By popular demand, we have opened back up a Dudes on Hockey fantasy league on Yahoo Sports. Click on the logo to get to the league. Here is the Dudes on Hockey Fantasy League CBA: We are going to do one league this year with 20 teams. There will be four divisions of five teams. So odds are someone will have to draft Paul Bissonnette and live the Twitter glory. Eight teams will make the playoffs. There is a live draft time posted on the website. The password to join is ihatekane. This will be the only league this year so have at it Dudes! See you on the imaginary ice.

The lockout is finally over, and the Dudes could not wait to record a new podcast exploring all the details, and talking excitedly about the upcoming season.

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Hello hockey fans and Happy No Hockey Year.A quick update to let you know what to expect from the podcast in early 2013 from your favorite neighborhood Dudes. We have decided to wait and record our first podcast of 2013 when the dust has settled for good on the NHL vs. NHLPA Battle Royale. At this point there are two possible outcomes, a 48 game season beginning in mid-January or Bettman cancels the season like Cop Rock.

The good news is, there’s only another week of this stupidity and then we’ll know what direction we’re headed in as hockey fans for 2013. The Dudes will hopefully be back soon with a mega-episode profiling the ins and outs of the new CBA and a 2013 season preview, or we will be moving forward with full coverage of the San Francisco Bulls and Worcester Sharks for the remainder of the hockey season.

Until then, fellow Dudes.

We will be at the game tonight, as I’m sure many of you.  A loyal and generous listener has let me know that they have 2 tickets they cannot use, and will forward to the first person that emails questions at dudesonhockey dot com.  See you there.

The Dudes try to talk about the two goods thing happening to San Jose hockey – the Bulls coming to play at HP Pavilion, and the success of the Worchester Sharks.  But the depressing lockout talk continues on.

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Another week ticks by and even though there appears to have been some useful discussions today between some select NHL owners and players without their parents present, it fails to get me excited. I feel like I’ve been teased by this before a few weeks prior when representatives were meeting for several days straight, only to say they have nothing in common. I refuse to get sucked in…yet…

While we wait for some real news, there will be no podcast this week. When Mike takes a vacation from the podcast, he goes to India or Africa. I put on make up and sing songs in costumes. Yup, my vacation is cooler. Just ask Detroit Red Wings prospect, Riley Sheahan, how he spends his hockey vacation. Drunk in a Teletubby costume? Yes please.

Mike and I have been pretty hard on the Worcester Sharks from the beginning of the season, feeling they didn’t have the NHL caliber talent to compete in a bizarro world AHL season filled with players who would otherwise be playing in the Bigs. Worcester has told us where to shove it by leading the competitive Atlantic Division with 24 points and a 11-8-1 record. Tim Kennedy is tied for 3rd in the AHL in scoring and the Woo-Sharks have played with a brand of toughness one can only hope to see in the big club, if they lace them up again this year. There appears to be some encouraging moments from Freddie Hamilton, Sena Acolatse and Taylor Doherty and Alex Stalock’s numbers are solid, but not spectacular. I personally have not watched a moment online, but the closer we are to not having NHL hockey, the more likely it is that I plunk down some plastic to watch Worcester and some future Sharks take the ice.

Just up the road, the SF Bulls are competitive with a 8-12-1 record. They are the worst defensive team in GAA in the ECHL, but Sharks prospect, Marek Viedenskey, has found his scoring touch and looked dominant in person when Mike and I went to a game two weeks ago. He currently has 13 points in 9 games and hopefully he can carry it back to Worcester when they bring him back – which they will…There should be playoff hockey in the Bay Area regardless since it appears the ECHL takes the top eight teams per conference in their new playoff format. With only nine teams in the Western Conference, the odds are in the Bulls favor.

I’m looking forward to talking on the podcast about a hockey book I’m reading called Shorthand: The Untold Story of the Seals. I’m just barely into it so far but the stories about the Bay Area’s first venture into the NHL with the Seals is beyond fascinating.

We’ll be back next week, no matter what happens in the labor talks. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a costume to put on.

Dudes talk about stuff. Happy Thanksgiving.

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I’ve wondered for a long time how owners can buy teams for hundreds of millions of dollars, and lose cash every single year.  I had two theories:

1. Owners don’t view teams as a business (as Malcolm Gladwell and Bill Simmons have written about before), and more as a luxury objects to enjoy, like paintings .
2. There are some accounting tricks being played in order to maximize losses.

I still think 1) is true and now it appears 2) could be true as well.  Jonathan Willis wrote an interesting article, using some data he found about the Florida Panthers, a team that has claimed to lose $7M or more per season.  There is a little controversy about Willis’ points (and conclusions) but I think these facts are undisputed.

• A company called Sunrise Sports and Entertainment (SSE) owns the Panthers.
• This company has a division called Arena Operating Company (AOC), which runs the arena, and is an entity to which SSE apparently pays rent, because the Panthers use the arena.
• Because of the sweetheart deal the Panthers got, AOC also makes money on the other events in the area, paying some back to the local government.
• AOC has made $90M or so in profit between 1999 and 2008.
• The only reason AOC makes money on concerts is because it’s the Panther’s arena, and controlled by SSE.
• However, the Panthers (SSE) do not claim this profit as hockey related revenue, and get to cry poor to the league and held up as a model of why the current system is failing.

Since the audit Willis references is only in relation to AOC, and not SSE, it’s not entirely for certain SSE is in fact turning a profit every year.  But if they are claiming a $7.5M loss per year on average, $90M profit over that time period is more than enough to wipe away that red ink.

All in all, this is a nice deal if you can have it.  The only reason Willis got access to any of this is because the county performed an audit.  Otherwise SSE could keep on making money every year, having their initial investment in the team appreciate, and claim they are losing money all the while.  It should be mentioned that the Sharks (Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment) also operate HP Pavilion, though the details of their deal with the city is not public information.  It’s entirely possible (though certainly not proven) that SVSE is turning a profit each year as well, due to those extra revenue streams- revenue streams that would not be available if they did not own the Sharks.

The Dudes have almost run out of things to talk about, so Kevin Kurz is gracious enough to join us.  He fills us in on the lockout comings and goings (or lack thereof) the JR-Marleau spat, and other Sharks topics.

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Sorry for another post explaining why there’s no podcast this week, but at least there’s a reason. But first, the lockout. I can’t help but be hopeful given all the negotiation that’s been happening the past few days. I wish I understood why both sides suddenly decided to stop with the press releases and start talking amongst themselves; some speculate it’s because of the Winter Classic cancellation, but really? No one saw that coming? For whatever reason, the “public posturing” section of the lockout has finished, and the “marathon negotiation” section has begun.  It certainly seemed obvious weeks ago that the two sides were not far apart, with the NHL practically branding their 50-50 offer (with supposed “make whole” provision) on the moon, and the players responding in kind with 50-50 proposals of their own.  Then both sides sat on their hands for a while- maybe they were scared about Hurricane Sandy? Or didn’t want to miss any Homeland episodes?  Even though all this time has been wasted, it certainly seems plausible the season could happen again, and some are even talking about a December 1 start date, and a 70-game season.

The out-of-sorts feeling is in full effect for me- I spent a lot of time sitting this week on the couch during the evening feeling strange.  I finally realized that this time of year, the 7-10 PM hours are almost always spent going to a game, watching a game, or thinking about a game.  I can’t wait for that feeling to begin again.

But alternatives still exist.  Scott Gomez actually signed a player contract with the Alaska Aces, who already have Joey Crabb and Brandon Dubinsky.  Seto just played with the Ontario Reign against the Bulls (who have a dismal record).  And Ryane Clowe signed a practice contract, but I could see him playing a few games, to get tuned up.

Here’s another alternative.  This is absolutely real, and explains why the podcasts have been sparser than usual.  Needless to say I already have tickets.

Master of the Hiz-ouse

We will be back next week, and I already have a guest booked, which I hope will make up for our absences.