ogreslayer

Reports are that the next cancellation will be the season. I guess I can almost officially thank both the NHL owners & players for saving me the cost of the Center Ice package in these hard economic times. It's really nice that they were looking out for the fiscal health of the fans like that. That's what this was all about right? Right?

Given Huds' tendecy to find the logo more often than not, could his best "replacement" be Samuelsson?

I think though that the players you would see sign early during any exclusive period, if one even existed, would be your 3rd liners & second pairing D-men wanting to lock in a job before the bidding starts on the big boys. Who would be more concerned about having a seat when the music stops, someone like Dan Cleary or an Ian White or someone like Pavel or Hank? And as far as your roster depth guys (10th-13th forwards & 5th-7th D-men) how many GMs would lock those types of players up early vs. saving that money up to possibly attract the big stars & then fill their rosters up on the cheap with players more likely willing to play for less because those seats are filling up?

Here's the key though...void & unenforceable. If there was a period set up for teams to negotiate with their former players, not current because that whole void & unenforceable thing, said former player would have to make that choice, similar to a player making the decision to negotiate with one team only at the start of their regular UFA period. There is no contract, exclusivity, connection, etc. from a legal standpoint. There would be nothing, beyond loyalty maybe, to stop a Steven Stamkos or Sidney Crosby from saying thanks but no thanks on negotiating with their former team during an exclusive period, knowing that a bidding war is going to happen for them. By the same token, there would be nothing to stop an Alex Ovechkin, Geno Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, or god forbid a Pavel Datsyuk or Hank Zetterberg from saying no thanks to the NHL period & going back home to play. Decertification by the NHLPA & the courts voiding all contracts per the NHL's request looks pretty close to mutually assured destruction to me.

I would prefer to forget Lebda but I didn't. I somehow got Cory Cross too but whiffed on the big red 'fro that is Mike Commodore. My major misses where Brad May & Mike Modano. 59/76 for me.

Thanks for finding that #9. A very good read. If it were actually a least special list though, I would think that the Bluejackets would be leading the way wouldn't they?

So you're saying we send Emmerton to Calgary? I'm down with that.

Yeah, Cory Emmerton could probably put up 20 points playing 70 games in the Swiss league instead of the 10 he put up last year. So does anyone else think that the Swiss league took their inspiration for the flaming helmet from the NBA Jam video game series?

And that had nothing to do with Nashville having to juggle spots for 15 forwards during the post season while once Helmer went down, the Wings had all of 12? It's called options. The Preds had an abundance of NHL caliber forwards they could move back & forth out of their lineup in the playoffs, where the Wings didn't. If Helm doesn't get injured, odds are Cory sits. Let's look at it from a total ice time per game standpoint shall we? Emmerton averaged 5:10 per game in the 2012 playoffs & Tootoo had 7:46. That 5:10 for Emmerton was the lowest on the Wings with the next lowest being Nyquist at 8:51 & Homer at 9:48. And if you want to look at the regular season, which is a much better sample size btw, Cory averaged 8:06 a game to Tootoo's 13:09. No other regular on the Wings had less ice time per game then Emmerton unless you want to count Mursak when he came back from injury as a regular. Actually, no other regular was in single digits. Of the call ups, even Brunnstrom & Conner were given more time on the ice per game then Cory. With the abundance of forwards the Wings have now, even without assuming Nyquist will be up full time & the possible return of Eaves, there are better options out there than to have Cory play 8 minutes a night for another season. The only way Cory cracks the Wings lineup this year is if Kenny pulls off a trade & the Wings lose a couple of forwards.

Sort of like when Gretzky retired & the NHL painted 99 behind the goals, when Homer finally hangs them up the Wings should at least play a game with 96 painted in front of the crease to honor him.

It doesn't have to be NHL really. Minor league, beer league, college...it doesn't matter all that much in my opinion. Watch even a few games live at any level and you'll be hooked for life. I mean even Columbus has dozens of fans now.

Might was well play along... June 20, 2013 @ 4:00 PM EDT

Are we really sure it was Sheahan & not Tinky Winky?

Ultimately no, I haven't changed my opinion as I figured that Kenny was already planning for a post-new CBA world already by making those smaller moves. While I wouldn't mind if the Wings had Suter, Parise, or some other big splash free agent, I wouldn't want to see the them crippled long term because of it & there's more than a fair chance that would have happened. Just figured that Kenny was playing the long game all along.

I can't believe that Cory Emmerton isn't on the list

Well it's not like most Inuit families still rely on hunting for food given that they can just pop down to the local Spartan Store for their weekly groceries at reasonable prices. Oh wait... I would use a word for someone who would ***** & moan about a people who basically have to hunt to feed themselves, but I don't think that word would be hippie.

Interesting tweets from Bob McKenzie tonight. In their entirety: Would losing a second season within 10 years be the straw that breaks the camel's back?

From all the stories I've seen, it comes down to the fact that Zug released him from the last season of his contract to play in the NHL only. AHL<>NHL so they're evidently going to hold him to that last year now until the lockout ends.

Well sadly this guy is now off the market & can't help the Wings

The words right from Nick's mouth: http://www.freep.com...om-extra-points And more on the Wings historically partnering up future leaders with current, specifically Yzerman-Lapointe, Yzerman-Zetterberg, & Zetterberg-Filppula: http://www.foxsports...712&feedID=3569

I have to give the edge to Fedorov due to his flair I believe the minimum amount is 37 pieces

Looks like the Datsyuk rumors were premature. From Dmitry Chesnokov: https://twitter.com/dchesnokov/status/247659139034140672

The current CBA now officially expires on September 15th with talks apparently to start on June 1st or even after the draft on June 22-23. http://www.thehockey...e-to-NHLPA.html So does the deal get done or are we facing another lockout?

Brunner's waiver exempt this season so it's a non-issue.

Well it's not like the NHL has supposedly already called a news conference for Thursday to officially announce the lockout. Oh wait...