If they cancel the All-Star Game, scheduled to be played in Columbus this year, they'll do serious damage to one of the markets this lockout is most supposed to help. Of course.

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You know I was hoping that they could salvage the season but if this lockout spares the American people an All Star game in Columbus then maybe its a blessing in disguise.

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I've only been watching hockey since maybe 2002 or 03. Pretty much focused only on Blackhawks and their division foes at most. The last few years have been a struggle. The league is too unstable. If they don't have games by 1/1/2013 I sense the league is in for a whole new landscape come next season and the following season. I don't know the status of all of the teams, but I cannot imagine them not having to contract 3 or more teams. The yotes will have to go as I don't see the league having money to float that operation. enough of my thoughts...

What happens if the whole season is canceled true hockey experts?

The NHL we're getting back is going to be nothing but shot-blocking and risk aversion with elite talent dispersed among the league so much as to be useless. I barely even want it back.

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Shades of 8 years ago. What's really unfortunate is that neither side is in any hurry to return to the bargaining table to end this lockout. How much longer does NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman keep his job when they do end this latest work stoppage?

15 years probably.

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I've got to think there are some NHL owners behind the scenes that want Bettman's sorry ass out of there, just like when MLB owners told Fay Vincent to get lost some 2 decades ago.

Fay Vincent lost his job for not being Jerry Reinsdorf's butt puppet. Bettman is great at being just that for his own most powerful owners.

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The Capitals/Rangers series is a great example. Both rosters are stacked with great offensive talent and you have Torts and Hunter stressing shot-blocking over anything.

The whistles on holding & interference have greatly diminshed. My conspiracy theory is the slogging play allows struggling markets with inferior talent (namely Nashville, Coyotes) to compete. Though, no rules change can ever make the Maple Leafs to be competitive.

Actually, the Maple Leafs could possibly scratch out an 8th seed if they were allowed to use the shoot-the-puck intermission goalie template as their goalie.

Exactly right. One of the worst things about hockey fans is their tendency to conflate randomness with excitement. When every game is a crapshoot and anyone can win anything because the game is determined by shot-blocking and zone defense, that's not exciting. It just means nothing has a fucking point. God forbid a team is definitively superior to another. People in Nashville might get their feelings hurt!

The other trick that's going to help the small-market teams, which no one really read into because doing a close reading of a CBA proposal is too much work for most, is eliminating the Wade Redden rule. Teams won't be able to do what the Hawks did with Huet and Olesz (or, obv., the Rags with Redden), where they still absorb the payroll but aren't charged with the cap hit if the player is loaned/assigned off the 23-man roster. Teams will now always be responsible for the cap hit. So what does that mean? It means you, Wealthy Team, can't make a big splash on a player, because you'll have no way to get out from under it should his skills go off a cliff, as they can do when a player gets past 33 or so. This will artificially suppress players' values on the open market, which, in conjunction with a lower cap, makes it harder for rich teams to sign such players. This is part of why the union is so "hell no" on this proposal, and they're right to be.

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Phoenix Coyotes are laying off most of their staff. Team is owned by the NHL. Yup. Fuck them.

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Team Cutler.

They're not the only team that has cut staff, Northside. Others have done the same thing.

With the Winter Classic now cancelled, I'm noticing a ton of apathy from fans. Much worse than anger. This is so fucked.

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Team Cutler.

It's just unbelievable. Completely unbelievable.

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Even though the NHL's Winter Classic matchup between the Maple Leafs & Red Wings in Ann Arbor was cancelled a few days ago, NHL owners & players are supposed to resume negotiations today in New York. However, Blackhawks' player rep Steve Montador isn't holding his breath regarding the lockout ending anytime soon.

Being the total meathead Bieksa is I'm 0% surprised by this quote. Given his negative hockey IQ he probably thinks he needs the large pythons when he jumps out of position to deliver a headshot. As well as to patrol the ice and intimidate noted hockey bullies like Viktor Stalberg. Massive douche.

4th straight day of talks. Encouraged.

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I was until hearing bits and pieces about still a ways to go, very little budging on either side etc. The more you hear about these talks the worse its going

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Team Cutler.

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Federal mediator George Cohen, who was part of the mediation process that eventually ended the NFL's own lockout last year, will get the two sides in the NHL's current lockout together today. Whether he can bridge the gap between the owners & players and get them closer to a new deal remains to be seen.

3 days after the mediation in 2005, the season was cancelled. So yea. It's a PR move by the NHL. The owners are giving nothing and waiting for the players to come to them. Really no negotiating at all.

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Team Cutler.

I'm starting to think the same thing, Dan. Besides, NHLPA Executive Director Don Fehr is no stranger to hardball, and that's what this lockout/work stoppage has become.

And that's all they have to do, really.

Works in the NBA/NFL every single time.

The difference is with the NBA and NFL the players have nowhere else to go. If the NHL tanks as many as possible will head to Europe. And if this stretches into next off season / season I'm betting a lot never come back. The KHL will become the best league in the world and the NHL will be fucked.

It's not just NHL players going to teams in Europe. A handful of them are currently in the AHL in this country.

Yes shark. I'm aware. I'm actually quite looking forward to seeing the Hall/Eberle/RNH line from my seats when OKC comes to town. The players that are in the A are on 2 way deals. There was a massive league wide reassigning of everybody on a 2 way right before they locked the doors. That won't last forever.

Just making sure you were paying attention.

Good point.

Talk about cutting your nose off to spite your face or however the saying goes.

David Stern talked about contraction a few years back in NBA labor negotiations. At this point I'd be down for that. Trying to grow the game by bleeding money into the desert doesn't seem like a working strategy. Shake it up, and let's see forth lines across the league be as good as the Kings... it's just not fair...

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

They just finalized the lease with Glendale today. Desert hockey isn't going anywhere (sadly)