In fiddling with the new shop, we accidentally disable the forum briefly. Sorry about that! It said “Do Not Press Button” and I couldn’t resist.

Fantasy Guide update coming later today…remember, I update all summer long, including projections and new content.

Craig Adams underwent an unsuccessful appendectomy. His life is grave danger. Oh, wait, I read that headline wrong – it was a "successful" appendectomy. Whew! These informative headlines really make my heart race at times.

Hey, it's August 22, what else am I going to ramble on about? Dave Scatchard retiring?

Another Sidney Crosby-not-ready-for-camp rumor has cropped up. My own opinion – I wouldn't count on a training camp appearance. Let's hope for 75 games, but prepare for 65. The agent calls the latest report premature. Last week the GM pretty much said the same thing. Saying all the right things.

A Teemu Selanne announcement – nothing yet about this season, but he will probably retire by next summer. I think we all could have guessed that one, though.

Wade Belak is on the next Battle of the Blades? Eep. Remember folks – Belak was at the main fork in the DobberHockey road nearly five years ago.

I turned to Twitter again for more content. Who will have a better comeback, Malkin or Crosby? Well, Malkin is probably the safer bet in terms of health and in a one-year league I think at this point I would rather draft Malkin. I think Gino could shock you with how well he does.

This guy was going to drop Mikko Koivu, but now he's not too sure because the team added Heatley and Setoguchi. Well, if Koivu was a dropsy before that, he is probably still a dropsy now. Sure, the wingers are upgraded, but I don't often make decisions based on possible line combos.

Buffalo overspending in the free agent market – I think the owner made a mistake pushing the GM (I'm guessing he pushed) to go nutty with the spending. I think, three months after seeing Sekera emerge and Gragnani arrive, adding Ehrhoff was just plain dumb. Signing Leino was fine. But they could use the Ehrhoff money on a better free agent next summer – or a trade in February with a team looking to move a player on the cheap to shed salary.

Parise or Kovalchuk for more points this year? I'll repeat last year's answer and say Parise. I have him in the Guide for 81, while Kovalchuk is at 76. And who will be their top scoring defenseman? I have Greene at 36, Taormina at 31 and Larsson for 23. But any one of those three can post 38 points. I don't think anyone gets 40 this year.

Sorry hockey purists, but I love the hot dogs – Top 10 goal celebrations start at 1:43 into this: