FanHouse Buys And Sells

Each Friday throughout the season, I'll provide you with my predictions on whose stock is on the rise and whose is failing miserably like an American bank. It's a neat little segment entitled Buys and Sells. There are a few teams/players/issues to buy and a few to sell.

I'm back after a week off, and we're going to approach this week a little bit differently here in Buys and Sells. If you know anything about me, you probably know that I'm an Islander fan. If you know anything else, you know that I am a huge Jeremy Roenick fan.

This week we're going to focus on one thing: for the good of the NHL, Roenick needs to retire immediately.

Each Friday throughout the season, I'll provide you with my predictions on whose stock is on the rise and whose is failing miserably like an American bank. It's a neat little segment entitled Buys and Sells. There are a few teams/players/issues to buy and a few to sell.

I hope everyone out there had a great holiday, whichever one you choose to celebrate. If it was Christmas, I hope you don't have too bad of an egg nog hangover this morning! Today in Buys and Sells we're going to take a look at which NHL teams are contending and which are pretending. We're nearing the midpoint of the season and the end of the year, so I think it's a great time to take a look at the first half surprises and decide who will be sticking around come playoff time and who will be heading home early. As you've probably surmised from the picture to the right, Jon Toews and the Hawks are the first topic of discussion today... Right after the jump. As always disagreements and your own picks are welcome in the comments.

Yes dear reader, your eyes do not deceive you! It is a special Wednesday morning edition of Buys and Sells. Sorry if I made you think it was Friday for a moment. I'm out on vacation and will be traveling on Friday, so for one week only we're moving to Wednesday due to my extracurricular activities. And I figured what better a time than to discuss all the extracurriculars going on in the NHL. A lot of the news in the NHL these days seems to be taking place off the ice. Sometimes it's almost more interesting than what's happening on it -- but not quite.

We've got a lot of issues to get to this week. The Philadelphia Flyers stopped in to have a quick chat with some folks at Temple University while Mats Sundin has set yet another deadline on which he will decide what he is doing this year -- as if anyone really cares at this point. We'll wrap it all up with by addressing the every increasing qualms folks have with this year's All-Star Game voting. So please, won't you jump with me?

Each Friday throughout the season, I'll provide you with my predictions on whose stock is on the rise and whose is failing miserably like an American bank. It's a neat little segment entitled Buys and Sells. There are a few teams/players/issues to buy and a few to sell.

This morning, I have a very special edition of Buys and Sells in store for you. This week I'm featuring our beloved NHL FanHouse commenters. I've been writing Buys and Sells every Friday morning since the start of the season and, being that this is a sports blog and all, I've gotten quite a few comments. They run the usual gamut of comments, from smart to funny, and folks who agree with my takes and folks who don't. Everyone is welcome to have their say, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Today, I'm going to respond to some of the comments I've received -- we're buying and selling you, the reader! But not literally, because that would be illegal. And there's only one rule in regards to which comments were selected -- your comment had to pass through the moderators. Correct grammar and punctuation is also a plus.

Each Friday throughout the season, I'll provide you with my predictions on whose stock is on the rise and whose is failing miserably like an American bank. It's a neat little segment entitled Buys and Sells. There are a few teams/players/issues to buy and a few to sell.

Glad to see you back here today. I hope that you had a good Thanksgiving and are one of the lucky folks who has today off. Today there's only one topic, but trust me, we'll make it worth the read. I'm starting to feel like Andy Rooney. The crazy guy at the end of the show, except in this case it's the end of the week. That's OK, I'm pretty sure what I'm saying is fairly coherent, which I can't always say about Andy. Anyway, on to the Buys and Sells!

Sell: Black Third Jerseys. Now, until recently, I didn't have any problem with NHL teams wearing black jerseys. In fact they looked pretty bad ass for the most part. But now that almost everyone has simply pulled a cop-out when it comes to their third jersey, it's not something I can get behind. Seriously, what's so special about a third jersey if they're all going to look the same? Well, maybe they're special, but the creativity that we've seen out of so many NHL marketing departments over the years has been completely thrown out the window. It's almost like, when designing their new jerseys, some of them got together and had a 10-second long meeting.

"We need a third jersey, what are our options?"

"How about a black version of our home jersey?"

"Brilliant! Get it done!"

Each Friday throughout the season, I'll provide you with my predictions on whose stock is on the rise and whose is failing miserably like an American bank. It's a neat little segment entitled Buys and Sells. There are a few teams/players/issues to buy and a few to sell.

If you're reading Buys and Sells, that probably means it's Friday. Good times for all of us. And even better that it's almost Thanksgiving; I see a long holiday weekend in your future.

But for now we've got some fake hockey stock valuations to get to. Trust me, unlike the real economy, the hockey economy is doing just fine.

Sell: Do Not Step On Pittsburgh's Carpeting. I seriously can't believe I'm even talking about this. We went through this in the playoffs in Ottawa two seasons ago, and now we're doing it again in Pittsburgh. Wild beat reporter John Shipley stepped on the Penguin logo on the carpet of the Pens' locker room. Jeez. You'd think by their reaction he, you know, caused harm to someone.

So I'm in the Penguins locker room, which is about the size of a port-a-potty, and get chastised for stepping on the logo in the carpet.

Some equipment guy or PR flak comes up to me and says, "Can you please not step on the Penguin?"

Well, if it's alive I'll try not to step on the penguin.

Seriously? What is this, a field trip to Monticello or Mount Vernon? There's a reason people don't put the American flag on their carpeting. It's because you're not supposed to step on it. Why a team would spend the money to get nice carpeting and then, you know, not use it is beyond me. It's like going to Grandma's house where all the fifty year old furniture is still wrapped in plastic. What, exactly, are we saving it for?

Each Friday throughout the season, I'll provide you with my predictions on whose stock is on the rise and whose is failing miserably like an American bank. It's a neat little segment entitled Buys and Sells. There are a few teams/players/issues to buy and a few to sell.

The world is going pretty topsy turvy right now. Sure, things are usually a little out of hand, but the past few weeks have been exceptionally so. We've got a new President, the New York Brett Favres Jets actually beat the New England Patriots, the Bruins are one of the best teams in the NHL and the Dallas Stars are one of the worst. Who would have thought? But that's not all, we've also got ice girls that come with disclaimers, drunk Ranger fans and Mike Ribeiro trying to destroy ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THE WORLD with his shootout goal. No, he was actually doing the NHL a favor, and I'll tell you why. All you have to do is continue reading. And you say your life is hard! Oh and, it's Friday. Woo! Yeah, I thought you might be excited about Friday, too.