Kariya and Tkachuk

In a week that saw our play off hopes finally bite the dust....well not mathmatically yet, but 10 wins of of 10 is a must whilst the teams above us have to lose 10 out of 10. Two other peices of news have slipped slightly under the radar...

Firstly, congratulations to Paul Kariya. The six million dollar a season man beacme the 83rd person to hit 400 Kariya (like the the pun ) goals. The all important goal came in the Blues 4-3 win over the Rangers. Kariya played down the milestone by saying that 'he didn't pay much attention to stats', this didn't stop Keith Tkachuk adding his own special form of congratulations. 'He only about 135 behind me...not that i'm counting' he joked after the game.

The figure is infact 137. Kariya is two years Tkachuk's junior, so there is a chance of him catching him up. 137 goals in two seasons....It might be worth extending his contract if he can match that .



The second peice of news concerned the ageing Tkachuk. He has hinted that he may well retire at the end of the season. He said after the Blues win at the Madison Square Garden ' I have some thoughts running through my mind. You just get older and you're not the same as you used to be. It gets a lot harder and the guys are bigger, stronger and faster'. Tkachuk is an unrestricted free agent as of July 1st, and when pressed about his future he replied ' the futures now buddy. I'll make a decision fairly quickly at the end of the season. I'm almost 38 and whatever happens at the end of the season, one way or the other, you'll know'.

Should he hang up his skates at the end of this season, I hope the Blues management make room for him on the coaching staff. We have a lot of youngsters on our roster who could learn a lot from the big man. To let him go elsewhere would be a travesty....

I always hoped against hope that Kariya would one day wear a Stars jersey! Nice to see him hit the 400 goal mark.

I would say the playoff race is close to over now as only Calgary are holding on by the skin of their teeths.