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It's like they drew team names out of a hat.

Whoops, forgot about that. Here's another idea guys...we kidnap Sid and hold him hostage until Bettman agrees to stop the lockout nonsense/retire. Who's in?

Where are the fans being mentioned in these negotiations? Nowhere? Oh, ok. At least the last lockout we could entertain the idea that with the new agreement would come lower ticket prices. At least throwing out empty promises showed that the fans were on their minds for half a second.

Short term CBA's work for the owners, means that they get to renegotiate(take more money from the players) more often! Gary probably likes them because he can use them as a time to push more money towards his favorite failure teams. Who knows, but this sucks.

Who do you think is the most overrated player in the league? I think Dustin Brown is overrated, still very talented obviously but the constant praise this summer might be a bit much.

Update on Patty http://octopusthrower.com/2012/09/04/patrick-eaves-injury-update-still-struggling-with-headaches/ My heart dropped when that puck hit him but I didn't expect it to be this long of a recovery. I also really annoys me that when Crosby was out I had to hear/read about it every few days. It seemed like every time he saw a doctor we got a full report (no matter how minor the progress was) but there has been hardly any major articles about Eaves since the day the puck hit. Just kind of bums me out.

Datsyuk, Bert, or Homer. All three have a good sense of humor and probably a lot of good stories. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Helm yet, I think he'd be another good one.

the atmosphere in my house is going to get reaaally unpleasant if/when the lockout is announced.

Cried and then tweeted that video. I know that even if it goes viral it probably won't change anything but it was really well made.

I agree that it's hard to sympathize with either side of a millionaires vs billionaires discussion, especially one that's threatening this hundredaires ability to watch the only sport I actually care about this season BUT 1. The billionaires don't entertain me all season so I like them less and 2. Didn't the players try to push back the expiration of this CBA in order to avoid another lockout? ideas: 1.lock them all in a room until they agree, jury-style. 2.take all the money that goes towards redesigning/ruining jerseys and use that to settle everything?

I get that you don't like the guy but I don't see how he is in any way overrated.

I guess this is why I said Dustin Brown, I'm in BC so everyone either loves or hates the Canucks and everyone who hates them became Kings fans this year. They've been talking about him like he's top 5 in the league which imo he isn't. It's a lot like it was when Boston won and people were acting like Tim Thomas is some sort of god. As I said, I still think he's very good just not as good as some people are making him out to be. couldn't believe *she* had dustin brown either. lol

I had to get Center Ice. Not free There used to be a really good feed on freeredwingstv i think it was but not sure if its still around

One thing I know for certain is that he's the only thing besides a flu epidemic that's ever caused the Stanley Cup not to be awarded... The fact that this many people HAVE a "predisposition against Bettman" is enough for me to say he shouldn't be commissioner. If the league is really as concerned about the fans as they like to claim then the head of the NHL should be a guy that the fans don't hate imo.

Since you asked... of the 11 players that have been named as divers in this thread, 6 are Canadian, 3 are American and the sisters are of course Swedish. So as far as this particular discussion goes, 54% of the divers are Canadian...and no surprise here but 6/11 were from the Canucks. I don't really think it matter where they are from (especially since as of 2010/2011 season 53% of all NHL players were Canadian so naturally the number will be higher) but I do think it reflects poorly on the Canucks as a team.

I would love to see Stevie Y as commissioner just because he's a classy guy but I agree with everyone who's saying it should be a businessman because really that is the main part of the job. I don't think it needs to be an ex player or coach but I'm gonna go ahead and say the next commissioner should be a guy who actually LIKES hockey at least because from what I can tell, Gary doesn't really give a...he doesn't care.

Aside from the obvious ones (Lids, Vladdy, Stevie Y) I'd say either Datsyuk because I already get upset thinking about the fact that he will retire one day OR restart Bert's career and have him as a Wing, I'd love to see what his career could have been if the Moore incident had never happened...

I want to be clear that I hate Bettman as much as any good hockey fan... That being said, I don't like when everyone lets the blame fall solely on him. I think it must be a hard job to speak for a room of greedy men who want the players to pay for mishandled teams. Let the broke teams fail and this wouldn't happen so often. The failing teams are like a gangrenous leg that you don't amputate. You know it's going to keep causing problems but you just had such high hopes for the leg that you can't let it go. That analogy was terrible...sorry about that.

Conklin. Partly because I felt sick to my stomach most of the time when he was in net but even when he wasn't being useless I didn't like him. Some weird irrational hatred...I actually feel a little bit bad for how much I don't like him.

When my family had WHL players billet with us we had two guys that were considered "enforcer" type players and neither of them ever dreaded their fights with the exception of one time maybe. Most of the fights were either planned ahead of time, started by two guys to get their teams going when neither team was doing much, or a fight for retribution from a dirty hit and when it came to those they said they didn't mind fighting someone to show their team that they had their back. I know fighting is a touchy subject with some people but I really do think it has a place in hockey and a lot of people would stop watching if it was taken out. It has less to to with our barbaric love of violence and a lot more to do with preserving tradition in a sport that seems hellbent on becoming soccer.

Pav's helmetless hit on Chara. also December 21,2011 Kronwall leveling Kesler, love to see a Canuck get kronwalled and love to see Kesler take a penalty afterwards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk3qIjz5EDM This countdown is amazing, as are some of the comments from opposing fans... "Why the f*ck do forwards keep their heads down when hes on the ice?!?! If I was playing against his line, fk scoring, my priority is to come out of that shift with my legs and arms."

This is a joke, yes?

Seguin, Kopitar, Stoll, Hedman, Lucic... Oh boy I could go on for a while

I miss the neg button. Seemed like a more efficient way to tell someone their opinion sucked rather than the threads being taken over by the personal attack posts.

I find it odd that every article that has mentioned the teams that are on Nash's list has focused on the fact that there are no Canadian teams... the teams on his list are all pretty decent choices and everybody is talking about the Canadian teams being excluded as though he agreed to go anywhere in the NHL EXCEPT Canada. That said, I also don't care for a Nash trade, his price tag is going to be ridiculous and the Wings have other areas that need attention.