I am still on vacation with my family but here are a few quick hits for your Saturday. Tomorrow and Monday we will continue our series of substitute bloggers before I return full force on Tuesday. Here goes:
1) The city of Markham, Ontario has announced that it has a new financing arrangement -- the exact details are still somewhat sketchy, however -- for the construction of a new 20,000-seat arena specifically designed to attract an NHL franchise. According to a text I got today from a source, "the news today out of Markham about [a] new arena points further towards NHL goal of expanding to 32 teams in the next five years."
2) There has been a fresh round of red hot rumors about teams heavily pursuing Winnipeg's Dustin Byfuglien. The suitors mentioned include Philadelphia, Montreal, Carolina and New Jersey.
3) It is too soon after the broken leg suffered by Dallas' Stephane Robidas for the team to work the phones for a replacement for their steadiest veteran defenseman. However, I fully expect the Stars to explore a variety of options and they could even be an entrant into the Byfuglien sweeps.
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