2025-2026 NHL Offseason

DS1119

lukin2006 wrote:

DS1119 wrote:

lukin2006 wrote:

College hockey sucks...imo...besides most of the best hockey players come out of the CHL.

with that being said many junior clubs in Canada would have a tough time providing all this...there are some teams that could...and then there'd be a big competitive unbalance...I think it's always been a given that you play junior hockey for the development of your skills with the long shot hope of a NHL career.

I like college hockey. I'm lucky I have two decent programs where I live now with Union and RPI.

It's like watching female hockey... .

It Cananda it probably is. Not here though.

lukin2006

Some of us in Canada still like our hockey tough, don't mind a good scrap...I just don't like the cheap shots to the head, clutching and grabbing and all the lovely stick work.

Bathgate66

any hockeys better than no hockey

grrr

lukin2006

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/85689 ... ource-says


Labor sides have no plans to meet

Although there was limited communication between NHL Players' Association special counsel Steve Fehr and NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly over the weekend, the stalemate between the sides continues, making it likely that the Winter Classic will be canceled.

Daly said Monday that the two sides had no plans to meet but that the league is ready and willing to meet as soon as necessary.

"No new news. We withdrew our most recent proposal on Friday, and now we are spending time thinking about our next proposal and how best to get closer to a resolution," Daly said by email. "We hope the union is doing the same thing. Given the fact that the union refused even to discuss our last proposal, it would appear that we still have a large gulf to bridge."

The league and union have not resumed negotiations since swapping proposals in Toronto almost two weeks ago, and it seems clear that the impasse is not close to ending.

Fehr denied that the union is not willing to play ball.

"Since the last bargaining meeting on Oct. 18, we have consistently made it clear to the League that we are ready to meet and are willing to discuss all ideas, certainly including their last proposal," he told ESPN.com. "The league has unfortunately continued to decline to meet. Their position makes it difficult to move the process forward, as it is obviously hard to make progress without talking."

Since rejecting the union's trio of proposals, the league has made two rounds of game cancellations. The latest, announced on Friday, wiped out the regular-season schedule for November. A source familiar with the league's plan told ESPNNewYork.com that the league is expected to cancel the Winter Classic on Thursday, the source said.

Even if tensions between the two sides thaw, Mother Nature would make it tough for the sides to resume negotiations in New York this week because of the effects of Hurricane Sandy. The storm is moving in to the city later Monday; mass transit and schools have been suspended, and the city has ordered hundreds of thousands to evacuate.

NHLPA executive director Don Fehr is back in Toronto, the union's nerve center. Fehr had plans to fly to Minnesota to meet with players on Monday.

keeponrockin

Good thing the NBA is starting up soon, and by the time it and football are done, spring training starts.

Indifference71

Now that baseball is over, this is starting to suck even more. I wish all of these assholes would get into a room and get this shit done.

polaris_x

my suggestion to everyone is to take the time they would've spent watching games, highlights, checking stats, reading game summaries and blogs and pick up a hobby ... who knows - by the time this thing gets settled you may know a whole new language or play the entire neil young catalogue on pan flute ...

lukin2006

The Winter Classic is next on the chopping block.

Barring unexpected progress in the NHL's labour talks this week, the league's signature Jan. 1 event will follow the 326 regular-season games already wiped from the schedule. The formal cancellation is expected to be made by Friday, according to a source, just ahead of a deadline built into the NHL's contract with the University of Michigan.

The deal struck with the school for the rental of Michigan Stadium last February included a "work stoppage cancellation" clause that allows the NHL to call off the game as late as Friday for a penalty of $100,000 — an amount it has already paid as a deposit.

If a cancellation comes Nov. 3 or after, the league would also have to reimburse the university for any "out-of-pocket expenses reasonably occurred" in connection with the outdoor game.

This year's Winter Classic between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings was billed as the biggest in the event's six-year history. Organizers were expecting a crowd that would eclipse the world record of 104,173 who attended the "Big Chill" NCAA game at the University of Michigan in 2010 and an increased number of secondary events — including alumni, junior, college and American Hockey Leagues games — were slated for a second outdoor venue at Comerica Park in Detroit.

A source indicated that they wouldn't be held if the Winter Classic was cancelled.

In addition to the contractual commitments to the University of Michigan, the NHL must be mindful of sponsors who have been left out in the cold during the lockout. Not only is the outdoor game an important event on their schedule, it's one that requires a lot of planning.

"While the game may be Jan. 1, I knew that (a decision on the Winter Classic) was coming sooner than people thought," sports marketer Brian Cooper said Monday. "Say you're a bank and you're going to bring down your top 150 wealth management clients and they're going to block off New Year's Day — you have to give that a lot of advance, especially if it's New Year's Day."

Cooper, the president and CEO of S&E Sponsorship Group, represents a number of corporate clients who do business with the NHL.

He views the pending cancellation of the Winter Classic as a significant moment in the league's ongoing labour dispute. The game at Michigan's "Big House" was one he thought had a tremendous amount of potential because of the inclusion of the Maple Leafs, the first Canadian team to participate.

"This is the first year that it really affects Canada," said Cooper. "There was going to be a lot of in-market (sponsorship) activations, there were going to be a lot of hosting opportunities, there were going to be consumer promotions. ...

"This was a big date."

The NHL and NHL Players' Association have been locked in a stalemate since last meeting on Oct. 18. Both sides indicated Monday that there are no plans to resume negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement.

The league has already cancelled all of its regular-season games through Nov. 30 and deputy commissioner Bill Daly estimated it will have lost US$720 million in revenue if they are never played.

Losing the Winter Classic would further add to that total. Cooper estimated this season's event was poised to generate about $3 million in corporate sponsorships, not to mention revenue lost from ticket and merchandise sales that are unmatched on any other single day during the NHL season.

The NHL made a big splash when it announced details of the 2013 Winter Classic back in February, with Leafs and Red Wings alumni in attendance and commissioner Gary Bettman predicting the two Original Six rivals would take the event "to a new record-setting level."

The league's $3-million rental fee for Michigan Stadium was to be made in five payments, with the next $250,000 instalment due on Friday. It's unlikely that money will ever change hands.

Speculation has surrounded the Winter Classic since the lockout began on Sept. 15 and the league has acknowledged publicly that a decision about the event needed to be made sooner than later.

"It takes a lot of time and it takes the commitment of a lot of money in order to put on the Winter Classic," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said earlier this month. "My understanding is at some point in the not-too-distant future we will have to commit many millions of dollars if we're going to play the Winter Classic on Jan. 1. Obviously under these circumstances and all the uncertainty, we're not going to commit the many millions of dollars if we don't think we're going to have a deal.

"And so the Winter Classic timeframe, in terms of making that decision, is probably rapidly approaching."



Read more: http://www.windsorstar.com/hockey/nhlne ... z2AjEhsQWU

Hartydog

This whole situation just pisses me off. That is all.

polaris_x

once the winter classic is gone ... might as well consider it a lost season ...

badbrains

polaris_x wrote:

once the winter classic is gone ... might as well consider it a lost season ...

I have a feeling that if the season is canceled, more then the winter classic will be gone (bettman) hmmm.....

polaris_x

badbrains wrote:

I have a feeling that if the season is canceled, more then the winter classic will be gone (bettman) hmmm.....

i think this is driven by the owners ... the owners got a great deal with the nba so, i think a lot of them are buoyed by that and figure the union will break ... a lot of nba owners own nhl teams too ...

Jason P

On the plus-side of the Winter Classic getting canceled, my wallet will probably have around $1000 extra in it on January 2nd.

lukin2006

I think if the lock out goes to near the end of January the season will be lost...the players will have very little incentive...they will have already lost a good chunk of their salary and they don't make ton in the playoffs (bonus money). I don't know why holding out into the new year why they'd cave then.

As long as the NHL remains the only true professional league the players will always be in tough against the owners.

lukin2006

polaris_x wrote:

once the winter classic is gone ... might as well consider it a lost season ...

They only lose 100k if they cancel Friday...they'll just move the winter classic to the following year.

Cancelling the winter classic hurts the little guy...I know here in Windsor they expected hotels to be booked for the weekend, not to mention hotels in Detroit area, bars, restaurants etc.. That's who I feel sorry for the little guys.

MayDay10

im thinking mid-January will be the final cut-date.


And fuck these guys. I think I will follow NCAA Basketball this year

Indifference71

MayDay10 wrote:

And fuck these guys. I think I will follow NCAA Basketball this year

Yep. Fuck everybody. Owners and players. All of them make me sick.

Not a bad idea with focusing on NCAA hoops this year. I need something to fill this hockey void

DS1119

Let's have the players go on a barnstorming session!

keeponrockin

DS1119 wrote:

Let's have the players go on a barnstorming session!

That'd be great.

MayDay10

screw that. I wouldnt pay a dime to see that. Same as I wouldnt pay to see replacement players.

Figure this shit out, dummies.