Everything Else

I’m sure after I post this some detail will come out that completely flips it on it’s head. Such is the way. I’m also going to try and keep emotion out of this, as hard as it may be, to try and clearly see what the problems are.

Both McClure and myself have not called on the players to somewhat acquiesce to what the owners want because we think they are wrong. Anyone would be pissed off if your boss came to you and told you they wanted to take back part of your salary simply because they wanted to. It’s certainly not fair or what you’d expect any decent person to do.

We call on them to do that because of what reality says will happen. A lockout is not enacted by people who have any intention of breaking. It’s not a suggestion. You don’t put someone on the rack and then stop when they tell you it hurts and apologize. You have a result in mind, and you squeeze and inflict pain until you get it. And they’re going to get most of what they want. That’s how this works. The players seem to think they can win this. They can’t. And they’re still chasing a win, not a deal. Until they do the latter, we’re going to be in this Winter of Our Discontent.

Everything Else

While we wait for what increasingly feels like we’ll be messages of doom after this meeting is over, let’s talk about what’s going on with the kids in the system these days.

As he cements his status as the Hawks leading prospect, at least the one outside of Illinois, Phillip Danault had a ho-hum weak with only five assists. That saw him drop to the seventh-leading scorer in the Q, so he’s gone back to being a total bum, obviously. As we say every week, keep in mind that the scoring rate in the Q can get a little silly. But still, 20 points in 12 games (9 goals) is worth noting.

However, his teammate in goal Brandon Whitney was having some issues with whiplash, as he conceded nine goals in two starts. Whitney’s save-percentage has dipped below .900 and his GAA is at 3.35. Elsewhere in the Q, Dillon Fournier got his season fully underway with four points in four games. He’s also a +8 in just six games overall.

Everything Else

Obviously, there was going to be a bit of a come down from yesterday’s optimism, if you were one of those that chose to have it. The players union was never going to respond with, “Sounds great! Where’s my pen? Let’s go get a beer!” What we saw yesterday, after all the commentary, was at least a basis for what can be intense negotiations over the next week. And an agreement is only going to come after some marathon and pressured negotiating. Between the networks starting to exert their force and players starting to bark on various media outlets, combined with what really isn’t that huge of a difference between the sides now, I still think we’ll see those negotiations get started tomorrow and we’ll end with a deal. Maybe that’s just me wanting my job back, but it’s what I think.

Anyway, let’s look at some of the disputes that the players union apparently has over the latest proposal.

Everything Else

With the lockout dragging on and on, and showing no sign of stopping any time soon like a bad marriage between two passive-aggressive mutes, I have decided to up the content of our game program, The Committed Indian.

From here until the lockout ends, I’ll be doing a weekly Icehogs update, usually coming out on Tuesdays. If you’re already signed up for a full-season or lockout-filler subscription, you’re good. You’ll be getting these anyway.

If you haven’t, because we’re in the first week of no NHL hockey and we’re all feeling a little depressed, for this week a full season subscription will be on sale for just $50. That gets you all the filler issues — Icehogs and Bears game programs — plus every issue of the real thing when these assholes feel like playing hockey again. We’ll call it “Our Winter Of Discontent Sale.”

And if that’s a bit much for you, you can get all the Filler issues for as long as they run for just $10. Not a bad deal. Just hit the button on the top right of the site there, and roll up for this Magical Mystery Tour.  Or you can use this link right here: http://77.104.162.54/~faxesfro/get-issues-of-the-committed-indian/

Everything Else

I think that picture perfectly sums up where we are now and what we’re all feeling. Confusion in a desolate place that we have no control of getting out of ourselves. We only need an army of crabs to guide us to the sea. Maybe we should start with Patrick Kane’s.

There are just some thoughts rattling around my head as we come up to the actual date that will mark the first time we really should have been at the UC and discussing other things. They’re all kind of infuriating.

-It’s been mentioned before, but the staring contest part of this is by far the most deplorable aspect of this. I know, negotiating tactics and all that. But this inhabits a different stratosphere than say, a bunch of machinists striking against the airlines or something. “Well we put our proposal out and now we’re waiting for their proposal but they said that they made their proposal and now they want our next proposal but we didn’t think it was a proposal and ours was  a proposal and they’re bad men and stupid heads and we just need a proposal.”