The Guardian Project

The NHL has teamed up with Marvel's Stan Lee to create 'The Guardian Project'. Sounds like a great move - this guy created Spider-man, the Hulk, Iron Man and piles of other superheroes. His comics and movies are goldmines. Plus, the NHL is always looking for new ways to market itself.

My only problem is that I don't understand why the NHL teams need these super-mascots... Do they fight each other? Crime? Peter Puck? Is a Saturday morning cartoon in the works?

Nevertheless, here are my current three favorites:

The Guardian of the Minnesota Wild. Looks like the love child of the Tasmanian Devil from Looney Toons and Bebop from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. A "whirling dervish of destruction"? Are you allowed to steal from Looney Tunes so openly?

The Oiler... So this blue-collar Edmontonian controls oil manipulation - Like OPEC? He looks like a muscular gas attendant. Seriously, what kind of superhero has a gas pump with him at all times?

"A human hydroelectric plant." So there is a shrub protecting this city. Why does a plant need a sword? Pruning? I don't understand this. Can he protect cabbies from arrogant young NHLers?

I can't wait for all 30 superhero-guardians to be released to protect the NHL from... something. Maybe expansion? Maybe Donald Fehr? I still don't really get where this is headed.