ST. PAUL, Minn. – In early July, shortly after he joined the Minnesota Wild, Zach Parise drove up to his new place on a lake about 45 minutes outside the Twin Cities. Somehow the neighbors already knew he lived there, and one house had a poster board attached to its mailbox featuring a Wild logo, red and green streamers, and a message: "WELCOME HOME, ZACH."

Ryan Suter and Zach Parise were all smiles in July, but had to wait until January to hit the ice together. (AP)It was a good sign. The fans were all rah-rah that Parise and Ryan Suter had agreed to matching 13-year, $98 million deals. Not only were they the top free agents on the market – strong players, character guys – they had local ties. Parise was born in Minnesota the son of a North Star. Suter was from Wisconsin and had married a Minnesota girl. The Wild mattered again in the NHL and the State of Hockey itself.

Sales of Parise and Suter jerseys in July outpaced the sales of last season’s most popular players. The Wild sold the equivalent of 4,000 full season tickets in about a month. A franchise that had missed the playoffs four

Read More »from Wild times in Minnesota: Zach Parise, Ryan Suter renew hope in the State of Hockey

PITTSBURGH — Where were you at 5 a.m. ET on Sunday? Sidney Crosby was sound asleep at home in Pittsburgh. His phone buzzed. He woke, rustled in bed, grabbed the phone from the nightstand and found a three-word text message from teammate Craig Adams, the Pittsburgh Penguins' union rep.

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby says he is completely healthy again. (AP)Out of the darkness, a ray of light.

"Deal is done."

Crosby thumbed his phone furiously. He had questions, so many questions. What were the details? When do we start? He had so many questions that after a while Adams stopped responding. Adams had been up all night in New York as the NHL and NHL Players' Association reached a tentative labor agreement in a marathon negotiating session. He was tired. He was done.

But Crosby was fired up. He was getting started. Finally. He logged onto the Internet to find out whatever he could. He talked to other players to see what they had heard. He went back to bed about 8:30 a.m. – for, like, an hour. Then he spent the entire day talking to teammates and buddies

Read More »from Rested, happy and finally healthy, Sidney Crosby eager for return to NHL action

There were lots of questions about Brian Burke's reign as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs: Why did he give up so much for Phil Kessel? Why was he unable to find a No. 1 centerman or No. 1 goaltender? Why did he talk about truculence but build a roster that couldn't back it up? Why were his personal principles stricter than NHL rules? Why did he wait so long to replace Ron Wilson with Randy Carlyle? Why did the Leafs fail to make the playoffs four years in a row?

The Leafs failed to make the playoffs during Brian Burke's four years as GM. (AP)But there is really only one question about his firing: Why now?

"This is a shock for a lot of people," said David Nonis, Burke's right-hand man and replacement.

Tuesday night, Burke and Nonis were together watching the Toronto Marlies, the Leafs' American Hockey League team. Wednesday morning, Burke was supposed to fly to New York for the NHL’s board of governors meeting. The owners were to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement with the NHL Players' Association.

After a long off-season and a longer

Read More »from Brian Burke fired: Maple Leafs' bad timing confirms fears about corporate ownership

If fans had their way, Gary Bettman would be gone. Short of that, he would never award the Stanley Cup again. Following his third lockout as commissioner of the National Hockey League, they don't want another chance to boo him. They would rather not see another of his fingerprints left on what they consider sacred.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. (Getty)But if the lockout has reminded us of anything, it's that it doesn't matter what fans think of Bettman. It matters what the owners think. And so, when the NHL's board of governors ratifies the new collective bargaining agreement Wednesday in New York, it would be fascinating to hear the feedback Bettman gets from his bosses behind closed doors. If only we could.

Not everyone is happy with Bettman himself or the deal itself. Not by a long shot. This negotiation took too long and turned too ugly, and this CBA might not solve the league's underlying problems in the long run.

 [Puck Daddy: Ovechkin didn't think he'd play in Washington this season]

Still, in conversations with

Read More »from It was too long and too ugly but Gary Bettman's lockout delivered a better deal for NHL owners

NHL fan holds up his sign voicing his opinion on the lockout. (Chris Seward/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT via Getty Images)"We offer our apology." Those were the first words of a statement released by the owners of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and that is the sentiment being expressed, in varying degrees, by teams and players across the NHL now that the lockout is over and they need you to spend your money again.

Let's assume the sentiment is genuine, and let's hope it is backed up by sincere gestures -- free this, discounted that. But let's not forget: The lockout was a business decision. Any effort to win back fans will be a business decision. And while it's true you can make your own business decision and lock up your wallet, history suggests not many fans will, especially in the long term.

"They will come back," said Rodney Fort, a sports economist at the University of Michigan. "And in fact, we may not even notice any difference."

Sports leagues are businesses that don't want to look like businesses. They want to look like historical, cultural institutions. They want everyone caught up in the nostalgia

Read More »from How badly will the lockout really hurt the NHL? Maybe not much

Good morning.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. (Reuters)If you were one of the many fans infuriated by the NHL lockout, one of the many bored by the bickering, one of the many who said, "Wake me when it's over," well, rise and shine. It's safe to poke your head out of the covers now.

The NHL is back.

The owners and players emerged from their deep, dark night about 5 a.m. ET on Sunday in New York, the city that never sleeps, after a marathon session with a U.S. federal mediator produced a tentative collective bargaining agreement.

This being the digital age, the news was broken not by the media that had been staking out the site of talks -- the NHL Players' Association's Manhattan hotel. No, the news was broken by Andrew Ference, a player involved in meetings, who tweeted a single character, a symbol -- a thumbs up.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Don Fehr gave quick statements to the media, with Bettman confirming an agreement on the "framework" of the new CBA. But they took no questions. It was a

Read More »from For NHL owners and players, it's time to shut up and play

There is still time, and that is both a positive and the problem.

The NHL and NHLPA have about a week to cut a deal and save the season. (AP)The NHL has set a Jan. 11 deadline to reach a labor agreement with the NHL Players' Association, so the league can drop the puck Jan. 19 and play a 48-game schedule. Commissioner Gary Bettman has said he can't imagine wanting to play fewer games than that.

That means the sides still have more than a week to hammer out a deal. That also means the sides still have more than a week to haggle and squeeze and stare each other down.

This isn't about the point of diminishing returns, when the same amount of work results in less gain. We passed that point long ago. It's almost hard to remember now, but the sides have actually tackled the biggest issues – like the 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue and the $300 million to cushion the players' fall from 57 percent.

That's why I maintain they're close. That's why I continue to believe that in the end they will make a deal and play. Again, there is too little left to

Read More »from Lockout staredown is all about timing as NHL, NHLPA near point of no return

(Note from Saint Nick: With apologies to Dr. Seuss. Don't take this too seriously!)

(Getty)Every Fan

Down in Fan-ville

Liked Hockey a lot …

But the Greed,

Who lived just south of Fan-ville,

Did NOT!

The Greed hated Hockey! The whole Hockey season!

Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.

It could be his game was baseball or basketball.

It could be, perhaps, that he was jealous of football.

But I think that the most likely reason of all

May have been that he thought his wallet was too small.

But,

Whatever the reason,

The sport or no shame,

He sat there in September, hating just the same,

Clutching his brandy with an evil, Greedy sneer

As the Fans toasted the new season with cold beer.

For he knew every Fan up in Fan-ville above

Cared not for the business, only puck love.

"And there will be training camp!" he yelled with a racket.

"All will have hope! Even the Jackets!"

[Puck Daddy original holiday poem: 'Gary Bettman, Commissioner

Read More »from A cautionary holiday lockout tale: 'How The Greed Stole Hockey!'