Jordan Leopold had hernia surgery yesterday and will be out 10-12 weeks. Which means he may miss the first week or two of the NHL season. How do you say damaged goods? Do you want Alex Tanguay back Colorado? I think you do.
Looks like Brian Leetch's return to the Big Apple won't happen. The Rangers who are at $40 million and deep on defence don't seem to have room or money for him. Rangers may still sign Martin Rucinsky but it won't be for the $3.1 million he was offered earlier. With the blue shirts signing of Shanahan a couple of weeks back, Rucinsky will only end up back with the Rangers at a significant paycut. Silly, silly man. Is there an NHL team out there that will pay Rucinsky more than $3.1 million? I'm thinking no. Write that down.
So does Don Cherry's brother Dick also get called Grapes? On the subject of nicknames, if your name is Gilbert, your nickname is "Gilly" or "Gilby", it's not "Gibby", that totally goes against the Nickname Code of Pronunciation or the NCP for short.
Happy belated birthday to Joe Elliott who turned 47 yesterday. The Def Leppard front man who is 6 foot 5 could probably play defence for the Leafs, be the fifth starter for the Blue Jays or QB the Argos. I don't think the Raptors need Elliott, maybe to sing the anthem.
Vitali Vishnevski, how's that dog house? As Brian Burke said yesterday, "$1.55 million for a number five defencemen, I don't think so" Ouch. That's going to leave a mark. Didn't even have to go to arbitration to get ripped on by team management.
Watching the Jays and Yankees last night, I just had to chuckle thinking back to Tommy Lee Jones as Ty Cobb. His classic lines of, "They built Yankee Stadium for Babe Ruth, 297 feet down the right field line, my sister could hit the ball 297 feet" or this beauty, "say something nice about Babe Ruth? he ran OK for a fat man" What a humanitarian that Cobb was. In defence of Ruth, of the 714 HR's he hit, not many of them were under 400 feet.
On This Date
For you fans of Deadwood. 130 years ago today, Wild Bill Hickock was shot in the back of the head by Jack McCall. McCall accused Hickok of cheating at cards and shot him from behind. Hickok was holding a pair of eights and a pair of aces, since then known as the Dead Man's Hand. Hickok is buried in Deadwood.
For you baseball fans. 27 years ago today Thurman Munson was killed in a plane crash. Munson was practicing touch and go landings at the Akron-Canton airport when his plane landed well short of the runway. Yankees were on an off day and Munson liked to fly home to spend time with his family. Yankees won 9-1 on August 1 against the White Sox, Munson played first base and went 0-1 at the plate.
Trivia
With whom did Dominik Hasek share the Jennings trophy with in 1994? answer below.
Little Known Fact
We all know that Don Cherry played one NHL game. In 1955 a playoff tilt with the Bruins against Montreal. A year and a bit later Don's brother Dick made his NHL debut with Boston. Dick played six games that season. Dick Cherry then had a 12 year hiatus from the NHL until he was picked up by the Flyers in the 67 expansion draft. Cherry would play 139 games over two seasons with the Flyers picking up 12 goals and 10 assists, which was 12 goals and 10 assists more than big brother Don.
Offside
You're worth $850 million, you can afford to take a cab from Cancun to the Yukon. Why are you drinking and driving? Did the limo driver have the night off?
Trivia Answer
Grant Fuhr
[email protected] 
Join the Discussion:
»