It's been a quiet 4th of July. BBQ here. BBQ at my uncle's place. Fireworks on the freeway. That sorta thing. But the one thing I wanted to comment on was the hockey signings that changed the landscape of the West.

Colorado and Detroit have long been considered the powers of the conference. Dallas is close behind and St. Louis behind them. The Sharks were nowhere near them and have fallen behind them with this season's pathetic performance. On July 3, the strong got stronger.

Colorado signed Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya, a power duo when they both played for the Ducks, faltered when they separated, and now are back again. Kariya's signing is more noteworthy since he took a pay cut, lowering his salary from $10 million to $1.2 million. This means Colorado now has the services of Kariya, Selanne, Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, and Rob Blake. It's a good thing Patrick Roy retired or else it would have been very unfair.

Detroit, while Sergei Federov has chosen not to re-sign with them, did improve their defense by signing Derian Hatcher, upgrading an already strong corps anchored by Lidstrom and Chelios. They also retained the rights of goalie Dominik Hasek, who led them to their last Stanley Cup. Apparently, being swept by the Ducks isn't sitting easy.

So, you ask, you're a Sharks fan. What have they done? Absolutely nothing. Okay, they did some things, but it just doesn't compare. How do I know? Mark Purdy in the Mercury News wrote that doing nothing was the Wilson plan all along. We just have to wait to see the results next year. For the record, observers say the Sharks had a good draft including picking up the player most ready to be in the NHL this year, Milan Michalek. They also picked up in a trade from the Avs Scott Parker, a goon who will fight a lot. The Sharks had gone on the principle of team toughness, the idea that if we are physical as a team, nobody will push us around. But when people did push them around, they pushed back but not to the point of dropping the gloves. As a result, Parker was picked up to drop the gloves at a moment's notice.

We got legendary Mark Messier for an hour. By not re-signing Messier, the New York Rangers would have received nothing. By trading him to the Sharks for future considerations, the Rangers will eventually get something and the Sharks pick up another draft pick if they don't sign him.

How did the Sharks react when Selanne signed with the Avs? According to the news release, at least they get a draft pick to compensate. At this rate, something better happen soon to boost the confidence level or else it'll be another long year.