I've never been very interested in the NHL All-Star Weekend. It always seems so commercialized and over-hyped and then the score always ends up being like 42-41 or something equally ridiculous, which says to me that the goalies get hosed in this deal. Not much fun for me, generally.

Also it tends to come at the point in the season when I have the least amount of will to watch non-meaningful hockey. I always get tired around the midpoint of the season. I can't even imagine how it is for the guys who have to play hurt and stay focused and never get a break. It's a grind. The All-Star break generally has been a time for me to do something else for a while.

So this is my first year to actually pay attention to the thing. And really, it's a little...um...odd, don't you think? If I were trying to get someone to understand why hockey is the best sport on earth, I don't think I'd use the All-Star festivities as a teaching tool. Nonetheless, for advanced students of the NHL, there are some things to learn from this shebang.

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Many people know I've been blogging a long time. In a couple of days (February 10th) I'll reach my eighth anniversary writing about the Tampa Bay Lightning in my blogging capacity.

Yet, I got my appetite wet while writing about the Lightning before blogging entered the mainstream. There's a forgotten place that existed way-back-when from the dot-com boom era (that flared out and went dot-com bust).

You are aware Rivals.com used to cater to general sports, aren't you? Probably not, as it was so long ago. Rivals is now known for its prep sports coverage but, indeed, it had tried to be what SB Nation is now - covering everything in sports with independent publishers covering individual teams. That was when the Web was just beginning to attract the general masses and people were breaking free of the perception that America Online was the Internet.

Rivals.com, before falling down and restructuring, hosted a Tampa Bay Lightning team page by the name of BoltsMag. It was a small but solid group of fans (including Chad Schnarr of BoltProspects.com fame, myself, and a few others of note) who sometimes contributed to the site's content with stories of their own.

It was there that I got my first by-line. I'm not even sure the exact date of publication of the story in question. Unfortunately, the web archives are all but fried for Lightning.rivals.com, and attempting to use the Wayback Machine will only get you a brief flash of the community website before a redirect takes place.

I can say that it was written with the 2001 NHL All-Star game in mind, while reflecting on the 2000 NHL All-Star game and the flaw of the All-Star game format employed at the time.

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It's been a very active day for the Tampa Bay Lightning, with player moves (goodbye, Blair Jones, Hello Brendan Mikkelson, and Piere-Cedric. Labrie), but it would seem a major, major item for the Lightning that has transpired wasn't something their front office was an active participant in.

It's breaking right now that the National Hockey League Players Association has voted against the NHL Realignment plan that was approved by the Board of Governors several weeks back.

The four conference system is not to be in place for 2012-13.

The Tampa Bay Lightning will not play the Maple Leafs, Senators, Canadiens, Sabres and Bruins as conference foes. They will continue playing the Panthers (as they would have), Capitals, Hurricanes and Winnipeg Jets until further notice.

This story is still in the breaking stages, but Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy did make an interesting statement on Twitter, pointing to NHLPA president Donald S. Fehr and how Fehr may be showing his own strength with this move.

Years ago, ages ago to the point I can't find a source on the Internet to verify this, World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment -- or commonly referred to as the WWE) chairman Vince McMahon was supposed to have mused about how he'd be interested in running the NHL -- mixing the sport and highlighting the personalities of the game.

That's right, the man who helped turn Terry Bolea into Hulk Hogan, popularized "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and inserted "Wrestlemania" into the pop culture's psyche over the past 30+ years, wanted to try his hand at the proverbial "coolest game on earth". At least, supposedly.

While I can't back it up with a link (turning the entire suggestion into hearsay), you can confirm that McMahon had ties to hockey in the past.

Of course, McMahon and the NHL never happened. Vince did try to remake the pro-sports game with his brand of sports-entertainment via the eXtreme Football League, but the XFL never got to the point in popularity to be seen as anything more than a gimmick at best. That's not to say the XFL doesn't have legacies. Any time you see a camera dangling over the field of play (giving the view from behind center), or see reporters interviewing coaches and players during gameplay, or even camera views from the locker rooms during intermissions, thank Vince and company.

Flash forward to 2010-11 and the inception of HBO's documentary series "HBO 24/7 Road to the Winter Classic" and you were intimately introduced to the in's and outs of the National Hockey League, by way of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals. You were exposed to the banter, the blow-ups, and other aspects of the game and the sport that are usually out of reach for the fans. "The Road To the Winter Classic" isn't breaking new ground, as HBO has been running documentary-sport-entertainment series' for a few years now (I'm thinking specifically of Hard Knocks, which chronicles an NFL team during the training camp and the preseason), but it is a fresh take on a sport that doesn't get as much exposure as it could.

The novelty of "24 / 7" (in its second season) has bloomed with the antics of the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers. Ilya Bryzgalov turned into a household name, and a repeat reason to tune in to see what odd remarks he'd be trumpeting in each episode.

Yet, I'm troubled. I'm not troubled at the idea of this series, nor the Winter Classic (which, actually, has nothing to do with my troubles at all). It's more about how the show is affecting players and influencing their actions.

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The Montreal Canadiens have long had ties to the Tampa Bay Lightning through, if nothing more, want. What we've had is what they've wanted. Understanding the want is to understand a culture that's divided and proud of its heritage.

The want that we're, as Bolts fans, used to hearing about is the imminent acquisition or free agent signing of Vincent Lecavalier by Les Habs. It's been an acquisition that has been lusted after by some fans of the bleu, blanc et rouge for more than a decade.

Why?

The obvious answer is Lecavalier is a good player, and of course Montreal would want a good player on their team. Digging just a mite deeper, you can see that Lecavalier Is from the Montreal suburb of Ile Bizzard. Home-town-boy-makes-good, of course they want the local product playing at home.

It's a little more complicated than that, though. It's a matter of local pride, it's a matter of provincial nationalism, it's a matter of heritage.

It's a matter of Vinny speaking both English and French.

A prerequisite for respect and admiration from Montreal fans is to be a francophone, a native French speaker. The first step to superstardom with the franchise is to be Québécois, too.

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Our first captioning fun of this season comes to us, thanks to Carey Price and Zach Hamill. During last night's matchup between the Canadiens and the Bruins, the two, well... shared a moment.

What do you think Raw Chargers? What could they possibly be saying to each other? Be sure to keep it PG (as possible), please, as well as rec'ing your favorites!

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Enjoy!

The NHL's Board of Governors on Monday approved a new realignment plan that will eliminate the current two conference, six division format in favor of four regional "conferences" beginning with the 2012-13 season.

Realignment became necessary after the Atlanta Thrashers franchise of the current Southeast Division was sold and moved to Winnipeg prior to this season. The Board voted in favor of this plan over one that would have maintained the current structure while moving Winnipeg to the Western Conference and moving either the Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings or Nashville Predators to the Eastern Conference.

Two of the four as-yet-unnamed conferences will consist of seven teams while the other two will have eight teams. The Tampa Bay Lightning are assigned to what is currently known as Conference C along with the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs.

The new alignment will result in a schedule that will have all teams play each other at least twice. Conference champions along with the second, third and fourth place finishers within each conference will advance to the postseason playoffs.

How does all of this directly affect the Tampa Bay Lightning? Read on...

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It's getting late in August, and that means hockey camps, exhibition games and the regular season are just around the corner (and none too soon, either!).  Those of us in Tampa Bay Lightning country are looking forward to a new season with a promising future, but what about those that have been left behind?

What about those forlorn birds in Georgia…you know, the Atlanta Thrashers?  Oh wait; they’re the reincarnated Winnipeg Jets now, aren’t they? So, what about the fans they left behind? Who are they going to root for now? And yes, they did have their followers as well, quite a few, believe it or not.  This is not a jab at Winnipeg fans and their efforts to return the NHL to their city.  To them, I offer my congratulations and say, "Welcome back."

But what about the Atlanta Thrashers faithful that no longer have a home team to support? I know some folks will say "who cares?" and others will say they can pick the next closest team (the Carolina Hurricanes or maybe the Nashville Predators) or follow the team that has become the Jets from afar.

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