Mathieu Darche

Don't get me wrong.

I have nothing but respect for Mathieu Darche. He's an honest, hard-working professional hockey player.

But we have to ask ourselves what this recall says about organizational depth and the quality of Canadiens' prospects in Hamilton.

While they were at it, the Canadiens should have called up his brother, J.P. Darche.

The former Seattle Seahawks long-snapper could have taught us how to bend over and kiss the season goodbye.

•  •  •

Statement game by the Senators.

Cory Clouston has them playing great.

•  •  •

Hawks will not win the Cup with Cristobal Huet.

Have the salt shaker ready while reading this from Eklund, the anonymous (that pic is the only known photo of him) blogger at HockeyBuzz.com:

Some quotes from various sources who have emailed me this evening.
An Assistant GM:
"They (the Canadiens) finally feel they are going to get him (Mats). They are dying to make an announcement soon."
A Scout:
"People have stopped buying that the Leafs are going hard after Mats. Everyone is startin gto assume it will be the Habs."
A Swedish Player:
"Mats is preparing tonight for something that is coming soon. Many of us wold be shocked if it made it past Monday....and even more shocked if it wasn't Montreal."
A senior NHL person:
"It is all falling into the Habs lap. The Rangers are out of it and Mats does owe it to himself to play another season. To try and bring Stanley back to Montreal for the Centennial."

So is it in the bag? Do we have to wait till Aug. 1? Should a (mostly) respectable, (frequently) intelligent, (occasionally) authoritative Canadiens web site be propagating rumours?

Don't touch that dial.

• Boone weighs in.