Your almost-here not-long-now the-boys-are-back-in-town morning news and diversion.
- A monstrous regiment of Blackhawks season previews. [Blackhawk Up] [PD] [Hockeenight]
- John from fifthfeather.com goes on Third Man In Radio to discuss all the things. [Third Man In]
- Niklas Hjalmarsson, Denis Savard, Brett McLean and Mayor Rahm Emanuel appeared at a youth hockey clinic in Lakeview. [Quigley] [CSNChicago]
- Bob McKenzie predicts the five major storylines of the 2011-2012 season. (Warning for automatic video play.) [TSN]
- Versus is going to show four pre-season games, including a Detroit vs. Chicago match. Awesome. [Puck The Media]
- Marty Turco is not retiring yet, still looking for work as a goalie. [ESPNChicago]
- Former players contribute to a good piece on painkillers in the NHL, although, White Rabbit? Really? [SI]
- Puck Daddy looks at the specific case of Derek Boogaard. [PD]
- The Winnipeg Jets unveil their new sweaters. [THN]
- Tyler Dellow doesn’t think Vancouver’s all that crazy for apportioning some of the blame to the Canucks. [mc79hockey.com]
- UPDATE: A plane crash kills the majority of KHL team Lokomotiv. This is just terrible. [PD] [Russia Today]