The sharp-looking new blog Abel to Yzerman sent us this candid snap from the Hawks-Flames game on Monday afternoon. Isn't this pretty much a great example of the lasting image most of us will retain of Barnaby after he's gone? (That, or him chirping at the other penalty box?)

For years now, the conventional wisdom on Barnaby is that he's one of these guys that players hate when he's on the other team, but love having on their own. To me, the evidence is basically that only the first half of that CW is true. Check out his hockeydb.com page; he has 7 career playoff goals, all of which were in the same year ('98 Sabres, when they lost in the East Finals to the Capitals). The following year, the Sabres traded him away in midseason and went on to Game 6 of the Finals. He's now on his 5th team since that trade: doesn't exactly seem like a guy who teams are desperate to keep around, does he? I believe in intangibles; I just happen to think that Barnaby's are all negative. Clearly the Hawks could be paying a rookie $450k for 12pts and 97PIM, instead of paying $1.33M to Matthew Barnaby to yap and turtle.

From the Oiler-Fan-Mixed-Emotions Dept.: Conko the Clown (or are we going with 'Conky' now?) had a shutout last night, ensuring that he remains in the mix despite the belief of most watchers that he's fundamentally and mentally the weakest of their 3 keepers. Two points and a goose-egg are what they are, but it did come against a bad team that played an even worse game.

Oil fans are certainly welcome to weigh their situation against Kipper's possibly crumbling pelvis: his workload (if not his GAA) in the past 2 weeks tells me that his inflammation really isn't all that serious.

And on a non-hockey-related note, Cosh has enlightened us as to Edmonton's city motto for 2006: "Canada's Murder Capital!". This follows 2005's "Nunc Nostra Patientia Pro Exremento Nihilum Est" ('Our Tolerance For Crap is Now Zero') and 2004's "Rock Out With Your C**k Out" (signalling the end of the old tradition of having the Oilers' training camp roster choose the city motto).