We'll have other content up this weekend -- the LHH schedule here is as dependent on writer's block and opportunity as it is on the NHL's 5-travel-games-in-7-nights drill. But this post will serve as the weekend's "game thread" for Friday's All-Star Draft, Saturday's Skill-something-or-other, and Sunday's game. If you're watching any of those, chat them up here.
- All-Star Fantasy Draft: (Highlight of the weekend?) NHL Network coverage at 6 p.m. EST. Draft at 8 p.m. on Vs., TSN
- Superskills Thingy Sponsored by a Car: 7 p.m. EST Saturday. TV somewhere, surely.
- All-Star Game: 4 p.m. EST Sunday on Versus, CBC, RDS
[UPDATE: In accordance with the prophecies, Grabner was the fastest skater. Team interview here. NHL story/video here.]
Apparently Michael Grabner and the other rooks will also be drafted tonight, though how the Skills thing figures in I do not know. (This is one of the rare times where I'm hiding behind blogger laziness.) Katrina Doell of Islanders PR is on the road for this trip, so look for Grabner-iffic updates via her posts at the official site.
OT Department: This is exactly why friends don't let friends lure them into investment schemes. This tale comes as no shock to anyone who thought the Len Barrie As Executive Experience smelled risky from the start (he's the former bit NHLer who got other players to invest in his B.C. development and also was part of the circus Lightning ownership that almost ruined that growing market). Sorry to see other former NHLers get burned as things went south, but, well, if a loved one asked me what I thought about joining that effort, I know what I would've told them.