Friday . . .

THE MacBETH REPORT: F Steve Regier (Medicine Hat) signed a one-year contract with Salzburg (Austria Erste Bank Liga). He had three goals and one assist in eight games with St. Louis (NHL) and 22 goals and 28 assists in 73 games with Peoria (AHL) last season.
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An NHL draft note from Garth MacBeth, who pens the MacBeth report for our enjoyment: One note with regards to Edmonton's pick, Magnus Pääjärvi-Svensson. His father, Gunnar Svensson, was my coach in 1979-80 when I played for Örnsköldsviks SK and his older brother is Björn Svensson, who played for Saskatoon and Moose Jaw. Gunnar is now a player agent.
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Forget the NHL draft. The biggest news on Friday came from the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads. They announced that “Gordon Fader, organist from the days of the Nova Scotia Voyageurs, Nova Scotia Oilers and Halifax Citadels, will be making a return to the Metro Centre for eight games this season.” . . . Yes, it’s true. A hockey team actually is bringing back an organist, albeit not for every game. But how great is that? Nothing worse than the canned music that gets played during virtually every stoppage; nothing better than real, live organ music. Now that’ll get the fans pumped. . . . Here’s hoping a whole bunch of teams are paying attention to this one.
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A note from a regular visitor to these parts pretty much summed up the first round of the NHL draft on Friday:
“Gawd! Snooze city! Can I ask the NHL or TSN or Versus to give me back those four hours of life that were just sucked away from me?”
Couldn’t have put it better myself.
Shouldn’t some of those talking heads be liable for fraud after all the pre-draft hype that they foisted on a gullible public?
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By the way, if you’re into the NHL’s annual July 1 free-agent feeding frenzy, you should know that the fun begins on TSN2 on Tuesday at noon ET and runs until 5 p.m. From 5 to 6 p.m., it’s on TSN.
Why not more of the Feeding Frenzy on TSN? It seems the network will be occupied with Wimbledon (7 a.m. to 5 p.m.), followed by back-to-back CFL games (Toronto at Hamilton and Montreal at Calgary).
Appearing on TSN2’s coverage along with host James Duthie will be many of the usual suspects, including Bob McKenzie, Darren Dreger, Pierre McGuire, former Tampa Bay Lightning GM Jay Feaster, Gino Reda, Dave Hodge, Michael Farber (Sports Illustrated), Dave Naylor (The Globe and Mail) and Chris Stevenson (Ottawa Sun).
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Back to the NHL draft . . . of the 30 players selected in the first round on Friday, 16 were from the CHL. The OHL had seven players taken, the WHL had five and the QMJHL four. (In 2008, there were 20 CHLers taken in the first round.) . . . F Evander Kane of the Vancouver Giants went fourth overall to the Atlanta Thrashers, followed by Brandon Wheat Kings F Brayden Schenn (Los Angeles Kings, fifth), Brandon F Scott Glennie (Dallas Stars, eighth), Spokane Chiefs D Jared Cowen (Ottawa Senators, ninth) and Lethbridge Hurricanes F Carter Ashton (Tampa Bay Lightning, 29th).
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D Dylan Olsen, who played last season with the AJHL’s Camrose Kodiaks, was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks with the 28th pick. He has committed to attend the U of Minnesota-Duluth. Olsen was taken by the Medicine Hat Tigers with the 84th pick in the 2006 bantam draft. . . . C Jordan Schroeder, who was taken by the Vancouver Canucks with the 22nd selection, is on the protected list of the WHL’s Everett Silvertips. Everett GM Doug Soetaert is in Montreal and has said hello to Schroeder, but don’t read too much into that.
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Former WHL coach Ed Dempsey has gotten a two-year contract extension from the BCHL's Prince George Spruce Kings. He's their GM and head coach. Dempsey has been there since January 2004. Mike Hawes, the club's assistant GM and director of player personnel, also got a new two-year deal.