Segacs’s World I Know

Whew, this is what I get for being out of the loop for a couple of days. It’s hard to even keep up!

Let’s see, we’ve got:

• Marian Hossa to Detroit, where he obviously wants to try to win a Cup from the other side of that equation.
• Michael Ryder to Boston, not surprisingly leaving the Habs for our arch-rivals.
• More surprisingly, the Habs also lost Mark Streit to the Islanders. Streit was one of the most valuable Habs last season, and I’m frankly stunned that Gainey didn’t make keeping him into a bigger priority.
• Rangers shit-disturber (and surprising fashionista) Sean Avery heads to Dallas.
• Wade Redden to the Rangers, taking one of the top D-men out of the free agency market.
• Brian Campbell to Chicago, taking care of the other.
• After being traded to the Caps in time for an inspiring playoff run, former Hab netminder Cristobal Huet is heading to Chicago to try to give all the young talent over there a fighting chance.
• To fill that void, the Capitals have acquired Jose Theodore from the Avalanche, who in turn signed Toronto-castoff Andrew Raycroft. Definite downgrades for both teams, there.
• Tampa Bay has signed three free agents, most notably top forward Radim Vrbata, as well as Adam Hall and former Caps’ veteran goaltender Olaf Kolzig. Along with their previous signings of Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts and Vinny Prospal, and their first-round draft of Steve Stamkos, Tampa Bay is clearly determined to dig out of last place in a big way.

And the Habs? Aside from re-signing Andrei Kostitsyn, and picking up Alex Tanguay on draft day, Gainey has been pretty quiet. We lost Ryder (no surprise there) and Streit (big surprise and tough loss) and so far we have nothing to show for it. Not even Sundin, who I don’t even want, but who surely would have signed by now with Montreal if he had any desire to be here.

We cleared cap space, we made offers, but it’s starting to look like Gainey’s highly publicized announcements about his intention to land an “impact” forward will end this year much as they did last year. And I have to wonder how many people will stick to the “In Gainey We Trust” bandwagon this time around.

A terorrist went on a murderous rampage with a bulldozer in Jerusalem, killing three and wounding dozens.

Meryl has more.

Quick quiz: How is NHL agitator-extraordinaire Sean Avery spending his summer vacation?

A) Hockey practice?
B) Starting bar fights?
C) Interning at Vogue magazine?

Yeah, I was kinda surprised too. But I guess a guy who’s dated the likes of Rachel Hunter and Elisha Cuthbert is more than a little comfortable with high style. To all the people who’ve scratched their head at this one, Avery simply claims, “I like clothes. Always have.”

Okay, why not?

Still, the notion of Avery in a Devil-Wears-Prada-esque internship role is more than a little amusing, you gotta admit. What’s next, waving a pair of Manolos in front of Marty Brodeur’s face to distract him?

Flags, flags everywhere
Spotted on cars, windows and even wrapped around people: the Portuguese flag, the Italian flag, the German flag, the Turkish flag, the Croatian flag, the Polish flag… and the Quebec flag. No, Quebec didn’t suddenly make it into Euro 2008… but it is St-Jean Baptiste long weekend.

Solstice
This evening, summer officially arrived. It’s also the longest day of the year, which means that it’s all downhill from here. Yay! No need to worry about that, though. Summer solstice also kicks off…

Festival season
Montreal’s annual lineup of festivals, big and small, starts this weekend with the Fireworks competition and the Fete Nationale celebrations, followed closely by the Jazz Fest and of course, the annual July 1st Montreal tradition: Moving Day. (Oh yeah, and Canada Day too, for anyone who notices among all the rest of the hoopla. Seriously, the local festivities are lame. If you want maple leafs and Canadiana, go to Ottawa.)

Not famous, just drunk
Two weeks ago the limos were filled with the Hollywood set. Tonight, they’re filled with the high school set. Yep, it’s prom night, and the city is full of kids in tuxes and gowns pretending to be grown-ups. Enjoy your night of debauchery, kids, and remember that no matter how disappointing this night might be, at least you’ve escaped from high school.

Sidewalk sale
The St-Laurent merchants are trying really hard to get back on their feet after nearly two years of construction hell. The sidewalk sale is on this weekend, so if you’re around, check it out.

Sunshowers and rainbows
During my drive to Dollard this evening, there was sunshine, followed by heavy rain, followed by sunshine, followed by one of the most brilliant rainbows I’ve ever seen. Where’s my camera when I need it?

Getaway
The four-day weekend means a great opportunity for a camping trip. Of course, the weather forecast isn’t cooperating. Another camping trip in the rain, so what else is new? Regardless, it’ll be great to get away.

On that note, I’m off till Tuesday. Later, all!

NHL draft update: The moves have started already. The Habs picked up Alex Tanguay from Calgary in exchange for this year’s first-round pick and next year’s second-round pick. Not sure how I feel about this one. Tanguay is a potentially excellent – albeit somewhat inconsistent – player. Despite his ups and downs, I’ve always kinda liked him, and I could see him fitting in well in Montreal. But then, that’s a lot of draft juice to sacrifice. Hell, that’s more than we got for Huet.

All things considered, I think Calgary – who picked up Mike Cammellari from LA, came out ahead on this one, upgrading their talent and picking up some key picks. All things considered, I think I would’ve preferred a direct deal with LA for Cammellari.

But, in Bob we trust… Right? Right?

Update #2: The negotiations are officially underway for Mats Sundin. I really, really hope this doesn’t happen.

Update #3: Flyers forward and the Habs’ playoff hopes’ worst nightmare, RJ Umberger, has been traded to Columbus.

Update #4: If the reports are true, Montrealers hoping for a return of native son Vinnie Lecavalier will be very disappointed indeed. Not that it was ever more than wishful thinking, mind you.

All eyes will be on the NHL Entry Draft tonight. In addition to the new talent, the wheeling and dealing of draft picks will lead to interesting trade speculation.

Here’s hoping the Mats Sundin to Montreal rumours don’t come true. I know Gainey desperately wants an “impact forward”, but c’mon, we can do so much better than over-the-hill Toronto cast-offs.

He’s ranked number four in a list of the world’s most wanted and notorious Nazi war criminals. But – all together now – that doesn’t mean he’s not a nice person, right?

Milivoj Asner caused a stir just by showing up at a soccer game: The frail 95-year-old is ranked No. 4 on a leading list of most-wanted Nazi war crimes suspects.

Now Austria’s most notorious far-right politician, former Freedom Party leader Joerg Haider, has touched off an even bigger scandal by praising Asner as a “treasured” neighbor who should be allowed to live out his days in peace.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, and some private citizens, are fighting a battle to have Asner extradited to Croatia, but so far, the Austrian government has been holding out. Cases like these are more important than ever for their symbolic value, as more people in the world sadly start to subscribe to the lies that are replacing the truth that too few are alive anymore to tell.

So I haven’t really traveled in a while. Save for a quick trip to New York City last winter, it’s been almost a year since I’ve been anywhere of consequence. Those of you who know me know that, for me, a year without travel is a very. long. time.

Anyway, I’ve discovered that – thanks to Ipsos-Reid and the folks over at Expedia – there’s a name for what I’m feeling: Vacation Deprivation. Yep, it seems that this condition is suffered by 33% of Canadians, so I’m definitely not alone.

But perhaps more astoundingly, 29% of Canadians aren’t taking all their vacation time that they get from their jobs. Considering that for most North Americans, “all” vacation time amounts to a paltry 10 days a year, that is definitely tough to believe, but it’s true: nearly 41 million days of vacation time went untaken last year.

Rest assured, I won’t be one of them. Starting with this weekend, when I plan to go camping – hopefully not in the rain. But my itchy feet will soon be taking me further away. Stay tuned.

CBC’s surprising decision last week not to renew the licensing agreement for the theme song to Hockey Night in Canada has been met with opportunism by the likes of CTV… and Stephen Colbert:

Stephen, we know you secretly love Canada. Now can you do us a favour and convince the CBC to further cut costs by axing Don Cherry?