It's the Preds again...

I'm so excited.

Rafalski is back.

Lilja's brain is bleeding, and I'm not going to lie - I'm a little worried.

Unfortunate piece of news from the bottom of the article I linked to concerning the likely event of Johan Franzen getting a new contract:

"Holland also wants to re-sign Marian Hossa but cannot sign both Franzen and Hossa now due to a lack of salary cap room."

I was still holding out hope that signing both was possible. Who would you rather see stay? Personally I'd pick Mule, but it's for sentimental reasons, and I'm probably a crazy fool, which is why I don't run a hockey team, I only blog about one.

As for this game, I only hope that Kronner and Ericsson be careful, lest they fall victim to Shea Weber's attempt at systematically laying out every Swedish defenseman on the team. Lidstrom missed 2 1/2 games last December after blocking one of his shots with his ankle, and the Lilja/Weber fight during one of the teams' last meetings was the last thing Lilja will have done all season. Joy.