television not radio…

- I’ll get into this in a little more detail later, but does anyone tell TSN colour analyst Pierre McGuire that everything can’t possibly be super, great, amazing, so this, the ultimate that? Hey, ‘Blue Skies’ McGuire, if Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller gets a twenty second gush-a-thon during the first playoff game of the first series that gives him a whopping total of 19 playoffs starts, then what do you do when you cover a game with Martin Brodeur starting for the Devils? Build a twenty foot golden statute of him and start genuflecting? Leave yourself some room, man!! Blue Sky McGuire. I think we should make that stick…