Commandant

I've got Comrie as the third goalie after Fucale and Spencer Martin right now, but its close.

Ryan Murray confirmed out for the tourney with surgery on a torn Labrum. Ouellet has a sprained ankle, not sure of time frame for him. Sweden has lost both Klefbom and Brodin.

Decertification means no union. Means anti-trust law is in play Means the judge could order things like a Salary Cap, the NHL draft, trading players, restricted free agency, etc.... are all illegal. Any damages he orders would be tripled under US law. However he could also order things like non-guaranteed contracts, no insurance and get rid of other player's rights that have been collectively bargained for as well. Think of the anti-trust suit like this. You are Donald Fehr, you have a nuclear bomb and you have a rocket. However the rocket only fires 50% of the time. By going through decertification we arm the nuke, but we aren't sure if the rocket is gonna fire and blow up the owners, or if the rocket will fail, and the nuke will blow us up. However its a long and costly process and with such big unknowns, and such big risk, usually once its started, it sees both sides settle either right away, or after a few minor court motions, but long before we get close to a trial.

Binding arbitration rarely happens in any industry that is "non-essential" such as this one. Its usually only used when you absolutely can't afford a work stoppage for the good of society... Doctors, Nurses, Police, Fire Fighters, that sort of thing. Neither Bettman nor Fehr want to put the power in the hands of a third party. Thats why decertification is such an intriguing process... because it does put the power in the hands of a third party (a judge) and as such encourages a settlement.

There is Binding ARBITRATION... where there is an Arbitrator who makes a final decision. This isn't arbitration, and the chances of this going to arbitration are essentially 0. This is MEDIATION. The difference between a Mediator and Arbitrator is this. A Mediator plays the role of "nice guy" who works to try and find common ground and encourage and push both sides to settle, but has no real power to force them to settle. The Arbitrator plays the role of judge, making a verdict and settlement if the two sides can't do it themselves.

That WOULD NOT lower ticket prices. Ticket Prices are not set by costs, but rather by supply/demand.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/opinion/author/elliotte-friedman/

Id bet if decertification happens, then we get a settlement and CBA shortly thereafter.

It would be more than a couple weeks as they would want him for a training camp too.

1) Domi has 33 points in 24 OHL games... is a near elite skater... a great playmaker... has good hockey sense and a heck of a shot. And you aren't conviced he's a first rounder because his dad was a meat head? 2) Zadorov has more offensive talent than McIlrath, and a better defensive game than Oleksiak. 3) Gauthier is on the cusp. Remember that outside the top 11 i haven't included many Euros. Some will get filtered into this list after the WJC and the huge amount will come after the U18. The Euros I've seen is because they played U18 last year. I've seen a game or two of the Hlinka too, but only as a baseline for guys, not enough to rank them yet. 4) Only Woodlief has him contending for MacKinnon's spot. I think Drouin is top 5, but I think MacKinnon is clearly better.

Part 3, 21-30 http://lastwordonsports.com/2012/11/23/2013-nhl-draft-november-rankings-21-30/

Journeymen defencemen like Commodore make the best teachers. Hal Gill is a much better "teacher" for young defencemen than many guys who have more talent than him. These are guys who don't have the talent to recover from their mistakes and are forced to play a smart, fundamentally sound game as a result, and thats why they are good with the younger players.

I think Vail makes it. Yes he's a long shot, but I see him stealing a role as the checking centre. As for Bozon, I think he made the smart decision. France is not in the first division, they are playing in Division 2, the level of competition sucks and its not good for his development. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Habs were the ones who recommended he stay in the WHL. Nystrom? Not gonna happen unless big time injuries occur. Sweden is too deep at wing.

Erik Nystrom has been moved from Modo's J20 (under 20 team) to Karlskrona in the Allvenskan, taking a big step up in competition after scoring 20 points in 19 games in the junior league.

Commodore could probably teach the kids a few things.

I think the players also see things as being more than just this CBA. They gave last time, If they give again, what stops another lockout in 5 years to get them to give again?

2 goals for Hudon tonight. McMillan was recently promoted to the first line and had 2g 1a in his first game with Kristo and Corbin Knight.

For a lot of players in the league thats 5-10% of their salary. (guys making 500k-1.0 million). Its not 5-10% of what the team is bringing in, not even close.

The 67.25 upper limit doesn't matter... the players will never get paid that. Its merely an accounting device so that the teams who are at 65-70 million today can easily meet the cap instead of lowering the cap to 59 immediately and sending teams scrambling. The players will get 50% of HRR + Make whole, in real dollars, and will never actually see the 67.25 until year 3 or 4 when revenues catch up. That shouldnt be a stumbling block. --------------------------------------------------------- That said the owners took less than 2 hours to reject. This is union busting, not negotiation at this point. 1.2 million per team per year... Gary has no interest in getting a deal done if he can't counter on that.

182 million apart on a 5 year deal. Thats 1.21 million per team per season. If the NHL rejects this offer, the season is done. If this is about the money, they'll take the offer. If this is about Union Busting, then we are through.

Danny Kristo, WCHA player of the week, 5 points (3g 2a) in 2 games.

The second installment of the November Draft Rankings, ranks 11-20 http://lastwordonsports.com/2012/11/20/november-rankings-2013-nhl-draft-11-20/

Amazingly Sarnia is in contention for first in the division. Hopefully they fall off and he's moved. Hudon, I'm not sure he's moved since he has next year too.

Unfortunately, I don't think he will. You never know though.

I started my annual draft rankings. Here is a look at how I see things in November. This is the first of four parts, as I'll rank 1-30, plus honourable mentions at this point. http://lastwordonsports.com/2012/11/18/november-rankings-2013-nhl-draft/