NHL Lockout Roundup: Sound and Fury Signifying No Hockey

See Also:
NHL Lockout Basics: A quick and easy guide to the issues
Latest News on the NHL Lockout

Still refusing to speak to each other, the NHL and its players are finding all kinds of creative ways to stay busy.

It's been another week with no progress towards a new collective agreement, that goes without saying. But there's plenty of bickering and obfuscation, if you go in for that sort of thing.

• Forbes Magazine says the NHL isn't losing nearly as much money as Gary Bettman and his employers claim.

  A Forbes report published late last week pegs combined team losses for 2003-04 at about $96 million. That's a tad short of the $224 million reported by the league.

  "Makes sense to us," said the Players' Association.

  "What do those Forbes people know about finance anyway?" replied the league.

• On Tuesday, the Tampa Bay Lightning received their Stanley Cup rings in a makeshift ceremony that managed to embarrass everyone involved. Barely half the players made it, the Stanley Cup was booked elsewhere, and there was a distinct lack of celebration in the air.

  "I think the little guy at the NHL who is running this thing ... it's a joke what he has made this day into," fumed captain Tim Taylor. "I wouldn't be surprised after this thing is over that we play for some other trophy other than the Stanley Cup. I really don't think he cares too much about the Stanley Cup."

• The NHLPA met with a herd of player agents on Wednesday, amidst speculation that the session might help kickstart negotiations with the league. The agents emerged from the meeting with the news that Bob Goodenow is a really great guy and Gary Bettman has his head up his butt. Or something like that.

• Also on Wednesday, we heard that a bunch of idle players are off on a European tour, to be joined by a few of the 275-plus NHL vets who are already working over there. The trip begins December 9 and wraps up just before Christmas. So if you're a hockey fan in Linkoping, Sweden or Katowice, Poland, now's your chance.

• The suspiciously quiet Jeremy Roenick finally erupted on Thursday, with a rant more notable for its enthusiasm than its content. Roenick joined the usual goons on The Best Damn Sports Show Period, a popular show on Fox Sports.

  "Gary Bettman, you should be banging on Bob Goodenow's door, demanding to negotiate right now," he said. "Get into a room, lock the door, and don't come out until there's a deal... Bob Goodenow and Gary Bettman, you should care about two things: the fans and the state of the game. And if you don't get this deal done soon, you're going to lose them both."

• Thursday's reports also included the unsurprising news that there will be no NHL draft next summer unless a collective agreement is in place by then. Which means prospects like Sidney Crosby could be declared free agents. As with so many stories going around lately, it's all speculation and supposition.

So that's what passes for news in the hockey world these days. None of it inspires hope that we will see NHL games any time this winter.

But according to the NHL commissioner, saving this season is not a priority.

"If the union remains intransigent and unwilling, then it's possible we will look back at some point and conclude the season has slipped away," Gary Bettman said during a visit to Florida. "But the season slipping away or not isn't the important issue. ... The important issue is getting the right deal to fix our problems."