vladdy16

Dear Red Wings Fans, In our now 30 years of owning the Red Wings franchise, we have experienced many ups and downs. No situation is more frustrating, though, than working through the process of establishing a new collective bargaining agreement. We join the rest of our organization today in thanking fans of Hockeytown for your patience over the last few months. We are sorry for the delay in starting the season and the unfortunate public nature of the negotiations. Thankfully, with this new deal, we will be assured of a settled labor environment for many years to come. We recognize that no team excels like this one has without incredible fan support. And we understand the special bond that has been formed over the years: we do not take lightly our responsibility as owners. Thank you for being a part of our team. We look forward to delivering another memorable season of Red Wings hockey. Sincerely, Marian & Mike Ilitch

Honestly, I think a big part of this is that the Wings have been so successful for so long. People my age generally aren't doing message boards - I just happen to be more hip than most. My generation is the die hard generation; no one dares question us. Anyone born after 1980 is going to be hard pressed to not be called a bandwagoner.

Thanks to Rivalred for joining me in FanAid today. We had dinner at Cobo Joe's. Congratulations to Jessica for being the third recipient of FanAid! We had a great time and will see you soon. Thanks to Shannon for the awesome time and the great hug when I came in.

What's shocking about this, besides the timing, is how badly the majority of Leafs fans are taking this. I honestly think the move is an improvement for them, but the timing is WAY off. Leafs fans are hoping Nonis takes over.

This was funny. "The KHL is SO much better. Did you see that backcheck by Semin?"

The only way those whistles will make the atmosphere festive is the applause generated by someone pummeling whoever is blowing said whistles.

Yeah, where's my doughnut?

This is my all-time favorite Hank shift:

Congrats to Auswing40 for having the closest unedited guess!

The person who comes closest to the date a CBA is signed will win a NWT Size Large Red Wing Fleece. (No zippers or pockets.) Please add the time the *offical* announcement is posted to your guess. This will act as a tie breaker. DO NOT edit your post. Any edited posts will be disqualified. In case of a typographical error, please PM me to edit your post. Only one entry per household. Offer void where prohibited. Taxes are the responsibility of the winner. Winner agrees that LGW may use their likeness in promotional materials without further compensation. This offer not valid to fans of any of the 29 other teams. Will not ship to Arizona, Colorado, Illinois or Toronto. Your mileage may vary. These claims have not been approved by the FDA.

Not that there's much else around here for us to do, but we've made a very simple request that people just can't seem to honor. The next person who needs to have a post deleted from this thread will receive a suspension commensurate with their warning level. It would suck to have to suspend or even ban someone because of something so trivial. Please don't make us do it.

Nick Cotsonika ‏@cotsonika NHL and mediator still waiting to hear from NHLPA. Not sure when PA will finish internal meetings and talks will resume. Josh Rimer ‏@JoshRimerHockey Just spoke to an NHL player if they would still file a disclaimer, "Too early to tell but we still have the power." Darren Dreger ‏@DarrenDreger No shortage of "will" to get a deal done, however, I'm told PA vets, Shane Doan and Marty St Louis are very focused on the end game. Nick Cotsonika ‏@cotsonika NHLPA has until Monday to respond to NHL legal action. But is that really a deadline? Not like a ruling will be made then.

More importantly, Bettman said it. We all know his word is golden.

The owners vs. players debate has played out ad nauseum - please don't start it up again. We all know where everybody stands and no one's mind is going to change. Please discuss the details of the offers only.

And that conversation ends here, please. This is a thread about players you would have liked to play for the Wings, not who's tougher, what Cup team was the best, not whether we need an enforcer or not or whether Hank has dreamy eyes. Let's keep it on topic, okay?

Khabibulan, Hedberg, the Esposito brothers, Lafleur.

No, he doesn't; nor do you concede his points. No one does. No one has changed anyone's mind in this thread, and they won't. If we can't discuss something other than who's at fault for the lockout, then let's not discuss anything. It's the same points by the same people for the last 20 pages. Nothing has changed. Let's not fluff our post count. There has to be something else we can talk about.

Congratulations to Shannon on being recipient number 2 of FanAid. Stopped by Cobo Joe's today, had a quick cocktail and some fun conversation. She is awesome! I highly recommend going down there and saying hi. They are not open at night unless there's a concert or some other function happening at the Joe, but they're open til at least 4 during the day.

I can't imagine that most haven't heard of the grass roots campaign started in LA (!), but JIC fans are pledging to refrain from an equal number of games that they are locked out of beginning Dec. 21st once hockey starts up again. Just Drop It.

An Edmonton blog comparing the NBA and NHL class action complaints.

Not that anyone gives a s*** right now, but if you guessed before December 14th, 2012, I will let you adjust your guess. Edit your original post and make sure you preface your vote with "second chance guess." However, if your second guess is the same date as someone's original guess and turns out to be the correct date, the first-time guesser is the winner. Not many chose 2013, so the odds are good for you second-timers. This window of opportunity is finite, so don't wait more than a week to adjust your time frame.

And the lawsuits start flying. Bumpy ride indeed.

Aaron Ward ‏@aaronward_nhl NHLPA Executive Board voted last night,to give players a vote to AUTHORIZE Exec Board to chose to proceed on Disclaimer of Interest #TSN

As did I. Seriously.

Nick Kypreos ‏@RealKyper #CBA meeting over. No progress. #NHL remains firm on "take it or leave it" last offer to #NHLPA.