Bits: Remembering 1972, Waiting for Lubo's Ruling

To (not) answer the question I've received a lot: No idea when the Lubomir Visnovsky arbitration ruling will be handed down.

Arthur Staple tweeted last month that Islanders GM Garth Snow hoped for an expedited decision so that he could plan for the upcoming season (ha!) accordingly, but ... it's the NHL. One would expect this is not the kind of decision that requires more than 48 hours deliberation and a simple, "Here's the rule, here's the paperwork in accordance with the rule," but ... again, it's the NHL -- a league that grows, then stops itself an average of every five years over the last two decades.

Other Topics:

Speaking of that silly league, no. No further CBA talks are scheduled. ... But the last NHL proposal would've moved free agency back to July 10. ... I have no idea why Ron MacLean thinks there won't be a lockout, as this rambling column doesn't deliver on its point. ... One NHL side claims the league's collective loss is at $240 million over two seasons. Uh huh. ... This CBA proposal at Copper & Blue is pretty decent, actually.

1972 Summit Series Anniversary: The Times covered Canadian players going back to Russia over the weekend on the 40th anniversary of a pivotal series in hockey history. ... Down Goes Brown jokes about the team make-up.

As the Times article notes, some horrific things happened in that series; judging from the NBC Sports special from last year and a late '80s book "The Days Canada Stood Still," there were a lot of outside pressures -- not the least of which were the Soviet authorities screwing with Canadian players in their hotels -- that drove people like J.P. Parise to uncharacteristic behavior.

Islanders-like News: Tony Romano is the latest Sound Tiger to head to Europe. He was a UFA anyway. ... Eric Hornick spots some commentary on Griffin Reinhart from his junior coach. ... E.J. Hradek says sure, playoffs for the Isles are possible. [FanShot discussion here] ... a former Islanders draft pick had a surprising amount of (surely trolling?) support for top #12 in Predators history.

Roberto Luongo thinks Florida is the best trade destination, but again ... why would the Panthers want to deal for that contract?

You probably saw the news about the proposed Bronx multi-story ice hockey complex. (Not for pro hockey, mind you.) Thoughts?

Finally, in anticipation of a lockout, we'll have plenty of hockey-like substance around here, but all are welcome to another way of keeping this community engaged in regular tomfoolery: The Lighthouse Hockey salary capped fantasy football league. Keith assures me it's very straight-forward and you don't have to know a lot to enter. (Oh, and SB Nation also has an easy-to-use daily Pick 6 game for football, playing off its Pick 6 baseball game.)

So join in, won't you? It's Hockey Related Revenue free!