Since the end of the season-long lockout, the TV ratings for NHL games have been floating somewhere between beach volleyball and Arena Football. In what could be seen as an act of desperation, the league has signed a deal with NeuLion to offer webcasts of all NHL games. According to the Wall Street Journal, "The league's Web site, NHL.com, and all the team Web sites will sell "Center Ice," a package of out-of-market games now available on satellite and cable TV. Fans will be charged about $15 a night, or $169 to subscribe for the entire season. About 45 games will be transmitted each week."

The move makes sense for the NHL -- While watching hockey games on a computer will probably only be appealing to diehard hockey fans, it seems like the aficionados are the only ones bothering to follow hockey at all these days. My question is "Why?' There was speculation that the emergence of Pittsburgh Penguins phenom Sidney Crosby would revive the sport but even all the success that 19 year-old has had has failed to catapult his name out of the hockey world.

But the NHL appears to be taking the right steps. The league became one of the first to sign a deal with YouTube to offer highlights on the site. As the Journal wrote, "the NHL has been pioneering new methods of reaching fans." But will any of it matter, or is the sad truth that no one cares about hockey anymore?

Here is a quick look at this upcoming holiday shortened week.

Monday May 28

• Markets closed for Memorial Day holiday.
• PDUFA date for MedImmune Inc's (NASDAQ: MEDI) sBLA for CAIV-T.

Tuesday May 29

• Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ: CSCO) to hold webcast at 4:30pm to discuss newly announced Mobility Solutions.
• Verifone Holdings Inc (NYSE: PAY) to report Q2 earnings; conference call at 4:30pm.
• BMC Software Inc (NYSE: BMC) to report Q4 earnings; conference call at 5pm.

Wednesday May 30

• Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL) to report Q4 earnings; conference call at 9am.
• ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) to hold shareholders meeting at 10am.

Thursday May 31

• Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 8:30am.
• Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) to report Q3 earnings; conference call at 11am.
• Dell Inc (NASDAQ: DELL) to report Q1 earnings after market close.
• Novellus Systems Inc (NASDAQ: NVLS) to hold mid-quarter update conference call at 4:30pm.

Friday June 1

• Weyerhauser Company (NYSE: WY) to hold analyst meeting at 9am.

Will Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE:WMT) disappoint or surpass analyst expectations for its most recent quarter? If the past is any indication, that question will be up for grabs, but the world's largest retailer did post an impressive 2.2% same-store sales growth figure in January.

Will Wal-Mart beat, meet, or fall short of expectations on Tuesday? The analysts have Wal-Mart pegged at a slim 7.1% rise in quarterly net income, down from a 12.1% gain in the year-earlier period. With all the hubbub on Wal-Mart's most recent results having been plagued by marketing missteps, lackluster gains, and cluttered stores -- can Wal-Mart rise above it all for it's just-completed quarter?

I'll be live blogging Wal-Mart's quarterly earnings webcast right here at http://wmt.bloggingstocks.com, so stay tuned to this website this Tuesday, February 20 for all the coverage -- as it happens. The earnings will be released before the market opens (about 7:00 am Pacific Time). We'll see you as you have your morning coffee (or hot tea) about then!

Also check out some other earnings reports that we're following, and let us know what you're expecting.

Seems like investors didn't know what to do on the day before Microsoft's earnings are announced, so they did nothing much. Microsoft lost a penny today, closing at $27.10. After hours it gained 2 cents so as of 7 p.m., shares were worth $27.12.

This MarketWatch.com story is a pretty good summation of what's expected for tomorow afternoon's earnings announcement. Analysts predict earnings per share of 33 cents for the quarter, up from 28 cents last year. Revenues should be $11 billion, up from $9.6 billion a year ago. Sounds pretty good to me.

Still, investors aren't too happy that Microsoft's new operating system, Vista, won't be released until early 2007. That will temper enthusiasm unless we see a real blow-out quarter tomorrow. Watch the web cast. We'll be watching too.

In the same proxy filing that indicated Google's co-founders and CEO would continue to receive $1 salaries in 2006, the annual shareholder's meeting date was announced: Thursday, May 11, at 2 p.m. PDT.

The meeting will take place at Google's corporate headquarters, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, California 94043, and a live webcast of our annual meeting will be broadcast here. We'll be liveblogging the annual meeting right here on Blogging Stocks!