NHL-NHLPA Stalemate?, New York Islanders to Brooklyn, More

More posturing or a genuine stalemate?

With the league's deadline — October 25th — for a full season approaching, the NHLPA offered to meet with NHL officials today.

However, the league apparently refused to sit down with the players. Deputy commissioner Bill Daly suggested there was no clear agenda for the meeting and that the players were unwilling to negotiate.

In short, he wondered "What's the point?"

I frankly do not see how this can be simple posturing. Refusing to meet with the other side is definitely not going to be a public relations hit and Stu Hackel openly wonders if the NHL actually wants to end the lockout. Pierre LeBrun argues that egos are getting in the way.

On top of that, Tobias Enstrom, Patrick Kane and Niklas Backstrom have all fled for Europe in recent days. If it was believed the lockout was nearing its end, I'm not sure such prominent players would be heading to Europe at this point. 

What do you think? Genuine stalemate or is there still hope?

Habs and Hockey News

- Wow. The New York Islanders are no more. Sort of. The team is set to announced that they will be moving to the Barclays Arena in Brooklyn, New York after the 2014-15 season. 

- HabsWorld wraps up its prospect rankings, revealing the top-five Montreal Canadiens prospects. 

- David Clarkson, of the New Jersey Devils, may be joining Tobias Enstrom and others in the Austrian EBEL League.

(Photo Source: Christian Petersen/Getty Images North America)

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Montreal Canadiens in Europe, Hamilton Bulldogs Signings, Prospects and More

Good AM!

The trickle of players heading to Europe continues and an increasing number of Habs are heading East.

To review, thus far Raphael Diaz will join EV Zug, Yannick Weber is heading for Geneva-Servette and Tomas Plekanec is bound for Kladno. Also, former Hab Mark Streit is going to Bern.

Also of note is Alex Ovechkin signing with Dynamo Moscow and goalie Niklas Backstrom joining Belarus' Dynamo Minsk. 

The new Ukrainian KHL club HC Donbass is getting a boost as well, with Ukraine natives Alexei Ponikarovsky and Ruslan Fedotenko joining the club. 

Habs and Hockey News

- The Hockey News' continues its 30 teams in 30 days video previews, looking at the Montreal Canadiens.

- HabsWorld begins counting down the Habs' top prospects with numbers 39 to 36. 

- The Hamilton Bulldogs signed Stefan Chaput, Olivier Fortier and Daultan Leveille to one-year, two-way AHL/ECHL contracts. Most notably, Daultan Leveille was a first round pick of Atlanta in 2008, becoming to only Jr. B player to ever be selected in the opening round.

- Francis Bouillon and Mathieu Darche say they are ready to make the sacrifice of retirement in order to fight for a new CBA. 

- In hindsight, Mike Modano considers the 2004-05 lockout to have been a waste of time. By his estimates, he forfeited $7 million because of the lost season. 

- Brian Burke comments on the firing of Francois Allaire. 

- Ryan Kennedy of THN presents some hockey options for those of us in locked out NHL markets.

- The AEG group — owner of the Los Angeles Kings — is for sale. 

(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images North America)

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