Gloves off: Live chat at 1 p.m.

               Iced tea and a sandwich for me, waiter....hope our loyal Blue Noters can carve out some time this afternoon for the first live chat of August, a month before what promises to be a competitive training camp.

              The free agent flow has slowed to a drizzle, obviously, but some team will grab D Willie Mitchell for sure....If a Stars sale is imminent, wonder what that means for their top RFAs and Mike Ribiero? And will Brad Richards be dealt at the trade deadline, as we have long assumed?...  

               In the meantime, should we try on these ghost lines for size?  Lots of moving parts here, because there are SIX potential centers and Drury and Prospal can move to wing.

              Based on his track record, I don't imagine Torts will stick with a set-in-stone top 9 through October. (Travel for first month, by the way, is minimal, with two games in Toronto and one in Boston after the Buffalo opener. Don't really consider the Isles a "road" game. It's also when the Rangers need to establish some home dominance, which was missing most of last season. Ten of first 16 games are at the Garden.)

              So let's throw this (revised) out there....

               Frolov-Prospal-Gaborik

               Dubinsky-Christensen-Callahan

               Avery-Anisimov-Zuccarello/Drury

               Prust/Boogaard-Boyle-Weise         

               Spares: White or Grachev

               Zuke, White, Boyle, Weise, Grachev are wild cards here. A couple will be in Hartford to start the season.  At this point, it seems  there will be more depth in the AHL this year when the inevitable injuries and ineffectiveness strike...

              That's on the table for discusssion, as are the proposed rules tweaks (which have to pass the competition committee and BOG, so there won't be any sweeping changes this season),  and whatever else your demented minds can conjur....

               See ya later...