Stanley Cup of Chowder, a Boston Bruins community

When it comes to hockey team ownership, should we feel sorry for owners who lose money? Or should we envy them for getting to play with grown-up toys?

The NHL and NHLPA reached a tentative deal at 5:00 AM Sunday for a new collective bargaining agreement. The agreement is expected to be ratified by mid-week, with a 48 or 50-game season starting between January 15 and 20.

Some radical ideas for how to structure a shortened season.

All eyes will be on New York today, where talks are expected to continue between owners and players, and speculation builds that a 48-game season may commence later this month.

We need someone to blame, and I have just the goat for the job.

When put to a simple question as to whether we'll have a hockey season, NHL Vice Commissioner Bill Daly said "yes". Is such optimism to be believed? We may not know the answer to that for a few more weeks...

I force Bettman, Daly, and the Fehr brothers to play a Cthulhu board game with me to teach them a lesson about teamwork.

Today we have a Nashville Predator actually saying something interesting(!) about the lockout, another call for the NHL to contract several teams, and progress for the advanced stats analysis crowd in both the NHL and NBA.

See, kids? You CAN spell Christmas without "N-H-L". In a move that's not surprising given the current status of CBA negotiations, the NHL has written off another two weeks' worth of games.

Let's start another week of NHL Lockout 2012 with some happy thoughts, m'kay? We'll kick off this morning's notes with a story on the guy who has perhaps the highest upside of any of Nashville's young defenseman, Mattias Ekholm...