Friday Fansided Five

It’s another Friday and normally one would want to be up beat and ready for the weekend.  With the news being announced yesterday that the NHL has cancelled the first two weeks of the regular season, which amounts to 82 regular season contests throughout the United States and Canada, its not really a happy Friday.  With that however, we take a quick look at the happenings around the NHL Fansided style.

Zach Parise was in the news a lot this summer as he was one of the few highly touted unrestricted free agents.  He made even bigger news when he actually did sign, not as a surprise to many, when he landed a major deal in his home state.   Parise is now making headlines again as he is criticizing the league and the lockout.  Without a deal in the NHL – and with no commitment to play in Europe at this time, Parise will be hitting the ice on October 28th for a charity event.  If your looking for hockey action and your in the area check out Defending The Blue Line.

Should fans be more worried about the lockout the more players that jump the pond?  With the departure of Danny Briere and Claude Giroux to the DEL – many fans are bracing for what could be a very long lockout.  You have to think that the longer this goes, the more players will be seeking hockey grounds.  Many players are probably in contact with union reps – and might stick around if contract talks are going well, if they are stalled, with no end in sight – major players might be taking their talents overseas.  For many – things are starting to look more and more bleak.

Rick Nash is one player that made the leap to Europe early – and while it pains many fans to see how well he could be playing, Matt Josephs from Blue Line Station is looking on the bright side.  With his hat trick in his debut game in Switzerland – Joseph is looking that Nash will be ready for NHL ice when the season does start.  I don’t think a hat trick in the Switzerland league translates to that much success in the NHL – but having fresh legs when the season does start will be key for many NHL stars.

With many NHL fans looking for other hockey avenues to get their fix – Fansided has the perfect site for you.  Frozen Futures was recently relaunched as a Minor League Hockey Blog – it was formerly only a college hockey blog.  We are currently looking for staff writers to assist in covering the many facets of minor league hockey, from the AHL level on down.  If you have what it takes to join the ranks of Fansided writers, let us know and we will get you writing on Frozen Futures!  Fill out our writer application here.

Bill Daly told us that the NHL lost 100 million dollars by not playing the pre season because of the lockout.  Is it really that high a number for the pre season where tickets are cheaper, there are no ads on the dasher boards and fans really don’t care about exhibition games that don’t count towards hockey in June?  Sure hockey is hockey at this point, but when your seeing some guys that stand little chance of making it to the opening day roster battle for the seventh defensemen spot – are we really earning that much money on the pre season?