NHLPA To Announce Results Of Player CBA Survey In Mid-January

BALLOT MISCONDUCT: In Calgary, Steve MacFarlane noted "only four teams will be represented when the puck drops for the opening faceoff" of the NHL All-Star Game, barring injury substitutions. MacFarlane wrote, "The results of online fan voting make a mockery of a game that is supposed to feature the best players from each conference going head-to-head in an exciting exhibition. It's become an Internet battle between cities trying to get their guys in regardless of what they've accomplished in the first few months of the season" (CALGARY SUN, 1/4). ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun wrote the NHL All-Star Game is a "joke, and any fan who gets hot and bothered over their players not getting voted in as starters should seriously consider getting a life." LeBrun: "Of course it makes no sense that four Montreal Canadiens are among the six Eastern Conference starters." But Canadiens fans are "excited about hosting the game and showed it at the ballot box," and there is "nothing wrong with that" (ESPN.com, 1/3).

TIME FOR SOME CHANGES: FOXSPORTS.com's Al Strachan wrote the NHL should "shrink the league by a couple of franchises." While it is "likely to happen in the not-too-distant future, it probably won't happen this year." But some franchises are "in trouble, and the economic outlook for North America is not good." Strachan wrote the NHL also should modify the CBA to "allow salary retention." The GMs "want this change so that they can make more trades," as currently teams "can't trade away a player and continue to pay part of his salary, so trades are harder to make." But the "problem is that any change in the salary-cap rules would mean changes in the CBA and those are not easy to effect" (FOXSPORTS.com, 1/2).

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