NHL owners support Republicans; new Winter Classic players; lockout victims (Puck Headlines)
Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.
• No, seriously, brace yourself for this one: The American owners of National Hockey League teams, which are currently threatening to close down business rather than see their employees' union share in a majority of the profits, mostly contribute to Republican political candidates. [NY Times]
• Ways for fans to help the NHLPA, beyond the bake sale you've no doubt already committed to. [Raw Charge]
• Dellow takes apart a couple of MSMers for Edmonton Oilers and CBA coverage, with expected results. [mc79hockey]
• In case you missed it, Calgary Flames employees appear ready for a salary rollback of their own during a lockout. [Calgary Sun]
• Jesse Spector reminds us that, indeed, it's the little guy that gets screwed in lockouts rather than the warring millionaires. [Sporting News]
• If this lockout thing happens, Denis Seidenberg of the Boston Bruins is totally going to Germany. [Globe, via Chowder]
• Neate Sager provides more needles for the Canadian Hockey League Players' Association balloon. [Buzzing The Net]
• Winter Classic Alumni Showdown Update: "Detroit has added forwards Petr Klima, Dallas Drake, Garry Unger and Paul Ysebaert, while Toronto announced the addition of Hall of Famers Joe Nieuwendyk, Borje Salming, Frank Mahovlich and Mats Sundin." [NHL.com]
• Who are the top goal scorers since the lockout? The most recent lockout, that is? [TPSH]
• Hey, what happened to all the fun and exciting Shane Doan rumors we were getting on a daily basis? And what does that mean for the Phoenix Coyotes' ownership situation? [Spector]
• Kris Draper is now a Detroit Red Wings executive, and shared some insight into the Wings recently. Here he is on the loss of Nicklas Lidstrom: "It's a big blow to the team, but I truly believe that Niklas Kronwall is going to step up and evolve as one of the top defensemen in the game. I think Brendan Smith is ready to get an opportunity and now is his time. Kyle Quincey, who we just got in a trade and signed, we got him on a two-year deal. He played so well in Colorado and Los Angeles and that's what we expect from him. Jonathan Ericsson, a big, strong defenseman, he was always kind of knocking on the door to be the top four defenseman, but our top four was so good, but he paid his dues and now his opportunity's there." Now what would Draper The Player say? [Malik]
• Also from George Malik, something interesting from the Swedish league: "Swedish Eliteserien prohibits teams from signing NHL'ers not willing to play full year in SEL" [Malik]
• The youngest-ever New York Ranger dies at age 86. [NYDN]
• Scathing takeout from Habs Eyes on the Prize on a Gazette op-ed piece. [HENTP]
• Chris Lund doesn't believe there are any good guys in the CBA negotiations, which completely ignores the contributions of the brave men and women of meeting stenography. [Backhand Shelf]
• If you've ever wondered about the affects of pot and heroin on your playing ability, wonder no more. [BoC]
• Paulina Gretzky brought Jarret Stoll to a zoo. No word if she left him there. /rimshot. [NESN, via Fox]
• Finally, here's extremely rare footage of Ronald McDonald playing the Habs:
