And so another hockey season begins.

Actually, for me the hockey season started about a month a go with my first trip to the storage locker to gather my gear which had last been used in November of 2007. This was followed by 3 shinny sessions with the 35 to 50 crowd and a couple of QMJHL games in Rimouski and Quebec. But tonight, tonight the Leafs welcome the Habs in this season's Air Canada Centre NHL opener. Let's hope that they are not too welcoming...

But before talking about tonight's Original Six tilt in Toronto, three of their generation's greatest players called it quits recently.

Joe Sakic arrived in Quebec City in the fall of 1988 after being drafted in the first round by the Nordiques in 1987. Through the majority of his seven years in Quebec, Sakic was the lone shining light on some fairly lackluster teams, but with good use of very high draft positions, the team's fortunes slowly but surely began to rise, with Sakic's quiet, workmanlike leadership and the addition of players such as Peter Forsberg, Owen Nolan and Adam Foote, the future looked bright for the team on the ice. Off the ice however, things were different for the Nordiques. Financial realities forced the moving of the team to Denver where they were to become the Colorado Avalanche. In his first season in Colorado, Sakic scored 120 regular season points and added another 34 in the playoffs as the Avs brought the Stanley Cup to Denver in their first season in that city. Much to the chagrin of Quebec City hockey fans who had suffered through years of rebuilding only to see their team achieve ultimate hockey success upon their arrival to Colorado. One of my favourite pieces of hockey memorabilia is a signed Joe Sakic stick that my brother got from him for me during one of his many visits to a Nordiques practice.

Mats Sundin is one of my favourite all-time hockey players. He also started out in Quebec City. And from all accounts he loved the city. His downfall in that city was that he didn't get along with Pierre Pagé, the coach. Well time has proven that in that argument, Sundin was right, cause he's going to the Hockey Hall of Fame and Pierre Pagé is... well I don't care where Pierre Pagé is.... When you look at Sundin's career stats, what you notice is the consistency. Year after year after year it was pretty much always 30 to 35 goals, 80 to 85 points. But it wasn't just about the stats. He was a fun player to watch. He had size and he had grit and he had loads and loads of talent. The true successor to the Swedish tradition set by Borje Salming a generation earlier.

If ever there was an example of what can be accomplished as a hockey player when one pays no attention to what others may say about you it is Theo Fleury. Listed at 5'6" (I saw him in person at the Dorval Airport where I worked in 1989 when the Flames won the Cup in the Forum against the Habs and if he's 5'6" I'm 6'2"!), Fleury played a game based on speed, skill and sheer determination. The adjective feisty comes to mind. Perhaps the greatest career ever by a Calgary Flame and an important contributor to various incarnations of Team Canada, Fleury's NHL career ended in a series of incidents brought about by Fleury's battle with alcoholism.

So anyway, these three players will be heading to the Hockey Hall of Fame real soon.

On to tonight's game.

The shot clock was 46-27 in favour of the Leafs who dropped it in OT to the Habs 4-3 in their season opener. Goes to show how important Carey Price is to the Habs' hopes and that there is still some work to be done on the Leafs' front. A couple more things.

François Beauchemin looked a little nervous out there tonight and Mike Komisarek was sure showed that he could be, as Brian Burke calls it, truculent and pugnacious. He will however have to make sure that he doesn't continue to get into penalty trouble as the season progresses because that will get real old, real fast...

Colton Orr took on who most consider to be the reigning heavyweight champion of the NHL, Georges Laraque. No big blows were landed but you could see that although Orr certainly didn't hesitate to take on the big man, Laraque is still the king.

I thought that young Viktor Stalberg looked very good in his NHL debut. The 161st pick of the 2006 NHL drafted showed that he has the size, speed and skill to play in that league and picked up a point in the process.

Mike Cammalleri picked up two assists and 5 shots on goal as he led all forwards in ice time.

Speaking of ice time, the Leafs will not win many games this season when Mitchell is leading their forwards in this category.

Pretty lame pre-game ceremony at the ACC. Always good to see guys like Sittler and Lemieux and even Paul Henderson, but MLG Entreprises are in the entertainment business. Be creative for goodness' sake.