When either side in the lockout debate says that they understand that the fans suffer the most, your BS detector should activate immediately. This morning, we hear word that team staff are already being laid off in one NHL city...
Nashville Predators News
A Great Night for a Great Cause: Petey’s Preds Party | The Predatorial Jeremy writes up his experience from last night's event.
Rant Sports Top 100 NHL Players: Mike Fisher Fish checks in at #82 on this list.
NHL lockout could disrupt Preds' momentum - Nashville Business Journal Experts disagree on how much it would affect the long-term prospects here in Nashville.
Lockout doesn't keep Nashville Predators off ice | The Tennessean The worst part about all those recent assignments to Milwaukee? The young'uns aren't around to carry the veterans' equipment bags.
Inside Smashville " Money not ‘the big point’ for Klein in getting contract extension done For a guy with young kids, stability and the security of a long-term deal means a lot.
Smashville 24/7 - Rinne denies Kärpät rumor; Josi’s lockout plans No, they're not heading over... yet.
Around the Wide Wide World of Hockey
Senators staff faces layoffs, reduced work week early in NHL lockout - The Globe and Mail In Ottawa, team employees are the first ones to feel the pain.
KHL has learnt from past mistakes, but … - The Globe and Mail The KHL likes to tout itself as a big-time operation, but they are still figuring out the basics.
If Teemu Selanne Is Angry, You Know Things Are Really Bad - Anaheim Calling OK, now you've done it, Bettman.
A summary of PR tactics employed by the NHL and the NHLPA so far " The Active Stick Yup, this pretty much sums it up.
François Allaire, Joe Colborne, and the self-cannibalizing Leafs | Backhand Shelf | Blogs | theScore.com "It’s the Leafiest of Leafs things: team acquires proven talent who performs below expectations while a Leaf."
Who would each NHL team use an amnesty clause on, should an amnesty clause exist? | Backhand Shelf Here's an interesting exercise - if you could ditch one player/contract on the Preds, which would it be?
Wild offers season-ticket holders 10% APR interest to keep money in accounts | StarTribune.com Teams are varying in terms of how much incentive they're giving fans not to ask for refunds, but this is the highest I've seen yet. If you want to have any impact on how the league operates, however, don't fall for it.
RIP: Fond Memories of a Glorious CBA | Backhand Shelf Dale Tallon made the cut, but David Poile was overlooked?
Analysis: The most unnecessary lockout of them all - The Globe and Mail The last paragraph says it all.
NHL Lockout Soundtrack: Taylor Swift vs. Bettman and Fehr; ‘The Hockey Song’ protests | Puck Daddy Misery is inspiring songsters everywhere.
9 Ideas for NBC to replace the NHL (because we couldn't get to 10) For your viewing pleasure... some alternatives for NBC Sports to consider.
And lastly, as found at Puck Daddy... hockey in a Roman coliseum!
Very cool stuff here, so I'm moving this to the front page - Dirk
Nashville saw its first hockey game 50 years ago--on October 27, 1962--when the newly formed Nashville Dixie Flyers made their Eastern Hockey League debut before 5,000 fans at brand-new Municipal Auditorium. Although the Nashville Banner's Bill Parker termed it "less than a howling success," since the Flyers lost 2-0 to the second-year Knoxville Knights, we have a view of that historic game courtesy of Greg Goodman. Greg found 16-mm black and white film of the event among the effects of his late father, Benny Goodman, who was part owner of the Dixie Flyers franchise.
After the jump, we'll discuss the Dixie Flyers who appear in the film and what it suggests about the uncertainties surrounding the team's first year. We'll also see what the film tells us about the way the game was played in the EHL back then.
Very cool stuff here, so I'm moving this to the front page - Dirk
Nashville saw its first hockey game 50 years ago--on October 27, 1962--when the newly formed Nashville Dixie Flyers made their Eastern Hockey League debut before 5,000 fans at brand-new Municipal Auditorium. Although the Nashville Banner's Bill Parker termed it "less than a howling success," since the Flyers lost 2-0 to the second-year Knoxville Knights, we have a view of that historic game courtesy of Greg Goodman. Greg found 16-mm black and white film of the event among the effects of his late father, Benny Goodman, who was part owner of the Dixie Flyers franchise.
After the jump, we'll discuss the Dixie Flyers who appear in the film and what it suggests about the uncertainties surrounding the team's first year. We'll also see what the film tells us about the way the game was played in the EHL back then.
Among the Dixie Flyers' 13-man opening night roster, the first player to skate up to the camera is actually the team's trainer, #1 Joe Sgro, who donned the skimpy pads whenever the lone player tagged the "goaler" was incapacitated. The Flyers had not yet activated goalie Marv Edwards, whom we'll see later in the film. #2 Emile Gilles and #13 George Knipelberg were first-year Flyer favorites until they pocketed meal money but refused to board the bus for an extended trip among the league's northern cities. They were fired on February 1, 1963, and the Flyers completed the road trip with only eleven players. Flyers captain #5 Don Smith turned in a hat trick in the team's first win, a 6-2 decision over the Clinton (NY) Comets, four days after opening night. Two weeks later Smith left the team and returned to Canada. Alternate captain #11 Ken "Red" Murphy then donned the C. #15 Billy Reid scored the first goal on Municipal Auditorium ice in the Flyers' second home game, a 7-4 loss to the Charlotte Checkers. #3 Bobby Maxwell, #7 Frank Butler, #8 Dino Leggio and #14 Alex Kuzma were four of the 27 players cycled in and out of the lineup in the team's chaotic first year.
Four of the original Dixie Flyers survived the first 16-48-4 season to become the heart of Nashville's EHL championship teams. In 1965 the Dixie Flyers captured their first league championship and in the succeeding two seasons,1966 and 67, they won both the EHL title and the playoffs' Walker Cup. #4 Flo Pilote was a bruising blueliner whose back checks left many an opponent on the ice. Flo played in every one of the Flyers' nine seasons while his brother Pierre captained the Stanley Cup-winning Chicago Black Hawks. #9 Ted McCaskill became an offensive force for the Flyers before moving up to the Minnesota North Stars when the NHL expanded in 1967. Ted left his mark on the game as the model for Dr. Hook in the classic hockey movie Slap Shot.#10 John McLellan began the Flyers inaugural season as player-coach but gave up his on-ice role after a severe collision with teammate Joe Zorica. On the bench McLellan molded Nashville's EHL championship teams. McLellan later moved up to succeed Punch Imlach as coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs and was voted 1971's NHL coach of the year. He was preceded on the Toronto bench by Joe Sgro, who became the Maple Leafs' trainer.
A second section of the film shows the Dixie Flyers' first general manager, Steve Brklacich, and Flyers goalie Marv Edwards. Edwards was the cornerstone of Nashville's EHL championship teams--Pekka Rinne's real precursor even as he wore thin, horse hair-stuffed pads and played without a mask. Marv later moved up to the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto Maple Leafs and California Golden Seals. The Tennessean's Bill Isom wrote that Brklacich's "contributions to the first year troubles and eventual success of the Flyers were about equal." In fact, Brklacich's management style convinced an exasperated coach John McLellan to walk out as the team traveled south from its first training camp in Port Colborne, Ontario. In Johnstown, PA, McLellan relented and grimly rejoined the team. Brklacich later became the New York Rangers' Director of Player Personnel.
The film's third clip shows opening night referee Geno Giavotti briefing his two linesmen before the game. In those days the EHL provided a ref for each game, and Giavotti was a favorite among players because he was relatively impartial and sometimes put away a beer or two with players after a game. However, EHL home teams were responsible for providing linesmen. For the team's first home game the Dixie Flyers recruited two local area high school football coaches who could skate. Each coach made $15 for the trouble.
The concluding scenes show the Dixie Flers' very first home game. Obviously the camera doesn't follow the action very well. But remember, no one in the Nashville crowd--including the camera operator--had ever seen a hockey game before!
Finally, two of those original Nashville Dixie Flyers remain in Nashville a half century after first setting foot in a city that had never seen hockey:
Flo Pilote operated a tavern in Hermitage called "The Penalty Box," and the one-time bruiser currently leads a life of gentlemanly retirement.
Ken Murphy is retired from a very successful post-hockey career in the construction business. He and Nashville businessman Ted Berman began Nashville's youth hockey program in 1965, signing up Dixie Flyers players like Flo Pilote to serve as coaches. Ken also provided invaluable insight and assistance to writer- producer Scott Osborne for the documentary Gold Record: 50 Years of Hockey History in Nashville.
Now that NHL Lockout 2012 is underway, the major question we're all wondering is how long it will last. The players seem to be more organized and involved than ever before, so does that translate into the resolve to hold out for months? Or will the owners come to the conclusion that the costs of a protracted lockout could indeed be severe, and move to strike a deal more quickly?
The Fourth Period has set up a handy tracker to see which NHL players are heading over to Europe, and currently no Nashville Predators are on the list. Names like Datsyuk, Malkin, Kovalchuk and Jagr are already there, however, and that list will surely grow over the coming days. The players aren't going to sit idly by and wait things out, that much is apparent.
It's not all about doom & gloom this morning, however - our morning hockey notes start off with a celebration of one local hockey figure whose life has been turned around over the last year....
Nashville Predators News
Parkinson's can't keep former Nashville Predators coach down | The Tennessean Tonight is the big Petey's Preds Party fundraiser for the Peterson Foundation for Parkinson's, and Brent Peterson's progress over the last year is a living example of what amazing things can be done these days to battle that disease.
20 minutes online - Davos and Bern bet on NHL stars - News According to this report, if Roman Josi decides to play in Switzerland, SC Bern is calling dibs (found via The Hockey Writers).
AHL Contracts | Admirals Roundtable Ryan clears up a bit of the confusion about whether certain Preds can go play in Milwaukee.
Wilson and Smith discuss lockout options | Nashville Predators The Honey Badger likes the idea of heading back to Wisconsin, while Willy dreams of the Swedish Bikini Team.
From AHL to College Teams; Where to Find Hockey during Lockout | ladypreds If you get desperate to see hockey, just hop in the car and drive for a bit.
With lockout, frustration mounts but logic gives pause… | Section 303 Jeremy's not sweating yet.
Around the Wide Wide World of Hockey
Grange on CBA: Midnight strikes on Bettman - sportsnet.ca Aside from the question of who will "win" this negotiation, will the new CBA patch some of the gaping holes in the old one, which allowed teams to circumvent the salary cap?
Ranger Pundit: NHL Owners Not Unanimous in Lockout Decision According to an anonymous source, 10 owners were not on board with the lockout originally. They were "characterized by the source as being the owners, who were filling their buildings last season and were not facing financial hardship."
NHL Players Undermining Their Cause " Berger Bytes Do players heading to Europe mean that the NHLPA is fractured? Hardly, it means guys realize they could be in for a long struggle and aren't wasting time burning through their war chests.
And lastly, in case you didn't see it yesterday here's the NHLPA's appeal to fans. The line that really grinds my gears is when Sidney Crosby claims that the fans get hurt the most by this. No, I think there are thousands of arena employees around the league whose livelihoods are actually threatened by a work stoppage, Sid.
And in a rejoinder, here's what the NHL is telling fans:
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.
What is this, July 1? The number of contracts being handed out over the last couple days is insane. Craig Smith is the latest Nashville Predator to get re-upped:
Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has signed forward Craig Smith to a two-year, $4 million contract that will pay him $2 million in both 2013-14 and 2014-15.
Craig Smith
#15 / Center / Nashville Predators
6-1
197
Sep 05, 1989
G
A
P
+/-
PIM
2011 - Craig Smith
14
22
36
-9
30
Smith perhaps has the most offensive upside of any young Nashville Predators forward, so it will be interesting to see how much of an opportunity he gets this season in terms of ice time and linemates. Just work on converting those empty-netters, OK kid?
Well, here we are, folks. NHL Lockout 2012 is ready to roll, now that the 2005 NHL CBA has expired, and the two sides have failed to reach agreement on how to divide up the ever-growing pile of cash that fans and corporate sponsors have brought them in recent years.
There will be time for long diatribes, analysis, and coverage of breaking news, but for now, I just have a musical message for the two sides.
This goes out to the owners, who are making the laughable claim that costs are spiraling out of control.
It goes to the players, who base their proposals on the notion that they know how to run the league better than the owners do, and that the surge in revenue from the last couple years will keep on coming.
So guys, this one's for you...
Just replace the word "girl" with "game" and it works perfectly:
Follow @Forechecker
I really wanted to post the NSFW version on here, but Bride of Forechecker talked me out of it.
With just hours to go until the NHL lockout becomes official, the Predators have announced that they've signed defenseman Kevin Klein to a five-year, $14.5 million extension.
This keeps Klein in Nashville for the foreseeable future at a very reasonable price. The deal will pay him $3 million per year for the first three years and $2.75 million for the last two.
"My family and I love Nashville; the fans, my teammates and the city have been very good to us," Klein said in a press release on the team's website. "I am excited about being a part of this organization and community well into the future."
Follow after the jump for more from the Preds:
Klein, 27 (12/13/84), recorded career highs in points (4g-17a-21pts) and assists, while tying a career high in goals in 2011-12. He also tied for 24th in the League, and led the Predators, in blocked shots (151); ranked third on the team in average ice time (19:56) and was one of just two NHL defensemen to play more than 35 games and register four or fewer penalty minutes during his fourth full NHL campaign a season ago. The Kitchener, Ont., native has 65 points (12g-53a) in 309 career regular-season games and nine points (3g-6a) in 28 postseason contests, which included four points (2g-2a) during the 2012 postseason, tying him for first among club blueliners.
Nashville's third selection, 37th overall (second round), in the 2003 Entry Draft held at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena, Klein captured a silver medal with Team Canada at the 2004 World Junior Championships in addition to winning the 2004 Ontario Hockey League championship as a member of the Guelph Storm.
One of the more frustrating aspects of the NHL CBA negotiations is not only the mind-numbing rhetoric from both sides of the table, but the occasional use of financial data to back up certain arguments. We don't get to see anything comprehensive, just a nugget which seems to bolster the argument of whoever is currently speaking.
During yesterday's media availability, for example, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman cited rising fuel prices as one area in which the owners don't have the flexibility to reduce costs like they're trying to do with player salaries:
Q: The players said they requested or asked the league if there were costs other than player costs that the National Hockey League would consider reducing. How would you respond to that or how did you?
Bettman: We've done a very good job of growing revenues, particularly at the top line, so that HRR has increased. I don't think it makes sense to be putting that limitation on how the clubs run their business.
A lot of the increases and costs over the last seven years have related to things that we've done with respect to the players. Whether or not it's trainers, massage therapists, coaches, the fact that jet fuel has increased in the last five years 175% for the chartered jets that we use to move the players around.
Zowie! If those jet fuel costs are soaring so much (get it, soaring... OK, sorry) then reducing the amount that NHL teams travel over the course of a season would certainly be a good thing.
But have jet fuel costs really risen like the Commish says, and are they significant in the overall scheme of things? One player agent cast doubt on that this afternoon...
Follow @Forechecker
Allan Walsh is never shy about touting his clients' interests, and this afternoon he called out that specific angle by the Commissioner, making it look suspicious:
In yesterdays Bettman press conference, Gary cited the cost of jet fuel as a rising cost justifying NHL proposal with a 17.5% cut in (2/2)
— Allan Walsh (@walsha) September 14, 2012
player salaries. According to iata website, since 2008, the cost of jet fuel is down. (2/2)
— Allan Walsh (@walsha) September 14, 2012
So, Bettman says costs are up over the last five years, Walsh says they've gone down since 2008... who to believe?
Hmm, if only one could look at a chart of historical jet fuel prices to sort out these conflicting characterizations. Oh, thanks Index Mundi & the US Energy Information Administration!
Conclusion? Current prices (at the far right) are indeed much higher than 5 years ago as alluded to by Bettman, and as compared to the beginning of the expiring NHL CBA in 2005. They are only up by about 60%, not the 175% that Bettman cites, although perhaps NHL planes require some premium variation (laced with maple syrup, perhaps, to satisfy Canadian sensibilities).
Walsh's comparison is pretty disingenuous, however, coming off a pricing peak that has little to do with the overall trend in such expenses for NHL teams.
The better question is, how much of a factor does this really play in the big picture? Again, referring to the Levitt report which the NHL produced in 2004 (PDF), total Operating Costs for all teams came to $282 million, or about $9.5 million per team.
Those Operating Costs consisted of coaching & front office salaries, trainers, equipment, training facilities, medical costs, and yes, travel costs, of which only a portion relate to jet fuel.
Bottom line? I don't think the jet fuel issue is significant, but it's frustrating when public appeals misrepresent the situation. We get it, the owners want more money and the players don't want to give up what they believe they already have.
Quit the posturing and work on finding a solution. Somehow, both sides should be happy with the $3.2 billion being showered upon them annually by loyal (but for how long?) hockey fans.
And in the meantime? Short those jet fuel futures!
