Reasons to be Cheerful

(updated below)

So your Chronicle staff, in its entirety, went to the season ticket holders' Q&A, or (to make ourselves sound more like New Englander colonists of the 18th century) town hall, last night. Hung out with Rawhide all evening, which was the best part of the whole deal. John Anderson, Don Waddell, Rick Dudley, and Colby Armstrong spoke from under lighting that, from where we were sitting, obscured their faces and made the whole experience a bit weird, like they were talking to us from behind black masks. Can't remember a damn thing that was said.

I do remember the gist of things, though. Basically:

- Rick Dudley has never seen so many valuable assets in one place at one time.

- Colby Armstrong has got some flared trousers.

- John Anderson wants to start Nik Antropov at center because it's a challenging position Anderson is convinced he can play. If it doesn't work out, the Coach says, he'll move Antro to wing. Meanwhile, he seems to have developed instant chemistry with Kovalchuk and Little.

- Don Waddell is all like, "Yes, we're going to re-sign Kovy. This is nothing like Hossagate." Which it's not.

- Why is it not like Hossagate? Because Kovy just built a new house in Buckhead. Where he lives, with his family...

- Both Nik Antropov and Pavel Kubina are big, good players, and awesome dudes that will only help the locker room.

- Everyone seems to think Evander Kane is ready. Like, now.

- DW wants to keep Johan Hedberg in the organization when his Moose-checking days come to an end. Solid, I think.

- For the first time in franchise history, there will be a heap of deserving players who won't get a roster spot. Insanely competitive, this training camp. Which is good!

- The Don wanted to trade a goaltender over the summer, but couldn't find a deal good enough to make him "go for it," as the youth counselors (but not DW) say.

It got especially weird when they concluded the Q&A with a singing, dancing rendition of Ian Dury's "Sex and Drugs and Rock n' Roll." I mean, I really wasn't expecting that.

UPDATE: Rawhide has an ACTUAL recap.