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dlbalr

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Everything posted by dlbalr

  1. Charles Hudon has been named captain of his junior team. The timing is a bit interesting considering he could be leaving the team for the better part of a month at the end of the weekend (Team Canada camp and hopefully the WJC's). Still, another positive from his strong season so far.
  2. It appears that Bournival will be listed as a healthy scratch for this one. He missed last game with an illness. Corbin is also a no-go.
  3. This is something worth noting separate from the lockout thread. Ryan O'Reilly, one of the RFA's to remain unsigned before the lockout, has signed a two year deal in the KHL. There is reportedly a clause in the contract that says if an NHL team (likely Colorado) was to offer more money than he is receiving with Metallurg when the lockout ends, that they would allow him to leave. That then implies that it is far from a guarantee that O'Reilly will return to the NHL when games once again get underway (I would imagine Metallurg is giving him pretty good money to put that type of clause in there). http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2012/12/07/colorados-oreilly-signs-two-year-deal-with-khl-metallurg/
  4. Of the three core issues that appear to remain from my post last night (provided cooler heads prevail and everything quietly goes back on the table), I think two could reasonably be solved by a bit of give and take on each side. The owners want 10 years with an opt-out at 8, players want 8 and 6 respectively. 8 isn't a bad number (and as Commandant noted, they were content with 6 in earlier offers - but with more contractual restrictions and less 'Make Whole' money) , just move the opt-out to 7 (guaranteeing 6 full years of labour peace); both sides should be able to live with that. As for player term, the PA has yielded and offered a cap of 8, owners want 5 (or 7 if a re-signing). Make it a cap of 6 with 7 for a re-signing (provided some sort of clause similar to the NBA's 'Bird Rights' provision can be done, otherwise this will be a huge loophole). The back-diving/cap recapture, to me, is where it gets really murky. In my opinion, provided that things do go back on the table, this is the big issue as both sides still aren't talking the same language. The NHL's rationale for the 5% variance is twofold - 1: Eliminate the back-diving deals plus 2: Eliminate heavily front-loaded deals as larger market teams have an unfair advantage over the smaller market ones in terms of using signing bonuses to help persuade a player to sign. The PA's 'Cap Benefit Recapture' I think does a decent job of covering the first of the NHL's concerns. It's a long process to go through whereby penalties could come in the form of carried forward cap overages to be deducted against a current year cap (at least, that's what I've been able to piece together) but it does little to cover front-loading, especially with the signing bonuses. If you're a GM and front-loading a contract gets you that final piece of the puzzle, potential penalties half a decade later isn't going to deter anyone. It should also be noted that in their proposal, potentially no one at all would be affected as it would only apply to new deals extending past 6 years (so 7 or 8). If the PA opts out after 6 as they've proposed, any potentially offending team could get off scot-free if that rule is axed or amended in the 2019 CBA talks. Suffice it to say, this is the issue where they aren't on the same page yet. This will be a key talking point in the next round of talks.
  5. After defeating the league leading Heat in their last time out, one would logically think things would get easier for the Bulldogs (7-9-1-1). Sadly this is not the case as tonight they travel to Syracuse to take on the Crunch (13-5-1-1), the Eastern Conference leaders. Syracuse is three points behind Abbotsford but have two games in hand. Keith Aulie and Brett Connolly are both expected to return to the lineup for the Crunch, as if their lineup wasn't good enough already. Projected Syracuse lines: (These are guesses based on +/- data from previous games which means surely some of these will be wrong) Brown - Conacher - Connolly Palat - Johnson - Panik Labrie - Angelidis - Wyman Killorn - Devos - Neilson Cote - Taormina Barberio - Gudas Aulie - Nightengale Tokarski Projected Hamilton lines: Holland - Dumont - Gallagher Blunden - Boyce - Leblanc Quailer - Chaput - Palushaj Hagel - Nattinen - Stortini Beaulieu - Ellis Tinordi - Commodore Nash - St-Denis Desjardins Puck drop is at 7:30 PM, Funny820 as always will have the play-by-play; click the banner below to listen.
  6. Galchenyuk extended his goal streak to 5 straight games as he picked up his 21st of the season last night (plus an assist) to move him into a tie for 2nd overall in league scoring (he has the tiebreak too). Here is the highlight:
  7. It's funny - as I noted earlier, I was writing tonight's column to be posted onto the site. I started about two and a half hours ago with some general thoughts on the lockout as part of the article. Then we had Fehr's first presser, I then re-wrote those thoughts (spinning them a bit more positively since it appeared some progress was made). Then came the second presser, which caused me to re-write what I had just re-written (spinning it more negatively this time). Then Bettman spoke...and I threw my hands up and got rid of the comments altogether (save for a quick couple of sentences at the beginning or the end). After tonight, I don't think anyone wants to read about CBA talking points for a while. So with that in mind, I present, for your reading enjoyment, an article about the lockout (my timing is impeccably bad...): http://www.habsworld.net/article.php?id=2952
  8. We'll have a GDT for the Hamilton game tomorrow. That's hockey...
  9. And the deal has been rejected already with the NHL indicating that everything is 'off the table.' I don't know if that means everything as in everything or everything as in what hasn't been agreed upon and that what they proposed is off the table. So, it appears, we're close to square one again.
  10. Fehr just had a press conference (and not a 26 second one like Bettman yesterday), it certainly makes it sound like they're heading in the right direction but I remain cautious about getting too excited. They believe there are agreements on the pension fund and the transition/make whole proposals and for the first time they have brought in a contract length limit in one of their proposals. From listening and taking notes to the live presser (easier said than done when I'm trying to type out a column for the main site to go up later tonight), here is where the remaining main gaps are: CBA term: NHL proposal: 10 years (opt-out at Year 8, don't know who has the option or if it's mutual) NHLPA Proposal: 8 years (PA option to opt-out after 6) Contract term: NHL: Max 5 years for players with new teams, 7 years for players re-signing (there is a huge, exploitable hole in that) NHLPA: Max 8 years Cap circumvention deals: NHL: Max 5% variance NHLPA: New rules, known as a cap-recapture, that would penalize teams that sign deals beyond 7 years (so 7 or 8) if those players are 'physically able to play but do not.' The NHLPA also proposes the the '100% rule' (click here for an explanation about what that is) would remain intact in terms of guiding year-by-year dollar variations in deals plus a caveat that the lowest dollar value year must be at least 25% of the highest dollar value year.
  11. The HECFI board has decided to not pursue a bid from the OHL's Erie Otters to move into Copps Coliseum. Provided that Andlauer and the Bulldogs can negotiate a new lease agreement (the current one expires this year), they will remain in Hamilton.
  12. He admitted back when they claimed Whiteside (which filled up the 40) that they would have had to DFA someone then to participate in the Major League portion and chose not to. Toronto claimed three players in the AAA portion while losing one (also in the AAA section) and also signed former Expo Claudio Vargas to play at AAA. (It has been a good day for the farm team...) There have been some interesting signings so far, Boston in particular has been busy. They've spent serious money on Shane Victorino and Mike Napoli ($13 million for 3 years each). Those are decent players but is that what they needed to get back into contention? They also signed Koji Uehara today, that addition I like for them. The biggest rumour out there today is that Seattle is going after Josh Hamilton. I can't say I saw that one coming; it'd be nice for a smaller market team to land one of the 'big fish.' It appears it's between Texas and the Dodgers for Zack Grienke.
  13. The Habs have a second NHL'er playing in the ECHL as Colby Armstrong has signed with the Utah Grizzlies. http://www.habsworld.net/out.php?15962
  14. Bettman held a brief, and I mean brief, press conference this afternoon. It lasted slightly longer than the time it has taken you guys to read this post so far. He is pleased with the process at this moment in time. Good news for sure.
  15. Peter Budaj has reportedly had preliminary discussions with HC Banska Bystrica of the Slovakian Extraliga. http://www.hc05.sk/do-hc--05-prichadza-dana-tyrell-z-tampy-bay--rokovania-s-budajom
  16. Berger and Stejskal have been sent down to Wheeling. Both make sense, Commodore took Stejskal's spot while Chaput is a better option than Berger at this point.
  17. Galchenyuk was named to Team USA's training camp. Brady Vail, however, did not get a look. Here's their preliminary roster: http://usahockey.cachefly.net/Media/WJC/2013/2013_WJC_PreliminaryRoster.pdf
  18. To no one's surprise, Collberg was named to Sweden's preliminary roster today. (They have 1 goalie, 1 d-man, and 1 forward to cut, it's safe to say he'll make the final team.) Erik Nystrom, Montreal's 6th rounder from last draft, is not on their roster.
  19. Keeping Jacobs in the room? Yeah, this is going nowhere...
  20. If the draft lottery were to be held in a similar fashion to the at the end of the last lockout, the Habs wouldn't be in good shape since they made the playoffs the previous two years.
  21. It has been a while since I've said this but break out the banana, the Bulldogs blanked the Heat 3-0. Holland, Quailer, and Leblanc had the goals. http://theahl.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1010151
  22. Well, it is the Petes (dead last in the OHL) so a big night was expected. He wound up with 3 goals and an assist and was named 1st star. For the moment (it seems to change daily), he now sits in sole possession of 3rd in league scoring. I'm not quite sure what Pat Hickey was following though...the game ended 5-2 Sarnia. https://twitter.com/zababes1/status/275061636681854977
  23. Lineup notes for tonight - Stejskal out, Nash in. Bournival (sick) out, Nattinen in. And best of all, Desjardins is in.
  24. Game 2 goes today, let's see if the double digit shot plateau can be reached before the 3rd period.
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