2013 NHL Draft

CBJ - MacKinnon, C
EDM - Jones, D
NYI - Drouin, LW
ANA - Barkov, C
MTL - Shinkaruk, LW
BUF - Monahan, C
CAR - Lindholm, C
PHX - Nichuskin, C
WPG - Pulock, D
NSH - Morrissey, D
MIN - Ristolainen, D
NJ - Lazar, C
TOR - Domi, C

It will happen

26th!!!! (Just like the Leafs)..... ooh... getting back to normal.

I see the NHLPA replying with a counter offer that is beyond what the NHL is willing to give and this whole thing blows up. Fehr is a D-bag. The players are rediculous, and both sides will loose big. See you next season....maybe

The players AREN'T the game, they aren't the product. That's the central problem in the whole mess, they think they're a lot more important than they really are. The game is the product; the players and owners are just the facilitators. When you look at it from a certain perspective, the players are no more important than the arena, or the puck. If this entire group of players went away tomorrow would the game cease to exist? No, they'd just get new players.

I'll pay to watch Sidney Crosby play hockey but I'm not going to pay to watch him wash his car. Hockey is the product, not the players.
- Jeffmt

I disagree. You aren't paying top dollar to watch the marlies. Nor am I paying top dollar to see the marlies come to my barn. Fact is the NHL has the greatest hockey players in the world. Without those said players this league gets less burn than it already does.

For me the Stars are NOT the game, they are over-priced players, if the NHL folded and it mean't the Sabres were gone, I would be watching the Rochester Americans, just like almost 20,000 people did in the last game and over time the league in some form or shape would re-develop into some sort of NHL again.

For me, I see the players continuing to be idiots led by Fehr, I think the season will be gone and the players will want more from the owners and I hope I never see Ryan Miller in a Sabres uniform again.

The players AREN'T the game, they aren't the product. That's the central problem in the whole mess, they think they're a lot more important than they really are. The game is the product; the players and owners are just the facilitators. When you look at it from a certain perspective, the players are no more important than the arena, or the puck. If this entire group of players went away tomorrow would the game cease to exist? No, they'd just get new players.

I'll pay to watch Sidney Crosby play hockey but I'm not going to pay to watch him wash his car. Hockey is the product, not the players.
- Jeffmt

This could not be any further from the truth. You say you wouldn't watch Crosby was his car, but if the current crop of players just evaporated and they had to find new & less talented players... you wouldn't pay to go watch them because the product would be horrible. Like it or not, the players ARE the game in all sports.

You say they are no more important than the arenas... people would still come and watch the games and would still watch them on TV if they were not played in these elaborate arenas, hell put them on a pond in Canada and I guarantee you the ratings go through the roof for that. Take all the players out of the areans and put AHL players and Junior players in the elaborate arenas and the league becomes the least watched league in the world.

For me the Stars are NOT the game, they are over-priced players, if the NHL folded and it mean't the Sabres were gone, I would be watching the Rochester Americans, just like almost 20,000 people did in the last game and over time the league in some form or shape would re-develop into some sort of NHL again.

For me, I see the players continuing to be idiots led by Fehr, I think the season will be gone and the players will want more from the owners and I hope I never see Ryan Miller in a Sabres uniform again.
- MikeyOz

It's amazing how people on here are discrediting the talented these players bring to the game. You are just tricking yourselves because you think the players are to blame. The players, and more particularly the Stars are what makes the NHL so great. It's why all the best players from all around the world are dying to play in this league.

It's just foolish to say they aren't the league. They clearly are.

Let the Ennis & Myers for Getzlaf rumors begin once again.

Yay.

I disagree. You aren't paying top dollar to watch the marlies. Nor am I paying top dollar to see the marlies come to my barn. Fact is the NHL has the greatest hockey players in the world. Without those said players this league gets less burn than it already does.
- kindlyrick

If the players walked away from the NHL, the league would cease to exist. It is that simple. The owners would not be able to financially keep the franchises running and they would all fold. These players are what drives the cash flow of this league, the NHL would fold without them.

The NHL was around long before Crosby & Ovechkin and it will be around long after they're gone. Crosby was out a full year, with doubts that he'd ever return, and the game was just fine. Stars flocked to the WHA once upon a time and how did that turn out? The stars will never go to Europe in large numbers; they tried that this season and most of those guys couldn't even hack it for a month, they're all coming back. They need the NHL more than the NHL needs them.
- Jeffmt

You are picking one player to justify your argument that you could remove the entire current crop of NHL players and just replace them with new players and the league would be just as good.

The reason the league was around before Crosby & Ovechkin is because there was Messier & Gretzky. Not because there was a puck and an arena.

You are right, they never will go to europe in large numbers... because the league would never let it get to that point. The amount they gave to the players during this lockout proves that exact thing. They can't survive with Crosby, Giroux, Ovechkin, Datsyuk, Weber and so on... playing in other countries. They simply can't.

You are picking one player to justify your argument that you could remove the entire current crop of NHL players and just replace them with new players and the league would be just as good.

The reason the league was around before Crosby & Ovechkin is because there was Messier & Gretzky. Not because there was a puck and an arena.

You are right, they never will go to europe in large numbers... because the league would never let it get to that point. The amount they gave to the players during this lockout proves that exact thing. They can't survive with Crosby, Giroux, Ovechkin, Datsyuk, Weber and so on... playing in other countries. They simply can't.
- Flyers2821

Its so easy for people to be saying its the game, its the game. ITS NOT. Its the Stars. If it was merely the game then the AHL and ECHL would be sold out all the time. We the fans associate with the stars. Can't remember the last time there was a autograph signing session involving Jeremy Jacobs or Ed Snider etc etc.

The teams in the south can't fill the arenas with the superstars of the game, how in the world would they get more than a couple of thousand people without them??

Give me a break people.

As for the billionaire owners. We the people subsidize most of their arenas, we give them tax breaks that we don't give to other people. So I find it hilarious that there are people who actually side with the owners.

Do the players deserve the kind of money that they are getting for playing a game they love? Probably not. But the alternative is that the billionaires would get more money. I choose give the MORE money to the players not to a bunch of old fart billionaires who hold the public up for taxpayer ransom money.

Regardless of what happens, the damage is already done. This will take a LONG time to recover from, maybe not in the Canadian markets, but in the U.S. it will.

Regardless of what happens, the damage is already done. This will take a LONG time to recover from, maybe not in the Canadian markets, but in the U.S. it will.
- LeftCoaster

I hope it never recovers in the weak American markets. It will be Bettman's legacy. It was Bettman who led the expansion to those hockey hotbeds of Atlanta, Florida, Phoenix etc etc.

This league should not be more than 24 teams. Period.

Regardless of what happens, the damage is already done. This will take a LONG time to recover from, maybe not in the Canadian markets, but in the U.S. it will.
- LeftCoaster

How long after the CBA non sense is over do the Leafs and Nucks announce the Luongo trade? Within 48 hours?

How long after the CBA non sense is over do the Leafs and Nucks announce the Luongo trade? Within 48 hours?
- faceto27

I fehr that Luongo behind the Leafs D would be a nightmare.

He gives up one bad goal a game behind a pretty solid Vancouver D.

It is not just the fact that Luongo has lost his A game. Can Leaf nation withstand another bad deal?

They players are the most important aspect of the game,
And the NHL knows it...
That's why they market Crosby & Miller & Ovechkin, etc
- jdfitz77

♫ One of these things is not like the others, ♫
♫ One of these things just doesn't belong, ♫
♫ Can you tell which thing is not like the others ♫
♫ By the time I finish my song? ♫

I hope it never recovers in the weak American markets. It will be Bettman's legacy. It was Bettman who led the expansion to those hockey hotbeds of Atlanta, Florida, Phoenix etc etc.

This league should not be more than 24 teams. Period.
- faceto27

I agree. Hopefully we see some relocation in the near future. But you're right, the league has too many teams. It's absolute BS that teams like Toronto, Montreal, Rangers, and to a lesser extent the Flyers, Chicago, Detroit and Vancouver create 80+% of all the income for the rest of the league.

Regardless of what happens, the damage is already done. This will take a LONG time to recover from, maybe not in the Canadian markets, but in the U.S. it will.
- LeftCoaster

Not in Canada and not in the major US markets (Philly, NYR, Detroit). All those arenas will be sold out right away and tv ratings will take a slight hit for those markets. The major issue will be with the mid to smaller markets whose fans were already on the fence about the sport. Those teams will struggle drastically.

I fehr that Luongo behind the Leafs D would be a nightmare.

He gives up one bad goal a game behind a pretty solid Vancouver D.

It is not just the fact that Luongo has lost his A game. Can Leaf nation withstand another bad deal?
- spatso

One bad goal a game is a supreme upgrade over what we have had here.

How long after the CBA non sense is over do the Leafs and Nucks announce the Luongo trade? Within 48 hours?
- faceto27

I think they'll take a week so as not to make it that obvious.

Grand gestures??????

What is this Downton Abbey? Is this where we come to for our hockey Melodrama

Not in Canada and not in the major US markets (Philly, NYR, Detroit). All those arenas will be sold out right away and tv ratings will take a slight hit for those markets. The major issue will be with the mid to smaller markets whose fans were already on the fence about the sport. Those teams will struggle drastically.
- Flyers2821

Ya that's what I meant, for those who know hockey I'm guessing they'll understand what I meant. I don't want to make eight paragraph reply's here.

It's not fair to the Canadian teams or the larger established teams like Detroit, Philly and Boston to have to carry the southern teams so much. Pisses me off that there's still a team in Florida and Phoenix.

I fehr that Luongo behind the Leafs D would be a nightmare.

He gives up one bad goal a game behind a pretty solid Vancouver D.

It is not just the fact that Luongo has lost his A game. Can Leaf nation withstand another bad deal?
- spatso

I think you're about to find out.

I think they'll take a week so as not to make it that obvious.
- LeftCoaster

With the shortened season, when does the trade deadline come into play?

Things to consider, it will definately be a sellers market seeing as there will be a greater amount of teams still in contention for the playoffs.

Also, with all the pending UFA's the pressure on the GM's to either sign those players or trade them before the deadline will be huge. No way a GM is going to risk losing his star players for absolutely nothing, as Lou did with Parise.

Getzlaf and Perry will be prime targets.

Getzlaf is going to look really good with the C on his shirt wearing the big Maple Leaf!!

The real World Juniors (Division 3) start on January 14 in Bulgaria. Check out the power houses who will be playing.

Mexico
China
New Zealand
Bulgaria
United Arab Emirates
Turkey

Why does this part of the tournament not get any TV time?
- Aldred15

New Zealand! YEAH BOY!!!!!