bobq : Don't forget about Ryan Nugent Hopkins! lol. A few more years and I can really see him being one of the top 5 centers in the league, as far as offensive skills anyways. The kid is pure magic with the puck. I don't know a ton about Yakupov but he seems like he will make the team next year and fit in. I'd say Schultz is going to be a great fit on the back end, the team needs that offensive D man and he should fill the role well.We have such a talented team its really a great time to be an oilers fan. Not many last place teams can have that reaction from their fans, but every one around here is optimistic and enthusiastic.

I don't get a chance to see many leafs games but I imagine things can only get better for the team. They didn't seem like they played all that bad last season and things may have ended up differently if they had gotten consistent performances from one of the goalies. Compare Kessel's contract to a few other players like Horcoff, Hemsky, and Gomez and Burke looks like a genius. I wouldn't care too much if he is a puck hog as long as he is scoring clutch goals and the team is winning. Sometimes its good to have a player that wants the puck -- they just better be able to put it in the back of the net.

Watching Morgan Riley play at the Canada/Russia challenge was great. He was never shy to jump in on the play and seems to make great passes. Definetly a bright spot in the leafs future.

smotpoker86 :

Right, Nugent Hopkins. So now you guys are that much more stacked. I agree that He will be a top 5 center in a few years also. It seems that he is roughly the equivalent of Tyler Seguin on Boston. It seems like picking Hall or Seguin were both equally great choices to have for the Oilers that year. It just stings a lot about what we had to give up to get Kessel. Of course we could not have known that we would be trading away Tyler Seguin and a 10th over all pick, as well as a second round pick for a guy like Kessel. We could have had our top center and future all star. The one thing I definitely worry about regarding Edmonton is if they can afford to have all those talented young players on the team at the same time. I mean, Chicago had to trade away half their team after winning the Stanley Cup. I think Los Angeles will have to do the same thing in a year or two as well. I do realize that Edmonton also has a very skilled supporting cast as well like Potter and Omark to name a few.

The future is extremely bright for Edmonton, you are right. It seems that teams can go from worst to first in a few years if they draft well. There is Chicago, when they got Kane. Although, they did get Towes, Keith, and Seabrook in different drafts. The same with Pittsburgh, who got Sidney Crosby to go along with Staal, Fleury and Malkin a year later. Of course, the best story of all I think is how Steven Stamkos rejuvenated life into the Lightning in such a short time, although they did already have Lecalvalier and St. Louis to compliment him. I believe Edmonton will follow this trend. I don't know if Dubnyk is the future goalie for Edmonton or not, but I think in a couple more years, look out for the Edmonton Oilers.

bobq : The way tambelini is handling the young players contracts leads me to believe he will be able to keep most of the core players for years to come. Eberle and Hall both signed identical deals salary cap hit wise. 6 million a year each for 6 and 7 years. Everything seems to suggest RNH will sign a similar deal at the end of next year. All the young players are saying they want to play in Edmonton for a long time because they can see the potential this team has. Horcoff's , Hemsky's, Smyth's and Khabi's expensive contracts are all due to expire in the next couple years and that will free up roughly 15 million a year assuming we don't resign any of them. Next year they have 7.2 million in cap space to play with which seems like a decent amount. I feel like keeping the core players around won't be too much of a problem but keeping a good supporting cast along side them might be tough to do. A player like Ladislav Smid is due for a big pay raise and it is these types of players I think it might be harder to keep around. It's hard to say if Dubnyk is going to be a star goalie or not but he has that potential. He played absolutely great some nights and let in bad goals on others. The thing is, on a team with this much fire power they don't neccessarily need a goalie to steal the show every night, not that it would hurt to have an allstar goalie.

I'm glad the oilers picked Hall instead of Seguin now that we have some other high picks in the system. Now they have a potential first line of number 1 overall picks. If they had picked Seguin they would either play him or RNH on the second line or not have drafted RNH in the first place. I'd rather have Hopkins over Seguin as he seems to be more of a playmaker compared to Seguins natural knack for scoring. I just think a playmaker is a better fit with the talent that surrounds him.

Omark has stated that he wants to be traded as he didn't come to North America to play in the AHL. The Oilers are trying to resign him (he's an UFA) so they can use him as trade bait. He's obviously a very gifted player but they just can't seem to make room for him in the line up. I can see them trading him for a Defense prospect or even just for a 2nd or 3rd round pick.

At the time Burke ( I think he was the GM at the time) traded for Kessel only good things were said about the deal. Toronto was finally getting a guaranteed top line player which I think they were lacking since Sundin left. In hindsight it's debatable whether or not he over payed (especially when you consider Seguin) but I don't think you can get too mad at Burke, the deal really seemed to make sense at the time.

So... all games through September are canceled. Thoughts?

unless the players get over themselves and give up on the 57% of revenue they aren't going to be playing any time soon. The NBA going 50/50 set the precedent and the NHL wants to follow. I figure as long as it goes 50/50 without any loopholes or anything else then that should be good enough for both sides.

There is not going to be any upside for hockey if this drags out much longer. They were lucky last time that hockey interest was low so the lockout didn't do as much damage as it will do this time.

I still support the players. They were willing to play while negotiations continued in order to avoid a lockout.

I think it should be split 50/50 and I honestly think that is what the players intentions are and the reason why they are asking for 57%.

The players want 57% but the owners are offering like 42%, they should just meet in the middle. It wouldn't surprise me that the players are asking for this much to make a 50% deal more appealing to the owners. Kind of like haggling at a market or something like that.

Well the lockout is happening. Didn't see you post anything about evgeni malkin and Sergei gonchar going back to russia for hockey. Sucks for me because I am a sens fan and also suck for pittsburgh fans.

mourinhosgum : they will come back when the lockout is over. It's not like they will stay in Russia over the US.

smotpoker86 : I hope you're correct. I just wish they would get it over with so that the season isn't lost and we can watch hockey come October.

Gotta love greed.

I can say as a person who lost the NBA for a short time last year, that I know how it feels to just be forced to watch as sports you dislike (like hockey for me) are going on, and the spots you like most are being put to a stop.

It'll get better... or the UNION and the NHL will fall apart and all the players will stay in Russia

Isn't this the third lockout in recent memory for the NHL?

geeogree : I realize but they  could stay for the whole year. Also, now rick Nash and Joe Thorton are in Russia now. Hope this season doesn't end up like 04-05.


Their new jerseys are just beautiful.  http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2012/09/25/advertisements-on-jerseys-look-really-good-and-the-nhl-should-totally-add-a-bunch/

Those jerseys are hideous!! Wow, that is bad!

And yeah, I am hoping that the lockout ends soon and we can have October hockey. I know that Malkin is on a month to month contract with the KHL, and I assume that the others have similar arrangements.

Again, why are people capitalizing the word UNION? It isn't an acronym... NHLPA is the acronym.

I think this is the second lockout recently... last one was 04-05, but before that I don't know. I do know this is the second under Bettman, and that in the most recent round of talks he didn't even bother to show.

So I learned one interesting thing yesterday. Since there is no regular season yet, some of the Penguins players like Crosby and Engelland have been playing pick-up games at the rink that they use for practice on the south side of Pittsburgh. They don't really announce them, but it's open to the public since it's a public ice rink... so people can just walk right in and watch them play.

A local reporter was there and commented that it is a shame that the lockout is happening because Crosby is in the best form he's ever been.

How did you post twice in a row?

Anyways, it would be interesting to show up to a Pittsburgh Penguins scrimmage game. Pittsburgh has a pretty deep team, so even without Malkin, the Penguins are a cool team to watch.

I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but Betteman tried to realign all the conferences into time zones last season. This was what eventually led to the lockout. The teams did not want the conference realignments because it would destroy classic division rivalries. What Betteman is very strongly fighting for, is the power to make a decision like that on his own. Betteman doesn't like the fact that the players had the authority to reject the conference realignment, and is not going to budge until the players agree to give up that right. I believe that is the deciding factor for the lockout; whether the players are willing to give up their right to reject proposals made by Betteman.

bobq : The proposed changes to conferences and divisions has nothing to do with this lockout. It is all about money and not what teams will play in what division. If anything the players would be in favour of the changes. They would be traveling across time zones a lot less frequently.

I disagree. If the players were for the conference realignments, then why did they reject the proposal of it?

I understand that traveling across time zones can be taxing, but a large portion of western conference rivalries will be destroyed because of this proposed alignment, which has caused frustration from mainly western conference teams.

It has also been publicly stated that this is an issue that the players will strongly fight to remain having control over. I agree that they should split it 50/50, but both sides are stubborn. I feel that if the players retain the power to reject proposals, they may be willing to take a bit less than 50%. Where as if the owners gain full control of proposal decisions, they may be willing to give the players slightly more than 50%.

The players didn't really want this new realignment, as it destroys some of the rivalries we all know and love.   All because of Winnipeg!   Of anything the new changes wouldn't help much of anything, from what I got for the schedule it ended up just making teams like Boston still have to travel out far to the west anyway.   And that many conferences is just un-needed.   This age of lockouts is just rather aggrivating to even be interested in sports these days, whats next Nascar? I mean come on quit all the whining, come up with a fair decision, let us fans watch! you want to make money right? then let the games begin! 

bobq : I would say that I was aware of the failed realignment, since I made the thread about it here... but smotpoker is right, that has nothing to do with the current lockout. Their rejection happened months ago, the current meetings were about salary and profits between the players and owners.

And I posted twice because there was a long time gap in between the posts. I can't remember if it costs Viz to do it or not.

Really Hope they get this season started soon, I am going through hockey withdrawal eyagggghhh 

TSN, Wednesday night at 7:30pm eastern.

They show Canadian Hockey's memorable games, such as the World Juniors semi final when Eberle scored against the Russians with 5.4 seconds left to force overtime.