Does rent at the Plaza Hotel qualify as a reasonable moving expense?

The game: Phoenix Coyotes vs. Pittsburgh Penguins.

So, that little mini-2 game losing streak is over and they are back: Pittsburgh 6, Phoenix 1.

They are really, really back: Pittsburgh killed all 6 of Phoenix's power plays.

And he is most definitely back: On the comeback trail from a knee injury, Evgeni Malkin already scored the team's only two goals in the game against the Flyers. Tonight, he racked up 5 points (2 goals and three assists). Are you sure there isn't some rule hiding somewhere in the NHL archives that once classified three assists as a hat trick of some sort? Discuss.

Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the real stars of 24/7 Road to the Winter Classic: Little Rhys Adams, Craig Adams' son, who can be seen for about two seconds at the Christmas party in his Team Canada jersey declaring "I'm gonna go on the ice!" Or how about Pascal Dupuis' family unit, or little Max Rupp? Forget the players, they're just here to fill space for the other 58 minutes. The kiddies own this one. But the prank where Ben Lovejoy and Mark Letestu return to find their hotel room emptied of all its contents was pretty choice too. I love the part where they declare they're going to find out who did it, and do abosolutely nothing about it.

But if you're pausing the 24/7 DVR to watch the Crosby show: He's extended his streak to 21 games with one goal and two assists. He and Malkin are the two-headed monster, indeed.

Good news/bad news from the World Juniors: Sven Bartschi and Nino Niederreiter are on Switzerland's roster. On the other hand, Team Canada just routed Switzerland in pre-tournament action 8 - 0. For those just joining the fray, Nino, Sven and Team Canada's Ryan Johansen all play for the Portland Winterhawks, and Nino and Ryan are linemates. Routing and all, I'm still in for Sven as this year's World Junior breakout star.

Now, on with the rule: Article 14, Player Assignments.

14.2, Moving Expenses: The reasonable moving expenses incurred by a Player who is assigned during the playing season by one Club to another Club and moves to the area where it is located shall be paid by the Club to which the Player was assigned. This doesn't hold if the player delays moving his family. In that case, costs for him are not paid by the Club, but costs for moving his family are. If the assignment of a Player happens in the off-season, his expenses shall be paid by the Club to which he was assigned, if he maintained a year-round home in the city from which he was assigned, and moves during the playing season from the previous Club's city to the new one. If the player is traded, he gets a hotel room and rental car paid for 21 days while he looks for new digs. Or just moves into the Waldorf-Astoria permanently, which apparently some of them do.

Morals of the story:

The game: I rather like this rule. When I was little, I always thought it would be quite glamorous living in a hotel instead of a house. Provided of course that hotel was The Plaza and I could eat tea and scones every afternoon and have adventures like Eloise, who lived in the "room on the tippy-top floor" with her dog Weenie.

Life: I think there was a part of my grown up self that thought I would have Eloise-esque adventures when I got to New York, and I'd spend my afternoons lounging at the Plaza whilst the world whizzed by outside. Perhaps I should have plotted out a career as a hockey player, because that particular reality never materialized. The only time I set foot in the Plaza was for a business meeting in which I spilled that fancy tea and clotted cream all down the front of my expensive Brooks Brothers suit, and that cream spot never came all the way out at the dry cleaners. Oh, and there's the classic time I thought I'd go there for lunch on my birthday and I woke up late and missed my reservation and I ended up going somewhere else instead and getting drunk on pink champagne, and wandering around the Disney store on 5th avenue asking the salespeople where they were hiding the adult-sized Winnie the Pooh slippers with the little nightlight/headlamp thingy on the front of them. And as if that wasn't disappointing enough, to top it off, I never owned a dog named Weenie either. Alas, no Plaza tippy top rooms, no wiener dogs, no slippers. But I still wouldn't take it all back. After all, if none of that never happened, what would I have to write about?

Next up: Article 15, Training Camp: Travel Expenses.