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.
• Mark Spector looks at the hawks and doves in NHL ownership, with two of Gary Bettman's biggest names falling into the "end the lockout" category. [Sportsnet]
• Ken Dryden explains that hockey fans don't care about money except every summer and in most transactions when all we do is talk about money. "To the owners and players, the rich and powerful, the fan is saying: don't treat me as if I don't matter. Don't make me feel like a fool. Don't make me do what I don't want to do. Don't make me think about the money. I don't want to think about the money." [Globe & Mail]
• Alfie on the lockout: "There hasn't really been anything going on and until we get something substantial to work on I'm not too optimistic. I'm hoping this is going to happen now, but I'm not putting any hopes into it." [THN]
• Great stuff from Cotsonika with Jagr in case you missed it. [Y! Sports]
• Columbus still hasn't heard about a cancellation date for the NHL All-Star Game. [Biz Journal]
• Which NHL players are killing it in the European leagues? Spoiler: It's the Tlusty/Plekanec/Jagr line. [NYT]
• Our favorite "how the New Jersey Devils handled hurricane Sandy" update: "Defenseman Andy Greene, who lives on the eighth floor of building in Hoboken, is in Michigan." [NJ.com]
• Jordan Eberle of the Edmonton Oilers on picking the AHL over Europe: "It's a North American style game, not the international game. I've played over there (with Team Canada) and it's way different. We have a lot of guys here that are going to be in the NHL, so if you can have us all together, it gives us that extra energy as we're building our team. We still have a lot of work to be done." [Sporting News]
• NHL.com presents its all-Presidential team, a.k.a. "we'd have been completely [expletive] were it not for dudes named Johnson and Adams." [NHL.com]
• To the surprise of no one, Russia's national hockey team coach Zinetula Bilyaletdino wants young Russian players to remain in country and not in the NHL. [RIA]
• Attention Bauer Hockey: Our friends at What's Up Ya Sieve? would like to eventually see some underwear in your underwear ads. Preferably with an NHL player in them. [WUYS]
• San Francisco Bulls head coach on Theo Peckham of the Edmonton Oilers joining the team: "We look forward to seeing Theo proudly don a Bulls jersey for a game soon." Does he literally mean one game? [SF Chron]
• Interesting relocation news: Brampton moves to North Bay in the OHL. [Buzzing The Net]
• Nashville Predators COO Sean Henry on his challenges in the market: "The biggest challenge has been growing the number of those passionate fans. No one argues that, these are the most passionate fans in all of sports. It is just an accepted fact. What it wasn't — it wasn't big enough. So we grew it and you know who helped us grow it? The fans. We were able to do it because we try to engage with our fans in a more one-on-one fashion. We do it to reinforce the fact that this is their franchise and the best way to continue to grow this franchise is through growing the number of fans. I think we've done that — we had 25 sellouts last season plus five playoff sellouts. We are one of the busiest venues in America right now because those same fans that come here for hockey are crossing over to concerts. So, once again, the biggest challenge was setting the goals properly and aggressively enough — to the point where we really had to stretch to hit them and we've done that." [Predators]
• The Abbotsford Heat hopes that the NHL lockout won't make them dependent on tax dollars to survive. Is this an example of corporate welfare or government overreach? We need to what to rage about on his Election Day. [Abbotsford Times]
• Finally, this, as the saying goes, is a "hustle play" from Alexander Khokhlachev in the Subway Super Series. (Russia vs. QMJHL).
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