Around the Rink 01.09.07

The Penguins are getting calls. After the Kansas City venture, the Penguins have received calls from other cities about moving to their city. Oklahoma City has called with interest and, as always, so has Houston and Portland. However, owner Mario Lemieux has said that meetings with the Pittsburgh government have gone well and is confident that they can hammer out a deal.

Of these cities, I think that Kansas City has a slight edge over Houston; but if Portland can get a new arena in place; they could in the hunt. Lemieux has to be loving this because he has all the leverage in the world right now to get something done in Pittsburgh, barring they actually want to keep the team there. Lemieux has all the cards right now and waiting for someone to call his bluff.

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Rory Fitzpatrick isn't going to be in the top-2 when All-Star Voting is revealed tonight, says the Vancouver Sun. Citing NHL sources, Fitzpatrick was on the outside of the top-2, probably Scott Niedermayer and Niklas Lidstrom. It avoids an awkward situation that Fitzpatrick may have had to endure.

Some people are too happy that Rory didn't get in. Listen up people-- The All-Star Game sucks. All-Star Voting is a joke; this showed how much of a joke it is and how powerful the intraweb is. Look, the ASG voting is all a popularity contest and really needs to be taken out of the hands of the fans. If the NHL wants to put the top guys in; hand the votes over to the GMs and a select number of players to pick who they want in. It's just that simple. For Rory and those who supported him-- rock, rock on; for those who has their panties in a bunch about this-- lighten the eff up.

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Talk about a resurgence. Both the LA Kings and Phoenix Coyotes have woken up from the dead and are making themselves look pretty good as of late. The Kings can attribute that to the return of Mathieu Garon, who has played like a monster as of late. You can bet that Garon should get more starts than Cloutier from here on out.

The Coyotes finally told Curtis Joseph the season has started, which got him off his duff for three straight wins. Jeremy Roenick is playing like he wants to and Shane Doan continues to be the leader on and off the ice. Who knows, both these teams could sneak into the playoffs if the rest of the conference is not careful.

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If you are in Canada and you need something to do to prep yourself for Face Off Hockey Show (9 PM ET), then you need to check out OLN and a show called Road Hockey Rumble. The premise is that two captains, Mark McGuckin and Calum MacLeod, head for one side of Canada to another playing road hockey (street hockey for our American readers) to see whose team reigns supreme, like so much Iron Chef.

Looking at the trailer on their website, the show looks pretty damn funny, whether that's the intent or not, I don't know. However, if you have the chance, check it out. I don't know what to tell our droves of American readers; but bug the hell out of Versus and tell them to get this on the stations.

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That's all for now, check out Face Off Hockey Show this Wednesday at 9PM and as always you can check out the Message Board and our MySpace for other happenings.