Splinters: NY hockey hotbed, Sim clears, Bailey stays

Links for the afternoon constitutional ...

• James Mirtle continues his series on where NHLers were born. Today's focus: New York, whose NHL player output has shot up in the last 15 years.
• Are you sitting down? Jon Sim cleared waivers (Shock!). Chris Botta says he won't be in the lineup tonight (Logan confirms, will have quotes later).The Isles have a logjam at forward -- not a talented one, but a logjam nonetheless. What should they do? Who would buy these vets? Keep in mind Mike Comrie makes $4 million -- not an easy salary to swallow.
• Speaking of Botta, he's nearing hyperventilation about Josh Bailey not being sent to the WJC as "one of Canada's top two centers." I think it wouldn't hurt, but I'm not upset about it. There are potential pros and cons, and I think the WJC experience may be oversold. To me, the rubicon was crossed when they kept Bailey past game #9. Now, about Bailey's less impressive play lately ... maybe they want him here, where they can guide him?
• PuckDaddy says the Ryan Miller/ref incident is much ado about nothing. Question, though: Aren't refs supposed to stay above verbal spats (and profanity) with players, preserving their impartiality and judicial credibility? Put it this way, if a ref curses at you, your reply could be, "Calmer than you are." And that sort of aggression [should] not stand, man.
  

At the rate injuries have piled up, I half expect the roster problem will fix itself when Comrie returns next week(ish). But we'll see.