Thursday Chum Bucket: Clowe sounds off on lockout

Nothing we haven’t already heard during these negotiations but Ryane Clowe talks about how the players are a united front that aren’t going to be bullied into accepting the league’s standing proposal. In addition, he alludes to offers he’s received to play overseas in Finland, Sweden and Russia and defends fellow Sharks Logan Couture, Jason Demers and Joe Thornton’s decisions to sign in Europe. [ESPN]
Speaking of the CBA negotiations, there’s reason to believe the NHLPA might be working on a new proposal. [Pro Hockey Talk]
Who were the biggest bargains in the NHL last year? Logan Couture ranks high on the forwards list and we have a Kyle Wellwood sighting. [Hockey Prospectus]
Here’s the first official Sharks prospect report of the year, complete with up-to-date stats from the opening weeks of seasons for many of the players in the organization’s pipeline. Notable are Tomas Hertl’s five points in 10 games in the Czech Extraliga, defenseman Konrad Abeltshauser’s nine assists in seven games as an overager in the QMJHL and J.P. Anderson’s sparkling .930 SV% in an admittedly tiny six-game sample size on the OHL’s Sarnia Sting. [San Jose Sharks]
Former Shark Milan Michalek is the latest NHLer to head overseas, as he’ll lace them up for his former Czech league team Budejovice. [Ottawa Citizen]
Should the players give a crap about the sponsor schmooze-fest that is the NHL All-Star Game after this lockout (assuming, of course, it actually ends before February)? [Puck Daddy]
Sad news: Brett MacLean, the 32nd overall pick of the 2007 draft, won’t play professional hockey again after being implanted with a cardiac defibrillator following a cardiac arrest during a pick-up game in Ontario earlier this summer. [Sportsnet]
The regular season was supposed to start tonight. I don’t have a link but boy does that suck.

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