Stay Tuned

John Buccigross dropped a few hints about the future of him and the NHL in the e-mail section of yesterday's column: John, With an almost perfectly accurate prediction of Crosby's G/A/PTS total last year, and then writing that the Blues would fire their coach within the week only a day before it happened, I might have to start asking you when I want to know anything about the hockey future. Go Leafs! Jeffrey Turner Annapolis U.S. Naval Academy The NHL will soon announce they will continue their relationship with Versus for at least the next two years. And I will eat 18 pounds of cheese in 2007. [ . . . ] Bucci, ESPN wants its fans to create the ultimate lineup, "using a pool of 50 forwards selected by our NHL experts." I'm praying that you were not in this group of "experts" that left Joe Sakic off of that list! Say it ain't so. And while you're at it: How about your list? Who makes your four lines of the NHL's all-time best forwards? Dorian Pittsburgh I was not among the experts who made up ESPN.com's list. I am neither esteemed nor respected at the Worldwide Leader in NBA highlights. Most of the ESPN suits have no idea I even work here. This time next year, I'll be hosting the "World Barbecue Challenge" on Versus and they'll be like, "I know I've seen that guy somewhere before." A lot of what Buccigross says in the e-mail section is tongue-in-cheek, but he does like to play "I Told You So" every once in a while (like earlier in the column, for instance). I doubt that if he were planning on moving to Versus that ESPN would let him talk about it. That being said, I hope it's true. Versus desperately needs a nightly NHL highlight show a la NHL 2Nite.