Yet another "Filatov loan"

The Dark Blue Jacket family is pleased to announce that, after serious and meaningful discussions with family leadership, we are loaning my signed Nikita Filatov hockey puck to my bedroom door, where it will serve as a doorstop for the balance of the 2009-2010 NHL season.  We have agreed to reconsider the role that the puck plays in our household at the end of the season.  I very much hope that it will return to the plastic puck display case that sits in our office/rec room next season.

This is a bittersweet moment.  We have high expectations for the puck.  It's just not happening as soon as we had hoped, but that's OK.  The puck is only a year old and probably needs some time to find itself.

We have not had any offers for the puck, nor have we marketed it on eBay.  At this point, we're interested in seeing how it performs as a doorstop and will reevaluate as the need dictates.

The Filatov puck's intention from the start of the season was to hold a position of prominence next to our other sports memorabilia for the duration.  It had a certain level of frustration at not being able to meet those expectations.  After the glow of the first-round draft pick wore off and all of our friends and relatives had a chance to see the puck, it settled into a position on the shelf where it really didn't get that much exposure.  Once it was pretty clear that if the puck wasn't going to be able to keep that level of prominence on our shelf, it let us know that it was going to look for other opportunities around the house.

Mrs. Dark Blue Jacket expressed optimism at this new role for our puck.  "We've needed a doorstop for some time," she remarked, "and I fully support my husband and how he handles the sports memorabilia.  I make suggestions to him on how to to organize our collection of pucks, baseballs and football helmets, and he makes suggestions to me on which acquisitions make sense for our family.  I appreciate his willingness to put the puck in harm's way for the betterment of our family.  I only hope that Dark Blue Onesie doesn't gnaw the sharpie ink off.  He's cutting a tooth, you know."

The Dark Blue Jacket family will hold the rights to the puck for the indefinite future.  The family was unwilling to comment on rumors that whether a Tommy Sestito-signed puck will take the Filatov puck's place on the shelf.  "Now's not the time for such speculation," Mrs. DBJ said. "Let's just be happy that our puck finally has found a place that fits its skill level."