A bit of a change to our format here…  we’re going to start bringing back the hockey commentary (if you are interested in adding your own commentary, please contact me).  We used to do a weekly round-up of NHL action back in the day but time became a limited commodity in my household.  We’re aiming for shorter, quicker updates that will coincide with the Lockout League’s schedule: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday.

Today the NHL and NHLPA are going to be meeting for the first since the lockout started.  They put three days aside to try and hash things out…  this comes at the heals of the NHL announcing they’ve cancelled all of the season’s regularly scheduled pre-season games.  I keep hearing reports that there doesn’t seem to be the same animosity between Bettman and Fehr only that they have a mutual respect of one another.  I’m not sure I necessarily buy it.  The owners loved having the union broken and all this jockeying just screams to me both groups are trying to say their member is larger.

I am cynical about this whole process.  I would love to be wrong but I’ve already gone on record stating the whole season is going to be canned.  I would LOVE to be wrong…  I miss watching the Leafs play like crap and my Sharks choke in the playoffs.  The owners have made fairly large concessions already but it seems the union’s target has been to put out deals based on “creative accounting” designed to get the owners at each other’s throats.  Bettman cut their last meeting short when it was clear the union wasn’t moving away from their version of things.

I think this is really going to be determined by the union.  If a deal is going to be done, they’re going to have to see things the owner’s way and at least bargain using their methodology not something completely different.  From how things are going now it looks like the union has the upper hand…  players are playing overseas (yes, not all…) and the owners are just sitting around twiddling their thumbs waiting.  You will NOT see the NHL play games with replacement players… that would be horrid and even bigger F-U to the fans.

When it’s all said and done we all want hockey back but I would hold your breath.  Let’s hope the news coming out of New York is good.

HockeySim.ca NHL Lockout League Pre-Season Scoreboard

Edmonton Oilers 2 vs. Vancouver Canucks 0
Ottawa Senators 1 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs 4
San Jose Sharks 5 vs. Los Angeles Kings 4 (Shoot-Out)
St. Louis Blues 2 vs. Columbus Blue Jackets 5
Montreal Canadiens 4 vs. Buffalo Sabres 2
Anaheim Ducks 1 vs. Phoenix Coyotes 5
Winnipeg Jets 4 vs. Tampa Bay Lightning 3 (Over-Time)
Calgary Flames 2 vs. Minnesota Wild 4
New Jersey Devils 1 vs. Philadelphia Flyers 3
Carolina Hurricanes 3 vs. Florida Panthers 0
Detroit Red Wings 3 vs. Nashville Predators 1
Pittsburgh Penguins 3 vs. New York Rangers 2

The NHL Lockout League is hosted by HockeySim.ca using the Ultimate Hockey Simulator (UHS). We love hockey as much as you do… this is the closest we’re going to come to real NHL hockey any time soon. You can find all the stats and scores at http://uhs.hockeysim.ca/Leagues/lockout/. We will sim on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. You can support this NHL Lockout League by “Liking” our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/hockeysim.