I mean, shouldn’t Lewis have to — oh, I dunno — play a full season in the NHL before we say he’s better than Belanger?

Belanger was a very useful player in his prime, and perhaps not well appreciated. He was like that really good utility infielder whose value you don’t really appreciate until he goes free agent on you and signs for more money elsewhere. I wouldn’t have minded a bit if the Kings had made a deadline deal for him. I think he would have been a better pickup than Halpern, certainly in retrospect.

He’s got another year of juniors, and then I expect he’ll spend a season or two in the AHL. Probably the best plan would be (for us, the impatient fan base) to forget about him for a couple of years and then pile on the expectations. His numbers have improved markedly each season, so maybe a break-out season is in order now.

haven’t watched tonight’s game yet.

clifford was in the middle of things in game two, looked good. loktionov had a number of excellent back-checks in which he stripped the puck off people, very stealthy. Moller I didn’t see much of, but that doesn ‘t mean he wasn’t there. also, it’s hard to tell watching on the 4" box on the computer screen.

i’m looking forward to seeing hickey tonight.