Where do we go from here?

It’s never fun when your team gets knocked out early and the final game of the regular season doesn’t mean squat.

It’s even less fun when the players are subjected to what amounts to “exit interviews” just days after the season ends.

It’s heartbreaking when the team captain expresses his disappointment in himself and the team as a whole (especially when the guy is contemplating retirement).

Sometimes that much honesty is too much to bear and causes fans to run away, fingers stuck in their ears, shouting “lalalalala!  I can’t hear you!!!”

So where do we go from here?  The Pronger trade backfired disastrously on us, Wisniewski is probably going to ask for 6 (he’s worth 3), will you please lock in Bobby Ryan!!!…and…tell me again, who’s the back-up goaltender?

Plus, even though management assured the fans that they’d get definitive answers from Captain Canada and the Finnish Flash as to whether or not they’ll return next season, no decision has yet been made.  Those two decisions are going to have a HUGE impact on the cap.  As the saying goes, s*** or get off the pot!

On the positive site, we did sign left winger Brandon McMillan to a three-year entry-level contract, dealt goaltender Mattias Modig for a sixth-round selection in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft from the Pittsburgh Penguins (the sixth-round pick originally belonged to the Montreal Canadiens) and wisely kept Sheldon Brookbank in the fold. 

What surprises me the most right now is how many people have asked me “so, is the Saku Koivu experiment over?”  WTF!?  Okay, so the guy’s no spring chicken, but he’s not chopped liver either (enough bad analogies for ya?)  

Yeah, he had a bit of a rough patch fitting in at first, but taking bronze along with the rest of the Wonder Finns in the Olympics is nothing to sneeze at. 

Plus, he and Teemu have settled into an almost Zen-like partnership in which the philosophy is simple: feed Selanne the puck.  No need to wonder where he is.  To misquote “Field of Dreams” – if you pass it, he will come.

And speaking of the Olympics, true story.  The people responsible for organizing Team USA’s trips back to their respective teams booked their flights for Sunday MORNING.  Talk about pessimism!  Either that or they were rooting for Russia.