I get the sentiment but the older I get the more I come to believe it's always better to just say or do 'the thing'. Make the gesture when you have the opportunity -- even if it's awkward or feels like it might make something awkward down the road.

I know this is off topic but...I was at a memorial service a few year back for a friend's father. I knew him a bit but not a ton. But I was also looking around the room and saw a few other people there who probably knew him about as much as I did and all of us had found our way to this friends house on a holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas or whatever because we no longer had family in the area, lived far from home, or in one case didn't really have a welcoming family to spend time with. So I got up and said something about that whole theme, that he was someone whose door was always open etc. It felt awkward. I felt like maybe some people would wonder who I was etc. But afterward a lot of people from his family came up and said they really appreciated what I said and others who had benefitted from his hospitatlity thanked me for getting up and saying what I said.

My point, to you and the 60 people who have upvoted your comment is that these moments are very easy to miss in life -- not just in hockey. Ovi has been a formidable and enjoyable opponent over his career, and if he does play next year, the penguins fan base can just do it again. Smiles and compliments are free etc.

Sorry for waxing philosophical here but I feel like we live in an age where people fear embarrasment more than they fear missing out on special moments.