Archive for the ‘Updates’ Category

Why do so many hockey fans seem to favour contraction?

Posted by Justin Bourne under Cats, CBA, Lockout News, One Man's Opinion, Updates on Dec 19, 2012

What would Tampa Bay’s future look like without a salary cap?

We’ve all customized our Twitter feeds by this point to our own tastes, though that’s not necessarily a good thing. As a left-leaning hockey fan who likes cats, I get a lot of left-leaning news, tons of hockey information and opinion, and cat pics. This does not make me a more well-rounded person, but it does satisfy my need to see pictures of cats who think they’re people.

What it’s also done, is aggregate a news feed in which I get the impression that everyone feels as I do – “man, everyone totally agrees with me on this!” – is something I probably think way too often.  In the case of the NHL lockout, I strongly get the impression that everyone – my Twitter everyone, of course – is in favour of the NHLPA decertifying and letting the “free market” dictate what it will. (I suppose the free market concept is not entirely left-leaning, so maybe my feed isn’t all that one-sided.) Oddly, on this particular topic, I feel differently. Read the rest of this entry »

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Decertification in the not-too-distant future for the NHLPA?

Posted by Justin Bourne under CBA, Updates on Dec 14, 2012

Aaron Ward passed along a couple tweets, which while unfortunately written in near text-speak (hey, 140 characters can be tough), gets the point across:

 

Well, that’s not the easiest to parse, but basically, the players will have a vote at some point that will give the executive board the authority to decertify (or “disclaim”) if they so see it fit. From where I’m sitting it just shows the NHL that the union is serious about doing this if a deal isn’t reached soon, so it works as a little semi-threat. Who knows if they’ll go through with it or not, but they’re working on putting themselves in the position to if they see fit.

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Federal mediators are coming back to the CBA negotiating table

Posted by Justin Bourne under Updates on Dec 11, 2012

I don’t exactly know why, but it sounds like the players have been pushing for the federal mediators to return since the owners/players meetings that left Donald Fehr and Gary Bettman out of the room, and they’re getting their wish, according to reports.

My guess is that the players got the owners to budge on a few things they were previously stuck on, and figured that brought them close enough to the point where mediators could close the gap. The meetings take place tomorrow, and miraculously, the location is still unknown.

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Update: CBA talks to resume tomorrow

Posted by Justin Bourne under Lockout News, Updates on Dec 11, 2012

I genuinely spent a few minutes trying to find a post I’d previously written that said, “the owners and players are going to meet again Wednesday,” but figured I’d start a fresh one. So: the owners and players are going to meet again Wednesday, according to multiple sources (I think the tweet below is info-center zero). It’ll be at an unknown location, which I’ll share with you here when it leaks in about 20 minutes.

If there’s nothing new and exciting to report today, I won’t mention the lockout again. Posts on actual hockey coming throughout the day!

Us too.

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In retrospect, Dale Hunter did pretty well for himself

Posted by Justin Bourne under Updates on Dec 10, 2012

Hey, remember when Dale Hunter left the London Knights to take a one year deal coaching Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, it didn’t go great, and he went back to the OHL? That was weird wasn’t it?

What was with the one year deal? Why did he think the best way to win was to keep Great 8′s minutes so low? Why did he head back to London? Most coaches would kill for one of those 30 bench boss spots.

The answer to most of my questions is that it doesn’t matter. He’s got a good gig going, and man, does he have the London Knights humming.

They’ve won 18 straight games, and find themselves with the best record in the OHL, with 26 wins and only five losses. They’ve scored the most goals in the league, and count themselves as one of four teams who’ve yet to give up 80 goals. Someone get this man an NHL gig, stat! (Don’t actually, you guys, he doesn’t want it.)

Here’s the latest on the talent the team has that’s making this happen, from NHL.com:

Maxi Domi and Seth Griffith each had three-point games to help the London Knights tie a franchise record with their 18th consecutive victory Sunday in a 5-2 win against Mississauga.

For those of you who didn’t know, yes, Tie Domi’s son is a goal-scorer. Read the rest of this entry »

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CBA talks remain at a standstill, so let’s talk boycott

Posted by Justin Bourne under CBA, Lockout News, Updates on Dec 10, 2012

How about that cheery Monday morning headline, hey?

In a nutshell, talks between the players and owners about getting a new CBA deal done are where they’ve been for some time now: at impasse. Pierre LeBrun reported that Steve Fehr and Bill Daly were in touch over the weekend, but the two sides have no official plans to meet. In fact, here’s the statement Bill Daly gave the Associated Press on Friday night:

“I have no reason, nor any intention, of reaching out to the union right now. I have no new ideas. Maybe they do. We are happy to listen.”

Again, with the “no reason” comment. Yes Bill, absolutely none.

As we wait for positive news to trickle out – hell, any news, really – you should take a look at this. It’s the latest way some fans are planning to get back at the NHL for locking them out: every game the NHL takes from them after December 21st, they’ll take back from the league:

Welp. Let’s get this week under way!

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UPDATE: We thought Nick Cotsonika had a good string of tweets this morning. That info: Read the rest of this entry »

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What you missed on July 1st: A Backhand Shelf and Pro Hockey Talk collabo

Posted by Justin Bourne under Free Agency, Updates on Jul 02, 2012

If you didn’t spend yesterday all over your computer mauling the hockey interwebs like a grizzly would the salmon of Capistrano, you likely missed many, many bits of hockey news.

I realize that as editor of theScore’s hockey blog that it’s my job to keep you fully informed, so…here’s a comprehensive UFA Day recap. Everything that didn’t slip through the tight nets of the team over at NBC’s Pro Hockey Talk, anyway.

If you’d like a little elaboration on my quick thoughts, please, give the links a click and track down some more detail. And then, um, click the links to the stories they’ve linked to for the full story. Links for everyone!

So here is every headline they wrote on July 1st (AKA every piece of important news), the day unrestricted free agents were eligible to sign, complete with some of my commentary.

The big prizes (Zach Parise, Ryan Suter, Rick Nash, Roberto Luongo, etc. etc.), well, we’re still waiting for those balls to drop, so I’ll get to those when the news breaks today.

In chronological order from yesterday morning to last night…let’s get to it.

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Read the rest of this entry »

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