On the following dates the teams will announce the names of 20 skaters and three goaltenders who will go to Vancouver. Teams are listed in alphabetical order:

Belarus: December 23
Canada: December 31
Czech Republic: December 30
Finland: December 30
Germany: December 30
Latvia: December 29
Norway: December 29
Russia: December 25
Switzerland: December 30
Slovakia: December 29
Sweden: December 27
USA: January 1 (during NHL Winter Classic)

NOTE: There will be no so called "taxi-squads" in Vancouver 2010. This means that injured players can not be replaced.

This popped up on YouTube a few weeks back when Quebec fans were all giddy at the prospect of a new arena. It's horribly dated and very 80's, but I guarantee you'll be singing it in mangled pseudo-French tomorrow. You're welcome.

This is getting ugly....

Ron Wilson never got along with the Bay Area media, that's why him accepting the Toronto job never made sense to me.

Jim Boones, the co-founder of the NHL Fan's Association, discusses the current primary concerns of the 30,000 fans in the association, saying that the NHLFA will be acting on these issues this year.
Main concern for American fans: getting better NHL coverage on television. They hate what they're getting right now, and want more of the quality of Canadian coverage (CBC, TSN, RSN, french-language RDS)
Main concern for Canadian fans: firing Gary Bettman. They believe he is now doing more harm than good for the league, and the time has come for a fresh, new commissioner.

I agree with both these concerns. Some things need to be done. Thank you NHLFA for looking into this.

From today's "Get Fuzzy" comic strip. Bucky comes up with some monkey concepts for a couple of well known hockey teams and a fairly well known football team too...

With phrases like "Hockey doesn't belong in Atlanta" it doesn't seem as if Mr. Lobdell and Mr. Bettman would get along. Also wanting to shorten the season from June to May is a clear indicator that he is downright insane.

I came across a pretty good character reference for Mr. Balsille over at Coyote Blog (no relation to the hockey team or hockey beyond thinking that public funding of stadiums is not appropriate and living in the Phoenix area).

I was reading this article and when I saw the part about what $1M will buy in 2020, I started wondering.

What happens if (it's a big if, but worth talking about) Chris Pronger wants to actually play his last contract season, 2016-2017? He's only scheduled to make $525,000.

What happens if the CBA is changed to raise the league minimum to a higher amount than that?

How they get these serviceable players for such discounts, is way beyond me.