Look, I love hockey. I do. However, we all need some alone time from the ones we love to keep us from annoying each other.

It's the summer so we should be focused on enjoying it and doing our usual traditions of eating hot dogs, arguing about what gets put on a hot dog, then paying the fine for vandalism when we flip over the hot dog cart in anger.

So, I must tell you NHL social media team, that it IS NOT OCTOBER YET.

STOP ASKING.

LOOK AT A CALENDAR.

This is cute or whatever they're trying to be, in September, when the season is close. Not three weeks after the cup final. Let's just breathe. Okay?

Here are your links.

Nikolay Chebykin Preparing for Leafs Future - THW
A pre-dev camp interview with one of the Leafs Russian prospects

Paying the small price for utility - TLN
Zach Hyman’s deal and the cost.

Behind the scenes of the Ilya Kovalchuk mess - Puck Daddy

Does Going Big And Bad Make The Red Wings Better? - Winging It In Motown
It’s not the size of the dog in the fight....or is it?

#HotSharksTakes: Only Thing Silicon Valley Marleau Will Disrupt Is Leafs Chemistry - Fear The Fin
We didn’t invent a hot dog controversy, at least.

Down Goes Brown: Five star UFA homecomings
So today, let's look back at five Hall of Fame stars who chose to return to their former team via free agency, and how those deals worked out for both sides.

Canes Country Podcast Episode 1: We’re Done Losing! - Canes Country
The one where we make sense of what has been a busy offseason for Ron Francis.

Finally, a non-hockey story about the upcoming solar eclipse and the tiny, tiny town in the middle of it.

How Eclipse Chasers Are Putting a Small Kentucky Town on the Map | Mental Floss

In 2007, Cheryl Cook received an email from an out-of-towner planning a trip to Hopkinsville, Kentucky. As the executive director of the town's convention and visitors bureau, Cook was used to reading messages from potential tourists. There was one hitch, though: The visitor's projected stay was 10 years away.

The purpose of the visit: A total solar eclipse was coming to the U.S. on August 21, 2017, and Hopkinsville represented a plum location to observe it. The event would be huge, the traveler said. What exactly was the town doing to prepare?

Cook says she laughed when she first read the note.

"I didn't know what to say," she recalls. "We don't work 10 years out." Then she started Googling.

From The Branches