***2012 NHL Offseason Thread***

[Rams Fan]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

Bettman has to go... I know how dumb it sounds to say he wanted a lockout, but how else did he think this would end? Hopefully they can get something done by the Winter Classic.

Well, college hockey starts in 4 weeks... *crickets*

It's astounding how ****ing idiotic the owners are. It's ****ing asinine that the owners are doing this after they put themselves in this situation. Now they are trying to fix what they messed up.

**** Bettman.

**** the NHL.

[Rams Fan]

[MMXcalibur]

Only Gary Bettman can keep his job after three of these goddamn things.

[MMXcalibur]

"Negotiating around the clock".
Piss off.

[DaFace]

I'll still watch for sure, but I'll definitely not feel as bad for staying home to watch Avs games while he Pepsi Center is half empty this year. Screw 'em.

[DaFace]

Not that anyone's surprised, but all preseason games are officially cancelled through the end of the month. I kind of want to go punch the owners in the nuts.

[CoMoChief]

I can't stand to watch hockey on TV. Even with it being fast paced, it's still ****ing boring.

Going to live games though is a different story. I've been to many Blues games and I have lots of fun when I go. Same w/ NASCAR....going to the event live is can be fun as hell and a really good time, but I'd rather watch paint dry than to turn it on and watch it on TV.

Soccer on the other hand is ****ing stupid anyway you look at it.

[Bearcat]

If anyone with espn3 needs a hockey fix...

http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/i...oming-to-espn3

All of the games are around 10am-noon et, but they should have replays.

[Predarat]

Here is a message I pulled from the Preds board, hope these folks can make some noise.

Howdy, folks. I'm a Red Wings fan from Texas, and lately I've been going around the league's message boards trying to consolidate ideas coming from fans interested in ending this lockout. There's a lot of bickering going on about who to blame, but I'm confident that every one of you will agree that we want to see some NHL hockey played, and the sooner the better.

Some folks on the Hurricanes message boards are drawing a line in the sand to cancel their season tickets if the lockout is not resolved by Thanksgiving. We could all be doing much more enjoyable things with our money during the holiday season than letting a league that takes its fans for granted hold onto it. If you're a season ticket holder call or email your ticket rep and let them know that you intend to do this along with fans in multiple markets. The threat alone might be enough to encourage owners to move towards the middle, and if we followed through it would undoubtedly shake the alleged 100% unanimity of owners in support of the lockout. This is especially true for small- and struggling-market teams. In particular, one that has to pay Shea Weber millions of dollars whether there's a season or not.

A Blackhawks fan posted a link that lists many other businesses of NHL team owners for those who aren't season ticket holders, but are interested in taking the boycott route. If all these people care about is their bottom line, hurt their bottom line all the way across the board.

http://youhavetwoweeks.com/index.html

I think the Janne Makkonen video touched a telling nerve for many, and the petition associated with it is certainly worth signing, but it seems to me that we need to hit the NHL more directly.

To that end I suggest we start a website whose primary goal will be to divert traffic away from NHL.com and the team sites that they host. Dallas Stars fans came up with a great name: National Hockey League Fans Union, or NHLFU. It can be very simple, stating on the front page "The NHL has been locked out for X days, resulting in X canceled games, and that's all I care about." I'm no web designer and haven't got the money to spare for hosting domains, but it's entirely possible that if we set up a message board where fans from all 30 markets can come to vent, plan actions, and get all of their hockey news from a source that doesn't generate ad-traffic for "the bosses" we can make our presence felt now, rather than waiting passively for the end of the lockout to launch boycotts. We might even be able to get some players to help out. Don't read their articles about how great the NHL used to be, or what coaches and owners and players and Zamboni drivers think about the latest developments in negotiations. We don't care. We care about hockey, and that's all we want from you people.

Let's make hockey happen, y'all.

[KC_Lee]

Originally Posted by Predarat

Here is a message I pulled from the Preds board, hope these folks can make some noise.

While I support this idea it really does not work for our Preds. Unlike every other NHL team, the season ticket split (individuals vs. corporate STH) is opposite in Nashville.

I don't recall the exact percentage but I think that STH in Nashville is 70% individuals and 30% corporate STH.

Am I stating that correctly?

[Predarat]

Originally Posted by KC_Lee

While I support this idea it really does not work for our Preds. Unlike every other NHL team, the season ticket split (individuals vs. corporate STH) is opposite in Nashville.

I don't recall the exact percentage but I think that STH in Nashville is 70% individuals and 30% corporate STH.

Am I stating that correctly?

You are right on with that, hoping the fans will ask for their money back though, that can help. Actually hope they get this damn thing resolved.

[Bearcat]

Bettman uses lockouts as a bargaining chip and I don't see it getting resolved by Thanksgiving... IMO, the push to cancel season tickets should already be happening, because the owners know they'll already lose half the season or more in ticket sales.

Between playing NHL13 way too much and college hockey starting this weekend (along with CFB, the NFL, MLB postseason...), I just don't care at the moment. The owners should know the players aren't going to fold for anything less than 50% and the players should know they owners aren't going to accept anything more than 50-52%.... but, let's spend a few months or an entire season talking about 43% or 55% or whatever... GFY.

[DaFace]

In case you guys haven't heard, it looks like there's been sudden positive movement in negotiations between the NHL and the NHLPA. There are way too many points to list here (just Google it), but the but the main thing from a fan perspective is that they could potentially salvage a full 82-game season if they get this done - starting in early November.

Keep your fingers crossed.

[ChiefMojo]

Great news! Heard about the proposed 50/50 split by the owners. Guess a big sticking point from the NHLPA is the contract rollover aspect. Players don't want their new contracts just signed torn up.

[Bearcat]

Maybe I'm just too grumpy about the whole thing, but this could have happened three freakin' months ago.... 3 months of posturing and ridiculous offers maybe saved the owners 2-3%, and now the players take all the heat if they don't jump on board. Well played by the owners, I guess. Let's do it again in 6 years.