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NHL Lockout Day 24: Scotland Is The New Hot Bed For NHLers, More Boring Labour Relations Stuff & Dominik Hasek Returns?

They say the first few lines of the article should be designed to hook the audience, so with that in mind let’s talk about the ongoing labor relations discussions between the NHL and its players… okay so maybe I didn’t exactly look you but such is life during an NHL lockout… deal with it!

Besides, there really is nothing much to report anyway. The two sides met on Friday and this is the most Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly had to say … ''We are supposed to touch base over the weekend. Nothing more to report right now.'' Sound encouraging? I don’t think so. It is just me or should labor relations laws require the players and the owners to meet every single day until a deal is done? What is it with these extended weekends and long breaks between discussions? Didn’t the two sides have the whole summer to start appearing for this? Especially on Thanksgiving Monday in Canada, you would think the two sides would think enough to give thanks to the fans by meeting and reporting some kind of progress. Not to mention that if the NHL were to follow its regular-season schedule as planned initially, there would’ve been games played yesterday anyway so players and owners in some way would’ve shown up to work.

Enough about that… now on to some more player movement. Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron is off to play in Switzerland for Lugano while Detroit Red Wings star Henrik Zetterberg will also be munching on Swiss cheese playing for EV Zug. Andrew Ladd has decided not to join his Winnipeg Jets teammate Evander Kane in the KHL due to family reasons while the San Jose Sharks’ Joel Pavelski will. Jamie Benn of the Dallas stars is Germany bound as are Calude Giroux and Daniel Briere of the Philadelphia Flyers. Bruins captain Zdeno Chara will play in Prague and newly named Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog will play in Sweden.

That’s a lot of movement! Such is life when your hockey skills range from just above adjacent to superstar. However when you are a fringe player like free agent Cody Franson or the Wings’ Drew Miller, you’ve got to be a little more creative. Franson who spent last year with the Toronto Maple Leafs, signed a one year deal with Brynas in the Swedish Elite League and he’ll spend the whole year there regardless of when the lockout ends. On the other hand, Miller is off to Scotland of all places and his agent and former NHLer Jason Woolley commented that Miller and his wife should chalk up the signing as an experience.

To finish things off let’s talk a little bit about the goaltender known as "The Dominator". 47-year-old Stanley Cup Champion and probably someday Hall of Fame inductee Dominik Hasek recently stated that he’ll probably never play in the NHL again since no club has offered him a contract. I could have told him that myself three years ago but I don’t speak check and I don’t have him on Facebook, although it would be really cool if I did.

As strange as it may seem I am totally down for players going to Scotland because I think the lockout will and around the Winter classic just like our boy Wayne Gretzky says it will so really why not try it? Though I’m not so sure most hockey players are down for truly immersing themselves in Scottish traditions like kilts and bag pipes!

If you would like to follow more of the sports stuff that I have been doing, you can follow me on twitter @jackchoros.

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