Ritter's Rant: Jason Allison's Return, Edmonton's Relocation, and Tampa's Roster

Written By: Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter

Why do I feel like the founder of “Punked” Ashton Kutcher is going to be at Toronto Maple Leafs training camp this year?

For all of you out there that believe Leafs general manager Brian Burke has no sense of humor, I present to you the Jason Allison tryout.

Allison was too slow to play in the NHL way back in 2005-06 (the last time he played in the NHL) now, at 34 years old and four years removed from the game, the Leafs are giving this Tortoise a chance?

For the record, during that 2005-06 season, Allison scored 17 goals and 43 assists in 66 games played with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was also a horrific Minus -18. One way or the other, somebody is gonna get punked!

Keeping with the humor theme, can somebody tell NHL commissioner Gary Bettman how bad it looks that he has offered $140 million for a team that went bankrupt and is losing money faster than Ko-Jack lost his hair?

The bigger joke is that the NHL’s bid comes with conditions, among them?

That the NHL reserves the right to move the team within one-year if the team is still losing money...Isn’t that what Jim Balsillie is trying to do? Move the team sooner rather than later?

The Edmonton Oilers have announced that they have secured options to purchase land in downtown Edmonton with the intention of putting a new arena in place. Is there anyone out there that thinks this will attract any premium free agents?

No, I didn’t think so...

Paul Kelly was fired from his position as the director of the National Hockey League Players’ Association.

The firing was a curious one, Kelly had been doing what many would describe as a “good job”. Word has it that the players felt Kelly was too close to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly.

Edmonton Oilers forward and NHLPA member Shawn Horcoff said of Daly’s dismissal, “I think at the end of the day there was some information that had come to us as a result of the checks and balances that we put into our constitution that was just too hard for the membership to ignore”.

Bottom line?

The players didn’t feel that Kelly was acting in their best interests so Kelly got the horns...One thing is clear, you don’t make this kind of decision without just cause or suspicion that you and your fellow NHLPA members are being screwed.

You pick...Shane Doan, Milan Lucic, Ryan Smyth or Dan Cleary. They all play a very similar game, which one makes Team Canada?

Who knew?

The Tampa Bay Lightening will have more french Canadian star players on their first line than the Montreal Canadiens this season.

The addition of Alex Tanguay would mean the Bolts could potentially ice a first line of Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, and Tanguay: three French-Canadian players. The Canadiens first line will likely consist of, Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta and Mike Cammallari: Two Americans and a guy from the Greater Toronto Area...Yeah, the times, they are a-changin'!

Training camps start in just two weeks, can’t wait to talk some REAL puck!

Until next time,

Peace!