Z Winged Dangler

Brown...as in Dustin Brown? If so i agree with all but that one.

Datsyuk needs to work 1 on 1 with Jurco for at least a full season the same way Z needs to mentor Nyquist.

The NHLPA players have only been in on 1 meeting so far anyways. The NHL and NHLPA reps have pretty much been doing whatever Gary Bettman sees fit and that is negotiate for 1 1/2 hours and then go on Twitter saying there's no hope and the players won't budge. If it was going to be just the heads doing 90% of the meeting and negotiating, then why not start during the season instead of counting down to D-Day? This whole process is pathetic.

Funny that Bieksa was so impassioned about it...the Nucks get away with more than anyone including the Pens. Both Sedin sistes, Kesler, Burrows, LAPIERRE, even Burrows. It would be pretty funny to see you own face on the diving board every time you enter your own arena.

Not sure what else to say but this....great post. The owners first mistake is trying to lower the cap by 14 million after raising it by 2-3 ish right before the deal expired. They shouldn't have a leg to stand on cause they cut them off themselves since the last CBA which was all their doing and the players just had to accept what the owners and NHL tabled and look how things turned out...

Until NHL13 proves otherwise, NHL10 is still the best game released since the Xbox360/PS3 came out. NHL13 may be really good once it hits the shelves, but I really hope they don't put a crappy tuner set in it that makes it NHL11 Version 3.

Or Vladdy. His career ended WAY too soon. Could have helped us get 2 or 3 more cups on top of the 4 we already got. Beat me to it while I was reloading the page.

If we could have a reincarnation of Stevie Y or Lids, that would be the obvious choice, but Probert comes to mind too. Then I wouldn't want Lucic to be a Wing so bad. Lucic is the guy in the NHL that reminds me the most of Probert. Big dude that can toss em, but he can play the game too.

Apparently the owners are hypocrits and they shell out tons of money to keep other teams from shelling out even more money to their stars. The players accept the contracts and ask for lots of money, but the reason we won't be watching hockey this year rests solely on the GM's spending what their owners say they can to keep these guys. The cost inflation is due to GM's throwing out massive contracts. Like you said, if the owners want 5 year max, then why this summer did we see: Suter - 13 years Parise - 13 years Weber - 14 years Hartnell - 7 years Hall - 7 years the list continues... Kovy and Ovy are signed til death do them part. The owners are to blame for letting things get out of control. If they don't want to pay these guys the money, then don't offer it in the first place. GM's can state for the 18 teams losing money, we couldn't re-sign our star player cause OUR internal cap is $47 million, not 68. Then the next team does the same thing. then it's public that 18 teams out of 30 are losing money on a regular basis, not just in an annual Forbes article. the NHL and the owners keep burying themselves. And if the owners can't afford to raise the cap, then stop raising it in the first place.

At the end of the day, if you have a commissioner that's responsible to run the league and he can't even figure out to start CBA talks earlier than 2 months prior to expiry for the 3RD TIME IN A ROW then not only should his salary this year go to a charity fund of the NHL's choosing, but he SHOULD be replaced by someone who doesn't actually seem to WANT a lockout. Don't cancel meetings with less than 3 weeks left in the CBA. Get to the table and hash it out and schedule MORE meetings and sit longer until you get the FANS their game back. f*** the NHL and NHLPA....WE PAY YOUR SALARIES! Maybe it's time for them to consider that and find middle ground, or at least start talking about it in the same room and not just meet with your lackeys for a week and then have a closed door meeting with the head D-bags where you cancel the afternoon session and give the fans even less hope. Pure garbage. there's my angry rant for the day.

Are you playing the demo on xbox or ps3? i found the demo on xbox is choppy with the player and puck control. all the game layers aren't in demos so the retail game will be different and smoother, but overall, there's likes and dislikes with the demo. it's harder to get one-timers off and it seems like the AI isn't up to speed with what EA's videos show. The players are breaking out better, but they seem to hang up alot on the backcheck and lift stick is still useless. It seems like in the offensive zone the AI players don't know how to set up....still. I'm still probably gonna renew my season ticket though, cause throughout the year, if there's a season they will be adding extra DLC to the NHL moments thing which is pretty cool and i'd like a discount on everything again and since i'm off from 8-16 September, i'd like the game on saturday instead of tuesday

Xbox or PS3? Xbox i'm in!

They are possibly the worst of the bunch, but teams like the Devils, Islanders and a couple others are creeping up awfully close to the Coyotes situation already. I think it's a possibility that Bettman will have to cave and finally move those 3 teams as a starting point. I'm all for the Yotes moving, but teams that actually have a history like like the Isles and Devils i'm not a fan of being moved, but if you have teams like that with no fan support and clearly terrible owners, then you gotta do what you gotta do. 3rd paragraph pretty much sums up why we're not going to see hockey this year and why afternoon talks were cancelled yesterday after Buttman's secret squirrel talks. bolded part....being from Winnipeg, i can see a huge riot in the future. Don't be surprised to see protests in every Canandian city where there's NHL teams. Just wait for the headlines "What aboot the fans Eh?"

As horrible as it is, I liked this.

I lol'd at the article... Here's why: (some article quotes) the market value for Bouwmeester has never been this high. but then states Bouwmeester has never lived up to the hype in Calgary Awesome...just awesome! then, once again: Bouwmeester has never lived up to his expectations in Calgary, scoring a total of just 12 goals in his 3 seasons with the Flames. Although he is no where near worth his $6,680,000 cap hit, Bouwmeester can log huge minutes while playing against the top lines on any given team Overall with Bouwmeester, the Wings would get a solid blue-liner who although he doesn't deserve his annual $6,680,000 pay check The Flames would love to have Filppula on their team This past season, the 28-year old had a career best 66 points in 81 games played His +18 rating is just a huge bonus for the Flames Jonathan Ericsson on the other hand, would also be a great addition. His +16 rating for the season would also be a best on the Flames. So to sum this up, the Wings get a guy that has fallen from grace to be a 3 goal per year, 15-20 point dman and the Flames get Flip who just had a career year and is geared up to do so again if there's a season and Ericsson who has also taken huge strides the past couple years and become a really good shutdown dman as it stated in the article. The article is so contradictory every step of the way and the writer is obviously a complete derp. No thanks to JBo and if the Flames think they're getting both those guys and a pick or anything else, they're out of their mind. Enjoy Hudler and keep Bouwmeester.

Really good read. thanks. Gotta love the old O-Pee-Chee cards that were 2/3 size.

His 24 goals and 29 assists for 53 points last year in 82 games says otherwise. And he only got 64 points the year prior with 26 goals in 80 games. So Franzen outscores him for goals, last year he got a whopping 3 more points than Hudler and in the past 2 seasons, hip point per game percentage is the same as Flips, who so many guys are willing to trade along with our top prospects for Ryan. Heatley's value has plummeted.

I strongly disagree with the bolded part. I believe that if you're going to run a sport then it should be something that you actually know. You shouldn't be in charge of rule changes and such things unless you've actually played the game and know WHY changes need to be made. Coaches would be fine candidates as well. Someone like Scotty Bowman as mentioned would be good. My personal favorite from my list prior would be Messier. Either way, the league should be someone that the NHL, NHLPA and fans can all RESPECT. I agree wholeheartedly with the rest of your post though.

Yzerman would be a great commissioner. Just saying. I wish Lids didn't go back to Sweden, cause he would too. As would Gretzky or even Messier. Don Cherry....as much as I love the guy, I don't think that he'd be what the game needs. A little too much old time hockey. This is from a guy who outright yells at people when they make a single sound while Coach's Corner is on. s*** get's ugly. Either way, I think that it should be someone who has actually played or at least coached in the NHL.

I'm in.

If Homer retires we'll add Emmy to his trade spot.

When we didn't have a logjam at forward, and with the rash of injuries last year all our forwards aside from Z who played all 82 averaged 71 or less games last year. The only way "Emmy" is in is if 4-5 other fwds are hurt. I'm starting to believe that the biggest surprise this season is that we'll have to wait until next season to find out.

Heatley is a steadily declining arrogant butthole. He's like a boner that's going limp By this you mean...?

And an overpayment as well. $3mil does sound about right for him. $4.2 is why Nashville never has prolific forwards...

At 6:20 my demo of NHL13 was done downloading, I was showered and shaved and ready to go to work, but i had 35 minutes before i had to go to work so i played some hockey. I am one of the passionate fans that cannot deal with another Gary Buttman sponsored lockout. It kinda sucks that i may have 5 seasons of GM mode Red Wings Stanley Cup victories before the 2013 season even starts if it does....I usually only have 1 Cup.