overthere

Yakupov is actually earning over $1 million less per year in his big new contract than he earned in each of his first three years. He is officially trade bait. Play better Yak and we'll move you....... Somebody will bite, and the Oilers and Yakupov both save face. And he had to have a contract right now to play on the Russian team at the World Cahpionships which start soon- if he makes the team in a tryout. Showcasing. #1 overall pick.

So the small and shrinking popular vote, and the lack of seats for the Greens are not relevant? The only criteria is running losing candidates in many ridings?

May won 1 seat and got less than 4% of the popular vote in the 2011, which was substantially less than she got in the previous election. This somehow qualifies her for a seat in a leadership debate? If you are going by seat count or popular vote, a better choice would be Duceppes replacement.

Love it. The very best part is that he can now be traded. Without that contract there would be no way. McTavish doesn't often speak of him as being part of the core team now, and knows he has to get rid of somebody to begin to fill the gaping holes in goal and on defence. Bye bye Nail.

me too. Probably the only thing that keeps me from doing it is my significant other. We watch GOT together and if I cheat and watch them online I'll have to watch them all again off PVR and pretend I haven't seen them already. Stannis is hardly a likable character, but I look forward to the Boltons- father and son- getting what they deserve. And let us not forget that the Freys are owed a wee slaughter too.

It has been so long since the airing of the last TV series, and much longer since I read the books, that I feel like everything is new again. Things are not lookng bright for Cersei and her ambitions......

She is the leader of a party with 2 seats. If she is in , then Party Leaders Mario Beaulieu (Bloc, 2 seats) and Jean Francois Fortin( 2 seats, Forces et Democratie) must also have a voice. And if we are allowing marginal voices a chance to shout at each other, how can we exclude any of the 8 Independents? The challenge for Mulcair will be to simultaneously attack and belittle his opposition while at the same time appearing to be a statesman. Tightrope!

I do, because increased US popularity means increased revenue to CDN teams, and that helps ensure the viability of small markets. Canada has a disproportionate share of those in the overall market for pro hockey. You're not thinking this through. One huge factor on the expense side is the salary cap. Big market teams from either country cannot outspend small market teams. On the revenue side, national TV rights are shared equally by all teams. If hockey takes off in the US, small market CDN teams get their share. Both salary caps and massively larger TV revenues came from the same place- the Wee Satan Bettman. They're not adding Nashville to the NHL, they already have a team. Metro Las Vegas has a population of about 1.4 million. Metro Moncton has a metro population of about 140,000. Is that a reason?

You're attempting to ignore the reality of the cope of the deal signed nearly four years ago, which is significant and unprecedented in the promotion of pro hockey in the United States. The previous deal with NBC (2004) paid or rather guaranteed the NHL nothing except an undefined share of advertising revenue. Despite your claim that "most Americans have no interest in hockey, never have, and never will. ", there is no way that a major US network goes from $0.00 to $200 million per year on a long term deal unless they are recouping that money from American viewers. That reality may make you unhappy, but it does not give you license to pretend that reality does not exist. When you unclench your wee fists, open your eyes and stop screaming- there it is again. What is not 'regular' about big chunks of cash coming to every NHL team(including Canadian teams) from a US broadcaster ? It is a bigger coup than Bettmans deal with Sportsnet for Canadian rights. $6 million per team per year from the US TV deal is a nice chunk of operating costs with a salary cap of around $70 million, especially when that amount was $0 until recently.

You didn't know about the longterm deal for $200 million per year with NBC, did you?

Is Ontario going to pay down that lil ol' $300 billion debt with this money?

If Soudas has something to say that matters about Duffy, he can say it on the witness stand. When is he is scheduled to testify?

Huh? How oblivious can you guys be? The new Canadian contract is for about $400 million per year, for a total of about $640 million, or around $20 million CDN per team per year for each team in the NHL. Yes, another abject failure by Bettman to serve and grow the sport. eta: next up: squeezing those dickheads at the Olympic Committee for some of their fat profits using NHL players.

Great start from the Jays, 4-2 and won both their first two series. It's all offence now, hope their pitching can come around because not every game will have 10 or 12 hits.

Agree that the Oilers have awful management, but not about Dubnyk. He was absolute shit here in his last season, after several years of careful development in the minors and on the Oilers. He had a brutal team in front of him, but his own play was awful. After Edmonton tossed him he was garbage in 3 or 4 other places before settling in Minnesota. I'm glad he has done well somewhwre, finally.

I do not get why Nonis was not fired long ago. Very bizarre stuff.

I'm betting that-despite the relentless yearning of many here- the judge won't allow Wright or Harper or anybody but Duffy be tried and sentenced. Of course, that means that the judge has been bought and paid for by the Tories. The only question is if Wright was the bagman for that transaction too.

The only hockey guaranteed in the new Quebec arena is the annual PeeWee tournament. Although AB equalization money built the place, it will be much harder to get them to buy $200 per seat seasion tickets .

Oh-oh, there are going to be a lot of angry people here if the court accepts that Harper et al were victims here, not criminals.

Do you think the Duffster can make the media dance like trained monkeys, as Ford did every day?

^^^^ the usual unproductive, partisan baloney about a subject that no politicians will address directly or honestly. For that matter, neither will most citizens beyond the rote platitudes and lies. The problem is that there will never be enough money to keep everybody alive forever, yet the demand for services to do just that never abates. We live much longer than ever before, and we expect an all out effort from our health care system to keep every one of us alive for a few more hours, days, or weeks.The technology and drugs are grotesquely expensive and will only increase in cost as medical advances are made, demographics are skewed and even heavier demands are made. We as nation are unable to even have a mature conversation about the reality which is that every province will have to carefully define what services it will fund. If we want to increase funding, other services will inevitably have to decrease. Our system as it evolves now is unsustainable, and the pressure felt now will increase dramatically with the huge wave of boomers about to drown the health system and strain budgets far more than today.

Where? Quebec is too small and are going to regret building the new arena. Unless they get an angel investor who has really, really deep pockets it ain't gonna happen there. And they'll let Florida fold before they relocate it to Southern Ontario. They could easily support another team beside the Leafs, but the Leafs have enough clout to halt it. In any case, no way would the NHL accept a piddly $60 million 'relocation fee' for south ON like they got for the move from Atlanta to Winnipeg. They'll want at least $300 million for that market if they can bully or buy cooperation from Toronto. Florida is much more likely to end up in Las Vegas, or possibly Seattle.

The Ontario media has been desperately looking for a replacement for the Rob Ford circus and they did not have to wait long or go very far.

Nicely summarized. You really don't understand anything about professional sports

We need a Duffy Truthers website to weave partisan fantasies into something that can stand up on late night talk radio. Let's kick it off with some solid material : I once heard Duffy speaking Hebrew in the old World Trade Center lobby. Two days later.....