If Joe Sakic were punk rock, he'd stand before the throngs of media assembled at his golf tournament this Thursday -- all of them salivating for his verdict for or against retirement -- and tell them, "After careful consideration, I've decided ... that there's no way the fifth hole at Sanctuary should be a Par 3. Thank you."

But Sakic isn't punk rock and he's thankfully also not Mats Sundin, so perhaps the press conference before Sakic's Celebrity Classic will in fact give us closure on the Colorado Avalanche captain's fate for the upcoming season. If nothing else, he should be applauded for not moving the goalposts every few days like Sundin has.

There's no guarantee he'll announce anything; although you'd figure with the timing and the venue, it would be quite impossible for Sakic to reveal his retirement from the NHL on Thursday. Taking a tee-shot after shattering the hearts of thousands of Avs fans is a recipe for slicing. So if he announces anything, maybe Thursday's the day for his triumphant return to hockey, which would fit right in with John McCain's nefarious plan for DNC distraction.

Interesting juxtaposition in the way this Sakic note has been covered in the Denver sports media, by the way. In his article, Terry Frei of the Denver Post tacks on information about Peter Forsberg, also represented by agent Don Baizley. The agent said Forsberg would like to play this season if "his foot problems are solved, and he's checking away at that."

Rick Sadowski of the Rocky Mountain News? He gives his readers this: "There has been some speculation in NHL circles that the Avalanche is interested in pursuing Toronto Maple Leafs free agent center Mats Sundin."

"NHL circles?" Are sources, which hockey journalists once employed to sniff-test rumors like this, considered "circles?" Are rumor sites "circles?" We've encountered a lot of circular logic on the HF Boards; are those "NHL circles," too?

"Speculation ... circles ... interested in pursuing." If a blog had written this, would you have given it more than five seconds of consideration before hitting the red-X in the corner of your browser window? Just sayin'.

Related: Rumors, scuttlebutt, innuendo