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He knew.

I just find it amazing that both sides have spent more time negotiating in the last two days than they have in the last 6 months. Where was this sense of urgency in June/July? Just further proof that neither side deserves your financial support when the sport comes back. If both sides gave a crap, they would have been doing this in July instead of pontificating for the press and acting like spoiled brats. I do hope a deal gets done soon so I can watch the Wings on TV again.

http://griffinshockey.com/news/releases/?article_id=2283 Good stuff!!! Awesome to see the Griffs using him now.

This kid is the real deal. Howard and Gustavsson better perform because Mrazek will be coming for there jobs, soon.

I have never been part of a seriously big negotiation like this, but its hard for me to fathom why there has to be pressure in order to make progress. You are right though, its the nature of the beast I suppose. I just don't like the pontificating for the press while they weren't talking. Now, by them being silent for the press, they are getting down to business. Its a shame they couldn't have done this before damage was done.

now now you know fehr and the nhlpa were just the victims here of the devil called bettman. give me a break.....Both sides are ridiculous. So sad that we lost the historical winter classic because of all of this. If I didn't love the sport so much and love watching it I would no longer be a fan of the nhl and would probably stop watching hockey all together.

I've said all along, this kid is the real deal... Glad to see him getting his chance...

Finally! Ok, now they can get down to business.

I agree he's young and there's always a chance that he can turn his career around. However, after reading some hockey commentary out of Edmonton, I wouldn't agree that he's an unknown quantity. In fact, due to injuries and depth problems up front, Edmonton needed top six wingers and Omark frequently found himself passed over for the likes of Darcy Hordichuk, Chris Vandevelde, and Teemu Hartikainen. Furthermore, it seems as though he didn't leave a very good impression on Tom Renney while playing for the Oilers, and I'd seriously be shocked if Renney didn't put the kibosh on any Wings attempt to bring him in. I've been wrong before, but his play was shoddy while with that organization and apparently his attitude sucked. No way the Wings take a shot on this guy. Here's a couple of the articles I dug up... http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2012/03/31/writing-on-the-wall-for-linus-omark/ http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2012/04/11/linus-omark-tweets-apparent-trade-request/

The fact of the matter is, there is no way such meetings could have happened months ago.....well....I suppose the meetings could have happened, but there is no chance either side is going to conceed anything when there are no pressure points. Now that games and money are being lost, pressure is mounting on both sides. Hopefully enough to get a deal done. In terms of the PR battle....it's really stupid, but it is also a "necessary" step in the process....from both sides' standpoints anyway. Both sides take PR very seriously and what we saw in the media previously was really just PR postering and a way of negotiating, trying to get leverage on the other side. That type of thing happens early on. A deal doesn't get done that way, it just builds from there. A deal gets done behind closed doors with nothing being reported....hopefully that is the stage we are getting into, but i's very delicate. You never know if something may cause a blow up and forcing them back to the PR battle phase.

That comes after the meeting, not during. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJNsZgHCVKU

He was aiming bottom left.

I don't think anybody is suggesting that he's going to be an agitator or a tough guy. But, if he doesn't mind a little bit of aggression it probably bodes well for his jump to the NHL, given that it's going to be a lot rougher over here. Many euros don't adjust well to the physicality of the NHL game, this video seems to offer some evidence that a little physicality doesn't bother Brunner too much, which is an advantage in terms of his likelihood of success. Is it the only factor? No. Is it encouraging? Absolutely.

In two starts Petr Mrazek has a .96 GAA and a .967 save%!!! Can't wait for this kid to be up in the big leagues with Jimmy. He's extremely fast/athletic.

Better to have these injuries now than in April...............I mean April 2014, when we actually have an NHL playoff again.

I bet Samuelsson shot the puck that hit him...

IM SICK AND TIRED OF YOU TREATING OUR BEAUTIFUL PLAYERS LIKE SEX OBJECTS.