Silver Nuggets: Who Benefits Most From Lockout?
We've been doing this all wrong, focusing on the doom and gloom of the NHL lockout, but fact is, for some Senators players, this lockout could be a great thing. Right?
The Ottawa Senators aren't playing hockey. Predictably, this has all of us (myself prominent among you) very very very sad. My life has this sad empty area where NHL hockey, and my beloved Senators, used to be. My Thursday nights are no longer spent trying to decipher what in the WORLD Denis Potvin is trying to say on Sportsnet, but instead is filled with general thumb twiddling and occasionally a Thursday Night Football game (PS tonight's games should be the cat's pyjamas, just in case you were wondering). But instead of being sad, let us look at the bright side. I've compiled a list of people who stand to benefit most from this lockout. I'm curious to see if you have any to add, or whom you think benefits the most!
Robin Lehner: Playing behind a much improved Binghamton team, and killing it. Look I know I'm turning into Adnan-obsessed-with-Karlsson here with all this Lehner stuff, but with all the focus on the AHL and a higher level of competition, Robin Lehner is making a case for NHL playing time if/when the league ever comes back.
The KHL: Maaaan, it is like season-long Christmas over in Russia. What do Evgeni Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin and Ilya Kovalchuk have in common? All NHL superstars? All Russian? Plethora of NHL awards? Yes, all of the above, and most importantly, currently they are all dazzling fans in their motherland. Oh, and now they are getting airtime in North America too.
Premier League Football: Been mentioned here before, but with no hockey, TSN and others have to fill programming. Soccer is coming, folks.
Patrick Wiercioch: Hear me out on this one. Patty had himself a phenomenal summer training with Senators staff and his good buddy Kyle Turris. I don't think that it would have been enough to win an NHL job outright in camp, but with the lockout, Patty doesn't suffer the emotional letdown of being cut, and can still steadily improve so that he is ready when NHL hockey is back.
The World Juniors: Hey, remember when the '05 World Junior Team for Canada basically retaught the whole world how to play hockey? Remember how much fun that was? Remember when the core of that team basically won Canada an Olympic Gold 5 years later? Cool, me too. This is going to be a hell of a tournament.
So there you have it, 5 winners in the NHL lockout. Can you think of any others?
Senators Links:
- Bobby Kelly rules. He also gives sweet sweet prospect updates. Read this one if you have not yet done so! [SSS]
- I have never been shy about my Mark Parisi man-crush when it comes to his writing. This is absolute classic Mark, and you never want to miss classic Mark, especially when he's angry. [SSS]
- LUKE RICHARDSON SPEAKS.... like he does every week. Here it is though! [6thSens]
- Paulrus is so used to coaching a young team, he got confused and went a coached this local minor hockey team (crickets)... ya. Sorry. Here is the story though! [SensExtra]
- Fun little update form the Bingo Sens site called BSENS weekly! [BSENS]
League Links:
- Forbes did some NHL ownership work. WTYKY takes you through some of the interesting findings. [WTYKY]
- Very sad story as WIld goalie Josh Harding has been diagnosed with MS. [NHL]
- Here are this weeks 30 thoughts. [CBC]