The NHL Thread

[Jordan]

It was the WCs and the Olympics that got me into liking hockey in the first place. That was back when Forsberg was still a young 'un and Hasek was stellar for the Czechs. It might not be a big deal to the American public, but ever since the WCs in 2003 where a Danish team who'd never played at that level before sensationally beat the US 5-2 and drew against Canada (who went on to become champions), there has been a lot of attention from NHL clubs. Nielsen was the first Dane to play in the NHL just five years ago, and now there are six with more on the way. If it wasn't for their achievements in the World Cups they would've never had that breakthrough I think. And yes, he's in the squad, as are Larsen (Stars), Eller (Canadiens) and Regin (Senators). Don't know whether Bødker (Coyotes) will join up, but Hansen probably will if the Canucks bow out.

That is a remarkable rise to hockey prominence for Denmark. They might be set for another decent show at the IIHF Worlds this time.

My allegiance with the Devils stems from the NHL 97 game. Me and a few mates all randomly picked teams and I got the Devils. My family in America has no real interest in hockey, they prefer the Astros baseball team.

The Rangers should progress against the Senators right?

I had NHL 97 for Sega Genesis... If I look around, I might still have it somewhere. I used to tear it up with the Ottawa Senators (Alexandre Daigle ).

Now that they've retaken the series lead, one would think the Rangers would progress. Ottawa did win 3 of 4 against the Rangers in the regular season, though. And if Daniel Alfredsson comes back to play Game 4 tomorrow, that will give the team--and their fans--a huge boost. Last night, the Senators fans did a countdown New Year's Eve-style leading to an "Al-fie! Al-fie!" chant at 11:00 remaining every period (Alfredsson wears #11). Alfredsson, the captain of the Senators, has played for Ottawa since 1995, and he's speculated that this might be his last season, so if he misses Game 4 as well, the Scotiabank Place crowd may have already seen his last game.

Edited 17 April 2012 by Jordan

[Uncle Phil]

That is a remarkable rise to hockey prominence for Denmark. They might be set for another decent show at the IIHF Worlds this time.

I had NHL 97 for Sega Genesis... If I look around, I might still have it somewhere. I used to tear it up with the Ottawa Senators (Alexandre Daigle ).

Now that they've retaken the series lead, one would think the Rangers would progress. Ottawa did win 3 of 4 against the Rangers in the regular season, though. And if Daniel Alfredsson comes back to play Game 4 tomorrow, that will give the team--and their fans--a huge boost. Last night, the Senators fans did a countdown New Year's Eve-style leading to an "Al-fie! Al-fie!" chant at 11:00 remaining every period (Alfredsson wears #11). Alfredsson, the captain of the Senators, has played for Ottawa since 1995, and he's speculated that this might be his last season, so if he misses Game 4 as well, the Scotiabank Place crowd may have already seen his last game.

Well the Senators got the extra time winner last night, and the Penguins smashed the Flyers. Start of a couple of comebacks?

The Devils comeback starts tonight!

[Kilworthfox]

Well the Senators got the extra time winner last night, and the Penguins smashed the Flyers. Start of a couple of comebacks?

The Devils comeback starts tonight!

I just watched Pens @ Flyers and the flyers goaltending was horrific, thats not taking away anything from Staal's hat trick! The Flyers IMO had a massive defensive off day & were caught watching the puck too often & not watching the movement of the Pens forwards. Not a good combination.

Not happy with the amount of fights in comparison with game 3 haha

[Jordan]

Kings complete the upset and knock out the Canucks, 4-1. The Blues also won in 5, dispatching the Sharks, as did the Predators against the Red Wings. And the Coyotes, backed by some strong goaltending and a few timely goals (including back-to-back OT game winners from Bødker), beat the Blackhawks in 6. It seems like a revolution has taken place out West, with all of the familiar powerhouses playing golf now.

Back East, the Penguins' comeback sputtered on Sunday as the Flyers cruises to a Game 6 series win. But besides that, we're still going. The Devils host the Panthers on Game 6 tonight with their backs against the wall. Bruins-Capitals Game 7 is Wednesday, closing a series where every game has been decided by one goal. And an ill-tempered Rangers-Senators series heads back to the Garden on Thursday for its own Game 7.

[Kilworthfox]

Kings complete the upset and knock out the Canucks, 4-1. The Blues also won in 5, dispatching the Sharks, as did the Predators against the Red Wings. And the Coyotes, backed by some strong goaltending and a few timely goals (including back-to-back OT game winners from Bødker), beat the Blackhawks in 6. It seems like a revolution has taken place out West, with all of the familiar powerhouses playing golf now.

Back East, the Penguins' comeback sputtered on Sunday as the Flyers cruises to a Game 6 series win. But besides that, we're still going. The Devils host the Panthers on Game 6 tonight with their backs against the wall. Bruins-Capitals Game 7 is Wednesday, closing a series where every game has been decided by one goal. And an ill-tempered Rangers-Senators series heads back to the Garden on Thursday for its own Game 7.

The West is a mess! I am a traditionalist, & I'd like to see an improvement from the original 6, Rangers aside

My beloved Blackhawks were undone by Mike Smith but enough of the sulking, I'm now 100% behind Tortorella's army & would like to see a Lord Stanley return of 1994 please!

I do like the Rangers, & JT especially, he is like a younger version of Don Cherry who I also adore! However if the Sens pull off the unthinkable then I'm over to Ovechkin haha

Let's Go Rangers!

Edited 24 April 2012 by Kilworthfox

[Jordan]

Game Seven: there are no words in hockey that carry that much excitement, and the three Games Seven in the last two nights certainly lived up to their billings.

First, the Capitals stunned the defending champion Bruins in Boston when Joel Ward slammed home a rebound in overtime, winning a series where every game was decided by one goal. Then, the Rangers survived a furious rally by the Senators, holding on for the 2-1 win and a meeting with the Caps in the conference semifinals. And if that wasn't enough, the finale saw the Panthers rally from a 2-goal deficit late to take the Devils into overtime... and then a second overtime... before rookie sensation Adam Henrique fired through Jose Theodore's 5-hole for the win!

I've got to catch my breath this morning! But one thing I don't have to do is shave off my playoff beard. Thank you, Rangers!

The Rangers have shown all season that they are more than a handful for the Capitals. I'm confident they will win this one. Plus, it'd be nice to get some revenge for the Caps knocking the Rangers out of the playoffs twice in recent years. Sure, one worries just how good the Capitals can be if Alex Ovechkin starts firing, or Mike Green can rediscover his form from recent past seasons. But then again, why should Dale Hunter give Ovie more minutes? The rest of the squad have finally bought into his system--particularly his defensive system--and he got a great return out of them last series.

Flyers-Devils are in the other Eastern semifinal, which should bring out some really tough hockey. I'll call Flyers in 6. To say their offense is clicking is an understatement. A lot of people in hockey are suggesting that Claude Giroux is the best player in the game at the moment; he's playing out of his mind. They will have a much tougher time against the Devils' sensible defense, but Bryzgalov has got to stay focused, too.

The Western semis start tonight. The Blues-Kings series might wind up seeing a lot of low-scoring games, but I don't think the blues will mind that at all. I've been high on the Blues, built by the legendary John "J.D." Davidson, who is nothing short of a legend to Rangers fans and one of the brightest persons in hockey. Ken Hitchcock, embarrassed by his short spell in Columbus, took over this young Blues team midseason with a lot to prove and has made them very hard to beat (they've won 46 of 71 with Hitchcock in charge, which is absurdly good). They've got so many great skaters on that team, plus they work very hard--they look like a more defensive version of the Rangers.

As for the other series, look for the Predators to roll past the Coyotes (and IMO, roll a little farther this postseason, too). I think we saw in the series vs. Detroit just how good this team is. Adding Radulov at the end of the season was almost unfair! Before that, it wasn't quite like the Predators had a clear top line--it was almost like they had three solid second lines that they could roll at you one right after the other--but their depth really shows now. And with Pekka Rinne in goal, it's hard to find a glaring weakness in this team.

Don Cherry

[Kilworthfox]

Game Seven: there are no words in hockey that carry that much excitement, and the three Games Seven in the last two nights certainly lived up to their billings.

First, the Capitals stunned the defending champion Bruins in Boston when Joel Ward slammed home a rebound in overtime, winning a series where every game was decided by one goal. Then, the Rangers survived a furious rally by the Senators, holding on for the 2-1 win and a meeting with the Caps in the conference semifinals. And if that wasn't enough, the finale saw the Panthers rally from a 2-goal deficit late to take the Devils into overtime... and then a second overtime... before rookie sensation Adam Henrique fired through Jose Theodore's 5-hole for the win!

I've got to catch my breath this morning! But one thing I don't have to do is shave off my playoff beard. Thank you, Rangers!

The Rangers have shown all season that they are more than a handful for the Capitals. I'm confident they will win this one. Plus, it'd be nice to get some revenge for the Caps knocking the Rangers out of the playoffs twice in recent years. Sure, one worries just how good the Capitals can be if Alex Ovechkin starts firing, or Mike Green can rediscover his form from recent past seasons. But then again, why should Dale Hunter give Ovie more minutes? The rest of the squad have finally bought into his system--particularly his defensive system--and he got a great return out of them last series.

Flyers-Devils are in the other Eastern semifinal, which should bring out some really tough hockey. I'll call Flyers in 6. To say their offense is clicking is an understatement. A lot of people in hockey are suggesting that Claude Giroux is the best player in the game at the moment; he's playing out of his mind. They will have a much tougher time against the Devils' sensible defense, but Bryzgalov has got to stay focused, too.

The Western semis start tonight. The Blues-Kings series might wind up seeing a lot of low-scoring games, but I don't think the blues will mind that at all. I've been high on the Blues, built by the legendary John "J.D." Davidson, who is nothing short of a legend to Rangers fans and one of the brightest persons in hockey. Ken Hitchcock, embarrassed by his short spell in Columbus, took over this young Blues team midseason with a lot to prove and has made them very hard to beat (they've won 46 of 71 with Hitchcock in charge, which is absurdly good). They've got so many great skaters on that team, plus they work very hard--they look like a more defensive version of the Rangers.

As for the other series, look for the Predators to roll past the Coyotes (and IMO, roll a little farther this postseason, too). I think we saw in the series vs. Detroit just how good this team is. Adding Radulov at the end of the season was almost unfair! Before that, it wasn't quite like the Predators had a clear top line--it was almost like they had three solid second lines that they could roll at you one right after the other--but their depth really shows now. And with Pekka Rinne in goal, it's hard to find a glaring weakness in this team.

C'mon u gotta love Don

[Jordan]

Briere wins it for the Flyers in OT to start the series vs the Devils... that was an exciting game.

I was lucky enough to be in the Garden yesterday for the Rangers-Capitals series opener. It was a tight-checking, gridlocked affair until rookie Chris Kreider ripped a slapper past Braden Holtby's glove. Kreider also got the primary assist on Brad Richards' patient effort to make it 3-1 on the next shift, which is how it finished.

Everybody knew Kreider--star of two NCAA champion Boston College teams and a World Juniors gold medal winner for the USA in 2010--was a can't miss prospect. He's excelled at every level he's played on, and he's got the size, speed, skills and sense to be an excellent NHL player. But I don't think anybody thought the Rangers would get a return on Kreider, drafted 19th overall in 2009, this soon. It's been a whirlwind of a past three weeks for Kreider. He turns 21 tomorrow, was signed just two days before the playoffs started, and was a forced entry into the lineup for Game 3 against the Senators due to Carl Hagelin's suspension. He's only just scored back-to-back game winners in the playoffs and had the Garden crowd chanting his name.

This Rangers team is not just a Cup contender now, but they are primed to be an elite team for several years to come. Lundqvist, Gaborik, Richards and Girardi are currently in their prime, and they're also the fourth-youngest team in the NHL in terms of average age. Their young defense just gets better and better. We could have the Kreider (21 y.o.)-Stepan (21)-Callahan (27) line playing together for years not just on the Rangers, but also for the USA in Sochi 2014 if the NHL allows this in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NHLPA . Hell, we could also have Ryan McDonough (22) and, if he recovers well from some bad post-concussion syndrome symptoms, Michael Sauer (24) on the blue line behind them. This. Is. Awesome.

The Rangers had better hope that the NHL keeps increasing the salary cap because they are going to have to re-sign a lot of players and give them pay raises in the next few years. Perhaps the best move that GM Glen Sather--who's fixed a lot of terrible mistakes he had made in past years--was not making a move. There was a lot of chatter between the Rangers and the hapless Columbus Blue Jackets about a trade that would have sent prolific power forward Rick Nash to New York. The Rangers wanted Nash as the final piece in the puzzle to win now, but would not agree to Columbus' very high demands (McDonough, Michael Del Zotto, and either Stepan or the rights to Kreider) and stood pat at the trading deadline. I like Nash, but the Sather would have been crazy to make that deal, particularly as this team has shown they can win now thanks in no small part to excellent young players like the ones named in the trade negotiations. Plus, a $7.5-$7.9m cap hit over the next few years would effectively hamstring the team's plan to stick with this new generation of young talent.

C'mon u gotta love Don

Grapes is ridiculous! He's so much of a character that he's become more of a living caricature than a person. I think he is batshit crazy, and I find his jingoistic attitude rather irritating, and his intolerance even more so. And I thought it was sickening how he insulted Stu Grimson and Chris Nilan at the start of the season for comments they made about fighters and substance abuse--misinterpreting their comments, too--especially in the wake of a tragic offseason.

That said, Don Cherry is a hockey institution unto himself. When I was a kid, watching the newest Rock 'em Sock 'em video after lunch was as much a part of hockey camp as anything we did on the ice. In a weird way, the more people he pisses off, the deeper he entrenches himself into Canadian culture. It's like he's the whole country's crazy uncle. It's odd that so many people say they cannot stand Cherry, yet it must be hard for many Canadians to imagine Hockey Night in Canada without Coach's Corner segment in the first intermission. I mean, the guy was ranked above Wayne Gretzky and Alexander Graham Bell in CBC's "Greatest Canadian" show a few years back (though I suspect being employed by CBC helped move him up a few spots).

To Grapes' credit, he doesn't hold back (though sometimes I wish he would), and people say he acts the exact same away from the camera as he does on it. While I think he'd prefer hockey and Canadian culture go back to the stone age, let alone the good ol' days, there are other areas where his passion is good. He loves hard hitting hockey but he's usually pretty good about calling guys out for being punks on the ice or showing no class. He gets a lot of crap for promoting violent play, but he's also the most vocal advocate for safety measures in youth hockey.

Cherry has certainly had an interesting career and life, and I'm gonna watch Keep Your Head Up, Kid! The Don Cherry Story now. But maybe I'll listen to "Coach's Corner" by Propagandhi afterwards to balance things out.

[Uncle Phil]

Massive win for the Devils on Flyers ice the other night, 4 3rd period goals turning round a 1st period deficit to even it up at 1-1.

I've not kept up with the other games but it looks like Rangers left it late to take a series lead.

[Jordan]

Yeah, a little late... Gaborik's game-winner came in the 3rd overtime in what was the longest Rangers game in my lifetime. Ryan McDonough was on the ice for over 53 minutes (!) and Dan Girardi would have been on for almost that much had Henrik Lundqvist not nearly decapitated him with his stick. That was an insanely gritty game--big hits, grueling shifts, lots of blocked shots, shots off the posts. The blood on the Rangers' sweaters told the tale. It was everything playoff hockey is all about, and I'm happy/relieved that the Rangers won.

Huge game in Newark tonight. Devils were rolling in Game 2 and will need to keep it up. The West isn't going as I expected but Pekka Rinne was back to being himself for the Predators and helped cut Phoenix's lead to 2-1. This despite the Predators suspending Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyin for breaking curfew after they were spotted out at a club at 5:00 am before Game 3.

[Jordan]

YES!

Eight down; eight to go!

Rangers vs Devils in the Hudson River Rivalry

Coyotes vs Kings in the series nobody predicted

[Uncle Phil]

YES!

Eight down; eight to go!

Rangers vs Devils in the Hudson River Rivalry

Coyotes vs Kings in the series nobody predicted

Well in! A bit closer than it could have been though.

Bring on the Conference final! I take it you will be going?

[Jordan]

I don't have tickets to any of the games yet, but I will definitely give it a shot. Unless I get a hook-up, I'd just buy from the team's "Ticket Exchanges" (where season ticket holders sell their seats). All the games are sold out, but if I buy them from the Exchange on game day, the tickets usually go for near face value. It helps that I can get to games at both arenas.

edit to add that I'm extremely excited for this series, as you could probably guess. The Rangers haven't made it this far since 1997, and there are a lot of compelling storylines leading up to the Conference Finals:

-The Rangers are heading to the final four on the backs of two thrilling seven-game series (FYI no team has won the Stanley Cup playoffs after going to seven games in the first two series, a piece of trivia I'd like to see become outdated this year).

-Few picked the Devils to beat the Flyers, but after an OT loss in Game 1, they dominated the series. The Devils have to be a very confident bunch.

-Of course, there's a big rivalry between the two teams. And the rivalry has become more intense this year. There's a lot of bad blood--literally--between the teams, with plenty of fights (remember that line brawl to start the game two months ago?). The two head coaches can't stand each other, either.

-This could be future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur's last hurrah, and you know he wants this series badly. Also, Ilya Kovalchuk, long criticized for not being a "clutch" player, has picked up his play and is starting to deliver on that $100m contract.

-In the other goal stands "King" Henrik Lundqvist. Brodeur might be the best goalie of this generation, but Lundqvist--the favorite to win this year's Vezina Trophy--might be the best goalie right now. Lundqvist has won 23 of the 35 games he's played against Brodeur, and both goalies often say that they get motivated to play better when they see each other across the ice. Lundqvist doesn't have any hardware in the NHL, but everything about this season suggests that he and his team are worthy Cup contenders.

I'll watch Coyotes vs Kings tonight, then I'll be counting down the hours and minutes at work tomorrow.

Edited 13 May 2012 by Jordan

[Uncle Phil]

Can someone explain to me in a nutshell what's going on with the NHL and whether there is likely to be a season?

I've done a bit of reading but it made very little sense to me tbh.

[MC Prussian]

There's just another round of contract talks, basically. Players want more money from TV and licensing deals and new union agreements to be put to paper.

Happens every once in a while in the NHL. Some of them are already millionaires, but bloody greedy players, eh?

As long as these negotiations are going on and depending on when they come to a conclusion, there's a chance of a shortened regular season or no NHL at all in 2012/2013.

Good thing about this whole lockout is that some of hockey's finest are playing in Europe at the moment, in order to maintain match fitness.

Henrik Zetterberg, John Tavares, Jason Spezza, Rick Nash, Joe Thornton, Patrick Kane, Patrice Bergeron (gone back to Boston for the moment) or Cory Schneider are living it up in Switzerland and you should also check out the Spengler Cup tournament which is being televised at the moment - you'll recognize some of the names, for sure.

[Jordan]

In simple terms, there is no hockey because the collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and the NHL Players' Association (the players' union) expired in September, both sides have not agreed to a new CBA, and as such the owners are not allowing the players to play until a new CBA is signed.

Essentially, the owners are arguing that high player salaries are causing most franchises to run big operating losses. The players argue that the owners' claims do not add up, and that the owners had gotten everything they wanted under the previous CBA.

There's just another round of contract talks, basically. Players want more money from TV and licensing deals and new union agreements to be put to paper.

Happens every once in a while in the NHL. Some of them are already millionaires, but bloody greedy players, eh?

As long as these negotiations are going on and depending on when they come to a conclusion, there's a chance of a shortened regular season or no NHL at all in 2012/2013.

Good thing about this whole lockout is that some of hockey's finest are playing in Europe at the moment, in order to maintain match fitness.

Henrik Zetterberg, John Tavares, Jason Spezza, Rick Nash, Joe Thornton, Patrick Kane, Patrice Bergeron (gone back to Boston for the moment) or Cory Schneider are living it up in Switzerland and you should also check out the Spengler Cup tournament which is being televised at the moment - you'll recognize some of the names, for sure.

If I may be pedantic, the players are not asking for more money in the new collective bargaining agreement on what is called "hockey related revenue." Based on the previously-expired CBA, the salary cap was linked to HRR, and the players' share of HRR was 57%. The owners' original proposal dropped the players' share to 46% but also re-defined HRR in a way that would reduce what counted as HRR, so the players would have been entitled to a smaller piece of a smaller pie.

The players made a counter-offer, and the owners made a counter-offer of their own that softened their stance on HRR and the cap, but those negotiations broke down a while back and both sides have not even spoke about HRR/the cap since. Both sides aren't even negotiating about other issues like contract length, free agency eligibility, entry contracts, and the "make whole" compromise whereby players would recoup some money that would be trimmed from the contracts under a new CBA. This leaves me no hope that both sides can come to a deal within three weeks to salvage half a season, as perhaps the HRR/cap issue is the most important matter of all, yet it hasn't been on the table in two months while even negotiations on peripheral issues have broken down contentiously.

The players are currently exploring options to use the courts to force an end to the lockout.

IMO, I do not think the owners have negotiated in good faith. Their original offer to the players was a joke that the players would never accept, and it was clear they intended to use a lockout as a way to force concessions out of the players, which pisses me off to no end. The owners also signed some players to long-term, high-salary contracts which they never intended to honor as signed. The players, however, are not without blame. They chose Donald Fehr, who led the MLB Players (the strongest players' union in perhaps the world) through their 1994 strike, to lead them, feeling they needed a tough leader to help them avenge losing out to the owners in 2004/05. However, the late hiring of Fehr and his brother led to too long of a delay in players submitting their first counteroffer. Also, Fehr and the players done a poor job picking their battles, and should have done a better job negotiating HRR first before worrying about other issues, and they should not be too hard headed on some contract length issues, which only affect a handful of players. It is worth noting that the most progress made during negotiations came during a marathon session between a group of owners and a group of players, in which NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman (obligatory boo!) and Fehr were NOT invited to attend. Perhaps some egos are too big...

I'm sorry for the long, drawn-out, boring explanation, but nothing about this gives me any reason to be cheerful about hockey I don't know how the NHL can recover and exist in its current form if it comes down to this season being completely cancelled within eight years of the only ever North American pro sports season to be completely cancelled due to a labor dispute.

Edit to add a question to Alex... How was Rick Nash doing at Davos before his injury? I'm pretty sure that he would play through those shoulder issues if he were playing for the Rangers, but he and his agent have been really cautious about any injury in Switzerland in case the NHL resumes. I was looking forward to watching his this season, of course... But more power to the European teams and their fans for getting good value out of the lockout. I bet the KHL owners are salivating!

Edited 27 December 2012 by Jordan

[Jordan]

Well, the very next day, the NHL made a new proposal to the NHLPA:

-The league's stance on defining HRR and splitting it 50/50 remains unchanged.

-"Make whole" deferred payments would be $300m, unchanged from the last offer.

-The owners have budged on contract length, offering a 6-year max contract length (7 if a team is re-signing a player), up from 5 in their last offer. The league would also allow a 10% variance in annual salary on contracts, up from 5% in their last offer. (I am sure this will be known as the "Ilya Kovalchuk rule.")

-Teams would be allowed to buy out one contract per season, though they would not get cap amnesty.

-10-year CBA with a league option to withdraw from the CBA after 8 years (unchanged).

While it looks nice that the owners are making it seem like they are playing nice, and the players may wind up conceding a lot just to play and make money, IMO this is an absolute bullshit offer by the league in which they've essentially changed very little of their take-it-or-leave-it offer they have a few weeks ago.

If I'm a player, I lobby to the union to accept the contract length offer but I ask them to keep fighting hard for more make whole money and a larger share of HRR.

In the end, the players will eventually accept something along the owners' framework, whether it happens soon or it happens after a prolonged lockout in which this season is cancelled. But IMO if many NHL teams are bleeding money as the league says they are, this will just be a band-aid. Several years later, while staring at a hockey wasteland, I may look back at the NHLPA's original offer to unlink the cap from HRR, increase the cap at a fixed rate lower than the rate of HRR increase for the next three years, and implementing a more robust revenue-sharing program (some of which comes from the money saved with their cap plan) as something that would have made a whole lot more sense.

[Kilworthfox]

Speaking as a NHL fan, I just wanna see some Hockey!

We can watch KHL on eurosport, but it's not the same.

I do not think that the NHL or the NHLPA does themselves any favours with the fans. this season & continuing delays make both sides a complete joke!

[Jordan]

The league and the union have come to a tentative agreement. Expect a 48 or 50 game season to begin within two weeks.

[MC Prussian]

Well, at least the NHL fans are getting something out of their money, even though it's going to be a short season.

I was looking forward to seeing Crosby play in Switzerland (there were talks about him joining an NLA team, but with serious add-ons and special clauses because of his injury history)...

Edit to add a question to Alex... How was Rick Nash doing at Davos before his injury? I'm pretty sure that he would play through those shoulder issues if he were playing for the Rangers, but he and his agent have been really cautious about any injury in Switzerland in case the NHL resumes. I was looking forward to watching his this season, of course... But more power to the European teams and their fans for getting good value out of the lockout. I bet the KHL owners are salivating!

To be fair, I'm not much of a Swiss hockey league fan. The team I fancy the most (Ambri-Piotta) are always on the verge of relegation and hardly ever play well enough to even get into the playoffs.

On the other side, their home, the Valascia, has one of the world's most unique feels to it - with the rink being open to the outside on one side (visible in the upper section):

Rick Nash did fairly well, played 17 games and scored 12 goals, while also netting six assists.

I think most American and Canadian hockey players have a harder time at the beginning to switch over to European hockey, because of the rink sizes and the slightly more drastic refereeing standards.

The ice rinks over here are larger and players are getting punished way easier for shoving, pushing and especially checking.

Edited 7 January 2013 by MC Prussian

[Jordan]

Well, at least the NHL fans are getting something out of their money, even though it's going to be a short season.

Fans in Canada and more traditional hockey cities in the US will probably still fill the seats as they did before. However, I can see a lot of casual fans looking elsewhere for entertainment. Fans resent the NHL a lot, but worse than fan anger (something that can be placated) is fan indifference. The NHL does not occupy as much of the American sporting consciousness as other sports and IMO doesn't understand that most sports fans can get along just fine without it.

As for money's worth... We shall see. The rumors are that this shortened season will only feature intra-conference games, and fans tend to like rivalries (our Atlantic Division will beat each other up, though). Playoffs may be expanded to 20 teams. There are also rumors that the league may make its online Game Center free this season, and possibly also its Center Ice television package as well. I expect the league to let individual teams determine how they want to do other things to please their locals, but either way, a simple "Thank You Fans!" painted on the ice like 2005 simply won't cut it. The NHL has already lost $1B due to this lockout--it will be difficult indeed to win this and the fans' trust back.

I was looking forward to seeing Crosby play in Switzerland (there were talks about him joining an NLA team, but with serious add-ons and special clauses because of his injury history)...

Had Crosby gone over, that would have been as clear of a sign that the season was going to be canceled. While that would have been a huge deal (especially for you, of course), there were still several excellent players that went to Switzerland, and Team Canada brought over an excellent team for the Spengler Cup.

To be fair, I'm not much of a Swiss hockey league fan. The team I fancy the most (Ambri-Piotta) are always on the verge of relegation and hardly ever play well enough to even get into the playoffs.

On the other side, their home, the Valascia, has one of the world's most unique feels to it - with the rink being open to the outside on one side (visible in the upper section):

I suppose nobody does picaresque winter sports venues quite like the Swiss.

Rick Nash did fairly well, played 17 games and scored 12 goals, while also netting six assists.

I think most American and Canadian hockey players have a harder time at the beginning to switch over to European hockey, because of the rink sizes and the slightly more drastic refereeing standards.

The ice rinks over here are larger and players are getting punished way easier for shoving, pushing and especially checking.

The word out of the Rangers' training center is that Nash will be ready to go once the mini training camp starts this weekend. In Nash's case, IIRC he scored two or three goals in his first game, but it is worth noting that he had played for Davos before (and also had plenty of experience on larger rinks from all those World Championships he played in because Columbus never made the playoffs).

Your point about most North Americans in Europe, though, is correct, and that is something that gets noted on our side of the world as well. North Americans tend to not perform as well in international competitions that are not held in North America.

The most recent World Juniors, though, taught us a lot. The USA had always struggled on the international scene, and its only golds and silvers in the Olympics, other "best-on-best" tournaments and the Worlds have all come on this side of the Atlantic. USA also always struggled at the World Juniors. However, the USA has now won Workd Juniors gold in 2004, 2010 and 2013 after never having won that tournament. Playing on larger European ice, the USA was able to succeed despite being a relatively small team at forward thanks to outstanding team speed and great goaltending. Canada, despite all of the talent on that team, went home empty-handed for the first time in decades, and has now gone four WJC's without gold. This was considered a national embarrassment among Canada's hockey fans and media, but it shows just how different skill sets fare better on the different dimensions, and how important great skating is when playing on international ice.

The NHL has made several adjustments to the rules since the previous lockout to combat neutral zone trapping/left-wing lock and open up the ice. IMO (and in many others' opinions, too), the best solution by far is to adopt the IIHF standards for rink dimensions. The League hasn't seriously considered this, and they balk at the costs of retrofitting their arenas to accommodate for such changes (including the lost revenue from removing some high-priced seats, of course).

Edited 7 January 2013 by Jordan

[Mike the Metal Ed]

Are there any UK-based sites left that sell a full compliment of NHL merchandise at a reasonable price? I wanted a Jason Spezza t-shirt so I've got something less bulky than my Sens jersey but ever since Reebok came in it seems the supply chains have dried up.

Edited 10 January 2013 by Mike the Metal Ed

[EdinburghFox]

What are people's predictions for the final 4 and winner of the playoffs this year then?

[Jordan]

Chicago is still the best team in the league, and the East is still Pittsburgh's to lose.

Even with Detroit moving to the East, the real strength of the NHL is still tilted to the West. The increase of inter-conference play this season has made that crystal clear. Boston can beat any team when Tuukka Rask is on his game, but every other team in the East has a lot of question marks.

Out West, it will be brutal. I'm gonna say St Louis will make a run to the conference finals--I've been high on them for a few seasons, and I think they are a fundamentally sound team. San Jose has been awesome to watch. Anaheim has been excellent even with an awful power play, Colorado has gotten off to a really hot start with Patrick Roy at the helm. Even a deep team like Minnesota could easily finish middle of the pack and could well miss out on a top-4 seed. The Kings will always be contenders with Quick in goal, but this is an Olympics year, so who knows how that could affect his play at the end of the season.

My Rangers have recovered somewhat from their road trip from hell to start the season. They're just about all healthy again and IMO have even been the better team in most of their recent losses. The young Kreider-Stepan-Zuccarello line has taken to Alain Vigneault's puck-possession philosophy like ducks to water, and it's hard to believe they aren't scoring as many goals as they could be with the amount of time they spend in the offensive zone. There were big rumors that the Rangers were going to trade for Edmonton's Nail Yakupov, which would be some gamble (the guy has other-worldly talent, but lacks focus and IMO will bolt for the KHL in the near future), but the trade winds have died down now that the team appears to be making progress, and Rick Nash has recovered from his concussion.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

Got to get back into this.