Pretty exciting day in Coyotes land as Bettman was recently trying to get them a sweet new arena deal and Vrbata is set to play his 1000th game when the Coyotes lace 'em up tonight.
Gary Bettman, when he isn't begging poor people for money, also tries to find time between appearances as a Kevin Spacey lookalike to make announcements about the NHL. Today, he found the time:
Bettman confirms new bye week configuration: all teams on bye over a two week period, half the league one week, other half other the week
— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) March 8, 2017
So that's shocking news.
I don't know about you guys, but I can rest easy knowing we won't have to talk about bye weeks for a while.
What else is going on?
My wife showed up at work with Burger King and a new CD! Then I took some back medicine and embarked on this blog! Good times have never been so good.
The new CD, if you were wondering, is a deluxe edition of REM's Out of Time. If you include the tape my dad bought be when I was nine, this is the third time I've bought this record. It's one of the greatest musical achievements in the history of man, so I don't mind.
Plus, I'm a huge sucker for cool packaging and bonus-laden demo second discs. This truly is the greatest lunch hour we've seen here at work.
I'll even cop to being the only REM fan who enjoys this song:
It's been 1000 games and I still can't spell his name properly. I don't think I ever will. I doubt I'm welcome in the Czech Republic anyways, ever since my feud with populist president Milos Zeman.
By hitting his 1000 game, Vbrata becomes the first player in league history to reach the mark while his step-father (Jaromir Jagr) is still in the league.
In his previous 999 games Vrbata has racked up 274 goals and 602 points. He started his career back in 2001-02 and so of course he loves Missy Elliot, Lord of the Rings and the Patriot Act.
I stole this from a hockey card...... it might not all be true.
You heard it here first kids, Coyotes 6 Senators 2.
The NHL - not specifically Bettman this time- announced this as well:
Bill Daly says the NHL's salary cap is projected to be $75.5M-$76M next season, but adds it will depend on inflator negotiations with NHLPA.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) March 8, 2017
That should be good news as the Coyotes embark on their search to for a goalie to go with Chris Pronger and Pavel Datsyuk...... who I keep hoping will come out of retirement and lead the Coyotes to the Playoffs.
Salut!