The Secret Weapon of Rising NHL Rookie Superstars? Chocolate, Of Course.

The game: Nashville Predators vs. Tampa Bay Lightning.

Why I chose it: Because it's a rainy Sunday at 3 pm. What else is there to do? Oh, and in a year or two current Portland Winterhawk and Predators draftee Taylor Aronson will be playing for Nashville so I must be in training now for the day I will be pro-Predators all the time. Plus, since they did take out Pittsburgh in the 11th hour last night, clearly I must see what they're going to do to the honkin' tall French Captain and his posse.

I'm still all in: For Jordan Eberle for the Calder. He was on Hockey Night in Canada After Hours, and I must say, he was most impressive. Now, of course if Nino Niederreiter stays with the New York Islanders, then I will be all in for him. And, I just watched a video on The Hockey News in which his Islanders teammates point out that he is never without chocolate from his home country of Switzerland. Hilarious...along with his considerable talent, his secret weapon is chocolate. Love it.

Now, to the rule: As one might expect, the minimum salary for NHL players is still more than most people make in a year. 11.12. Minimum Paragraph 1 Salary. Except with respect to Amateur Try Out Agreements Pursuant to Exhibit 17, no SPC entered into after the date of execution of this Agreement shall provide:
2010 -11: U.S. $500,000
2011-12: U.S. $525,000

Amateur Try Out Agreements, by the way, are worth nothing. They pay no salary, no bonus and no compensation. Among the items on the contract are the player's name, the Club name, the player's height, weight, position, shoots (L/R), date of birth and birthplace.

Morals of the story:

The game: Considering that I've never made that kind of money in my own life, it's hard to fathom even making six figures. But what's funny in the NHL is that a nice half-million dollar salary is the bare minimum. No wonder so many players end up in debt and bad business deals and what not. They earn so much money they don't even know what to do with it or how to spend it.

Life: I don't think I'd know what to do with it either. I can barely keep a budget with my middle working class salary. I'm terrible with numbers. Yes, I'm a hockey fan and no I don't care about PIMs and TOI and all that. I care about things that aren't on a scoresheet, like whether Portland Winterhawk/Calgary draftee Spencer Bennett -- who was born on Halloween -- has any special superstitions as a result, and what his favorite costume from childhood was. I wonder whether when his teammate/Buffalo Sabres draftee Riley Boychuk gets in a few choice words with a Seattle opponent, were they discussing where to go for milk and cookies after? The burning questions any hockey fan wants to know, of course. So, alas I may never be able to balance my checkbook and maybe I'll never save as much as I should. But I can guarantee whether you read it here or on oregonlive, you'll read something way more fun than numbers.

Next up: 11.15, Default.