All Parise all of the time...

Today, NHL hockey fans from Pittsburgh, Minnesota and New Jersey are wondering where Zach Parise is going to sign. It looks like it's going to be another night before we find out where he is going to go.

Like most fans, I have been hovering by the computer all day long, waiting on the edge of my seat wondering where former Fighting Sioux All-American and New Jersey Devil Zach Parise is going to land, after Zach signs a new contract, he is going to need to buy a wheel barrow to take his money to the bank.



According to Russo, "the Wild are still in it."

I had a few people ask me what I think of Parise flying back to Minnesota tomorrow and I am not sure what we would even make out of it. I honestly don't feel all of that confident that Parise is going to sign with the Wild and that the Devils could have put a lot of pressure on Zach and that he is torn and having a tough time with the decision.

According to Lou Nanne, "he [Parise] is not going to Jersey, there is no possible way that they're in.



Here is what Lou Nanne had to say about the whole Zach Parise story. I always take what Lou Nanne says with a grain of salt.
"A signing of this magnitude should takes place in the area where he is going to play and the team would want him there," Nanne said. "I just can't fathom that he coming home to Minnesota to tell us that he is going to Pittsburgh."

Ranger re-sign slow footed Bickel to contract

Looks like the New York Rangers plan on holding on to the NHL fighting Major total this season again. The New York Rangers have re-signed former Gophers hack defenseman Stu Bickel to a modest contract.

NEW YORK (AP) --- The New York Rangers have added grit and experience to their lineup by reaching a deal with forward Arron Asham on the first day of NHL free agency.

A 13-season NHL veteran, Asham spent the past two years with Pittsburgh. He had five goals and 11 assists in 64 games last season. Overall, he has 92 goals and 206 points in 756 career games split between five teams.

Asham broke into the NHL in 1998 with Montreal, and has also played for the Islanders, New Jersey and Philadelphia.

Earlier on Sunday, the Rangers agreed to re-sign defenseman Stu Bickel, who had nine assists in 51 games in his first NHL season last year. New York had acquired Bickel in a trade with Anaheim in November 2010.

It’s no mystery why Bickel is playing with the New York Rangers - the slow foot defensman Bickel played minuscule minutes during the Rangers playoff push and was seen as a defensive liability at crucial times.

One of Bickel’s redeeming strengths is that he is willing drop the gloves and be a punching bag is probably the main reason Bickel was inserted into the Rangers line up this past season. Bickel was third on the Rangers in fights and dropped the gloves 12 times during 51 games for the New Yorks Rangers. Brandon Prust lead the Rangers with 20 fights but signed a contract with the Montreal Canadians.

Gary Bettman reduces Raffi Torres suspension

s/t to George Malik of Kuklas Korner. This action by Gary Bettman really makes my blood boil. Raffi Torres is a multiple time offender and was given the correct number of games, now Bettman decides to reduce the Torres Suspension by 4 games.

From TSN’s Darren Dreger: It appears that Raffi Torres won’t serve the 25 games he was slated to sit out for concussing Marian Hossa:

Sources say Gary Bettman has reached a decision on Raffi Torres suspension appeal.

Expected to reduce suspension by 4 games. 12 down to 8. ... Torres was suspended 25 games after a hit on Chicago’s Marian Hossa in game 3 of 1st round of the playoffs. ...

To be clear, my math shows Torres had 12 games remaining in suspension. Reduction by 4 and 8 games remain next season

So the NHL is saying by reducing this suspension that they don’t care about “Player Safety.” If not, what statement are they trying to make? You have a player in Raffi Torres that is the poster boy of what is wrong with the NHL. Torres is a dirty player that skates all over the ice taking runs at players and many times making contact with the head.

$925,000 question answered - Schultz to the Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers have won the Justin Schultz sweep stakes and have signed him to a two year entry level deal.The former Wisconsin All-WCHA defender was one of the most sought after free-agents this year.

Chris Johnston, Edmonton Journal --- Justin Schultz was able to pass the baton off to Zach Parise.

After being courted by NHL teams at the Newport Sports offices in suburban Toronto for much of the week, Schultz agreed to terms with the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday afternoon. The first big free-agent decision of the summer came several hours before the floodgates were set to officially open at noon ET Sunday and left Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini in a celebratory mood.

"What a way to start the free-agent period," Tambellini told reporters in Edmonton.

It gave Schultz plenty of time to clear out of Don Meehan's high-powered agency before Parise's expected arrival on Sunday. The former University of Wisconsin defenceman took advantage of a loophole in the collective bargaining agreement to become a free agent and garnered plenty of interest.

So you say that there's a chance...

According to Michael Russo, Beat writer of the Minnesota Wild for the Star Tribune, the Wild are still in the mix for teams he New Jersey Devils and former Fighting Sioux All-American forward Zach Parise could sign with.

Zach Parise's agent Wade Arnott says that his client has narrowed his list of teams to a "select few," and according to sources, Wild GM Chuck Fletcher has been informed the Wild is on that list.

Summer dreaming

It's 90 degrees today and I am wondering like many other hockey fans - where is Zach Parise going to sign and for how much? Zach's decision on where he is going to sign, isn't going to happen today, according to Michael Russo.  Also, it sounds like the Penguins are Zach's front-runner, I suppose none of us should be shocked with that because they cleared a bunch of cap space. If you're a Wild fan I am sure you're hoping that Parise changes his mind.

 Sounds like free agent players like Jason Garrison, Florida and  Matt Carle, Philadelphia are also going to wait and see where Ryan Suter, Nashville goes before they make their decisions as well.
 

Is the NCHC lacking name-recognition?

Chris Peters of the United States of Hockey has this little blurb on his blog today – it’s worth a look. I sure there will be NCHC fans will take issue with some of the things that he said. Or not!

In all honesty, the league didn’t have to do terribly much to seemingly come out ahead on realignment. By just letting things play out and adding Notre Dame, largely due to the league thanks to the National Collegiate Hockey Conference’s (seriously, that’s as hard to type as it is to say) lack of foresight and possibly arrogance, Hockey East took another significant step forward by attracting UConn.

Meanwhile the NCHC has very little name-recognition, and therefore a second-rate TV deal, a second-rate tournament venue, but a high level of on-ice competition. From a hockey standpoint, it’s a fantastic league, but that’s where it ends. That might be enough for you as a fan, but it’s not enough to lead me or anyone else to believe it’s going to be a great business long term.

The Big Ten Hockey Conference will have good exposure on the Big Ten Network, but it’s still merely a six-team league. Until a few more Big Ten schools step up for hockey, and there’s nothing to indicate that will happen anytime soon, the conference’s size doesn’t make for a lot of variety and excitement, though the rivalries should remain intense. Still, the exposure and brand recognition resonates with the casual fan.

First off, is Chris Right? For disclosure – Chris was not a big fan of the re-alignment that took place last summer, he isn’t alone there are a lot of people that weren’t fans of last summer's re-alignment plan as well. It's not like we had a choice in the matter, said schools pursued this venture without any input from the fans.

That being said, do you agree with what he said? Right now, I am more concerned with what NCHC fans think than the B1G fans. It's obvious that the B1G has name-recognition.

Does the new NCHC has very little name-recognition? In my opinion; no! I am also not so sure how you can say that there is little name recognition with the teams that make up the NCHC. Teams like UND, DU, C.C. UMD have all won NCAA titles and have storied histories.

Add to the mix up and coming teams like Miami University and Western Michigan from the soon to be defunct CCHA and UNO and SCSU and you have the making of a very well balanced hockey league. The NCHC brings to the table 16 NCAA titles, only the B1G will have more NCAA titles (20), so were not talking about a second rate bunch of pathetic cupcakes here. We already know the title counts of all three leagues involved.

Let's take a look at the financials. Historically, the NCHC teams have been successful on the ice as well as financially; if you look you will see that five of the future NCHC teams make about 3.2 million off of their Division I hockey programs as opposed to the reconfigured Hockey East which loses about $395,000 a year of their hockey programs. Only Denver and Western Michigan have lost money with their hockey programs.

I am not here to disrespect Hockey East or (Chris for that matter) because Hockey East is a very good hockey league and has piled up an impressive four NCAA titles during the 2000’s, however, it’s only been two teams that have won the NCAA titles during that time period ( BU and B.C.) – besides the three power schools currently in the Hockey East no other really stands out in that conference, except maybe the University of New Hampshire.

If anything I think that the two leagues are on equal footing as far as name recognition goes in college hockey.

I think historically speaking people are just as familiar with BU and B.C. as they are with DU, UND when it comes to college hockey.

Adding Notre Dame to the Hockey East was a good move but what exactly have they accomplished during their hockey existence? Yep! You will be able to watch your team play Notre Dame when they play their Hockey East foes, but the rest of the league is not going to benefit financially from that television deal.

Breaking it down further – outside of the power schools Boston College, Boston University, Maine and UNH who else in the current Hockey East stands out and packs fans in the stands? Maybe Notre Dame when they get to Hockey East in 2013-14.

Are University of Connecticut hockey fans going to suddenly realize that they have a college hockey team and fill the XL center when it’s 30 miles from their campus? This isn’t the UCONN Men’s or Women’s Basketball teams.

This is a very different animal, the UCONN Huskies hockey team with very little history that is currently a member of the AHA conference, that’s not to say that they can’t evolve into a power house hockey team. Let’s call UCONN a work in progress.

Here is the part that I do agree with Chris with. If the Target Center which is exclusively a Basketball venue doesn’t improve after the 100-150 million dollars improvements Target Center is going to be a second rate tournament venue. That’s really not debatable; the Target Center has its work cut out for it.

The central location of the Target Center does make it an attractive venue and the majority of the fans that have the most rabid fan bases are all driving distance away.

Finally, I am not so sure we can call the deal with CBS Sports a second-rate TV deal, before we even see how it turns out.

Besides the Notre Dame TV deal with NBC Sports Net, how is the rest of Hockey East doing when it comes to games being televised? I have watched a few of the games on NESN via my DirecTV Satellite Dish but I don’t see a lot of UMASS Lowell or Amherst games on the dish.

There are a lot of unknowns going forward – no one knows how this deal is going to shake out – I would say at least give the NCHC a chance before we bury them and kick dirt on a conference that hasn’t even played a collegiate hockey game as of yet.

I also think that it’s too early to declare winners and losers – with college athletics none of this stuff stays static – things change constantly. Who knows, maybe there are more moves in the re-alignment phase before the 2013-14 season kicks off.

Lastly, I know there are a lot of unhappy people with the NCHC Television deal, I gathered this by reading the reactions of the fans over on Brad Schlossman’s blog. Due to the size of UND’s fan base there are a lot of fans that live outside of the Midco.net foot print and watch UND hockey on DirecTV or FTA Satellite dishes. After the upcoming season, many of them are worried that they will no longer be able to watch all of UND’s home games. I too wonder if I need to re-subscribe to Midco.net myself?

In conclusion, there is also no reason to panic just yet because there is a whole year left to work out the details. As we get closer to the kickoff of the NCHC more details will emerge and we will get a better idea what is going to transpire. I also don't think that the NCHC will lack name-recognition.

Canucks interested in signing Schultz

Getty Images

The most unlikable team in the NHL is also interested in signing former Wisconsin Badgers All-WCHA defenseman Justin Schultz.

Brad Ziemer, Vancouver Sun - Canuck general manager Mike Gillis and assistant Laurence Gilman are in Toronto and it's not to chat with Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke about a Roberto Luongo trade.

Gillis and Gilman instead headed east in the hope of meeting with hockey's hottest free agent not named Zach Parise or Ryan Suter.

The Canucks are one of a reported 26 NHL teams said to be pursuing collegiate defenceman Justin Schultz, who just completed his junior year at the University of Wisconsin.

This is one free-agent negotiation that won't be all about the money. Everyone is prepared to offer Schultz, a soon to be 22-year-old Kelowna native, the maximum $925,000 a year, two-year entry level contract (plus bonuses) to which he is entitled under the current collective bargaining agreement.

What Schultz is said to want is ice time and there have been suggestions that he also has a preference to play in Canada.

While I follow and write about UND hockey, Justin Schultz is one of my favorite opposition players. In my opinion, Schultz is "one" of the best players that I have ever watched play the college game at the defense position.

Let me preface this by saying, this is not a slam against other WCHA players and or former Fighting Sioux hockey players, because I have watched some great players over the years.

The reason I think that Schultz is that good and close to NHL ready – he the ability to dazzle you with his offensive talents and he brings the fans out of their seats –he is also like having a fourth forward on the ice. That being said, I hope Schultz signs with anyone other than the diving, whining Canucks hockey team.

Parise could still sign with the Devils

July first at 12:00 eastern time the NHL teams can start negotiating with Unrestricted Free Agents. Former Fighting Sioux All-American and current New Jersey Devil forward Zach Parise is set to make a lot of money.

Rich Chere/The Star-Ledger The Star-Ledger --- Days from unrestricted free agency and the chance to be romanced by other NHL clubs willing to pay big bucks for his signature on a contract, Zach Parise insisted the Devils are still very much in the picture.

Parise said today that his agents, Wade Arnott and Don Meehan, have been talking to Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello the last few days. However, he acknowledged it is very possible there will be no deal before Sunday’s noon (ET) deadline for the start of free agency.

“If that does happen, my agents have done a really good job of doing the best they can to prepare me for it. But first and foremost, we want to try to get things worked out with New Jersey,” the 27-year-old left winger told The Star-Ledger.

Michael Russo said on KFAN this past week that the Minnesota Wild are going to offer Zach a lot of money maybe even in the ‘ridiculous money range.’ Also, don't count the New Jersey Devils out just yet but if Parise signs with the Devils it would probably be after the July 1st.

You can listen to what Michael Russo had to say on Tuesday's P.A. show podcast – it sounds like the Wild are going to have their work cut out for them if they are going to do a successful sell job if they’re going to convince Parise to sign with the Wild with the Pittsburgh Penguins being in the mix.

Tuukka Rask resigned by the Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins have signed their heir apparent to Tim Thomas - Tuukka Rask signed a one year contract worth 3.5 million dollars. It will be interesting to see if the Bruins pick up a back up goalie or go with former Wild goalie Anton Khudobin who played a majority of his games with the Houston Aeros before coming to Boston where he played with the Providence Bruins.

TSN.CA --- The Boston Bruins have locked up next season's No. 1 netminder, agreeing to terms with Tuukka Rask on a one-year, $3.5 million contract.

Rask, 25, played 23 games with the Bruins last season, going 11-8-3 with a 2.05 goals-against average, a .929 save percentage and three shutouts.

He was set to become a restricted free agent on Sunday.

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Link around on Thursday

CBS Boston

This weekend the free agent signing period will kick off on Sunday July first. There are some big name former WCHA players out there on the market looking to sign new deals. With all of the negative news stories making up today’s news cycle I thought I would focus on the positive, NHL Hockey.

SCSU forward Drew LeBlanc has been invited and will attend the Minnesota Wild’s Development Camp. [St Cloud Times]

Apparently, former Fighting Sioux forward Jonathan Toews is trying to get Phoenix Coyotes forward Shane Doan to sign with the Blackhawks. [Rant Sports]

According to Darren Dreger of TSN – Penguins star forward Sidney Crosby Penguins will sign a new long-term contract extension worth than $9 million and a total value over $100 million. [ESPN.COM]

According to NESN, the Boston Bruins are close to re-signing Tuuka Rask. [NESN.COM]

While I am not a fan of Montreal Canadians defenseman P.K. Subban or his bush league antics – I am quickly becoming a big fan of his little brother Malcolm Subban, who was drafted in the first round by the Boston Bruins. Get those recorders rolling – Bruins first-round pick Malcolm Subban is already on record as saying that he hates the Montreal Canadians. [CBS Boston]

According to Michael Russo - the oft injured power forward - Guillaume Latendresse's playing days with the Minnesota Wild are now over - Latendresse will test the free agency market starting on July first.

From the Same article Russo says that, "The Wild's contract offer to Parise on Sunday will be, let's just say, absolutely colossal." As a Wild fan this makes me happy.

According to the AP - A judge has upheld the Glendale City Council's vote on an arena lease agreement with a prospective owner of the Phoenix Coyotes.

Former Fighting Sioux defenseman Brian Lee has been resigned by the Tampa Bay Lightning. Lee’s contract is a two year deal, and also a one-way contract.

Former Fighting Sioux All-American Forward Zach Parise is listed as one of the top dozen free agents [NHL.COM]

Also, from that same article linked above – former WCHA alumni Ryan Suter (UW), Nashville, Jason Garrison (UMD), Florida, Justin Schultz (UW), Anaheim and Matt Carle (DU), Philadelphia – are also included in that dozen. Impressive fact is that five out of the top 12 available free agents that also have ties to the WCHA. That speaks volumes on what kind of league the WCHA is. [NHL.COM]

Justin Schultz has given his list of teams that he will sign with, they are as follows the Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators and Edmonton Oilers. [TSN.CA]

Former Boston College Eagle goalie Cory Schneider doesn't seem all that worried about not having a new contract as of yet. [TSN.CA]

Here is the latest from the CBA front - Donald Fehr, ‘says season could start on time even without agreement.’

Blue & white scrimmage will stream live

If you want to watch former Fighting Sioux forward Brock Nelson play tonight during the Blue and white scrimmage the New York Islanders are going to stream it live. There are a few other names that you might recognize as well; Scott Mayfield, Matt Donovan and Aaron Ness. Just to name a few.

Courtesy of the SoundTigers.com ---- The New York Islanders announced today that tickets for their intrasquad Blue & White Scrimmage on Thursday, June 28 at 6:30 p.m. at Islanders Iceworks are on sale now. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and warm-ups begin at 6 p.m.

The 2012 Blue & White Scrimmage at Islanders Iceworks has sold out of all available tickets for the game, raising over $5,000 for the Islanders Children’s Foundation. For fans not attending the event, IslandersTV will broadcast a live stream on NewYorkIslanders.com Thursday night, beginning with warm-ups at 6 p.m. for a 6:30 puck drop.

This year’s contest features prospects from this past weekend’s Draft, players from junior hockey, college/university, Europe and the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Blue team members include Kirill Kabanov, Scott Mayfield, Brock Nelson, Griffin Reinhart, Ryan Strome and Johan Sundstrom, while some of the top prospects suiting up in white jerseys this year are Casey Cizikas, Nino Niederreiter, John Persson, Mike Halmo and Ville Pokka.

The annual prospect scrimmage gives fans a glimpse of the Islanders future stars. This year’s contest features top prospects Ryan Strome (5th overall in 2011), Nino Niederreiter (5th overall in 2010), Brock Nelson (30th overall in 2010) and Johan Sundstrom (50th overall in 2011), among others. Also set to take the ice are several prospects who saw time with the Islanders last season, including Casey Cizikas, Calvin de Haan, Matt Donovan and Aaron Ness.

UW and UND to continue series after both teams leave the WCHA

There is some really good news to pass along. According to the beat writer for the Wisconsin Badgers Andy Baggot – UND and Wisconsin will continue their historic and heated rivalry after both teams leave the WCHA for the B1G and the NCHA after next season.

2014-15 -- UW has tentative agreements to host North Dakota.

2015-16 -- UW has tentative agreements to play a series at North Dakota.

2016-17 -- UW has tentative agreements to host a series North Dakota.

2017-18 -- UW has a tentative agreement to play a series at North Dakota.

This is good news for Badger and Fighting Sioux hockey fans, the Wisconsin and UND series is one of the most heated rivalries in all of college hockey. Both programs also have a lot of respect for each other.

During his career at UND, head coach Dave Hakstol has a 12-14-2 record against the Wisconsin Badgers. Wisconsin is one of two WCHA teams that Dave Hakstol does not have a winning record against, the other team is Denver 12-15-1. During his tenure at UND Hakstol has also compiled a 3-1 record against Wisconsin in the WCHA and NCAA playoffs.

WCHA well represented in NHL free agency

s/t to Brad Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald... According to the Globe and Mail four out of the top 10 free agent defensemen are former players from the WCHA. That's pretty impressive in my opinion. Also, former Fighting Sioux forward and current New Jersey Devil Zach Parise will probably land in the top three as well.

Flames sign former Bruins pylon Dennis Wideman

The Calgary Flames just pulled off what many would probably consider as one of the worst moves of the summer to date. In what universe is Wideman worth that kind of money? While Wideman is a is a good offensive defensman -  he is not what I would consider a very good defenseman in the defensive zone and was a minus 26 in 2010-11.

Wideman also has a no movement clause as well.Thank God that Wideman is going to he Calgary Flames and not some team that I follow.

CALGARY, AB – The Calgary Flames announced today that they have acquired and signed defenceman Dennis Wideman from Washington in exchange for Jordan Henry and a 5th round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft.

Wideman, a native of Kitchener, Ontario, has played over 500 career games with 67 goals, 184 assists for 251 points over the course of seven NHL seasons with time spent in St. Louis, Boston, Florida and Washington. Last season with the Capitals, Wideman had his second best offensive season tallying 11 goals along with a team high 35 assists for 46 points in 82 games which tied him for third in team scoring and lead all blue-liners with the Capitals.

Contract terms: 5 year contract with an Average Annual Value of $5,250,000

Spitfires still trying to lure Schmaltz

It looks like Bob Boughner and the Windsor Spitfires are up to their old tricks again - I guess they are still going to keep pushing and badgering Fighting Sioux incoming Freshman Jordan Schmaltz. Apparently, the Windsor Spit fires didn't get the memo or see the video where Schmaltz said that he's going to UND.

Jim Parker, Windsor Star --- At the NHL Draft Combine in Toronto, the 18-year-old Sieloff, who opted for the Spitfires over Miami of Ohio University, was asked if now he would try to convince fellow prospect Jordan Schmaltz to join him in Windsor.

"Yeah, I'll get on that," Sieloff said. "Definitely, (Schmaltz) would help. That would be a huge pairing for us."

Sieloff and Schmaltz were both NHL picks last week.

Schmaltz was taken in the first round with the 25th overall pick by the St. Louis Blues and Sieloff was selected in the second round with the 42nd pick by the Calgary Flames.

Schmaltz seems adamant he'll play for the University of North Dakota.

"One hundred per cent committed to North Dakota, I think it's going to be great for me," Schmaltz said at the NHL Combine.

Spitfires president and head coach Bob Boughner knows not every player drafted by his club will wind up coming.

You can watch the video again if you want hear what Schmaltz has to say about going to the University of North Dakota...

"Again, North Dakota's the place for me. I just don't think I'm NHL-ready right now, so I think it's that year or two, or maybe even three, to develop that's going to help me."

Hockey Day 2013 picture

s/t to @pucknut9 who texted me this picture today, thanks Shacker... This picture was too good to not share with you. While it's meant to be humours it's still true of the Minnesota Gophers and the UND Fighting Sioux hockey teams, penalty boxes filled to the max.

Will the Wings offer Schultz a contract?

Justin Schultz's agent from Meehan and Arnott of Newport Sports is going to be a busy man this upcoming weekend – the same agent represents Zach Parise as well.

Redwings Front–Defenseman Justin Schultz hasn’t played a game in the National Hockey League, but that’s not stopping the Wings from all but guaranteeing the soon-to-be free agent a spot on their roster.

“He’s close to being an NHL defenseman,” Wings general manager Ken Holland said. “He’s a young player. We’re prepared to give him the opportunity to be on our team.”

Schultz, who turns 22 on July 6 and played three seasons at Wisconsin, was drafted by Anaheim in 2008 prior to starting college, 43rd overall, but couldn’t reach a deal with the Ducks, who had until Sunday before he could begin talks on a contract with any other team.

And the Wings seem prepared to get a deal done.

If Schultz goes to the Detroit Redwings he would be one of the few players names that we can pronounce and or spell correctly.

But I digress.

It will be interest to see where everyone ends up after July first signing period. Zach Parise, Ryan Suter and Justin Schultz are going to get a lot of interest and we might not know till Monday or Tuesday where these highly sought free agent players end up.

According to TSN's Bob McKenzie, there have been 26 teams that have already expressed interest in UFA Justin Schultz.

Fehr, 'NHL Labor Negotiations about to begin'

Put me down as being cynical that the players and the owners can work out a deal and avoid a work stoppage. The reason I am cynical is that the NHL Players Association executive director Donald Fehr has already been through one work stoppage with major league baseball, what makes us think that he will be able to get an agreement without having a work stoppage in the NHL.

CHICAGO -- The head of the NHL players' union said Monday that negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement will begin "very quickly" -- perhaps as early as this week.

New NHL Players Association executive director Donald Fehr said negotiations will begin after Wednesday's meeting of the NHLPA's executive board, though he did not specify a date.

Fehr was asked if a work stoppage was inevitable. He said nothing like that was coming from the union, and note that the NHLPA has not yet made a formal CBA proposal. He said the union had not yet "heard" a proposal from the league.

The NHL canceled the 2004-05 season before a labor deal was reached that included a salary cap for the first time. That agreement expires on Sept. 15.

Commissioner Garry Bettman said during the Stanley Cup finals last month that he believes the labor scene is different this time around. One big change is that the players are now being led by Fehr, the former head of the powerful baseball union.

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Gophers To Host North Dakota On Hockey Day Minnesota

This is really good news for UND Hockey fans. The Sioux and the Gophers will face off on Hockey Day Minnesota. I can’t think of a better way to send the Gophers off to the Big Ten by beating them at Mariucci Arena on Hockey Day Minnesota. Here is the release from the Minnesota Gophers official webpage.

Paul Rovnak, Gopher Sports --- The University of Minnesota men's hockey team will once again partake in Hockey Day Minnesota in 2013. Minnesota's participation in the seventh-annual statewide celebration of hockey was announced earlier today by FOX Sports North and the Minnesota Wild.

The event is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013, and will showcase the Golden Gophers against WCHA rival North Dakota at Mariucci Arena. It will be the last WCHA regular-season meeting between the longtime rivals. A start time for the game will be announced in the future.

Minnesota's game will be one of five hockey games shown on FOX Sports North on that day.

The Gophers are 4-2 in Hockey Day Minnesota games and beat Colorado College 2-1 last season at Mariucci Arena. This will be the first time that Minnesota will play North Dakota on Hockey Day Minnesota.

Just for the record, the game can be seen on DirecTV 668.