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NHL CBA talks resume; Yakupov, Carlson speak; Western Conference grades (Puck Headlines)

Greg Wyshynski

Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.


• The jerseys for the CCM/USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game. What's with the watermarks? Who designed them, TMZ?

• Here's a great, straightforward bit that compares the CBAs for the four major sports. And hockey's still one of them! [Toronto Sun]

• Solid stuff on the CBA from Mike Heika, with a focus on the salary cap and floor: "In the CBA that was forged in 2005, the owners used a formula that put the cap $8 million over the salary midpoint and put the floor $8 million below the midpoint. It seemed simple to calculate, and it seemed to work when the cap was $39 million and the floor was $23 million. Having the floor 41 percent lower than the cap made sense. But in the most recent cap figure as revenues have soared, the cap has temporarily rose to $70.3 million and the floor has pushed all the way up to $54.3 million. That means the floor is just 22.7 percent below the cap, and that has created all sorts of challenges for NHL teams that are struggling to spend to the floor." [Heika]

• Speaking of salary escalation, must-read from Dellow on how the 2005 CBA influenced the growth of forwards' salaries. [mc79Hockey]

• Malik has your CBA updates for today's meetings, which went on for a bit then stopped without Donald Fehr revealing if a new offer had been made. [KK]

• Where is Pavel Datsyuk headed during the lockout? [Winging It]

• So what happens if the NHL season doesn't start on time? [Raw Charge]

• What is Nail Yakupov thinking about regarding an NHL lockout? "You know, I'm not thinking about a lockout. I'm just doing my job and just work. I just want to play, and just be ready for camp. So we'll see what happens. For me, I just want to practise and play. It's not my deal, and I can't think about it like that, you know? If it happens, it happens." [National Post]

• Here is Allan Muir's Western Conference summer grades, with the Detroit Red Wings, Phoenix Coyotes and Nashville Predators all receiving a "D". Yes, the Predators. For retaining the second best defenseman in hockey and their team captain for the rest of his career. For that, they get a 'D'. [SI]

• Scott Niedermayer, environmental warrior. [Straight]

• Are the Phoenix Coyotes and Glendale delaying the inevitable or working toward a resolution? [AZ Central]

• NHL.com takes a look at fantasy left wings, and let's just say they put quite a premium on PIMs with Scott Hartnell at No. 3. [NHL.com]

• Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson tells everyone to calm down about his not being re-signed quite yet: "I love Washington, I love being here, I stay here for a lot of the summer. I like my teammates, I like the rink, I like the fans," he said. "I can't imagine playing anywhere else." [Wash Times]

• Bourne on the importance of conditioning in late game situations. [Backhand Shelf]

• Eddie Lack on his new contract with the Vancouver Canucks before the lockout: "If there is a lockout the AHL is going to be a lot better too, so that's very good for me to see more NHL shooters. … Right now I just look forward to getting started because there was a lot of question marks up in the air just a day ago." [IN GOAL]

• Can Peter Mueller get his career back on track with the Florida Panthers? [Litter Box Cats]

• Finally, the YouTube user claims this is a NHL 13 glitch, but Rob Scuderi is occasionally known to move at the speed of light.