First it was Jagr, then it was Jeremy Roenick. Now, Mario Lemieux has joined the list of hockey voices who are saying that the players are getting a worse deal now than they would have in February or earlier.

"They should have taken the deal back in February," Lemieux said Thursday, referring to the last-gasp negotiations that took place just before the 2004-05 season was canceled. "The cap was at $42.5 million, that was the offer from the owners, now it looks like it's going to be a lot less than that."

Of course, Mario is unqualified to speak for the players, because he is an owner. However, we are beginning to see a trend here. I think the general sentiment among players and others involved with the NHL is that the players' fight was ultimately futile.

NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin denied Lemieux's assertion that the players would have done better taking the deal in February.

"The parties are still negotiating and so it is only prudent for evaluation of the agreement to take place once it is completed," Saskin said in a statement issued by the NHLPA. "To evaluate one specific component of the agreement could lead to an inaccurate assessment."

Saskin's comments sort of indicate that the numbers floating around in "hockey-rumor-world" might be somewhat accurate. It also tells me that the union is trying to pick up whatever crumbs it can from this. However, barring a major surprise concession from the owners, thus far it doesn't look as though opinions will change much once all of the details of a deal are released.

The Canadian Press has a piece about how a salary cap will present new issues for NHL teams.

In the "circumstantial evidence" section:

The Minnesota Wild announced a new radio broadcast agreement that starts with the "2005-2006 NHL season".

Some NHL'ers who have been practicing about twice a week in the Buffalo area during the lockout, including Michael Peca, Matt Barnaby, and James Patrick, are starting to get a sense of urgency about getting in shape:

"During this past year when it didn't look that good, guys didn't have the same outlook, the same attitude. If you missed a day, big deal," Patrick said. "Now it's more, 'Gotta go, gotta go.' That's just the start of the feeling you can see coming out."

Alan Hahn at Newsday confirms that the Islanders season-ticket packages went out this week without a discount. The Rangers, meanwhile, are waiting for a new CBA to be announced before sending out subscription packages.

Word has it that the NHL and the NHLPA are putting in some very long hours this week. I hope that means we will have some kind of announcement sooner rather than later.

Speaking of announcements, don't forget to give yourself a chance to win some free stuff, or at least get a discount on cool hats.

HDH

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