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Thursday, March 24, 2005

NHL cancels 2005 June Entry Draft in Ottawa

About 50% of the opinions that were squeezed out of this story from the official source NHL.com, some of it was directed at the speculation as to what might happen to Sidney "rhinestone" Crosby. I've decided to nickname him that now because rhinestones look like the real thing, but in the end, they're pretty common.

The draft in Ottawa was canceled because the NHL and NHLPA have not gotten anything accomplished in this lockout. It was also stated on other media outlets that the hotel in Ottawa could not continue to hold 400 reservations for much longer.

Fans along all of the Hockey message boards suggest that of course Crosby should sign at top dollar/highest bidder as a free agent. There were rumors going about that should the lockout continue, Crosby may sign with the new Marlies AHL team.

"I'm sure the NHL will rig it so that he goes to either the Penguins, Capitals, or Hurricanes," said one cynical Leafs fan on a website.

Only time will tell as to the final solution of how the NHL will divvy up the draft eligible players. If and when the lockout is ended, the entry draft will be conducted via conference call.

1 comment:

The Universal Cynic said...

As an Ottawan, I find the cancellation frustrating because a) we've never experienced an event like this before and b) it was supposed to be the test run of whether or not we could handle an All-Star game. Bettman supposedly has promised us the '08 draft, but Crosby will be long gone by then, and the additional press in the area would've been nice.

P.S. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the "Ryan Smyth has no Friends" charity tour. Word has it he scrapped the Winnipeg date after slow ticket sales.