Rest in peace, Reg

The recent passing of former NHL player Reg "The Ruffian" Fleming struck a chord with Moody, Hound Central 4.0's roving Southeast correspondent.

Here's Moody's recollection:

"I had the chance to meet him during an old timers charity game at a local rink back in Michigan. I had just graduated from high school, so I wasn’t very good at recognizing players. I had a few cards and one of them was a Tall Boy Reprint of Fleming.

"Armed with a Bic pen (Most of my early sigs were with ink pens), I snagged the players as they came off the ice. Mr. Fleming came off and, as I asked who he was in order to rifle through a stack of cards to find his, he patiently waited and happily signed the card for me.

"He may have played well before my time, but his signature is one of the first that has launched my interest in vintage autographs. As tattered as the card may be, it still sits on the top of my most memorable successes."

Back in the day

I thought you might get a kick out of this: Hockey Sock Rock by Phil Esposito and the Ranger Rockers, released in 1979, and featured, besides Espo, John Davidson, Ron Duguay, Pat Hockey and Dave Maloney.

Even better, the flip side contains Please Forgive My Misconduct Last Night by Dionne and the Puck-Tones, featuring the Los Angeles Kings' Marcel Dionne, Charlie Simmer and Dave Taylor.

A tip of Hound Central 4.0's roughed-up Cooker SK600 to Moody, our roving Southeast correspondent, for passing along the photo.

Flashbacks 04.29

You know, I rather enjoy compiling this weekly offseason feature. Each posting is a stroll down memory lane. Hopefully, you'll enjoy them as well:

Feb. 23, 2008: Boston Bruins team sheet
Dec. 14, 2007: Calgary's Jarome Iginla
Feb. 13, 2007: Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky
Nov. 26, 2006: Ottawa's Jason Spezza
Nov. 2, 2005: Then-Florida's Roberto Luongo

Baseball bonus: Tampa Bay's Akinori Iwamura

Feel free to check out Hound Central's 3.0, 2.0 and 1.0.

Liveblog 04.24

As much as I'd like to give people more advance notice, these live chat sessions are the result of realizing that -- at the moment for the next 90 minutes or so -- I have some time on my hands.

And, yes, I know the Ducks-Sharks game is on Versus. I'm watching it.

If you have any hockey-hounding questions, leave them in a comment or send me an e-mail (link on my profile). Comments don't require signing up, either; leave them as anonymous, but feel free to add your name.

Also, have any questions for Moody and Al, Hound Central 4.0's far-flung correspondents? We may not get answers tonight, but I'll pass any along and pester them until they answer.

10:48 p.m.: San Jose 1, Anaheim 0, end of the first. Joey Thornton finally scored.

10:53 p.m.: Sean Avery and John Tortorella? Related?

11:05 p.m.: Anaheim wins draw to start the second period.

11:36 p.m: Nice toe-drag by Devin Setoguchi. Sharks 2, Ducks 0. Thornton picks up an assist, his second point in the game. Now he needs to get into a fight. Gordie, God bless him, would be proud.

11:50 p.m.: Ten more minutes. Then it's nighty-night.

12:01 a.m.: Ryan Carter scores for Anaheim. Sharks 2, Ducks 1, early in the third.

12:02 a.m.: Okay, folks, good night. I can barely keep my eyes open. I was hoping for at least one question from the nine people who stopped by over the past 90-plus minutes.

Well, that's what I get for no advance warning/notice, right? Especially on a night during the playoffs. Or, simply, no one was interested.

Next time, though, I'll let you know sooner.

Flashbacks 04.22

Like reading about or looking at hockey autographs? Me, too.

Check out these installments from past hockey-hounding campaigns:

Jan. 16, 2008: Colorado's Joey Sakic
Nov. 4, 2007: Hall of Famer Phil Esposito
April 16, 2007: Cup winner Glenn "Chico" Resch
Sept. 24, 2006: Dallas' Mike Modano
Nov. 26, 2005: Los Angeles' Yutaka Fukufuji

Got lots of time? Find hundreds of more adventures at Hound Central 3.0, Hound Central 2.0 and, most certainly, Hound Central 1.0.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Playoffs picks

For as long as I can remember, rooting for the underdogs in any playoff series carries great appeal. Still, though, one should be realistic, calling upon intellect, insight and, more importantly, gut instincts.

With that in mind, here are one hockey hound's best guesses at how the 2008-09 NHL playoffs, which begin tonight, will shake out right on through to early June. As you can see, I'm predicting a few upsets:

Opening rounds

Eastern Conference

Boston Bruins (1) vs. Montreal Canadiens (8)
Bruins in five games (Bruins win 4-0)

Washington Capitals (2) vs. New York Rangers (7)
Capitals in six games (Capitals win 4-3)

New Jersey Devils (3) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (6)
Devils in seven games (Hurricanes win 4-3)

Pittsburgh Penguins (4) vs. Philadelphia Flyers (5)
Penguins in six games (Penguins win 4-2)

Western Conference

San Jose Sharks (1) vs. Anaheim Ducks (8)
Sharks in seven games (Ducks win 4-3)

Detroit Red Wings (2) vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (7)
Blue Jackets in seven games (Wings win 4-0) (Oops!)

Vancouver Canucks (3) vs. St. Louis Blues (6)
Blues in six games (Canucks win 4-0) (Oh, well)

Chicago Blackhawks (4) vs. Calgary Flames (5)
Flames in five games (Blackhawks win 4-3)

Conference semifinals

Eastern Conference

Boston Bruins (1) vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (4)
Bruins in seven games

Washington Capitals (2) vs. New Jersey Devils (3)
Devils in five games

Western Conference

San Jose Sharks (1) vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (4)
Sharks in four games

Calgary Flames (2) vs. St. Louis Blues (3)
Flames in six games

Conference finals

Eastern Conference

Boston Bruins (1) vs. New Jersey Devils (2)
Devils in seven games

Western Conference

San Jose Sharks (1) vs. Calgary Flames (2)
Sharks in five games

Stanley Cup

San Jose Sharks vs. New Jersey Devils
Devils in six games

Conn Smythe winner: Zach Parise

Fan Pack: New York Rangers

I imagine this might come across as being extremely ungrateful, especially within the Big Apple, but what is an organization like the New York Rangers doing sending out fan packs, including schedules for the 2008-09 season, in the final weeks of the season?

Being an Original Six franchise, one would expect the organization would have its fan marketing house in order. The recent arrivals, however, cast that assumption into the wind.

The envelopes (yes, they sent one each to the three occupants of the Hound Central 4.0 household) carried a March 31 postmark. The original request, which asked for just one fan pack, was sent, via-email, on Aug. 15, 2008.

It's not that the Rangers' effort isn't appreciated. It is. It just seems like it's a little late in the game, so to speak, for them to arrive.

Still, though, one can't complain too much. While some teams send out entire team postcard sets, the Rangers opted for one of King Henrik. Colin got a big kick, too, out of the sticker set.

The schedule, though? That one has me scratching my head.

Here's my report:

Team: New York Rangers
Date sent: Aug. 15, 2008
Date received: April 2, 2009
Elapsed time: 230 days
Items received: Henrik Lundqvist postcard, team sticker set and a 2008-09 season schedule

That took a while

When I got Mike York to sign this Upper Deck MVP Excellence card in the 2001-02 season, when he played for the New York Rangers, I never thought it would take until Tuesday for Columbus' Manny Malhotra to complete the card. But it did and now it's done. Finally.

Ironically, both of the Rangers' draft picks are now with Columbus, though York has spent most of the season (he's played one game for Columbus this season) tearing it up for the Syracuse Crunch, the Blue Jackets' AHL farm club.

Trade analysis

A few thoughts on the 22 NHL deadline-day deals that went down today:

Most interesting

Toronto gets G Olaf Kolzig, and D Jamie Heward and D Andy Rogers -- three players dealing with injuries -- and a fourth-round pick in 2009 from Tampa Bay for minor-leaguer D Richard Petoit.

My take: This deals smells like a favor, so Tampa Bay can dump some salary. Doesn't it? I won't be surprised when the other shoe drops with Toronto. How about Leafs D Tomas Kaberle for RW Marty St. Louis?

Thumbs up

~ Buffalo gets C Dominic Moore from Toronto for a 2009 second-round pick. He'll add some more grit to the Sabres lineup.

~ Boston gets RW Mark Recchi and a 2010 second-round draft pick from Tampa Bay for F Martins Karsums and D Matt Lashoff. A third Stanley Cup ring should punch Old Man Recchi's ticket to hockey's
hallowed hall.

~ Phoenix gets F Nigel Dawes, D Dmitri Kalinin and F Petr Prucha for D Derek Morris. I'd make this three-for-one trade, especially because it includes Dawes, day after day after day.

Thumbs down

~ Florida gets D Steve Eminger from Tampa Bay for D Noah Welch and a 2009 third-round pick. The Panthers will be Eminger's third team this season. At least he had a chance to make the playoffs. With all due respect to Welch, I'd rather Eminger stuck around Hockey Bay.

~ C Patrick O'Sullivan, acquired earlier from Los Angeles for Carolina's LW Justin Williams, moved again, with a 2009 second-round pick, to Edmonton for LW Erik Cole. It would've been cool had O'Sullivan, who grew up in Winston-Salem, N.C, and played youth hockey in Raleigh, suited up with the Hurricanes.

Update

I guess the high-ranking source had no clue what he was talking about. I thought it sounded kinda shaky. I hope the surgery went well.

Hey, I had some, too

New Jersey's Colin White got quite a chuckle Wednesday night out of a request for autographs from Devils defenseman Mike Mottau as they walked to the team's hotel after dinner.

Well, if White laughed at that first request, he must have been floored when I asked Mottau, the 2000 Hobey Baker award winner from Boston College, to sign these four cards Thursday. I needed only the AHL 2006 All Stars card signed, but, as you can see, Mottau did all four.

Did you know that Mottau beat out Devils teammate Brian Gionta for the Hobey that season?

Commercial breaks

It's not that I pay a whole bunch of attention to television commercials. Like most others, I'll use that 90- to 120-second window of opportunity to grab a snack. Sometimes, I'll snag a stack of cards that need prepping or flash-card faces that need memorizing.

Most times, though, I simply ignore them.

Over the past few months, I must admit, an appreciation has grown for the NHL Network's commercial lineup. Yes, that's right. Commercials. On the NHL Network.

Rather than subscribe to the NHL Centre Ice package this season, we used that money to help subsidize our Lightning ticket packages. As part of the trade-off, we also subscribed to the more affordable, though much more limited, NHL Network from our local cable TV provider.

And while the CBC's Hockey Night in Canada, complete with the irascible Don Cherry's Coach's Corner, and the upcoming World Junior Championships broadcasts are main draws, the network's commercials and practices have led to these three observations:

~ Though these have been around for awhile, I can't get enough of the NHL Network's spots on the old-school coach's pep talks. It's not just the fedora he sometimes wears. I love how he rolls his eyes after he tries to make a point. It's almost like he's saying to himself, "Can you believe this load of hooey?"

My favorite is the 110 percent commercial. You know, the one where he implores 100 percent of his team to give 110 percent effort for 100 percent of the time. Not only is it funny, but he uses logic to make perfect sense.

~ I also get a kick out of the NHL.com spot featuring a hockey family opening presents on Christmas morning. Though three are Rangers fans, delighting at the Blueshirts-related items that Santa left for them, the fourth member is a Flyers fan. His gifts -- from dress socks to a spatula to a snow shovel -- reflect his fall from favor.

My favorite line? Nope, it's not the poor kid's "Dress socks? What the ...?" No, instead I like the mom's "Nice shovel."

~ My only complaint, and I'm certain this is solely because of my late-night viewing habits, is the rotation of these ads. Some 30-second commercials run twice within a two-minute window. And too much of anything -- even if it's good -- is grating.

Instead, perhaps NHL Networks can introduce some of the NHL teams' promotional spots into the late-night rotation.

Sunday morning homily XII

Ever since the puck first dropped on the 2008-09 NHL season, we've had Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008, circled on our calendar. That's when the Boston Bruins and Colin's favorite NHL buddy, Patrice Bergeron, come to town.

We missed seeing Bergeron twice last year, as he recovered from a cheap early season hit from Philly's Randy Jones. Needless to say, the littlest hound in the house, though appreciating the need for Patrice to recover, was a little disappointed.

Now that Bergeron is back in the game, and the Bruins are enjoying a nice run, Colin's pretty pumped that he'll get to see his hockey hero again. Hopefully, too, an early arrival by the Bruins will provide a few minutes for the renewing of acquaintances.

And, yes, we have tickets to the game. We wouldn't miss it for the world.

Upon further review

Earlier this season, I predicted that we'd add another 432 autographs to the collection by next April. Man, was I ever wrong.

When Tampa Bay's Olaf Kolzig signed a 2008 Prague Premier puck last week, it represented the 500th autograph of the season. Granted, it's a family effort here at Hound Central 4.0, but that season milestone came rather quickly.

As a result, and because of how early we are in the season, I've raised the bar to 1,100 autographs before we close the books on the campaign.

Catching a ride

For the second time in as many trips, the Rangers' Markus Naslund and Scott Gomez got a free ride back to the team's hotel following Wednesday's morning skate, thanks to Lightning security staff. Also hopping aboard the all-terrain vehicle was Daniel Girardi.

I guess the half-mile walk on a gorgeous Florida day, as well as a handful of hounds, was a little too much for them.

5 Big Sigs

It'll be a big week here in Hockey Bay if work and practice schedules allow for trips to hound the Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres:

~ Boston's Patrice Bergeron on a Bruins helmet;
~ Boston's Milan Lucic on Bruins and Vancouver Giants pucks;
~ those mentioned above, as well as their teammates, on a Bruins jersey;
~ Buffalo's Thomas Vanek and Ryan Miller on a Sabres mini helmet; and
~ Buffalo's Patrick Lalime on Sabres, Blackhawks and Senators pucks.

Big Apple day

Last season, I thought it was a pretty big deal to score 50 autographs from the Montreal Canadiens. After Wednesday, though, I've realized it's nothing more than child's play.

How easy is it? Well, to bend a borrowed phrase from car insurer Geico, it's so easy a 7-year-old can do it. Just ask Colin, who snagged 51 of the 57 autographs (one better than my best day last season) we added to the collection Wednesday while hounding the New York Rangers and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Rather than sit around the house and dream of bellies stuffed with turkey and all of the trimmings, we used one of his school vacations days to see just what kind of numbers we could produce. While I supplied him with players' names, he provided the hustle.

Thankfully, his efforts for the Rangers were rewarded, as he snagged 29 cards to my three pucks, including these from 2004 No. 1 pick Lauri Korpikoski (left) and former Sens defenseman Wade Redden.

My best? Rangers GM Glen Sather on an old-school Oilers puck. Still, though, it was Colin who stole the show.

Who helped? Most every Rangers player, including enforcer Colton Orr, added to Colin's bounty.

Looking for big names? How about Henrik Lundqvist, Markus Naslund, Redden and Nikolai Zherdev? They'll do, and they did.

The biggest signers of the day, as far as we're concerned, were role players Blair Betts, Ryan Callahan and Nigel Dawes. Thanks to them alone, it was a diverse dozen cards.

Other Rangers who signed cards (top photo):

Top row: Dan Fritsche (2 cards), Daniel Girardi and Dmitri Kalinin (3 cards)
Bottom row: Paul Mara, Petr Prucha and Michal Rozsival

Quality, not quantity

Though I didn't get many autographs Wednesday, I'll probably remember the day for a long time. Not only did Colin log his first 50-plus autograph day, but I finally got Glen Sather, the Rangers' general manager, to sign an old-school Edmonton Oilers puck.

Making the effort

It's always our intentions to add any NHL's team's top players to pucks before any other item. Some days, it happens. Other times, though, it doesn't.

Given the 20-plus crowd that swarmed the Rangers' elite Wednesday before the team's morning skate, it's remarkable that even Colin was able to snag these from New York's Henrik Lundqvist, Markus Naslund, Wade Redden and Nikolai Zherdev.

His extra effort paid off, didn't it? I didn't fare as well. Still, though, no complaints. None whatsoever.

Starring roles

Only the most jaded of hounds would say it's no big deal to get autographs from any NHL team's role players. Sorry, but I disagree. Teams need players willing to muck it up and get their noses bloodied. Good teams are full of them.

That's why Colin was pretty darn excited Wednesday after a trio of Rangers role players -- Blair Betts, Ryan Callahan and Nigel Dawes -- sign these 12 cards for him.

That's right. A dozen cards. That alone is a decent day, don't you think?

Can I tell you a secret? I was pretty pumped, too. Check out the diversity of the cards. Only three are true Rangers cards. The rest are from prospects or speciality sets.

I apologize for not being able to group all of the cards. The scanner's bed isn't big enough for all 12.

Another silver lining

To be honest, it doesn't really matter who scores the most autographs, especially when one is from the Rangers' Nikolai Zherdev, a player who appears to be realizing early expectations.

It's even better, too, that one of the cards comes out of the 2004-05 UD Hockey All-World Edition set.

Produced during the unfortunate NHL lockout of 2004-05, the set featured most any NHL player who spent their newfound time that long, cold winter playing across Russia, Scandinavia and Europe.

A quick Google search shows hobby boxes can be found for around $28, plus shipping. Not a bad deal, I'd say, to diversify your card offerings.

Sunday morning homily XI

When it comes right down to it, the Nashville Predators taught Humidity Bay hounds a pretty valuable lesson on Friday.

Over the past few years, I believe we've come to expect that visiting NHL teams are always happy to come to the sunny south. Furthermore, we expect that they'll show their appreciation by willingly obliging each and every request for an autograph.

While that may have been the case early Friday morning when most of the Predators players (I keep hearing that defenseman Dan Hamhuis was particularly rough) signed before the team's morning skate, my own observations and reports from fellow hounds say the team wasn't as willing to put pen to paper or pucks later in the day.

In a way, I can hardly blame them. The closer you get to game time, the more you should be focusing on the task at hand, not worrying whether the visiting hounds have had their fill.

The lesson I'm taking away from hounding the Predators, and I suggest you might want to file this away for future hounding sessions, is that the best time to score autographs is before a team's morning skate. To me, the players seem much more approachable and it's always nice, from where I sit, to get things done sooner rather than later.

It's not to say that players won't sign after morning skates or before the game, but my experience has taught me to lower my expectations the closer you get to game time.

Anyone else care to weigh in?

Time's running out

With only a week left in November, your opportunity to win this autograph from Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos is narrowing by the moment.

So far, there are nine entries in the simple contest: Tell me, in less than 100 words, what you would do with the first million dollars you earned -- through contracts, bonuses and endorsements -- if you were the No. 1 overall pick at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

Leave your answer in a message and I'll pick a winner early in December. Sounds pretty simple to me.

5 Big Sigs

With Colin's hockey game and my work schedule keeping us from hounding the Martin Brodeur-less New Jersey Devils, we'll have to settle for hounding the New York Rangers on Wednesday morning. These are at the top of our wish list:

~ Rangers and Canucks pucks signed by Markus Naslund;
~ a Rangers puck signed by Henrik Lundqvist;
~ Devils and Rangers pucks signed by Scott Gomez;
~ a Prague Premiere puck signed by Brandon Dubinsky; and
~ a baseball signed by Little League hero Chris Drury.

Oh, the indifference

Though the New York Rangers and their fast start might make them the talk of the Big Apple, those taking part in Hound Central 4.0's latest poll show little confidence that the Blueshirts have what it takes to be considered a legitimate contender.

Fifty percent of the 32 taking part believed that the Rangers are not for real. Another 12 voters didn't care what the team did. Combined, a stunning 87.5 percent of participants don't have much faith in the Rangers.

Another telling indictment: Only four true-blue Rangers fans wore their hearts on the voting sleeves.

As of today, the Rangers have posted the most points (28) in the Eastern Conference, trailing only the San Jose Sharks (31) for the NHL lead. Still, though, the Rangers have played a few more games than some of their closest competitors -- Boston, Pittsburgh and Washington.

There's only one way to find out, in fact, whether the Rangers are for real. We'll have to wait until April for that answer.

Question: Are the New York Rangers for real?

No: 16 votes out of 32 cast (50 percent)
Don't care: 12 votes out of 32 (37.5 percent)
Yes: 4 votes out of 32 (12.5 percent)

Worth it

I've heard that pucks from the NHL Premiere game in Prague were fetching upwards of $17, including shipping. Imagine my delight, then, when I found these two items Saturday night inside the Lightning's pro shop at the St. Pete Times Forum.

Though they were $6.50 each, more than double what I pay for most of my pucks, I picked up two of each style. Now, I've got to decide who I'd like to sign them.