File this under "no surprise."  The Anaheim Ducks sent a whole bunch of young players to their AHL affiliate in Norfolk, a sure sign that there will be no training camp next week. 

Lockout, here we come. 

Players sent to Norfolk include Igor Bobkov, Josh Brittain, Mat Clark, Marco Cousineau, Corey Elkins, Emerson Etem, Peter Holland, Matt Kennedy, Ryan Lasch, Brandon McMillan, John Mitchell, Kyle Palmieri, Devante Smith-Pelly, Sami Vatanen and Chris Wagner.

John Gibson and Ricard Rakell were assigned to their junior teams.

Max Friberg and Tim Heed were sent back to their Swedish junior teams. 

In addition, Dan Sexton and Jeff Deslauriers were placed on waivers, and cleared, and also joined the TSA lines at the airport to head back to Norfolk. 

Normally, guys would be in Anaheim preparing for training camp, which was scheduled to start next Friday.  At this point, it would take a miracle. 

Rather than spending time negotiating, compromising, and getting a deal done, more time is spent pointing fingers at who is unwilling to yield and who is at fault. 

Is it any shock that a percentage of revenues seems to be the item that is really holding up a new bargaining agreement?  Each side wants money.  Plain and simple.  And they don't want to share.  What they both are forgetting is that they are not going to have ANY revenue to share if they don't come to an agreement and play. 

And if (when) there is a third lockout in 18 years (and the second in seven), there will likely be even less revenue when things are finally sorted out.  Why?  Because enough disgruntled fans are likely to say "enough already!" and keep their hard earned dollars rather than hand it over to two groups of folks who are nothing but greedy. 

College hockey and minor league hockey anyone?

There are a lot of reasons to hope that a new collective bargaining agreement can be put in place before its expiration on September 15.  One of the best reasons is that there might actually be real hockey news for a change.  Like training camps opening.  Pre-season.  Home openers.  Actually NHL hockey being played.

With no new agreement in sight between the NHL and the NHLPA, the world is stooping to creative "journalism," and coming up with stories that really should not be stories. 

As with the last lockout, Canada gets very creative about trying to get around basic rules.  In 2004-2005, there was a group who challenged that the Stanley Cup, by original deed of Lord Stanley, was a challenge cup open to the best amateur hockey team in Canada.  The group believed that the NHL had forfeited its right to award the Cup for the year because of the lockout.   Interesting premise, and on February 7, 2006, a settlement was reached in which the trophy could be awarded to non-NHL teams should the league not operate for a season. 

Given the excellent chances of another lockout, amateur teams better get ready to play this year!

Fast forward to this year and the province of Quebec has argued, along with the NHLPA, that a lockout would be illegal.

“The players on the Montreal Canadiens simply want the labour laws of Quebec upheld, so that we can continue to play hockey while we work towards reaching a fair contract with the NHL,” said Josh Gorges, Canadiens defenceman.

In Quebec, an employer is not allowed to lock out employees unless they belong to a union that has been certified by the Quebec Labour board. The NHLPA is not a certified union in Quebec.   A hearing is scheduled for Friday, September 14, to discuss the matter.

In light of an impending lockout, the news that Lubomir Visnovsky lost his arbitration hearing to prevent his trade from Ducks to the New York Islanders seems pointless.  If there is a lockout, Visnovsky won't be playing anywhere, except Europe.  

Visnovsky was sent to the Islanders on Draft Day in June and he protested that the Ducks did not respect his no-trade clause.  The arbitrators did not agree and refused to void the trade.  Lubo is an Islander.  Poor thing.   Although considering the Ducks record last season, wearing an Anaheim uniform is not necessarily a walk in the park either.

At least the brief announcement about Visnovsky's hearing was hockey "news."  Falling under the, what the heck were they thinking? category came the announcement that the Bakersfield Condors of the ECHL had offered a contract to Justin Bieber.  Yes, that Justin Bieber. 

The Condors, who were once a minor league affiliate of Anaheim, have officially lost their minds, in my humble opinion.  Sure Bieber is Canadian and playing hockey is standard for most Canucks.   But offering him a contract because he's worked out with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the off season once or twice?   Seriously? 

If your team is so bad that you consider the possibility of adding Justin Bieber to your line up as an improvement, you are in a sad state of affairs. 

I don't want to see any more articles like this one, and with the dearth of real news to report, the depressing fact is that there will be more "stories" like this one. 

PLEASE!  NHL and NHLPA!  STOP THIS NONSENSE and come to an agreement.  If not I will be forced to do a compare and contrast of what NHL teams are offering their season ticket holders in terms of refunds and interest earned on money being held.    No one wants to see that.  They want to go to training camp next Friday.   

In the words of Tim Gunn on Project Runway - "Make it work!"

The free agency hubbub has died down to zero.  The Olympics are over (where the closest thing to hockey is field hockey and that seems more of a soccer/lacrosse hybrid).  So the rush to come to a new collective bargaining agreement must be on, right?  Right? .....oh never mind.

Clearly neither side seems in a hurry to reach an agreement before the existing CBA runs out on September 15.  They have been meeting at a leisurely weekly pace and still are far apart.  It isn't like time is running out and perhaps a bit more effort would be called for in this situation?

Commissioner Gary Bettman has already made it clear they will have a lockout if there is no new agreement in place.  None of this, hey, let's work under the old rules while trying to come an agreement nonsense.  Of course not.  That might mean the fans would be happy!

The players would be happy to still negotiate after the current CBA expires, a sure sign they want to play hockey, not bickering games.

The owners started off with the somewhat ridiculous proposal of reducing players revenue share from 57% to 46%.  They want to limit contracts to five years.  No salary arbitration.  Entry level contracts to last five years, up from three.  And finally, players have to be in the NHL for 10 years before they are eligible for free agency.

I am sure that there are a lot of players who wished they were able to play for 10 years in the NHL.  Not everyone is fortunate enough to have that long a career.  But to be "stuck" with the same team, regardless, for 10 years, is not exactly equitable.

The contract limits are reasonable for the same reasons.  A lot can happen even in five years, much less longer.  Rick DiPietro anyone?  Alexei Yashin? 

Maybe they can compromise on entry level contracts and meet in the middle at four years.

And revenue sharing certainly needs to be more balanced.  Is there something horribly wrong with 50/50?  Without the players, the owners have zero revenue.  Without the owners, the players have zero as well.  Or is that too logical?

Do the owners realize that by being greedy (with an offer like that can they look any other way but greedy?) they might be losing more in the long run.  Fan goodwill for one thing.  But a lockout is not going to be helpful to the NHL in any way shape or form.  Have they done the math?  No playing equals no revenue at all.

The players union, headed up by Don Fehr, gave their own initial firing shot that included no changes in the current contract system.  They also were not willing to yield on revenue sharing to the degree requested by the owners side.

So where do we stand in all this? 

Pretty much where we were at the beginning of negotiations.  Nowhere.

Any signs of becoming unstuck do not look promising and while it is only a month until training camps and pre-season games, it looks pretty grim that any of those will happen any time soon.

Where does that leave the fans?

Screwed.

The NHL has done this twice before and did not "win" from locking out the players.  The players did not "win" by being locked out. 

Would it be too much to ask for reasonable folks to come together and try to compromise and work together to get this done?  Having a lockout is getting old.

So far it has been a pretty quiet off-season in the hockey world.  A few excitements here and there, like Zach Parise and Ryan Suter deciding to play together in Minnesota, and an interesting offer sheet to Shea Weber from the Philadelphia Flyers.  But for the most part?  It's keeping up with how the Stanley Cup is spending its summer and when you are a Ducks fan, there is not much exciting in that.

In keeping with their "have to do something at least once a week" rule, the Ducks signed winger Daniel Winnik to a two year contract worth $3.6 million. 

Winnik, 27, played for the Colorado Avalanche last season until the trade deadline when he went to the San Jose Sharks. 

GM Bob Murray praised Winnik as "smart, reliable, with good size.  Real good penalty killer."

Winnik is 6'2" and 209 pounds and will add depth to either the third or fourth line for Anaheim.  He is also happy to stay in the Western Conference.

“You have some older guys,” said Winnik about Anaheim. “I don’t know if you can count [Corey] Perry and [Ryan] Getzlaf as older, but they are two of the top players in the league for the last four or five years, since they came in the league. They have a great goalie in [Jonas] Hiller. It’s a good mix of talent and ruggedness throughout the lineup.”

Earlier in the week the Ducks also signed Hampus Lindholm to an entry level contract, and Marco Cousineau accepted his qualifying offer.

Lindholm was a first round draft pick this year.  He has a two way contract that pays vastly different sums in the AHL vs. the NHL.    The defenseman will have his work cut out at training camp in September (assuming that pesky little CBA is signed by then), but it will be interesting to see where he compares when playing with the big boys.

Goaltender Cousineau accepted his qualifying offer and will likely remain in the minor leagues next season.

Getting lost in the "Teemu is back!" shuffle, the Ducks have made a few recent signings and re-signings.

The Ducks have avoided arbitration with center Nick Bonino.  The restricted free agent had an arbitration date assigned, but he and the Ducks were able to come to terms with a new contract. 

The $700,000 contract is only a slight raise from last year, but it is a one way contract.  This way he makes the same whether in the NHL or the AHL.   Had Bonino accepted the Ducks qualifying offer, it would have paid him more, but he would have had a two way contract that paid much less in the AHL. 

It seems that this is a win/win for both sides and avoids the inevitably ugly arbitration.

Anaheim also signed this year's third-round draft pick, Frederik Andersen, to a two-year entry level contract on Wednesday.

The 22 year old Danish goaltender has a two way contract paying $925,000 in the NHL and $70,000 in the AHL. 

Andersen was originally drafted by Carolina in 2010, but never signed with them, so he went back into this year's draft pool. 

Andersen does not want to play in the AHL, which is part of why he and Carolina could not come to a deal.   However with more experience he will have a chance at unseating Viktor Fasth for the backup spot.  If he does not make the team, Andersen could still go back to Sweden to play.

"If I had to choose one goalie, I don’t really compare goalies to one another that much, but I have a lot of stuff that (J.S. Giguere) does too with the butterfly,” said Andersen, who was in Anaheim for the conditioning camp in June. “I’m pretty calm in the net. I try to make the defense comfortable with me back there.”

The Ducks have also signed center Corey Elkins to a one-year contract worth $700,000.  He will get much less playing in the AHL, which is where he is likely to end up. 

The 27 year old was a prospect with the Los Angeles Kings, but did not sign with them.  Last year he played in the Czech Republic.

One more year!  One more year!  One more year!

Teemu Selanne hears almost every time he steps out on the ice and for now, he is heeding the advice of fans. 

Selanne signed another one year contract to play with the Ducks, worth $4.5 million, and Ducks fans just breathed out a collective sigh of relief. 

"While I’m still amazed by his speed and skill level, it’s Teemu’s love for the game and his teammates that make him so special,” said GM Bob Murray. “Anaheim is where he belongs.”

Indeed, Anaheim is Selanne's happy place.  The now 42 year old has spent some of his most productive years in a Ducks uniform and leads the franchise is all time scoring.   Last season he led the team in scoring with 26 goals and 66 points.

The ageless Finn has 663 goals and 1,406 points in his career.  937 of those points have been with Anaheim.  He is ranked 12th all time in goals and fourth all time in power play goals.  He is only the third European player to score over 1,400 points (Jaromir Jagr and Stan Mikita are the other two.)

“I still feel I can play at a high level,” said Selanne. “I can’t wait to get back on the ice in front of our great fans.”

Clearly, as the brief video released by the Ducks shows, Selanne is not ready for a desk job with the organization.  Get that man on the ice where he belongs!

"Age is a funny thing," Selanne continued.  "A lot of times, I don’t really feel 42. It all depends how good you feel, how healthy you are and how much passion you have for the game. That is why I still enjoy the game. It’s fun to go to the rink every morning.  It sounds pretty old when you say 42 as a hockey player. Mentally, I am still the same level as Getzlaf and those other guys. That is most important and that is why I am still in the game."

There seems to be no slowing for Selanne.  The one thing that could work against him would be the Collective Bargaining Agreement.  Without a new agreement, the NHL could be headed for another lockout.

"I really believe that hockey is going to get really hurt again if there is going to be a lockout," Selanne stated.  "I don’t think there is room for a lockout in hockey. Hopefully, they are going to sign a deal that is good for both sides. It really didn’t affect my decision. I can’t control that decision. I can only hope and wish the best.   I still hope we can start the season on time and we can enjoy this game. It will be too bad if it doesn’t start on time."

For now, Ducks fans have something to look forward to in seeing one more year out of a guy you hope never retires.

Free agency just begins on July 1.  It is not a one day affair.   Clubs are signing contracts with not only free agents, but also prospects of their own.  Anaheim is no different.

The Ducks added more defensive depth by signing Jordan Hendry and Matt Smaby to one year contracts. 

Smaby, 27, played in Syracuse last season (the Ducks former AHL affiliate).   He is a huge presence on the blue line at 6'6" and 227 pounds. 

Hendry, 28, has appeared in 129 career NHL games with Chicago and was a member of their Stanley Cup winning team in 2010.   Hendry split time last season between Chicago's AHL affiliate and HC Lugano of the Swiss Elite League.

The Ducks also inked last year's first round draft pick, Rickard Rakell, to a three year deal.  The entry level contract is a two way deal and worth $925,000 if he plays in the NHL.  It included a signing bonus of $92,500.   He will earn $70,000 if he is in the AHL.

“It gives you a little push for the summer training,” said Rakell, who is currently participating in the Ducks conditioning camp. ”You know you’re a little step closer. It feels great.”

The 19 year old Swedish winger played in the OHL last season and had 28 goals and 62 points.

“I got better at almost everything,” he said. ”My first year, I took a lot of responsibility and just tried to learn and do some other things right. My second year, I felt like I could take another step. Just be a great player offensively and defensively."

The Ducks and their fans had to say goodbye to two players on the first day of free agency.  Both George Parros and Sheldon Brookbank will not be in Anaheim uniforms next season.

Parros, who spent six seasons in Anaheim, took a two year contract with the Florida Panthers.  Parros goes from one sunny location to another and will be greatly missed by fans.  Florida fans better start growing out their hair now, as his annual Cut for the Kids will continue no matter where he plays.

Brookbank and the Ducks were unable to come to terms on a new contract.  He landed a two year contract with the Chicago Blackhawks.  Brookbank had his best year ever with three goals and 15 points last season. 

With Brookbank gone (as well as Lubomir Visnovsky, who was traded to the New York Islanders on draft day), the Ducks had a few holes in their blue line.    To remedy that problem, they picked up Sheldon Souray and Bryan Allen.

Souray, 35, signed a three year contract worth a total of $11 million.  He spent last season with the Dallas Stars after three years with the Edmonton Oilers.  

“The decision there was the term,” said GM Bob Murray. ”We wanted to get some more experience and size back there. We wanted to be a little bit harder to play against. If we were going to do that, we had to go that route."

Souray definitely has size at 6'4" and 238 pounds.   The three time All Star also has plenty of experience with 714 games played. 

"I feel like I have a lot left in the tank," Souray said after the signing.  "Age is just a number. I’m feeling good and training hard this summer.  I don’t think it’s been any secret how important my family is to me and the decisions I’ve made in the past regarding my family. I’ve been out in Southern California since 2001. To be able to come home and be this close, I’ve always played my best hockey when I’ve been around my family, when they’ve come in to visit and when I’ve been able to spend time with them. There are some things that are probably a little bit more important than hockey. To be able to combine those two things, I really truly feel that I have my best years ahead."

Souray is likely to be on the second or third defense pairing and his huge shot will be an asset on the power play.

Also joining the blueline will be Bryan Allen, who signed a three year, $10.5 million deal.   Allen last played with Carolina. 
At 31, he is a solid defenseman with 601 games of experience behind him. 

“We’ve got a number of young defensemen on our team,” Murray said. ”I don’t feel we’ve supported our younger defensemen with enough size and oomph in the last couple of years.  You can never have enough defenseman, especially in the Western Conference. It’s the decision we made and we moved forward today.”

In light of Parros' exit, the Ducks were also in need of an enforcer type.  The Ducks went out and got Brad Staubitz. 

Staubitz, 28, spent time with both Minnesota and Montreal last season.  He signed a two year contract worth $1.275 million.   He will add both grit and depth to the Ducks line up.

Now that the draft is over, all those bright and shiny new draft picks need to know what the NHL is all about. 

Therefore, it is time for the Ducks annual prospect conditioning camp and scrimmages.   The six-day camp, which starts Thursday, June 28, focuses on both the on- and off-ice development of the players.  In addition to skating sessions, each player will participate in strength and conditioning drills and daily weight and aerobic training.  The players will have personally tailored nutritional recommendations and will be tested for strength thresholds, range of movement and aerobic capacity.

All work and no play would not be fun, so there will be two scrimmages at Anaheim ICE on Monday, July 2 and Tuesday, July 3.  Both one hour scrimmages begin at 10:00 a.m.  The scrimmages are open to the public, free of charge, but the rest of camp is not.

Players participating include all eight Anaheim selections from the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, including first round selection Hampus Lindholm and local boy, Nicolas Kerdiles (second round).  Other players include 2011 first round pick, Rickard Rakell, 2010 first round pick, Emerson Etem and 2009 first round pick, Peter Holland.  Devante Smith-Pelly, who won a spot on the roster last season, will also be at camp. 

Conditioning camp is a huge part of preparing the prospects for training camp and future expectations.  Two years ago, Etem was grateful for the conditioning camp experience after he had been drafted.

“I think conditioning camp helped in that aspect of getting me ready for the speed of what’s going on right now," Etem said at the time.  "I have my legs.  I’m feeling good out there.  I can use my speed.  At conditioning camp I didn’t feel that.”

Cam Fowler, also a first found pick in 2009, agreed with Etem.

“It gave me an edge up coming into this camp.”

These players will also have an edge and a great start on the preparation necessary to eventually make the NHL (and improve their chances of staying there). 

A complete roster of all 30 players attending can be found at http://ducks.nhl.com/v2/ext/ConditioningCampRoster.pdf. 

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The Ducks finished up the 2012 entry draft with a total of eight players spread amongst the seven rounds.  After picking up Swedish defenseman, Hampus Lindholm, in the first round, Anaheim went on to pluck seven more hopefuls on day two of the draft. 

In the second round, the Ducks picked left wing Nicolas Kerdiles (36th overall).  Kerdiles becomes the first Anaheim Ducks draft selection who was raised in Orange County.  While born in Lewisville, Texas, Kerdiles calls Irvine home.

"It was pretty surreal," commented Kerdiles on being drafted.  "I had a hint that maybe if I went to the 36th position that the Ducks might pick me up. When they came around, I was pretty nervous. I looked at my family and said ‘This could be it.’ Once I heard my name called and actually my city of Irvine, California, it was a really surreal feeling for my family and me. My mom was crying and my dad was very happy. I’m just very excited to be part of an organization like the Ducks."

The 6'2", 201 pound winger led the U.S. National Under-18 squad with 20-22=42 points in 50 contests in 2011-12. His seven power play goals also led the club, while his four game-winning goals ranked second.  He has been invited to attend the U.S. National Junior Evaluation Camp this August.

Kerdiles has committed to play with the University of Wisconsin in the Fall.

“Nick has a lot of physical attributes that make him an attractive player," University of Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves said. "He’s a prototypical power forward. He has good feet in the corners and has a real knack in front of the net. He’s got a good shot. Offensively we’re looking for some real contributions from him right away as a freshman."

In the third round the Ducks picked up Danish goaltender Frederik Andersen (87th overall).  Andersen, 22, appeared in 39 games for Frolunda of the Swedish Elite League last season, posting a 1.67 goals-against average (GAA) with seven shutouts and a .941 save percentage (SV%). A native of Herning, Denmark, Andersen has represented Team Denmark at the last four IIHF World Championships in Finland/Sweden (2012), Slovakia (2011) and Germany (2010) and Switzerland (2009). He was also a member of the Danish team at the 2008 IIHF World Junior Championship in the Czech Republic.

"He’s a very big goalie, very calm," said Martin Madden, who is the Director of Amateur Scouting for Anaheim.  "He is mostly butterfly style. He’s just a very calm, athletic, big goalie."

At 6'4", 247 pounds, without pads, Andersen will definitely fill the net.

In the fourth round the Ducks selected center Kevin Roy (97th overall).  Roy is not large, listed at 5'8" and 156 pounds, but clearly was a good enough player to be named the 2011-12 United States Hockey League (USHL) Player of the Year after becoming the first player in the league’s current format (since 2002) to score 50 goals. Roy led the league with 54-50=104 points and helped Lincoln to a 38-18-4 regular-season record, the most wins for the Stars in 10 years. In the 2012 USHL playoffs, he led Lincoln with seven goals and 10 points (7-3=10), before the Stars were eliminated in the Western Conference Final series by Waterloo.

"Roy is similar player to Jason Blake," observed Madden.  "He has very quick hands. He is smart, scores lots of ugly goals and goes to the net. He has really good anticipation. He is a smaller player, but I don’t think it’s going to keep him out of the league. He scored more goals than anybody in the USHL since 1993. He had a really impressive season. He’s a very impressive kid off the ice as well."

The Ducks had a second pick in the fourth round  resulting from a 2009 trade with San Jose that brought Timo Pielmeier and Nick Bonino to Anaheim in exchange for Kent Huskins and Travis Moen.    With that pick the Ducks chose another defenseman, Andrew O'Brien (108th overall).

O’Brien, who is 6'3" and 200 pounds, had 8-21=29 points with a +2 rating with 95 PIM in 68 games with Chicoutimi of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) last season. Among team defensemen, he ranked second in scoring and assists, and tied for first in goals.

In the fifth round, the Ducks acquired defenseman Brian Cooper (127th overall)

Cooper, who is 5'10" and 180 pounds scored 6-18=24 points with a +16 rating and 92 PIM in 55 games with Fargo (USHL) in 2011-12. The Anchorage, Alaska native ranked second among club defensemen in points, while his +16 rating ranked second overall on the club.  Cooper has committed to play with the University of Nebraska-Omaha in the Fall.

The Ducks had no picks in the sixth round, having traded that away to Toronto last year, but did have two picks in the final seventh round, both used for more d-men.

Kenton Helgesen was selected 187th overall and Jaycob Megna at 210th overall.

Helgesen, who is 6'3" and 185 pounds, appeared in 58 games with Calgary of the Western Hockey League (WHL) in 2011-12, earning 3-11=14 points with a +7 rating and 63 PIM. He played in five WHL Playoff games in 2012, going scoreless with two PIM.

Megna, who is 6'4" and 164 pounds, appeared in 35 games for the University of Nebraska-Omaha (WCHA) last season, scoring 2-3=5 points with 8 PIM.

"We are thrilled with the players we selected this weekend in Pittsburgh,” said Madden. “We were extremely fortunate to land Orange County native Nicolas Kerdiles at 36th overall. Frederik Andersen has an opportunity next season at the pro level and we also added some size on the blueline.”