Home Sweet Ho..ly Crap Its Cold In Here

"The more things change, the more they stay the same."

I overheard this gem from the yellow practice jersey-clad fan sitting in front of me at last night's preseason opener, and I feel it accurately describes my feelings about the season's prospects. We all knew that no one among those the top brass brought in were superstar material, but I think we all hoped beyond hope that somehow one would break away from the middle of the pack. My suspicion is that this is a vain hope, mainly because I am an unmitigated pessimist, but mostly because I have seen the power play unit and it is as insidious as ever. Twice we had a 5 on 3 advantage and you know what we did with it? NOTHING. It was deja vu. I remember a quote in high school from Emerson that said something about foolish consistency being the "hobgoblin of little minds." Well, it is also the hobgoblin of our power play unit. Mix it up a little for pete's sake! I love Bob Hartley, I really do, but god help me if he can't adjust the power play setup so that SOMEONE can score once and a while, I'm going to turn into Randy Quaid from "Major League." I mean it. I will break the staff of Flag Guy's flag.

I must say I was also a little sad that none of the prospects or new guys really wowed me, but there's plenty of time for that (as least for the new guys). My most anticipated line to watch was of course the Kovy-White-Sterling line, and this was unfortunately the biggest disappointment. Todd White didn't really do anything. Poor Sterling spent the entire game buried beneath a sea of white jerseys, which he could only escape by hanging out next to the goal with no feasible shot (which is why they left him alone). With his line neutralized, Kovy just looked a little lost. I'm hoping that Sterling just needs some adjusting time, but man oh man was Todd White ineffective and boring. It almost makes you miss Metro, because at least he had a personality.

Enstrom was the other hot prospect I was itching to see, but mainly because at camp he looked far more like the guy who played trumpet in your high school marching band than an NHL defenseman. Seriously, he looked like he could fit in my pocket. It would have been cute if I wasn't afraid that Chad Denny might eat him by mistake. In his Atlanta debut I was a little nonplused, as he had some fancy footwork moves that were cool to watch but he also committed a really lame penalty. On the whole I would say he was more interesting to watch than others, so he gets the benefit of the doubt. According to the Blueland Blog he was unhappy with how he played, so if he believes he can play better than I'm a lot more pumped about him. Mainly though, I was just relieved that no one mistook him for a speed bump.

The little Wolves line of Lavallee-Little-Haydar was cute, and it was clear in the last two periods that they took the game more seriously than anyone (other than the apparently bitter Keith Tkachuk who committed at least two penalties and nearly went to blows with Fisticuffs McCarthy). Little was fast and made a few opportunities for himself, though no goals. Not particularly effective, but I liked their spirit. The only line that looked really good and ready to go was Hossa-Holik-Bartovic. Two goals for Hoss (one short-handed! I love when he does that!), Holik showed a good amount of his Czech feisty-ness (which was well-needed with Ex out of the lineup for the evening and no Mellanby to stand up for his guys), and I even thought Bartovic looked pretty good (though he's now been cut). He didn't look overwhelmed at least, which is more than I can say for some guys that haven't been cut yet.

Overall it was good, it was bad, it was really cold. But mostly it was just good to be home.

UPDATE: I forgot about this, but apparently they are trying to change the "Unleash the Fury" video again. It was another montage that had nothing you could shout along to. I am most displeased.