The NHL lockout is beginning to take it's toll. Inanity is starting to rear it's misguided head as NHL media is starting to look for stories.
Buffalo, though, is not. Fans in Western New York have their own worries as fans are really in a foul mood after what transpired over the weekend.
I'm with ya.
Kinda makes me want to vent.
And vent I shall.
***Pooh, poohing from Bill Daly
Deputy NHL Commisioner Bill Daly came out yesterday and said that the cancellation of the entire preseason due to the lockout cost the NHL $100M.
After emerging from talks with the NHLPA saying that "he didn't have any progress to report, Daly went tugging on heart strings, "That [$100M] is not going to be recouped and that's going to cost both sides," Daly told reporters in New York. "That's unfortunate but it's a reality of where we are."
C'mon, really? You want anyone outside the ownership circle to feel sympathy? Go screw yourself.
NHLPA rep Donald Fehr summed it up nicely, "If this is a loss, this is a loss that is entirely of their own making," Fehr told The Canadian Press in an interview. "They're the ones that did this, nobody told them to."
The two hour talks on yesterday were directed towards defining hockey related revenue, which is a logical first step. How can you get a definitive split of the pie if the pie is ill-defined.
There are so many loopholes and clauses, just like the U.S. tax code, that it might take an army of accountants and lawyers to figure it out. Unlike the Average Joe, former NHLPA counsel and the players, the last CBA--and everything it entails--makes sense to Fehr. He sits across the table, looks Commisioner Gary Bettman in the eye, and says no, the players really aren't making 57% of HRR.
Maybe that's why Daly said, "Unless they show some willingness to compromise, I don't know how we get this done," he told reporters.
Hey, jackass, Fehr and company didn't just fall off of the turnip truck. You ever heard of Major League Baseball?
***Lindy Ruff and Derek Roy
"First and foremost, if you look at Derek's ice-time, you know what I thought of him as a player."--Lindy Ruff
Taken from a piece by WGR's Paul Hamilton entitled, Sabres Ruff will miss Roy.
He might, but most Sabres fans won't.
Sure, Lindy, you might miss his "playmaking skills." But this Sabres fan will not miss his dipsy-doodle turnovers, his attempt at showmanship, and his tendency to fold under pressure.
He's a top-six center at best who really thought he was a Daniel Briere-type top-liner.
Yeah, Ruff put him in tough positions on the ice, but he really had no one else down the middle. And Roy simply couldn't get 'er done.
All you need to know about Roy's character and why he was moved is encapsulated here:
“We had high expectations at the start of the year. We knew that,” said Sabres center Derek Roy, who has only eight goals and 24 points. “Going forward now there’s low expectations. So now it’s easier to play. We just play loose, play fun. Go out there and play hard.
The era of "The Core," or as Sabres President Ted Black puts it, "The Rochester Guys," was defined rather simply: they were great when it was easy, folded when it was tough.
And Derek Roy was one of the leaders of that.
Adios. Take your sorry ass to Dallas, Derek. And by all means, make sure you never lose your cuteness.
***Cody Hodgson starts the year with the Amerks
One of the reasons that the Sabres could deal "cutie-pie" Derek Roy was the trade for center Cody Hodgson last season.
Hodgson will be looked upon to fill a top-six role on the team at the center position (along with Tyler Ennis.)
And he's happy to be gearing up for meaningful hockey.
SlamSports' Rob Longley did a piece on Hodgson calling that latter a "budding Sabres star." Which is cool.
What's even cooler is that Hodgson is not taking his hockey career lightly. He may not have the "dipsy-doodle" prowess of Roy or deft skating skills, but he seems to be willing to do the work necessary to make himself the best player he can be.
This summer he completed yet another workout with the renowned workout guru, Gary Roberts, and he says that he's coming into the season in the best shape of his career.
He seems willing to do whatever's necessary during the NHL lockout and for right now is simply looking forward to getting back into a "competitive atmosphere."
Somehow, there's got to be a lingering animosity towards the Canucks and their handling of his injury in 2009. And somehow I'd like to think that Hodgson would really like to stick it to his former GM Mike Gillis who threw him under the bus this past summer.
Gillis, if y'all recall, said he spent more time on Hodgson's "issues" than the rest of the team combined over the last three years.
And if that wasn't enough, he continued to rip Hodgson saying that the latter didn't want to be in Vancouver and that he "built [Hodgson] into something he could move."
Ouch.
Roberts took issue with Gillis' shot at his pupil, "For me, I'd like to be the guy that looks at Mike Gillis and says, 'You're a moron,'" he said.
Oh, and by the way, where's Marc Andre-Gragnani these days, Mike? And how's Zack Kassian doin'?
***Stupidity from Canoe
Speaking of morons.
Steve Simmons of the same SlamSports had this brilliant article, What if the NHL cut salaries and ticket prices in half?.
What if you had half a brain, dumb ass.
How about if your bosses cut your salary in half. Maybe they should for the inanity printed in that piece.
The only thing worse is the lemmings following your lead at an 86% clip.
Must be all Maple Leaves fans. The highest ticket prices in the league for a sorry ass product.
That's the ludicrosity of the lockout and just how far people need to go to find an original thought.
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