Yesterday, Forbes put together yet another list that they know readers love, in this case, the top 10 sports franchises most likely to move. The NHL and the NFL tied for most teams on the list, each with three, while Major League Baseball and the NBA both placed two teams on the list.

The candidates from the NHL aren't much of a surprise. The New York Islanders, Phoenix Coyotes and Nashville Predators all made the list, and their problems are more or less familiar to folks who follow the game closely. On Long Island, a team that hasn't won a playoff round in 15 years struggles on with an aging building; in Phoenix, a Canadian refugee is struggling financially in a non-traditional market; while Nashville is just looking for a reliable owner.

But for all of Forbes well-deserved reputation for solid reporting, they are not above getting it wrong sometimes. Here's the Nashville capsule:

Predators ownership went into the season armed with a contract clause with the Nashville officials stipulating they could leave town if the team didn't draw at least 14,000 fans per game to the city-owned Sommet Center. They wound up at just over 14,900 per game. No word on whether owner Craig Leipold tried to channel Rachel Phelps (character who played the Cleveland Indians owner in Major League) in an attempt to sabotage attendance.

Last time I checked, Leipold was the former owner of the Predators, having sold the team and been approved as the new owner of the Minnesota Wild.

I have another idea for Forbes: how about a feature on the top 10 sports franchises likely to disappear in the event of a violent economic contraction? You may even get a chance to see your predictions come true in the short term!

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: Scott Gordon (head coach), Doug Weight, C (UFA), Mark Streit, D (UFA), a youth movement (Frans Nielsen, Blake Comeau, Kyle Okposo, Jeff Tambellini).

Who's Out: Ted Nolan (hear about that?), Wade Dubielewicz, G (Russia), Miro Satan, RW (Penguins), Josef Vasicek, C (UFA), Ruslan Fedotenko, LW (Penguins), Bryan Berard, D (Flyers).

What's Changed: Well, if you haven't heard by now, there were some issues when it came to the direction of the team earlier in the summer. It was clear that Garth Snow and Charles Wang wanted to bring in the kids and go with a youth movement. Snow and former head coach Ted Nolan clashed throughout the second half of the season and it was apparent to anyone within Nassau County. Actually, the only people who probably didn't know were stranded out on a deserted island somewhere.

When coach and GM clash, as Nolan knows, the coach usually gets the boot. And, well, that's what happened here. The real surprise was not that Nolan was let go, but how long it took. The team began rookie camp in August at about the same time that Scott Gordon was hired. There's no sense in rushing to make a selection as important as who your next head coach is going to be, but sometimes you've got to have a coach. Like at summer camp. But hey, this is the Charles Wang era and, as we all know, the Isles march to the beat of their own drum. You've gotta respect that.

Brandon "Sugar" Sugden is hardly a household name among NHL fans, but he is a notorious figure in hockey circles for a lifetime ban he received, back in 2000, from the ECHL for throwing a stick at a female fan in the stands.

After official retiring from the game during the 06-07 season, Sugden got an invite from the New York Islanders to attend training camp and beat people up while pretending to play hockey. Unfortunately for Sugden, there is a rule stating that he has to wait a year before unretiring, and 4 NHL GM's weren't willing to waive it for his case. Call it a form of "blacklisting", if you will.

Now, the Isles have made many questionable moves in my lifetime, and I wonder why the hell they'd want to touch Sugden with a 10-foot pole. Not only does he lack any semblance of NHL hockey skills, but he has a row of baggage a mile long.

Oh, but there is a sob story involved, believe you me.

You could be excused these days if it seems to take something of a scorecard to determine just how many NHL owners might be in trouble with the law. Now it's time for New York Islanders owner Charles Wang to reluctantly step into the spotlight.

Though many have forgotten, Wang didn't buy the Islanders by himself in 2000. Rather, he did it with Sanjay Kumar, the protege that succeeded him as CEO of Computer Associates (CA) that same year. But the happy times didn't last.

In 2004, Kumar was forced to resign due to an accounting scandal, and just two years later agreed to plead guilty to a variety of charges including securities fraud and obstruction of justice. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison, and agreed to pay more than $225 million in restitution, selling his share in the Islanders and the AFL's New York Dragons to Wang.

The Islanders' marketing department is easily one of the most creative in the league, if not in all of sports. They brought us the original Ice Girls, the Blog Box and Al Arbour coming out of retirement to coach one more game.

Today, they unveiled another addition in their long line of original, creative and controversial gimmicks. Although I imagine that this one will probably be much less controversial than the Blog Box. It comes to us from the ticketing gurus the Islanders employ.

The team is selling what they are calling a 'Victory Pack' ticket plan. It's four Wednesday night games, one of which features Sidney Crosby. What's different about this plan from the norm is that the final score of the games will impact how much bang the buyers of this plan will get for their buck. For each of the four games that the Islanders win, purchasers will receive 'free' tickets to future games.

Each time the Islanders win a game in the four-game Victory Plan package, you will get to come back and watch another select game - on us! For example if the Isles defeat the Sidney Crosby-led Pittsburgh Penguins on November 26, you get to return to the Nassau Coliseum on December 16 to see Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals for FREE.

The second game is advertised for free, but the Islanders did not post a price for the Victory Plan along with the article. Being the cynic that I am, I think there could be some extra charges. Either way, it's a very creative way to try and put butts in seats and props to the Islanders for that.

This has certainly been THE summer for NHL celebrity romances. Not long after we got word that MILF Hunter Jarret Stoll is going to get hitched to Rachel Hunter, and Dan Hinote getting engaged to a Playboy "playmate", we get word that Hilary Duff and Mike Comrie are getting ready to take their relationship to the next level.

From Hollyscoop.com, it seems the paparazzi scoped out the happy couple and caught Duff sporting with what looks like an engagement ring.

Hilary Duff has sparked engagement rumors after she was photographed leaving Hollywood hotspot Il Sole sporting a ring on her wedding finger Friday night.

Duff, who has been dating her hockey player beau Mike Comrie for a little over a year, wasn't trying hard to hide the ring. As soon as she saw the paps snap her photo, she casually flashed the ring while pretending to fix her hair.

Of course, Hilary Duff is a pro at the celeb hounding game and knows that she can keep her name in the media hungry by throwing them a bone or two, but leaving them guessing.

While it might look like Comrie would benefit from the fame and fortune of Hilary Duff's family-friendly entertainment empire, keep in mind that Comrie is heir to a large furniture chain. I'd say Duff did well for herself.

The last vacant head coaching job in the league was filled last night when the New York Islanders announced last night that they had hired Providence Bruins Head Coach and reigning AHL Coach of the Year Scott Gordon to replace Ted Nolan. The announcement comes just a few days after Newsday's Greg Logan reported that Gordon was a finalist for the job along with ex-Atlanta head coach Bob Hartley and former Toronto head coach Paul Maurice.

It's hard to quibble with GM Garth Snow's choice. The Islanders are going to go young, and there's little doubt that an experienced AHL hand like Gordon -- he's got more than five full seasons behind the bench as a head coach and another three as an assistant under his belt -- has a pretty good read on what it takes to motivate young players.

Better yet, there's little doubt that Gordon will come at a far more reasonable price than any of the other NHL retreads that were competing with him for the job. And, as Lowetide noted last night, the bar for success can't be set terribly high for year one -- just keep feeding the kids ice time and find a way to get Rick DiPietro healthy and Gordon is sure to be ahead of the game.

So what's the feeling on Long Island? In short, it's all over the place.

The New York Islanders have quietly and methodically going about their business of choosing a coaching replacement for Ted Nolan. Given how Puppet GM Garth Snow and Charles Wang Dang Doodle have managed the team in the past, I'm rather surprised that the Isles have been so patient in their process.

According to Greg Logan of Newsday, the Isles are down to three candidates, and should make their decision some time in the next week. Given the nature of the Isles organizational woes, I'm rather surprised that coaches would be so eager to go to a team that could kill their career.

After a painstaking interview process in which he spoke with eight known candidates and contacted a few others, an NHL source indicated Snow has narrowed his list to three finalists. Former Atlanta coach Bob Hartley (pictured), former Toronto coach Paul Maurice and current AHL Providence coach Scott Gordon still are in the running, and Snow is expected to name one as the Isles' next coach early this week.

So, we have two retreads and an unknown (to most of us) coaching prospect. How do the candidates stack up?

Mark down another former NHL player as trying to make a go of it back home in Russia. According to Sovetsky Sport, defenseman Alexei Zhitnik, who was bought out of the last year of his contract by the Atlanta Thrashers just a few weeks ago, has joined Dynamo Moscow on a tryout contract. Details of the deal were confirmed for FanHouse by Dmitry Chesnokov, Sovetsky's Washington correspondent.

According to Chesnokov, the contract expires at the end of Dynamo's training camp. If at that time Zhitnik opts to stay in Russia, Dynamo will have the right of first refusal on any contract that he's offered.

To say that stock in the veteran defenseman has dropped over the past two seasons would be an understatement. Back at the beginning of the 2006-07 season, Zhitnik started the year as a seemingly important cog on an Islanders team full of veterans.

Despite this, he was traded to Philadelphia in a salary dump for Freddy Meyer IV. Then, at the trade deadline, Philadelphia GM Paul Holmgren somehow convinced Atlanta GM Don Waddell to part with Braydon Coburn in exchange for Zhitnik. The deal has since become known as one of the most lopsided in recent NHL history. After a more or less anonymous season in Atlanta where he missed some time due to injury, Waddell was happy to buy out Zhitnik and erase the physical evidence of the biggest mistake in his career as a GM.

Yes, folks it's about that time again -- time for another exercise in alternative photo captions. This one is of the New York Islanders' mascot, Sparky the Dragon, taking in Islanders' Rookie Camp last week. The original caption provided to us by Getty is as follows:

SYOSSET, NY - JULY 15: The New York Islanders mascot Sparky the Dragon watches practice during a mini camp at Iceworks July 15, 2008 in Syosset, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Yawn.

I think we can do better, no? Here's a couple I came up with to start us off:

• "Ahh... I can see it now. With Nolan out of the picture, I'll be head coach in no time!"
  
  
• "Yum. Fresh rookie meat. Maybe this year they'll let me eat the ones that they're going to cut."
  

Let's see what you got. Bring it on in the comments!