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Apologies for the extremely short entry today, but I'm on a quick vacation and not really in the mindset to sit down for one of my usual rambles.
By the way, go ahead and smell the air. That's right. The hiatus from football is officially over, as college football officially starts on Thursday night. We won't have another break from pigskin until February.
At the very least, it's going to speed up the final month of waiting for the return of the National Hockey League. I know you're all getting restless, but please, consult your calendar - it's September, and we're just about a month away from official (and more importantly, meaningful) action.
(Arizona State's quest for the Rose Bowl begins - now.)
-Add another casualty to the 'fat' department, once again debunking the myth that all players are chiseled out of granite when they return to training camp.
Dustin Byfuglien was hit with a BWI last night, yet oddly enough, that part of the story is beginning to take more and more of a back seat. From the SunTimes:
Former Blackhawks defenseman Dustin Byfuglien was arrested late Wednesday on suspicion of boating while intoxicated.
According to a Hennepin County police report, Byfuglien was brought to jail just after 11 p.m. He was later released at 2:23 a.m. Thursday morning. Official charges are still pending.
Seems like a fairly small infraction. Looks like a guy enjoying his time in the off-season, and the fines he'll have to pay for a poor choice will be relatively minor.
Ed. note - Don't want to downplay the potential for serious injury, here. Be safe, folks.
So, what other issue is really pressing? Well, according to the same report, Dustin Byfuglien hit the weight scale at approximately 286 lbs - about forty over his playing weight last season.
I can't even begin to fathom what Byfuglien's actually shaped like right now. The guy was already a round-sized terror at 6'5, 245; adding forty pounds onto his frame has to make him the most oblong shaped figure in the history of hockey.
Credit Darren Wolfson for breaking that story.
-According to Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen, Pascal Leclaire's not even close to making an NHL return. In fact, his hip is plaguing his game so badly, his career is beginning to sound in jeopardy.
Leclaire, whose two-year stint as an Ottawa Senators goaltender was more memorable for his laundry list of injuries than for the quickness of his glove hand or feet, remains unemployable due to his wonky hip.
A free agent offer in July from an NHL team — he won’t say which one — fell through when he couldn’t pass the medical tests. Considering the small world that is the NHL, it didn’t take long for the word to spread.
“It’s frustrating, but it will be much more frustrating when (training camps) get started,” Leclaire said Tuesday, following an informal scrimmage with some of his former Senators teammates and other NHL players who call Ottawa home.
Perhaps it's not the most ridiculous of news we've heard, especially considering Leclaire's run with health issues over the years, but the fact that he went public later on in the article and stated that he's "not even 80%" is really damning.
Professional athletes don't really like to admit they're not capable of competing. So, if a guy's saying he's not even close to ready, I wonder how far down the chain Leclaire truly is.
As much as we bashed Leclaire over the past couple of years, I do want to see him get back on his feet and healthy again. There's plenty of reasons to hate players around the National Hockey League, but Pascal Leclaire's been victimized by gross misfortune more than anything else.
Unfortunately for Leclaire, it sounds like his professional playing days are numbered.
Anyone want to wager on what team actually submitted an offer to this guy, though? Have they been hiding under a rock for - I don't know - the past three years?
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Thanks for reading!
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