All-Star Game latest casualty as NHL cancels more games

By Bob H
Posted on 11/23/2012 at 2:07 pm

The National Hockey League officially announced the cancellation of the 2012-13 regular-season schedule through December 14 on Saturday afternoon. As expected, the NHL also cancelled the 2013 NHL All-Star Weekend scheduled for January 26-27 in Columbus, Ohio. The cancellations are necessary due to the absence of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL Players’ Association and the NHL. A total of 422 regular-season games — 34.3 percent of the season — were scheduled for Oct. 11 through Dec. 14. “The reality of losing more regular-season games as well as the 2013 NHL All-Star Weekend in Columbus is extremely disappointing,” …

To amnesty, or not to amnesty: and who, is the question

By Kevin Christmann
Posted on 11/14/2012 at 8:00 am

Last week, Larry Brooks reported that the NHL and NHLPA were discussing the possibility of allowing an amnesty clause. For those that may be unaware, an amnesty clause would allow an NHL team from buying out a player without any salary cap repercussion; effectively eliminating a bad contract. It’s been discussed in many hockey circles for some time; in fact it was something we asked in an older iteration of our Five Questions series. However, I don’t intend to rehash the argument for or against the amnesty clause. For my purposes, let’s speculate what might make sense for the Flyers …

NHL follies continue: Winter Classic cancelled

By Bob H
Posted on 11/02/2012 at 2:20 pm

After wild speculation for much of the last week, the National Hockey League made it official on Friday afternoon, cancelling the 2013 Winter Classic. The game, scheduled for January 1 at Michigan Stadium to be contested by the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings, would have been the sixth annual outdoor contest and the fifth to take place on the first day of the calendar year. “The logistical demands for staging events of this magnitude made today’s decision unavoidable. We simply are out of time,” said NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly in a statement issued a short time ago. …

CBA 101: Mailbag questions while you’re stuck inside

By Kevin Christmann
Posted on 10/29/2012 at 1:00 pm

Is anyone reading this? Does anyone have power? Is the world over? Hurricane Sandy is here after all, and we are quickly approaching the end of the world on December 21, 2012. If you didn’t see our Tim McManus’ article last week on mailbags, you should definitely check it out. With that said, it’s time for some mailbag questions of my own! From reader Mike Tomon, “Why do I see a cap hit of $100,000 for Oskars Bartulis for the Flyers?”. This is good question Mike, and one I expect other fans will wonder if/when we ever have hockey again and …

November No Mo

By Bob H
Posted on 10/26/2012 at 3:10 pm

From its perch in the steel and glass canyons of midtown Manhattan, the National Hockey League announced the cancellation of its 2012-13 regular-season schedule for the entire month of November on Friday. “The National Hockey League deeply regrets having to take this action. By presenting a proposal to the NHLPA that contemplated a fair division of revenues and was responsive to Player concerns regarding the value of their contracts, we had hoped to be able to forge a long-term Collective Bargaining Agreement that would have preserved an 82-game Regular Season for our fans. Unfortunately, that did not occur,” said NHL …

CBA 102: The Wade Redden rule

By Kevin Christmann
Posted on 10/22/2012 at 1:00 pm

Upon completion of the new CBA I had been planning to progress CBA 101 to CBA 102 (clever…I know) and tackle the differences between the two. However, with many of the specifics of the proposals between the National Hockey League and NHL Players’ Association (NHLPA), I thought that I would go ahead and proceed with it now. Last week I wrote a piece about the NHL’s latest offer to the NHLPA and how it severely hurts a team like the Flyers. I wanted to expand upon one of the proposed stipulations, specifically what is being called the “Wade Redden rule”. …

NHL Manipulators (Mount Up!)

By Kim Pollock
Posted on 10/18/2012 at 11:00 am

On Monday, Deadspin revealed that the National Hockey League had hired a PR team to lead focus groups with the intention of skewing the public’s image of the league and team owners in a positive direction. Now, the idea of a company employing this tactic isn’t anything new. Every organization wants to be painted in the best light possible, and would pay good money to make that happen. But that really isn’t the biggest issue that lies within this action taken by the league. The issue is, among others, that the NHL spent an arm and a leg for this …

NHL proposal, as is, hurts Flyers

By Kevin Christmann
Posted on 10/18/2012 at 6:00 am

On Tuesday, the NHL made a new proposal to the NHLPA in which they offered a 50/50 split of Hockey Related Revenue, down from their initial proposal of 57/43. It was seen by many to be the first step towards some real progress in coming to an agreement on a new CBA, and saving an 82-game season. Yesterday, NHLPA Executive Director Don Fehr sent a letter to all players and agents in which he explains why he is less than thrilled with the proposal. Personally, I’m not the least bit surprised by the response. In fact, I think anyone who …

It’s a trap!

By Bob H
Posted on 10/17/2012 at 8:00 am

Have you fans already forgotten the wisdom and warning of one Admiral Ackbar? Man, the NHL really has you by the short and curlies, don’t they? Go ahead. Admit it. It’s the first step. Stand up in the circle, announce your first name and last initial, and say you’re an addict. Wait for the affirmation, because it’s there. Darth Vader himself, Gary Bettman, goes on record in making a conciliatory overture to the players which involves a seductive come-on to get the deal done and play a full season. You’re so desperate to see top quality hockey action that in …

Bitter Harvest

By Bob H
Posted on 10/08/2012 at 5:00 pm

Yes, in addition to Columbus Day — a.k.a the time of the year we Americans celebrate some old, white disease-ridden Europeans who crossed the seas and invaded a land already populated by native peoples and gave them gifts of assimilation and annihilation — today is also Canadian Thanksgiving (Jour l’Action de grace). Fun fact: while the U.S. day of tryptophan worship and football viewing was brought into being by George Washington in 1789 and celebrated annually since 1863, the Canadian version was not solidifed until an act of Parliament in January of 1957. It is also three days until what …

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