Hank Steinbrenner

La première étoile: Marian Hossa. I’m not going to lie to you, I’ve hated Hossa ever since he wildly swung his stick and nearly plucked Bryan Berard’s eye out of its socket in 2000. B.B. was a huge clog on a blossoming young blueline corps whose eye injury drastically thwarted his career. Okay, I feel better after getting that off my chest. Yet by signing a one year, $7.45 million deal with Detroit yesterday the Slovakian sniper is destined to explode in the points department while playing alongside the likes of Datsyuk and Zetterberg. In doing so he will be able to manipulate the hell out of the market next summer and cash in on a huge deal. The only catch is that he needs to stay healthy, otherwise he just left millions on the table.

La première étoile: Daryl Katz. After several failed bids, the billionaire finally received approval from the NHL board of governors yesterday to buy his hometown Edmonton Oilers for a cool $200 million. That’s chump change for a guy who is worth $2.4 billion and runs his family’s pharmaceutical empire. He has indicated that he will spend any amount of money to ensure that the team wins, and has already pledged $100 million for the construction of a new arena. Katz is primed to bring the Oilers back to their glory days. Thank God.

La première étoile: Al Coates, the Toronto Maple Leafs newly appointed director of player personnel. Like his boss Cliff Fletcher, Al was once the GM of the Calgary Flames. The Leafs believe they now have the management team in place to win the 1989 Stanley Cup.