sarsippius

Weber had a valid contract the second that Nashville matched the Flyers' offer. Any court would find a valid contract between Weber and Nashville, whether he took pen to paper or not, because the CBA declares the terms of the Flyers' contract offer binding on them when Nashville matched. There is no sign, not sign, it doesn't matter. They can modify certain terms, like adding a NTC/NMC clause, but there's no sitting out a year and magically becoming an UFA. Weber either plays for Nashville or he goes to Russia, unless the Preds decide to trade him. And he has no leverage to force a trade.

How many NHLers in Europe are getting paid a salary that is competitive with what they're making here, rollback or not? How about length of contract, guaranteed money etc? I don't know all the answers, but my guess is the money is better here than what most players will be offered on the other side of the pond, and this is where the best competition is. My biggest concern is a guy like Giroux going to Germany to stay fresh and make a couple dollars, getting injured by guy with no NHL level skills trying to make a name for himself. Edit- If the question is should they be ALLOWED to, well that's an obvious yes. As of now none of them jobs and are free to seek employment.

@jammer2 Nice! "Fudgepackers drill Bisexuals, now who's gonna clean up this mess?!"

So ESPN won't even cover the NHL until the last 10 minutes of SportsCenter, but they're here to bring the KHL. Thanks dicks.

Biloxi Bisexuals We've got the best two-way players in the game

Hahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!! This thread is like 5th grade all over again

@jammer2 You've got a good point on the small/nontraditional markets, hockey isn't likely to be as ingrained in fans' psyche. In fact Bettman should be worried that he's killing the very franchises that this lockout is supposedly about saving

@jammer2 Great idea, but I'm too weak.....I discussed with my co-STH (aka dad) and we're both disgusted, but we're still in....for now. I just don't want to hear any of that "welcome back fans" **** again this time, we're not the one that left you bastards!!!!

Like @Poulin20 says, I'll be in because I'll be twice as miserable having the games go on without me there. Hell I was miserable the one year out of 30 that I cut from a full season down to a partial plan. Here in South Jersey there no other hockey alternative, save for Trenton, and I'm not bringing the kids to that place. So I'm one of the dumb a**es that makes it possible for Buttman to hold the hockey world hostage. It's like that crazy chick that you know is just bad for you, but every time she calls you know you'll tell her to come on over....

We think this is a good idea too

That made me lol. NTTAWWT, of course....

The Dallas Dooshes Slogan: We spelled it wrong to pacify the FCC Headline: Dooshes clean out Penguins

Sphincters tight going into Game 7.

Actually didn't Henderson have the game winners in the last 3 games?

Hell, I was in the Spectrum many times when we chanted "Gretzky sucks".....not that anybody thought he sucked, just that in the heat of the moment when he was hiding behind Semenko, he....well, he sucked

Yeah, I knew somebody had to call me out on that one!

A warm apple pie, no doubt This was my worst post ever.....

" Do Fan Protests Matter?" No. Because your team doesn't give a **** about you. The link in radoron's signature should be required reading right about now

This league, the caretakers of my favorite sport at its highest level of annual competition, is a ******* joke. Like an article posted here a couple weeks ago stated, 4 work stoppages in 20 years is a sign of HORRIBLE management in any industry. Who the Hell grows a league and a sport by shutting it down every time the employees don't bow down and accept dictated terms of employment?

" Both the OHL and the Spitfires continue to decline to discuss the details of the violations that led to the penalties against the team." Interesting, usually an admission of guilt means a full confession. I'll bet the other league GMs want the details

@flyerod I don't disagree with you, and strongly believe that Buttman's desire to save the struggling franchises on the backs of the players is the #1 reason things have gotten to this point. BUT the NHLPA and Fehr are not the angels they're coming off as either, with their "we love the fans" PR campaign. I don't feel as strongly as the writer, but I've never liked Fehr from his negotiating history and tactics during his tenure with MLBPA.....in the midst of a season for Crissake, forced cancellation of the remainder of season and the World Series so that baseball wouldn't have a cap and utility infielders could get paid 7 mil a year to do nothing. Buttman is a horse's arse, but there are two sides to every story.

thehockeywriters.com/the-nhlpa-is-just-as-guilty-as-the-nhl/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheHockeyWriters+(The+Hockey+Writers) The NHLPA is Just as Guilty as the NHL Ton DeFrancesco | September 20, 2012 It’s pretty clear the NHLPA has been on a mission to defend their position by using Twitter to promote their fight against the NHL owners and have won over the majority of fans as a result of their effort. The evidence of fan support for the NHLPA is prominent in the recent YouTube hit: Together We Can, a fan-made video supporting the players which has received almost 1 million views in just over a 2 week time span. In response, the NHLPA has released their own video only hours after the lockout came in session to reach out to fans once again. In the video we see interviews from David Backes, Sidney Crosby, Gabriel Landeskog, James Reimer and Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews as they try to justify their position and, once again, point out that the owners are locking out the players and that they are prepared to play. Their tactics are cute, but are they really as innocent as they claim to be? I don’t think so. According to Gary Bettman, the NHLPA refused to start negotiations until the Stanley Cup Finals and did not submit their first proposal until nearly one month after negotiations began. Why would they wait so long to start talking? Fehr claimed that he was unprepared to enter negotiations but the fact is, he isn’t on the ice and it’s his job to represent the players. The fact that they delayed negotiations is proof to me that they were prepared to enter a lockout situation and use that to promote bad PR towards the NHL. In short, the NHL lost the PR battle before they could even begin due to Fehr’s tactics. Smart move, sure… but also dirty. The NHLPA’s demands also seem to be unrealistic, despite the fact that they claim that their proposal is at 52%, because they are asking for a fixed number and calculate the percentage based on their projections. “It’s not anything close to 52 percent, their proposal is not on percentage” Bettman stated last Friday, “it’s a guaranteed dollar proposal.” It’s clear both sides are very far apart due to the fact that the NHL owners want to change the definition of HRR as well as reducing the players share to 46% along with an increase in escrow. On the other side of the table, the NHLPA not only wants a larger cut but they want that fixed percentage based on their projections which is never going to happen. Of course, their projected HRR shows that the players share would be 52%, but in reality they are not proposing a percentage so the NHL has no interest in going that route. (Brad Penner-US PRESSWIRE) In the video above, the NHLPA claims that both sides need to compromise in order to get a deal done, but at this point they are crying wolf as they have proposed too much change in the current CBA and have provided a situation where the NHL must gamble if they took their proposal. Simply put, the NHLPA has complicated matters even further while the owners have clearly tried to keep it simple. Some may call their ideas innovative but I call them greedy, unrealistic, and purposely provided fans with a finger to point in the NHL’s direction. It’s all smoke and mirrors for the PA. Gary Bettman has entered his 3rd lockout during his tenure as NHL commissioner. He is booed in every building he steps into and he already knows that he has zero fan support. If there’s anything to take out of that, he is far removed from getting involved in the media circus and he is simply there to do his job and negotiate a new deal. You can’t say the same about Donald Fehr and the NHLPA. There is still hope out there that the season may be delayed until November or December, but that isn’t an opinion that I share and can see this dragging out for another full season if things continue on this trend. The NHLPA has played dirty. They’ve won fan support and the only reason they have been so active in that area is to put pressure on the NHL to agree to their proposal. At this point it hasn’t worked and until they decide to negotiate without a media distraction they won’t be taken seriously by the NHL owners. Try not to mistake my apathy towards the NHLPA as enthusiasm for the NHL. Neither deserve your support or attention until a deal can be resolved.

All right, I can be in Millville in less than 20...

@jammer2 Sweet Jeebus man, you really think so?

@Poulin20 Agreed, for the $ this costs us, I'm not going to lose sleep over 3 preseason games. If they're going to pay me better interest than my bank, they can hold my money..... Guess we'll have to put that pregame beer on hold, but hopefully not for too long!!