Welcome to your worst nightmare. The morning after. I feel like crap.
Midnight came and went with nary a peep from the owners and players. Ho hum.
This is the fourth NHL work stoppage in the past 20 seasons. The Silence is deafening.
While you were sleeping, news broke in Russia that several KHL clubs are very interested in signing Sabres D Tyler Myers, who earlier this week didn't object to heading overseas to play pro hockey.
Gennady Ushakov, who will represent the interests of the players in the NHL spoke with sportexpress.ru:" I hope that the problems with their employment does not arise, because there are already specific proposals from the leading teams in our league".
thanks, wgrz.com
I don't have a problem with Myers and his peers wanting to keep their skills at an NHL level by playing in the elite leagues around the globe. Atrophy sets in on NHL players who are not honing their skills. I'll never begrudge a player the opportunity to play the game. Be it in the NHL or abroad.
Players play. Owners own. Managers manage.
Here's a list of notable quotables from the NHL who have already signed to play in Russia during the lockout:
Geno Malkin and Sergei Gonchar signed with Magnitigorsk Metallurg
Pavel Datsyuk will play in Ak Bars.
Ruslan Fedotenko and Alexei Ponikarovsky help Donbass.
The Czech leagues are open for NHLers too. Jaromir Jagr and Tomas Plekanec will play for Kladno.
The 12th overall pick off the Sabres in June's NHL entry drafy will NOT be following his good friend and line mate, Nail Yakupov, back to Russia for the lockout.
Grigo will play for Patrick Roy's Quebec Remparts.
thanks, sabres.com
Grigo said it in July. He wants to play in North America. Russia is his third option now that the lockout is on. Naturally, the Sabres are his #1 choice. No dice. He's too young to play in Rochester. Quebec has said since draft day that they want Grigo to play with them this season. He played for his home land at the Canada-Russia Challenge.
He'll tear a new ass for the WHL this season. i'm predicting 40 goals and 60 assists for Grigorenko.
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The NHL has issued this open letter to you, the cash-holding consumer. You are getting stiffed for the third time in the Gary Bettman era.
Despite the expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the National Hockey League has been, and remains, committed to negotiating around the clock to reach a new CBA that is fair to the Players and to the 30 NHL teams.
Thanks to the conditions fostered by seven seasons under the previous CBA, competitive balance has created arguably the most meaningful regular season in pro sports; a different team has won the Stanley Cup every year; fans and sponsors have agreed the game is at its best, and the League has generated remarkable growth and momentum. While our last CBA negotiation resulted in a seismic change in the League's economic system, and produced corresponding on-ice benefits, our current negotiation is focused on a fairer and more sustainable division of revenues with the Players -- as well as other necessary adjustments consistent with the objectives of the economic system we developed jointly with the NHL Players' Association seven years ago. Those adjustments are attainable through sensible, focused negotiation -- not through rhetoric.
This is a time of year for all attention to be focused on the ice, not on a meeting room. The League, the Clubs and the Players all have a stake in resolving our bargaining issues appropriately and getting the puck dropped as soon as possible. We owe it to each other, to the game and, most of all, to the fans.
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