Trettioåtta

Ridiculous. The players are so thick it is unbelievable, if only the NHL had gotten tough on head shots a few years ago :( The players lose the PR battle, the fans (probably) lose the season, the NHL (probably) loses Florida, Phoenix, Dallas, Columbus, Islanders

My allegiance is now on the owners side, the PA and the players are coming across as greedy wankers. And it doesn't help when Backes says that this offer is the equivalent of someone who earns £50k taking a 5K pay cut instead of a 10K pay cut. The players deserve no sympathy if they don't accept a very slightly altered version of this offer. That or i hope the season starts with the winter classic and the stadium is only half full and a chant of "###### you players" starts and lasts the whole game. I would also accept that. The PA refused to negotiate until 3 months before the CBA ran out, they submitted a counter-proposal 1.5 months before the CBA ran out and they have not submitted another one since.

Yeah, I thought the same. He made the effort to compromise first, if the PA continue to refuse to play ball then it is clear they have no intention of doing so

The PA cannot reject this offer. It is fair imo

The very fact that those numbers fluctuate so much would imply it is the players, not the coach? Ignoring pre-lockout as they are irrelevant to hockey now a days, it is the players who change, not the coach. Going from 3rd to 17th but rising from 5th to 1st in the league also means PP and success are not very well correlated. Seems like you are stretching an argument there. Do you think New Wave got a discount cos it is a lockout?

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/nhl-lockout-soundtrack-taylor-swift-vs-bettman-fehr-122720786--nhl.html

Good signing - nice term for both parties (he will still be an RFA) and gives him time to develop and earn the bigger bucks later. Strong move DR

Yeah, you would think it would weigh on his mind. Back to Lucic - I'm not sure if it is that pricey - he put up 60+ points, which is good enough for $5 million and the fact he is a fighter/hitter/intimidator and the fact the Bruins value those attributes, mean that these extras are probably worth $1 million

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=405244 Steal

During the worst recession since 1930 the league improved their revenue 50%. Likewise player salaries have been increasing. Everyone has been making money. The CBA should be about filling in loop holes for parity. I think that this lock-out was inevitable, both teams have been using it as a bargaining piece. They have not spoke formally in September - they are playing chicken. The NHL was ready to sit down and discuss this in July 2011, the PA refused. The PA agreed to play this season, probably so they could go on strike in December for leverage. It is not acceptable to have a business that every 6 years skips a season. In fact it is disgusting business practice. The NHL will hugely suffer, if a lock-out happens, i think the only way they recover is to drop 6-10 teams - which basically undoes the last 20 years of work. Teams in Nashville, Phoenix, Florida, Islanders, Columbus and Dallas struggle as it is. It seems the PA want to use the HRR to stabilise struggling teams - i'm not sure why Bettman doesn't want this, seeing as he is the one trying to keep teams in random markets. However, the NHL want to basically make the game far more boring, so whatever team draft you, you are stuck with till you are 30-33+. But the real issue is that both sides define HRR differently (god know's how) http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=404960

Why would the companies bother to sell their drug then? It makes no sense to just accept a low price because the country has a universal healthcare program They would invest because when you get a drug that works (viagra, beta blockers etc) you make a sh!t ton

They don't recoup their investments anyway. Plus, i thought it worked as the company sells the drugs to the hospitals, and the government takes the blow and passes the drug on more cheaply to the patient It takes 15 years to go from an idea to selling the drug on the market. Having affordable drugs would not change that time all that much and i think that either the government would take the blow, or other companies would invest (wealth creators and all)

70% of drugs that make it to the market never turn a profit. That figure doesn't even include completely failed trials. The companies are used to not making a profit, they rely on block-buster drugs - which won't be affected by the market

Ann Romney is making a good push to topple Clint's - classic lines as 'I love you women", "I'm not sure if men really understand this, but i don't think there is a woman in America who really expects her life to be easy" and "Michigaaaaaan"

Eastwood was a joke - his speech made him seem like a senile old man. I liked the Obama one, whilst the others spoke about hope i felt he showed a realistic view and didn't try and shy away from the fact that life wasn't/isn't easy Although, i have not seen all the speeches on your list

My favourite speeches so far: 1) Eastwood 2) Clinton 3) Obama The Republican party seems very right wing this round, to me it is not a remotely hard choice on who to vote for (unless you are very wealthy, obviously) Also, not too sure why people thought Biden was actually implying that soldiers were the devil - seems overly sensitive and looking for something to be offended by

Why would Ennis be worth more? He is more injury prone, has less points, doesn't play the penalty kill, hits less, and they have similar PP production

http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/gary-bettman-the-nhl-nolockout-save-the-hockey-season

With 10 days to go, they have not met in 5 days. If they are going to lockout every season there is a CBA, i want the new one to be a decade long, not go through this every 6 years

Well what i said has nothing to do with the idea that he is a millionaire so why does he need more. However, whilst all those things add up, they don't add up to a lot in comparison to a couple of million. Secondly, if he is a devout Christian as people claim, i would be surprised if he put much emphasis on gathering money for the sake of gathering money. Thirdly, if he has 5 kids and a wife who have lived there all his life, have friends and are completely settled there then i think that money won't drive his primary decision. I think he would be a man who would rather make sure his family has a lovely life and enjoys what they have instead of moving them for a chance to win. So if it comes down to Phoenix offering him a two year $10 million contract and Buffalo offering a four year $30 million contract, i think he picks Phoenix without a doubt in his mind. However, if it comes down to Phoenix being an unsettled situation so he is going to move his family, then i think the large contract by the Sabres pays off - afterall, if you are going to disrupt your loved ones lives, why not do it to a place that will secure their future and then some

He's a multimillionare who will secure a job in the front office when he retires, should he want it, his and his kids futures would be fine even if he walked away now

Yeah i saw that - i'm not a huge fan of young captains, just not sure they have experienced enough life to be a true leader in the room. Although Toews seems like a good captain as he is so mature/serious

He has hit both your criteria for the last 3 years, so it seems doable. Dallas isn't an overly physical team either

Does the crowd still chant for that fake draft pick when the Sabres are winning by a lot? (The Tokyo Kantanas was it?)

My favourite tradition, albeit a recently acquired one, is how Deluca moans in every thread - in a world that is ever changing, it is refreshing to have a pillar of consistency in my life A tradition i also really like is when the clocks go forward in America, as it means i have two weeks of games starting an hour earlier, so i can get to bed for 2am instead of 3am :P