Friday Chum Bucket: NHL calls for 2-week break in negotiations

  • Seeing as an immense amount of progress was made with the discussions that took place over the last two weeks, the NHL has declared a two-week moratorium on CBA negotiations with the players' association which should give them ample time to leak as much anti-Fehr rhetoric to the media as possible while moving no closer to a deal. [Puck Daddy]
  • If a deal isn't reached in seven days (which is almost certainly the case at this point), games scheduled through December 15th will reportedly be canned. [Pro Hockey Talk]
  • The mediator who averted an NFL lockout last summer is willing to work with the NHL and NHLPA free of charge. Maybe they should look into this? [Backhand Shelf]
  • Center Marek Viedensky was reassigned from Worcester to San Francisco while defenseman Mikael Tam was loaned by the Sharks' AHL affiliate to their ECHL affiliate. [SF Bulls]
  • Meg updates his repertoire of Patrick Marleau facts with a lockout edition. [BoC]
  • Should the Sharks re-sign Ryane Clowe, who's slated to become an unrestricted free agent next summer? (He likes Louis C.K. so I'd lean towards yes) [The Hockey Writers]
  • How well does a team's goal differential in one season predict their performance in the next? This might be of interest to the Sharks who had the fifth-best goal differential in the West last year despite an awful shooting percentage. [NHL Numbers]
  • An early projection of the top 30 picks in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. [The Hockey News]