apuszczalowski

So for those that say "Its entertainment, I will come back as if nothing happened", do you get mad or complain about players/coaches/GMs when the team plays poorly? I mean, its just entertainment, why would you be upset? The issue that most have with what happened is that it is entertainment, and the entertainment was taken away because they needed to argue over how to divide the money that we give them for this entertainment. We the consumers are what make their industry possible, and they show now respect to us and just expect that we will come crawling back to them to give them more of our money because they have given us our entertainment back. The point of an form of protest against the league is to show that you as a consummer of their product/entertainment are not happy that they do not respect the people that pay for their product and that we the consummers are not improtant to them

I don't live near and have never really followed St. Louis so I don't know, but if you go with that logic, the only teams that I do know that have former NHL players still living in the area after retirement are Buffalo and Toronto. Do you know for a fact that the St. Louis area has no HOF players that never played in St. Louis living there?

Probably made the scheduling easier to remove OOC play for the shortened season. Limits/Keeps travel down for most teams with the games being scheduled closer together and allows still to have the most games against division teams

I don't think so, Technically the lockout still isn't over until they ratify the new CBA and sign it which happens Saturday (Its why TCs are expected to start Sunday). And didn't the Blues President Davidson leave and take a job with the Blue jackets happen during the lockout? Funny that he finally gets what he wanted (being able to trade away a player and retain part of a contract) and is fired before he can ever use it Dave nonis is being named GM (not sure if its interim or the job is officially his)

There was talk the new CBA would flip Winnipeg and Columbus for this season only until futher re-alignment could be done, doesn't look like that was approved?

Tough to say because the rumor mill always said the leafs were in on him, but who knows if any rumor that gets reported is ever true.I would say that its more likely if his firing was over dealing for Luongo, its because he didn't go after him enough/didn't want him given the timing of this firing (unless we here next today that Loungo is heading to Florida)

I'm sure the Blues have many that might still live in the areaAs for the Blue jackets, they are a relatively new team, do they even have any Alumni yet? Their first ever draft pick, Rostislav Klesla is still playing in the NHL today

Why would you feel bad? His rebuilding job wasn't anything great, he made big splashes to get some big names and mortgage their future and they still have yet to make the playoffs since the last lockout. their ownership has become even better with Rogers & bell owning them now instead of the teachers

Weird, Sucks for the rest of the league/East because they might become slightly more respectable now Makes you wonder why the decision was made now? Was it the new ownership? Was it because he was unable to land Luongo? Was it because he wanted to go after Luongo? He was a bad GM and just a loudmouth who should have been fired, but I prefer to see the Leafs suffer with him then possibly get better

Exactly, unless this is a decision from the new ownership? Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment (Teachers fund) sold the team to Rogers and Bell last year

I would want him to, but my bucket list would just be to fight and beat an NHL player, and I figure with his past health issues, he would be th easiest to go against aside from Timmy (but with Timmys shaved head he looks like he is sick and that would just make me look bad)

Wow, theres one way to bring Leafs fans back after the lockout! If your joke is actually true, It Makes you wonder if it was because management wanted him to get a deal done, or because he was actually trying to make the deal happen?

but the player would have to be interested in coming here first, witht eh old way, the player was already sitting in an office/room with his agents meeting with team representatives. They may sit down with the Sabres and listen because the Sabres representatives showed up to meet them, but may not be intereseted in flying out to Buffalo to meet with the team in the new system. Basically it could go from "Sure, lets meet with the Sabres guys since they are here anyways" to "I'm not wasting my time flying out to meet the guys in Buffalo, I'm not really interested from what I have seen of that place already". As for TP being able to wine and dine with them along with former Sabres alum, do you not think almost any other team in the league could do (and already do) the same?

Would be nice to see empty arenas at every teams home opener, Fill the streets outside the arena with fans holding signs against the players and owners. That would send a message but never happen. Would also be nice to see all the arena workers and other staff that were out of work for the lockout stage a one game walkout to express their displeasure, but again will never happen Personally, I would say that everyone in the arena should Boo when the teams are announced coming out of the lockerrooms to start the games (I would add throwing stuff on the ice, but that may go too far), but again that won't happen either Some fans will be lost, but the majority of the sheep will come right back with the attitude of all is forgiven because you came back and can continue to take my money and entertain me for a little while. The players and owners know this, so they issue an "apology" to the fans, and will say thank you on the ice, maybe give out a shiney trinket at the home opener (Last time they gave out mini NHL Stanley Cups as you left the arena), and everyones happy. you will never get enough people to go along with any kind of large scale protest because the sheep will never play along, unless you could do it in the form of a "Flash Mob", people seem to love getting into those things

Sekera and Weber for Carrie Underwood, we will throw in a couple picks too, she could bring along her "purse carrier" too if she wantsIts Darcy, so an offer could also be Myers for a guy the Preds have named Gaustad, that would be one no one saw coming

I don't think many, if any, coaches will be fired mid season this year. The seasons too short, with limited preparation/training camps to start the season, and games being scheduled closer to each other I think teams will be forced to ride out the season with their current coaches and makes decisions at the end of the year. There won't be many breaks where you could fire a coach, and have the replacement come step in and prepare. I also really don't think Lindy has done as bad a job with what he has had as the majority here think, even last year he was given (as his "upgrades") a physical defencemen who appears to be wearing down quickly, another defencemen that the Canucks fans were all for getting rid of because they said after watching him for so long he wasn't worth the money he would want to stay, and Leino ('nough said). Just because they overpaid for 2 of those 3 guys, it doesn't amke them any better then what they are, it just means they overpaid for what they got.

I heard the news yesterday morning and i have to say I feel almost the same way, I really don't care that much. I will follow whats going on, watch a game when I can, but I doubt I will go out of my way to actually go see a game or pay for centre ice. I just find it hard to get excited over right now, so sick and tired of spending everyday hearing about how one side is so horrible to teh otehr and how they can agree how to divide up their millions fairly.

Who thinks the Sabres would actually use this? Just because they have it, doesn't mean they have to use it I don't think the front office really wants to dump Leino so quickly. If they really want to have fun, the league should make it so the fans chose who gets bought out by the team

Congrats, but about a week to early to get one the Sabres baby blanket and Certificate from TP (assuming you had it in Buffalo) I saw the article about it yesterday and told my wife, she now refuses to go anywhere near the Border with me around her due date. She still thinks the baby is going to be a Leafs fan like her........ (We did have discussions about having to come to a compromise that the Baby will be neither a Sabres nor Leafs, and may have to be a Red Wings fan)

I watched it on TV Saturday night, didn't know he was in it, must have lost out in the first round Friday night

Nah, I knew that one

I'm just going to stick with my Canadian Geography classes not going into too much detail about the American holy land that is NY to explain me not being certain that Brooklyn was part of Long Island.......

I see it as the best deal for the Islanders. You get out of one of the worst arenas in the league, stay close enough to your current location that its not a 'relocation" and you get to play in a brand new facility that you didn't have to build yourself. When economic times get better, and either Long Island or the team can afford it, they can build a new "Hockey Only" Facility to play in The problem is that local governments and cities can't expect the teams to stay where they are if they aren't willing to help them out. Why would you be willing to stay somewhere that isn't going to help you out when there are other places willing to give you want your asking for? owners can sometimes try and take advantage of this, but people need to realise that its all a business and these owners didn't make their money by being generous and paying for everything themselves. Long Island does want to work with Wang and help him build a new facility, why should he be forced to stay there when another city can give him what he is asking for? Same with Edmonton (although that one seems to be falling into the second part about an owner trying to take advantage), if Edmonton doesn't want to help but Seattle will, its gonna suck if your an oilers fan.......... They would stick with the NY name I would bet, Brooklyn is a part of New York just like Long Island is. The Nets changed names to Brooklyn because technically they are no longer in New Jersey.It would make more sense to change the "Islanders" part......

I can see alot of sporting venues going to slightly smaller capacities in the future, especially in smaller markets. The Jets are playing in a rink about this size right now. It would allow teams to charge a little more on their tickets to make up for lost revenue also by not having the larger seating capacity. With the current economic times, and the increase in quality of broadcasts to homes of the games, I could see teams going to smaller facilities in the future outside of places like NY, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Etc.

Talks from a few weeks ago are Lafontaine has been asked to look into buying the team from Wang, but he wants a crazy hgh price for the team I just read something yesterday too that Lafontaine is still looking into it and getting closer to making a serious attempt to try and buy the team. The problem with Wang as an owner is that he has been focusing more on trying to get the new arena deal (something that team needs BADLY) and not focusing enough on the product being put on the ice. The team seems to be getting close to a playoff team. They have some good players, but just cant seem to get to that next level