SB Nation Detroit - NHL lockout: More Red Wings regular season games canceled

NHL lockout: Danny Cleary hoping for Jan. 1 start

2012-12-11T16:56:35Z

Detroit Red Wings' forward Danny Cleary remains somewhat optimistic that there will be an NHL season beginning in January. "Let's hope for a Jan. 1 start,'' the veteran right winger said on Monday. He and many Detroit teammates have been practicing several times a week at the Troy Sports Center. If a deal were reached, he and his teammates would immediately ramp up the intensity of their training.

More specifically, Cleary spoke positively about negotiations. "I feel we've made good strides,'' Cleary said. "When you agree on money, that's a big stride." Still, the two sides cannot seem to agree on a maximum length for player contracts. The league has proposed a five-year contract limit, but would allow teams to resign players for up to seven years. Players, however, have not offered anything less than an eight-year limit.

While many players are hoping for a Jan. 1 start, they have said that Jan. 15 is the absolute latest that they envision the season starting. If the two sides cannot agree to a deal before then, the season will likely be lost.

NHL lockout: Danny Cleary worried about 'the fans and the game'

2012-12-07T14:55:50Z

Nearly two months after the NHL season was originally supposed to begin, the lack of a new collective bargaining agreement between owners and the NHLPA continues to draw the ire of a number of current Detroit Red Wings players.

One heavily involved with the union, veteran forward Danny Cleary, told Ansar Khan of MLive.com that he was completely taken aback by how terribly Thursday's talks with the owners ended up.

"Today was a really, really bad day,'' Cleary said. "Everybody's in disbelief. We came to them on a ton of areas, made good strides. It's still not good enough. Unbelievable.''

While Cleary appears hopeful that a season will materialize at some point with a new CBA in tow, Red Wings teammate Todd Bertuzzi is one of many who do not share the optimism, as the 37-year-old Bertuzzi recently told reporters he fully expects the season to be canceled.

With the likelihood that the players will decertify from the union growing by the day, the league could be faced with a very lengthy recovery process that spans years rather than months. While all of this could be ended with a simple yet impossible negotiation between two sides who have worked together for decades, Cleary fears for both the fans and the sport as a whole.

"At some point you have to seriously consider the health of the game,'' Cleary said. "I'm worried about the fans and the game. It really (ticks) me off.''

NHL lockout: Todd Bertuzzi doesn't expect there to be a 2012-13 season

2012-11-26T22:35:54Z

Detroit Red Wings forward Todd Bertuzzi no longer expects a 2012-2013 NHL season to occur in any form after months of unproductive negotiations between the league and the player's union, Ansar Khan of MLive writes. The league recently cancelled all games through Dec. 14, as well as this year's All Star Game, which was scheduled for Jan. 27.

"Just move on to different things. I'm coaching now," Bertuzzi said during one of the Red Wings' increasingly small informal practices on Monday. "I was just in Toronto coaching my son's team. You move on, try to make the most of your time.''

The 37-year-old also noted that the league will "take years" to repair the damage done by this lockout, both in terms of general fan support and revenue. Considering that the league saw a noticeable dip in popularity following its return from a previous lockout last decade, Bertuzzi's concerns are presumably shared by many.

NHL lockout: Red Wings players doing well overseas

2012-11-07T21:27:37Z

While the National Hockey League's labor dispute presses on, the handful of Detroit Red Wings players who chose to head overseas continue to stay sharp by facing off against pro competition.

As reported by Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press, Detroit veterans Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk have quickly taken on starring roles with their clubs since heading overseas. Zetterberg owns eight goals and five assists over just seven games with EV Zug of the Swiss league, while Datsyuk has been consistently brilliant with 19 points in 15 games for CSKA Moscow in Russia's KHL.

Youngster Damien Brunner has been a key player in Switzerland alongside Zetterberg most nights with EV Zug, and currently leads the team in both goals (11) and assists (17). Center Valtteri Filppula has also made a sizable impact in his home country of Finland, where he has tallied six goals and nine assists over 15 games with Jokerit. Not to be outdone, 24-year-old winger Jan Mursak has been red-hot with his Austrian team Ljubljana, producing seven goals and 13 assists through his first 15 appearances.

NHL lockout costs Detroit Red Wings 13 more games

2012-10-26T20:50:13Z

The NHL lockout continues to trudge along, as the most recent round of cancellations on Friday saw 13 more Detroit Red Wings regular season games erased from the schedule, according to a report by Ansar Khan of MLive.com.

With the additional 13 lost games, the Red Wings have seen 23 regular season games canceled in total. Detroit center Darren Helm believes it is the league's attempt at strong-arming the NHL Player's Association into agreeing to a deal.

"It does seem like they're trying to do things to get reactions from us, try to make us take offers that don't help us as a union, as players,'' Helm said in the report. "Maybe they are trying to find a weakness in our group, but I think we're a pretty strong group, we're very knowledgeable with what's going on.

"For them to cancel games right now into November, I don't quite understand why they're doing that. Just sounds like it's a play on their part to get us a little worried, scared about what's happening.''

At this point, the two sides have no further talks scheduled.

NHL lockout results in cancellation of more Red Wings games

2012-10-19T21:45:59Z

With the NHL's announcement Friday that all regular season games through Nov. 1 are now erased from the schedule as a result of the ongoing lockout, the Detroit Red Wings have lost four more contests off of their 82-game calendar, according to a report by Ansar Khan of MLive.com.

This latest round of game cancellations leaves open the possibility of beginning the season on Nov. 2, which, according to the report, commissioner Gary Bettman said earlier this week is the date that would make getting a complete season back on the schedule possible. For this to happen, however, the league and the NHL Players Association would need to come to terms for a new collective bargaining agreement by Friday, Oct. 26.

Previously cancelled games would be inserted back into the schedule, as the regular season would likely last a few extra weeks if a deal were to be struck in the timetable Bettman outlined above.

In all, the Red Wings have lost 10 total games from their calendar, with the most recent round of cuts eliminating contests against the San Jose Sharks, Winnipeg Jets, Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames.

NHL lockout: Red Wings' Danny Cleary thinks it's 'serious negotiation time'

2012-10-18T16:41:42Z

After receiving the NHL's most recent proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement, Detroit Red Wings forward Danny Cleary said "it's serious negotiation time." Cleary called the NHL's offer a "step in the right direction" and "a proposal that can't be ignored."

Cleary stated that the Tuesday meeting with the NHL was "the most productive day (of CBA talks)." Talks are scheduled to resume on Thursday and it is expected that the NHLPA will offer their counter-proposal at that time.

The NHL's deal included a 50-50 split on hockey-related revenues (HRR) for the six years of the deal and also said all existing contracts would be honored without reductions through a deferred system. Cleary, and the rest of the NHLPA, would like a few more details from the NHL. Specifically, how will HRR be defined and how is escrow factored in?

Although he understands the urgency of reaching a new CBA, Cleary said "we can't rush into a deal."

NHL lockout: Red Wings' Cory Emmerton breaks finger in Finland

2012-10-16T13:00:41Z

Detroit Red Wings center Cory Emmerton broke a finger last week while playing in his first game for SaiPa of Finland's SM-liiga.

Ansar Khan of Michigan Live reports that details of the injury are scarce, but there's a chance that Emmerton will need surgery. If that's the case, the 24-year-old forward could be sidelined the next two months. Emmerton tweeted this on Saturday:

1 period 1 shot 1 blocked shot 1 broken finger, great stats Cory
— Cory Emmerton (@cemmer48) October 13, 2012

Emmerton was a star in Canada's OHL before the Red Wings drafted him with the 41st overall pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. After several more seasons in the OHL as well as a couple in the AHL, he finally got the call up to the Red Wings in the 2010-11 season. He played in two games and scored his first career goal Jan. 22 against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Emmerton saw a bigger role last season, playing in 71 games. He notched six goals and four assists while posting a plus-1 rating. He also scored one goal in the postseason.