I had a non-hockey who is also a non-sports fan ask me why I was so excited about the NHL Free Agent Frenzy. My obvious response was duh, I’m a hockey fan, but I’m not the average “like hockey the sport when the season starts and move on when the season is over.”  I follow hockey every day.  I would be lying if I said I didn’t check NHL.com at least once if not twice a day or more. Hell, I have an entire Twitter list called All-Things-Hockey. It feeds right into my desk top app so I don’t miss anything. I follow the sport year round.  I could be a bit consumed by the sport, but I enjoy all aspects of it, so call me obsessed, I won’t get upset.

So why is the NHL Free Agent Frenzy exciting to me?

(note, if you are not a hockey fan, these names will not mean anything to you)

Let’s look at Christian Erhoff.  The New York Islanders obtained rights for him from the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. Today (Wednesday), his rights now belong to the Buffalo Sabres.  In the span of 2 days, he’s been on 3 teams and the 2011-12 season hasn’t even started.  As Elliotte Friedman tweeted “Christian Erhoff will belong to more teams this week than the rest of his career.”  And it’s not even 10 pm EST time, so he could be correct.  Who will get the rights to Erhoff next?  Will he stay with the Sabres?  Who knows, but I want to see where in the world Erhoff goes.

Also, what about Tampa Bay Lightning goalie, Dwayne Rolson…he was a midseason trade from the New York Islanders but I believe he was a huge key into getting Tampa Bay into Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Sure he’s 41, but did you watch any of the Stanly Cup Playoffs?  The goalies were the stars of the show.  I couldn’t believe Tampa was going to let a star goalie go, especially, when talented & reliable starter goalies are hard to come by (don’t even get me started on trying to find a competent back up goalie).  Tampa Bay re-signed Rolson to a one-year, $3 million contract.  Not bad for a player who will be 42 when the season starts in October and not bad for a goalie who showed he had what it takes.  He was almost on the trading block, but Tampa was smart and offered him a deal.  Good for them.

AND probably the biggest news of Free Agent Frenzy, is the return Jaromir Jagr.  Don’t know him?  Here’s a little background, he played with the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins (was captain on both) and played for the Washington Capitals.  He’s won a 2 Stanley Cups, 2 Ice Hockey World Championships, and the 1988 Olympic Gold Medal in Hockey…that makes him a member of the Triple Gold Club (he’s 1 of 25 players that have achieved this).  So it’s kind of a big deal.  My co-worker who is not a huge hockey fan, even knows Jagr’s name.  3 teams are interested in him: Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings, and the Montreal Canadiens.  Which team he’s going to only he knows, but Jaromir Jagr Watch, as they’re calling it in hockey world is exciting to watch!

Most of all, I enjoy watching what teams are taking which players…which players are going to be worth the money they were paid for or which ones don’t show up for the game.  (cough Ilya Kovalchuck ** cough)

They’re all trying to build a Stanley Cup winning team.  Some fail, some get close, but only one team can be the Champions at the end of the season.

Listening to “Dirty” by Econoline Crush