It’s been a while…And we’ve been sick. Emphasis on we. So you’re going to get a bit of a verbal mishmash, and I apologize for that, but it’s necessary to explain the situation. Both Aunt Annie and I are dealing with persistent health issues which have taken me away from the blog, and kept me away from the blog over the last couple of months. Those issues have been complicated by the fact that Aunt Annie took a rough fall a couple of weeks ago. She’s required in-home nursing care to treat her wounds (though I’ve learned my share of wound care over the last three years), and give her some physic ..read more

Hello again, friends. Here’s an update on the Great Sinus Infection of 2023, and the person who’s got it (me): I’ve had my third doctor’s appointment on Wednesday, and I got tested for COVID, influenza, HIV and Hepatitis B (all negative, thankfully), but my doctor can’t determine why my body is still in a fatigue funk, so I’m going to take a course of Prednisone to try and boost my immune system. I do terribly badly on steroids, but after two courses of heavy antibiotics, I guess the job right now is to suck it up and try my best to get through it without going completely bonkers. This upcomin ..read more

I’ve been reading the reactions to the Red Wings’ signing of Patrick Kane on social media (generally something I don’t recommend, but it was a weird day), and… I get it. Patrick Kane was more than a long-time Wing-killer and agitant in Chicago. He’s got an off-ice “history,” to put things delicately, and the so-called “character issues” have long-time Wings fans perturbed about the karmic value of this particular signing. Put indelicately, let’s be honest regarding the hockey part of the equation: Patrick Kane is, at this point in his career, a 35-year-old hired gun–a mercenary of sorts–and th ..read more

I wanted to post about the imminent Patrick Kane signing, but my posting will be somewhat spotty over the next couple of days. I’m finally “on the mend” as I recover from that particularly serious sinus infection, but I feel far from “like myself” right now. I don’t need to be anywhere near 100% to blog–and, like most of you, I’m usually not having a skip-skippity at-100% day when I work–but I’d like to get to 2/3rds or 3/4ths of feeling like myself again before I sit up and do the blogging thing, and I’m running at 50% right now. I’ve still got some debilitating sinus headaches going on, and ..read more

From Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli: Two things that helped land Kane: 1) GM Steve Yzerman flew to Toronto to meet with Kane face-to-face. 2) #LGRW broke up DeBrincat-Larkin-Raymond line last week. Kane/DeBrincat reunion. Also, credit to @J_Swish24, who had Kane signing in DET last night.https://t.co/mz8q0KLO4r — Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) November 28, 2023 I’m all for an “@” noting the person who broke the deal first, and it should not surprise us that the Red Wings’ GM was willing to provide an in-person sales pitch to Kane and his agent, Pat Brisson ..read more

Sounds reasonable…I wonder whether there are performance-based bonuses written in: Sounds like Kane deal is one year at $2.75M — Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) November 28, 2023 Patrick Kane's one-year deal with the #redwings is worth a prorated $2.75M. It's all due to be paid in salary so he'll earn a little more than $2M in actual dollars for the year. — Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) November 28, 2023 https://t.co/eJvAlZVlOy — PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) November 28, 2023 Patrick Kane's 1-year deal with #LGRW is worth a pro-rated $2.75 million. Depending on when his contract is register ..read more

So the various hockey sources are reporting that Patrick Kane, who is 35 years old and coming off hip resurfacing surgery, is going to sign with the Detroit Red Wings, possibly as early as today. I mean, it could be worse. We heard rumblings from the Chicago Daily Herald’s John Dietz in September that Kane was considering the Red Wings as a spot where he could reunite with Alex DeBrincat, and the Wings remained in the picture ever since. He’s going to be trying a very difficult thing, especially given that Nicklas Backstrom wasn’t able to successfully return from his hip resurfacing surgery, a ..read more

Hey everybody. I’m just finishing up a week-long course of a second antibiotic this week, something called Doxycycline. The second course of antibiotics really tore me up physically, but it appears that I dodged bronchitis, so the investment appears to have paid off. I’m a wreck today, but I’m a healthier wreck. I also received a referral to a sinus specialist from my primary care physician, so for those of you who’ve been “sniffly” about me having “just a sinus infection,” know that surgery to correct these dangerously debilitating sinus infections is very likely in the future. I’m guessing t ..read more

Hey gang, just a quick update. It’s been two and-a-half weeks now, and I’m still battling this sinus infection. I’m quite frustrated by the lack of progress made in terms of feeling better, and I miss working quite a bit, but this bug is just hanging on and doing things the hard way. As such, if I don’t get better in the next couple of days, I’m going to call my doctor, because this is bloody tiring. I’ll be back soon. I do miss all of you and talking hockey with you ..read more

Hey everybody, I’ve been quite ill for the last 24 hours and will try to return by game time tonight. Hopefully earlier, but my head is pounding pretty badly. My apologies for the inconvenience ..read more