I like good port. Apparently Krys Barch likes (good?) port. Suffice to say it's not something that is typically introduced to me, nor truck drivers, other than through people who make what Krys Barch makes.

Barch took to Twitter Saturday night for a surprisingly lucid rant about the NHL lockout and what he feels owners are forcing, or trying to force, out of the players. Plenty of coverage/transcripts at Defending Big D and Puck Daddy.

I have some mild sympathy for him, in that it always sucks when someone tries to move your cheese when you're not ready to have your cheese moved. But as usual when the PA appeals to the labor stoppage history (Want to talk lockout history? I remember the players strike before the 1992 playoffs. Funny what sides do when they have leverage, isn't it?) or to my "common man" side, it falls nearly as flat as when Gary Bettman calls NHL fans the greatest lemmings in the world. Y'all just wake me up when you have this sorted, and we'll see how many fans we can salvage.

Islanders-ish News

• John Tavares on going to Switzerland [Newsday]: "Eventually, I've got to play somewhere, with the unpredictability of the whole lockout," Fun with Google Translate on the story from Switzerland: "His bite can be felt."
• Watch Ryan Strome's (he's #18) first two goals of the OHL season.
• The official site profiles the two goalie prospects, Anders Nilsson and Kevin Poulin.
• Sounds like Anders Lee will move to center at Notre Dame.
• Sounds like Lubomir Visnovsky has an elbow injury.
• Sounds like Sean Bergenheim will play with HIFK in Finland.
• An arena opens in Brooklyn. [NYT]
• Corey Trivino signs with Florida. Of the ECHL.
• Fight fun: ol' Benn Olson vs. Devin DiDiomete
• Tomas Marcinko's Swedish team is "pleased to announce" they're letting him go. [funny Google Translate]

Finally, Rhett Rakhshani is learning about hazing in Sweden:

Remnant NHL news (mostly lockout nonsense):

• Hilariously, Daryl Katz apologizes to Oilers fans for his trip to Seattle.
• Wow, the lockout has some pretty messy, political effects on the SEL.
• Was the North Dakota drinking scandal part of a bad initiation rite?
• If you're interested, the NHL and NHLPA talked a lot over the weekend about things that will not end the lockout. They talked about drug testing and stuff. Presumably they both agree drugs are bad, mmkay?
• Joffrey Lupul on why he spells his name funny the lockout.
• Oh, and a nice symbolic example of why these sides don't agree: The players think some of the Glendale money should be theirs. The owners don't. The players think that franchise should be moved somewhere profitable. The owners, whether they do or not, will say the relocation fee is theirs. Rinse, repeat.
• And here's one more: Wade Redden has been buried in the AHL for two years because the Rangers signed him to a dumb contract. Now he's locked out and not being paid because, well because the Rangers signed him to that dumb contract and they'd rather not pay him. (Procedurally, they did not assign him to the AHL this year.)

What a league.