Bring on the next loophole

THE NHL and its operators worked for Saturday morning to close a salary Cap loopholes you could run Nik Lidstrom Bentley by wee hours.

Ilya Kovalchuk finally its $ 100 million from the New Jersey Devils in the end, and THE NHL with new limits on the long-term contracts that take players to the middle age.

The issue and the resolution has become an obsession in hockey media-one of the dangers of August, when there is so much to write about.

But for casual fans, "Chang amendment" can be given away as just another intervention of details in the League's mysterious salary-Cap structure.

There is a loophole closed in the fight to keep free-spending NHL team in check.

But that doesn't mean the maximum level of pay is now waterproof.

Creative general managers will find always a way to hide mistakes and dodge unattractive Hat hits; it is a part of his job.

(Photo: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

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Why Hockey Fan is Donald Fehr Greatest Ally

NHL spent the last week playing in the sandbox: test driving a slew of possible rule changes to its research and development camp.

This week has been a great Yak fest, as the League joined the rest of the hockey community for the World Summit on the Hockey. lots of navel-gazing, sparring and brainstorming on what it is, where it is going and what it means.

Kind of like the giddy, all-night stoner sessions you may remember from the freshman year.

But THE NHL Players Association is ready to kill it.

While the formal decision has not been reached yet, now it seems certain that Donald Fehr leading players in their next collective bargaining showdown against League.

In view of the strife that characterized his leadership in Major League Baseball players, Fehrs arrival signals Armageddon for NHL?

Pointless to speculate until he gets the job and 2012 approach.

But while a lot of people worried that NHL cannot have another season is interrupted or suspended by labor war, Donald Fehr certainly not one of them.

He has never been reluctant to close the baseball season and endure anger of countless fans.

And baseball survived.

When people get hung up on the gang "cannot survive" or "can't afford" a work stoppage, it's just meaningless rhetoric.

Think the NHL literally would cease to exist if the season of 2012/13 was canceled?

Fehr know better; he knows better than anyone that the pro sports is a flexible, lucrative-producing.

This is because true fans always come back, no matter how often they get kicked in the teeth.

If Donald Fehr's NHL has no choice but to reprise 2005 nightmare, he'll go into the trust which outweighs the potential rewards risks.

He knows that dedicated and hardcore hockey fans are not going anywhere, no matter how much they hate him.

Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

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Fantasy Hockey picks: who is ready for a Fresh Start

Washed up? Not a chance.

Jarome Iginla decline and fall reports are greatly exaggerated.

Calgary captain is one of the guys we pick to make a healthy leap forward this season.

Check out the full list of ten players on the Rise.

You see we are also optimistic about the new number one goalie in Washington, whipping boy in Ottawa and the guy who isn't Crosby in Pittsburgh.

(Photo: Claus Andersen/Getty Images).

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Fantasy Hockey pick: There is a Long Way Down

Our preseason fantasy hockey coverage begins with a wild and hopelessly indefensible guess on players on the slide during the season 2010-11 NHL.

By our reckoning, release 10 guy on list ten points or more from last season totals.

To begin, we are not bullish on Mike Moulson, Mike Knuble, or aging Ranger image to the right.

Photo: Václav Prospal are hard-pressed to match their 2009-10 output (Mike Stobe/Getty Images).

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Hat trick and other Hockey mysteries

Why they call it a hat trick?

Who was Tim Horton?

What is it with Squid in Detroit?

Some of hockey's most common issues often leave fans and Neozoen together; so let us mention a few of them:

See also: more Hockey FAQ and history.

(Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images.)

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Fantasy Hockey pick: The Rookie Crop

List of Calder Trophy winner include back-to-back Bruins (Bobby Orr 1967, Derek Sanderson 1968) and back-to-back Rangers (Gump Worsley in 1953, Camille Henry 1954).

It has also been a distance of three consecutive Maple Leafs (Gaye Stewart, Gus Bodnar, Frank McCool, 1943-45).

Now, we were able to watch back-to-back Sabres and back-to-back Tyler 's.

Tyler Myers put up a rookie of the year for Buffalo season 2009-10, only the tenth defenseman to win the Calder since 1937.

This year's favorite can either be a Sabre, 20-year-old left winger Tyler Ennis.

He'll have plenty of competition, of course, Potential Challengers take even a Tyler, in Boston.

Ennis leads the way in our conservative projection of this year's Fantasy Hockey Rookies.

(Photo: Rick Stewart/Getty Images).

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Olympic Hockey Photo Gallery

From the days of outdoor game, the British upset in 1936, the final victory of the Soviet dynasty, Miracle on Ice, the first women's champs, all the way up to the Crosbys dramatic gold medal targets, here are some classic images of the Olympic ice hockey.

More OLYMPIC Hockey:

Photo: The goalkeeper from Japan meets a lot of rubber in 1936.(Hulton archive/Getty Images.)

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More Hockey mysteries available

What is so original about the original six?

Who was the last of the bare-faced goalies?

And there was a time when NHL skating rinks were plastered with Bank logos, fast food ads and deodorant signs?

We continue our look at some of the mysteries of hockey history. ...

See also: more Hockey FAQ and history.

Photo: Montreal's Doug Harvey delivers a major hit back in the 1950s, when the Rink boards was (more or less) white (pictorial Parade/Getty Images).

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