David Backes named as 20th Blues' captain

Met a guy in university who grew up a Leaf fan and, until they win the Stanley Cup (insert punchline here), will never get over Game 5 of the 1986 Norris Division final. Toronto blew a 3-0 lead and lost 4-3 to St. Louis in overtime. Mark Reeds scored the winner. Every time my friend would get angry at something, he'd say, in a quiet voice, "Mark %&*#@ Reeds." When Owen Sound (where he coaches) reached the Memorial Cup, I got an email that read, "Mark %&*#@ Reeds." First time I'd heard from the guy in 15 years.

I'm going to see the Peoria Rivermen's 1st home playoff game Monday night. I have one extra ticket at $10 (good seats). Comment to claim. But 1st dibs go to Paperwork Ninja.

Hey Tom, how much longer do we have to suffer.

Arch City

Ryan: Hey JR,

Does it bother you that Dan O'Neill is funnier than you?

Jeremy Rutherford:
I don't think Dan will even remember this ... I have a picture of Dan and myself when I was an 18-year sportswriter wannabe. I had him autograph the picture and I still have the picture somewhere. I've been reading his one-liners for years and still laugh my big bottom off. When he writes an article, he always knows that I'm going to call him in the morning and say, "I can't believe you wrote this or tweeted that." The dude is a riot.

Yeah, Ozzie and Drapes, I have a grievance against them with their 'Dumb and Dumber' stuff -- they love calling us Harry and Lloyd," Abdelkader said. "Then (Pavel Datsyuk) always makes fun of me for my soccer skills, how bad they are. And (Johan) Franzen -- recently he's been calling me his kid. He thinks I'm his kid, so he'll call me kid and say I'm suppose to call him Daddy."

"You didn't hear this from me, but the All-Star Game captains are going to be Olli Jokinen and Sean Avery. The whole Crosby/Toews/Ovechkin thing? Smokescreen, baby. Pure smokescreen."

From Rutherford's twitter: Barret Jackman on IR with right knee injury. He will be re-evaluated in 3 weeks.

Ian Cole AND Drazenovic have been sent to Peoria, per Jeremy Rutherfords Twitter.