This is a good time to be a sports fan in Tampa. Well, maybe too good.

You see, for the first time in the team's history, the Tampa Bay Rays are in the Major League Baseball Playoffs, and they're scheduled to play play host to Game Two of the American League Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox on Saturday night at 8:07 p.m.

Unfortunately, across town at the St. Pete Times Forum, the Lightning are scheduled to host the Carolina Hurricanes in their own home opener. Wanting to be civic-minded and to not force local fans of both teams to choose which event to attend or watch on television, management sought to move the start time of the game to earlier in the day.

But because the Hurricanes play another game the night before at home in Raleigh against the Panthers, they had the right of first refusal on the change under NHL rules.

Welcome to the NHL FanHouse 2008-09 season preview. While other sites are previewing "30 teams in 30 days," we decided to take advantage of the extra time off before the start of the season to bring you all 30 previews over the next three weeks. We're counting down in reverse order of finish from last season in each conference every weekday from now until October 3. Look for an Eastern Conference preview every morning and a Western Conference preview every afternoon. Click here to read them all.

Who's In: Anton Babchuk, D (FA-Europe); Josef Melichar, D (FA-Europe); Jeff O'Neill, F (FA); Joni Pitkanen, D (Trade-EDM)

Who's Out: Keith Aucoin, C (FA-WSH); Erik Cole, LW (Trade-EDM); John Grahame, G (FA-Europe); Jeff Hamilton, C (FA-CHI AHL); Bret Hedican, D (UFA); Darcy Hordichuk, LW (Trade-NSH; FA-VAN); Trevor Letowski, F (UFA); David Tanabe, D (UFA); Glen Wesley, D (Retired)

What's Changed: Um... the jerseys they'll wear for 15 home games this year? Other than that, it's hard to see much that's likely to be different from a season ago in Carolina, and that begins with the team's luck.

The Hurricanes lost a whopping 333 man games to injury in 2007-08, and have already picked up where they left off, as winger Justin "Lebowski Rug" Williams will miss four-to-six months with a torn Achilles tendon, an injury that comes on the heels (no pun intended) of a season in which a torn ACL limited him to just 37 games.

A week ago I thought that challenging the accuracy of a statement made by a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning front office would make for an interesting blog post. Now I'm thinking that the increasing opportunity for such challenges would make for an interesting blog. Or an interesting 24-hour cable news channel.

One week after Bolts' veep of hockey ops Brian Lawton put Andrej Meszaros among the game's elite blueliners (on a sidenote, you've gotta at least appreciate a number two who's actually willing to talk to the press), Lightning owner Oren Koules announced to the world that his team has the best top two lines in hockey:

"We take a lot of pride in knowing our top six forwards, who we believe are the best top six forwards in the league, all have three years or more on their contracts."

Assuming that the players to whom Koules is referring are Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Steve Stamkos, Vaclav Prospal, Ryan Malone and Radim Vrbata, is Koules accurate in his assessment, or is he just blowing smoke? Does he even have the top six forwards in the Southeast Division? Let's look at it position-by-position.

You can say what you want about hockey in Raleigh, but without question the team has one of the better beat writers in the sport covering the local team for The News & Observer.

Make that "the team had one of the better beat writers in the sport." You see, Luke DeCock has graduated from his duties covering the 'Canes to the vaunted position of "columnist."

Good for Luke. Bad for 'Canes fans. Or at least so say the bloggers.

Here, for example, is the reaction over at red & black hockey from a post entitled "N&O takes two steps backwards":

In [DeCock's] place, the N&O has slotted former NC State Wolfpack beat writer Chip Alexander, who admits that he doesn't know a thing about hockey. This is a huge, huge mistake. There are other writers on the staff (I'm specifically looking at Lorenzo Perez) who are far more capable....

If I were a Raleighite and/or a subscriber to the print edition of the N&O, I would angrily cancel my subscription to the paper.

People still subscribe to newspapers?

But the reaction of the day comes from The Acid Queen, who offers this typically restrained musing on the change:

[Alexander's] first post to Lord Stanley's Blog where he bragged about knowing the ACC and NCSU better than Luke has not exactly won friends and influenced people either. I mean, really–LSB is a hockey blog. WHO CARES ABOUT THE ACC OR STATE (unless you're talking about their damn fine hockey club), ya freakin' toolbox?

Welcome to the beat and the hockey blogosphere, Chip! Keep your head up -- it's rough out there.

Remember Jeff O'Neill? Once upon a time, he was a promising young Power Forward for the Carolina Hurricanes, and then a lazy, under performing marshmallow for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It would be easy to forget O'Neill, especially since he took last season off to grieve his brother's death. It's not as if O'Neill was making an impact on the ice when he was playing, either.

Now that O'Neill is in a better state of mind, he hopes to return to the NHL. The avenue of choice? Carolina, his former club, who have offered him a training camp tryout.

"In training camp, the door is open for players to make the team," Rutherford told The News & Observer. "That's the opportunity we'll give him. He said he plans to come in early and work out with the guys. He has the right mind-set."

"We have talked about a contract, but it makes sense for him to come to training camp for the tryout and then us talk about a contract."

Yes, Jeff O'Neill is a former 30-40 goal scorer, but that was SIX years ago. O'Neill's last three full seasons saw the offensive-minded winger garner just 34, 38, and 42 points. I'm sure I don't need to remind you that his attention to defense was/is atrocious, much like Todd Bertuzzi's.

I realize that there is little risk and investment involved in giving the guy a training camp shot, but why do the Hurricanes need another offensive-minded forward? The Canes certainly do not problems scoring goals, and their forward corps are already full with the likes of Staal, Brind'Amour, Whitney, Williams, Samsonov, and Ruutu.

The Canes need another offense-first forward like Dick Cheney needs a new rifle. Shouldn't the Canes be spending their time looking for defensive help instead of worrying about lazy, washed-up forwards who haven't played hockey in a year? Thumbs down, Carolina!

The NHL Free Agent signing period kicked off a little more than an hour ago, and for the most part, what we've seen so far is teams making deals in order to clear some cap room. Here's a quick rundown of what's been confirmed so far:

The Edmonton Oilers dealt Raffi Torres to Columbus for Gilbert Brule, and also acquired Erik Cole from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for defenseman Joni Pitkanen. Click here for details. Meanwhile, Carolina also signed ex-RSL defenseman Anton Babchuk.

Tampa Bay snagged winger Radim Vrbata away from Phoeinix.

The Anaheim Ducks signed winger Corey Perry to a contract extension.

The Calgary Flames obtained Rene Bourque from the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Red Wings have re-signed defenseman Brad Stuart.

Pat Lackey already wrote about Evgeni Malkin, but the Penguins also re-signed Pascal Dupuis.

The Devils re-signed Jay Pandolfo and Bryce Salvador, but said goodbye to Sergei Brylin.

First thoughts: The Brule deal with not be welcome in Edmonton, but the Cole deal is solid. I'm guessing with Vrbta signed the Lightning are done dealing with Brian Rolston, but you never know. And Chicago may be clearing the decks for a big signing.

Stick with us throughout the afternoon. I'm sure plenty of agents are pondering some big numbers right about now.

On Wednesday afternoon Bret Hedican of the Hurricanes graciously took part in a pre-game chat with the gang here at FanHouse. Bret shared his own Stanley Cup experiences, some thoughts on the just concluded series and more. Fun times.

Hedican is a free agent as of July 1st and during that chat a thoughtful commenter asked him about the possibility he would leave the Hurricanes.

1:34	[Comment From MJ] any truth to the rumors that you're looking to play for a CA team?

1:35	Bret Hedican - Again, right now I haven't made a decision. I'm still leaving all my options open

Today, the Raleigh News and Observer is reporting that a decision has been made. A day after losing Glen Wesley to retirement, it appears as though they are going to lose another one as Hedican and his family are moving to Northern California.

General manager Jim Rutherford said Thursday that Bret Hedican has told the team he's moving on, and although there's a chance he could end up back with the Canes at some point later in the summer as a free agent, he no longer figures in their plans at this point.

The 37-year-old defenseman and his wife, figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, have said they plan to leave Raleigh and move to Northern California.

That leaves a good sized hole in the Canes blueline. It also makes it look like Hedican is preparing to field offers from the three California based teams. We'll have to wait and see, of course, but I'd put my money on him signing locally.

Credit Matt Crossman of The Sporting News for getting an interesting interview with Dr. Thomas Long, a former member of the Darthmouth men's hockey team and now the team dentist for the Carolina Hurricanes. Considering that Detroit's Kris Draper scored the first goal of Game Six of the Western Conference Finals off his face, it's a pretty timely, and at times, gruesome piece.

Dr. Long has some interesting stories to tell, including one about the time Rod Brind'Amour picked up some other player's teeth off the ice with his stick. And when those teeth do come out, Dr. Long's job is pretty simple: Use wire and glue to put a player's face back together as best as he can, and then get that body back on the ice.

I almost hate to pull this out, but here's the money quote, the one that tells you that Dr. Long is a hockey fan who has found the right line of work:

We put one guy who got cut back together. We started at the end of the first period. We got him finally done by halfway through the third. I could see the carotid artery just bumping. It was unbelievable. It was like an anatomy specimen. Yeah, it's a dirty job. But I love it.

I'm sure he does.

As a confirmed tech nerd, I like to count myself lucky to have become an adult in the kind of world that I only dreamed about as a child. In uplifting moments I'm grateful for all the awesome information technology that's transformed the world. Then again, in other small minded moments, I'm grateful for a lot of the mischief this same awesome technology has facilitated.

Case in point: Carey Price, Pension Plan Puppets and Hockey Reference.

All I'll say right now is that Hockey Reference, like its sister sites, allows individuals to sponsor pages with personalized messages. PPP, albeit with some help from its readers, decided it was time to strike in defense of Leafdom, with Montreal goalie Carey Price being the first target. When you get to his page, the sponsorship line now reads:

More Ken Dryden (Liberal leadership candidate) than Ken Dryden (1971 Conn Smythe Winner)

Fresh off its foray into online hijinks, PPP is embarking on a long-term plan to buy up as many pages as possible to annoy fans of rival teams. Childish? Perhaps. But in terms of online marketing, it's sheer brilliance. I can't wait to see who might be next in line. In fact, if I was a less charitable man, I'd think that the folks at Hockey Reference might actually be behind this campaign. But that would just be naked speculation.

Now excuse me for a moment, I need to check out Cam Ward's page.

It's no secret that the 2007-08 NHL season didn't end the way New Jersey Devils goalie Martin Brodeur wanted it to. As if seeing his team flushed out of the playoffs in just five games wasn't enough, Brodeur also got to endure a public beatdown at the hands of winger Sean Avery. No, Avery never laid a glove on Brodeur. Instead, he did something far worse: Avery shamed him with his antics, something that Brodeur only compounded as he refused to shake Avery's hand at the end of the series.

It's also no secret that Brodeur is closer to the end of his career than even he wants to admit, but if he has his way in a meeting with some fellow players and general managers in a few weeks, he'll be sure to have a significant influence on the game for many years after he's gone.

What am I talking about? This morning, the NHL and NHLPA announced the formation of the Goalie Equipment Working Group, a body consisting of five players and four general managers. According to a statement from the NHLPA, the group will "examine the configuration and dimensions of goaltender equipment with respect to safety and performance."

"If the working group decides alterations to the rules governing goaltender equipment are warranted, and will not jeopardize the safety of the goalies, these recommendations will be forwarded to the Competition Committee for consideration," the statement said.

In other words, if there's any way this group can figure out a way to shrink the equipment in order to increase goal scoring without jeopardizing the life and health of goaltenders, they'll do it. Then again, taking a look at the members of the group, my guess is we won't be seeing any dramatic changes after that June 11 meeting.