Derrico

I donno. If we get 50+ games in then I think it's legit. Remember, the playoffs don't change and imo this is the most grueling sport in terms of having a playoff run. Takes two months to win it.

Very well laid out Taro, thanks.

Average Houshold Income in the USA 2008 - $54,349 2009 - $52,660 2010 - $51,625 2011 - $50,502 * Source - http://www.deptofnumbers.com/income/us/ Average NHL Salary Cap 2008 - $56,700,000 2009 - $56,800,000 2010 - $59,400,000 2011 - $64,300,000 Don't look at the numbers, just look at the trend. The average US household income decreased every single year between 2008 and 2011. Additionally, the salary cap rate increased every year from 2008 to 2011. I'm not feeling bad for the players. In fact, it surprises me with all this projected growth of 5% per year. We're in tough economic times. Thank the good lord that wer're better off than in places like Greece right now. It's unfortunate that alot (well speaking for myself atleast) people use sport as a good 3 or 4 hours to get away from the stresses of the world and we won't get it. Unbelievable the league has been making record gains since the previous lockout and they're going to fight to the point of a work stopage in regards to who is taking our hard earned money. I forgot to mention that I'm on board with Drane's idea and it'd be nice if it went public. I'm from southern ontario so I'm not sure if it's feasible to make it to the event but I'll toss a few dollars to a good cause. Keep me informed if something is organized.

I don't know all of the details in regards to how the cap worked prior to expiration or how the proposed cap works. However, the way that I understand this (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) is that owners basically never honored their contracts even in the last agreement. Players are signed to contracts based on a projected cap and HRR. However, on many occasions the cap would be over estimated and that's when players would have to pay back the owners in escrow. They basically pay something like 7% of their yearly salary into escrow and if all the contracts add up to say 60% of HRR than the players actually pay back 3% of HRR collectively via the escrow payment (players would then recieve 4% of their 7% escrow payment back to them). By saying they're going 50/50 and have to 'honoring all contracts' (aka no escrow which they've always had) then in year one the breakdown will be about 60% of HRR (a far cry from 50/50). Not saying they should or shouldn't 'honor' contracts, but with this whole escrow business, it's not so cut and dry.

Is this the calm before the storm?? The NHL and NHLPA are scheduled to meet in T.O. today at 1pm. I think that obviously with any negotiation there will be posturing so I'm not sure if the NHLPA really does believe the NHL has made an unacceptable offer or they're trying to put on a media front so that they can tweak the agreement in their favour but still use it as a basis for negotiations. If the players come back with basically what they submitted a month ago then say goodbye to NHL hockey for awhile. Also, what's up with the stream of players (including Sulzer) signing with European teams over the previous two days? Is this a sign that the players still don't feel they are close to an agreement and want to get on with a season or is it the players feel a deal may be struck soon and since there will be no preseason games before the season starts Nov 2, they want some playing time?

Hey guys, haven't posted in a couple of months. This is amazing news of a new deal on the table. By not rolling back salaries (or atleast paying them back) this puts the negotiations on the fast track imo. Bettmen also said they needed 8 or 9 days to finish negotitating/finalizing everything. I like having another deadline in place rather than the 'ya maybe we'll meet next week' atitude.

Smart idea. I considered doing that as well but backed out at the last moment because it's a 2.5 hr drive to Buf and if somehow the season is saved I don't really want to be truckin it up there on a weeknight.

I also got my mini pak today and agree with everyone that it's way better being able to choose where you want to sit. Last year you could just choose certain price points and the majority of the time I was near the back and once was even in the last row. Much more freedom selecting your seating. Having said all that, poof! There goes another $1,408 on this team!

Damn! I thought last night how I should record this but completely forgot this morning. Not sure what kind of roster Canada is sending but I'm assuming it will be a mini tryout for guys looking to make the Canada World Junior Team. This may be a good pre-NHL camp test to see how Grigs stacks up to some good competition.

What happens in baseball when a team feels the pitcher intentially hits a batter? The next inning an opposing star is smoked with a baseball. It happens all the time.

I'd make this trade. 25 year old consistent 30 goal scorers don't grow on trees. This deal seems fair on both ends. Do we have any sources regarding the offer or if there are still discussions? We NEED more scoring.

I was pretty ticked they didn't have a season ending presser so atleast they're starting to make it up by having a pile now. If the rumors are true that the Sabres really offered the $100 mil + for Parise and Suter and were the ones with the big Doan offer, I'm atleast optimistic that something else will get done this summer.

I hope ur right but I think the longer this drags out the more likely he's going to be a Yote.

Not that this is the thread for this discussion but I think the Hoff deal is excellent. If we can have a top 2 or 3 Dman eating 22+ minutes a game with offensive upside for a cap hit of only 4 mil then that's an excellent deal. The guy is still only 30 years old and can play at a high level. If there is a serious injury where he doesn't retire and can't play at the same skill then the 9 more years comes back to bite us. Looking at the cap hit per year, I loved that deal when it occurred and still do.

Nothing much about us. A little disappointing as I thought once Parise and Suter signed we would see a bit of trade action in the couple days following. I understand though that the Ducks in particular would want to wait a bit and see if they can get more teams interested. Knowing Darcy, a trade may come and likely with a team/player that wasn't overly discussed.

Slow day on the trade front today....

It's obviously all just rumors at this point but prohockeytalk.com has report: Flyers, Penguins, Red Wings, Sens amoung teams after Bobby Ryan. Then in the report they also mention the Lightning and Leafs. Not even a mention of us....

Gerbe sucks.

Now that the top D are all off the board in terms of free agency could this entice a team that was in the Suter and especially Carle running to look to the trade market? Just as we are looking at teams loaded at center, a team looking for help on the back end will see us with 9 nhl d-men. I'm just curious if maybe this signing will result in more calls to Darcy.

Thats a little steep for Carle, but that's what needs to be done in free agency I guess.

I know, but because of the way that worked out last year you wouldnt think Darcy/Lindy would try that again. But knowing them, anything is possible....As for my wish list, I want: Ryan, Nash, Stasny.

I don't know, as has been reported, Ott is a winger, not a center. I would be shocked if we don't add another center before training camp but we shall see.

I'm not sure the Sabres management are willing to roll two 22 year olds and 2 18 year olds out there as our four centres. We need atleast one more experienced guy. Not to mention weve got like 9 nhl defensemen.

I agree with part of this, although I have seen times (certainly not consistently though) were he does take over games. As for your last point, Im not saying trade away our junk, but McNabb I believe is a damn good prospect to most teams. Pysyk should be regarded as a nice trading piece. We have the flexibility to move a Sekera as well. Those are all decent pieces especially if you start packaging them together. To me, if we're just trading Vanek for a centre of an equal talent level I would rather keep us pretty stacked at wing and wait the two years for Ennis, Hodgson, and the two 1st (I don't have their spelling down yet) to develop.

I'm with ya on this. He was great with Adam to start the year. If we can get a legit guy to play with Vanek and Pommers then that line could be very dangerous and a legit top line for a stanley cup contending team. That's why I think it would be crazy to include our best scorer in any deal. We have a ton of young D assets that I hope Darcy can use to his advantage and get us a good centre in here within the next couple of days.