Quick strikes and open thread for Sunday, November 18th

Part of the reason for the lockout is supposed to be financial distress among NHL teams. Just why do rich people buy hockey clubs if they lose so much money? Well, it’s not as bad as they like to make it out to be [Cult of Hockey]
Bill Simmons is botha sports junkie and a pop-culture nut. He’s an acquired taste to some, and usually the sport of hockey takes a back seat in his write ups. That being said, he flambays NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. Very good read. [Grantland]
Bettman proposed a two week hiatus on talks, which won’t be happening. Talks resume Monday in New York [SB Nation]
Could this man serve as a mediator between the NHL and NHLPA? Not likely IMHO, given the political preferences of certain NHL owners and NHLPA members. [On The Forecheck]
Philadelphia Flyers owner Ed Snider was reported to be pushing for a resolution to the NHL Lockout [Philly.com]
…And then denounced the report and publicly backed his commissioner. [Philadelphia Flyers]

Bill Philp surveyed a plethora of Tampa Bay Lightning fans to see whom they’d put on a proverbial “Mount Rushmore” of Tampa Bay Lightning players. Here are the results [Hockey Independent]
Lightning prospect Nikita Kucherov, playing for the first time in North America with the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL, has been put on the trading block by his junior club. [Sons of Andreychuk]
Syracuse Crunch center Tyler Johnson might not be the biggest body in the AHL, but he’s standing tall in his second professional season [TBO]
Radko Gudas is also turning heads and gaining attention for the Crunch [Bolt Prospects]
The ever changing identity of the Syracuse Crunch is a trait of AHL hockey [New York Hockey Journal]

It’s an Associated Press report, and it mostly focuses on a little team in Upstate New York, but the narrative is such: The NHL is locked out, and the AHL is finding itself more in the spotlight because of it. [SF Chronicle]
With no NHL season, I bet you don’t want to even think about the 2013 NHL entry draft. Other people are, though. Here’s a ranking of top-prospects for the next draft event – when and if it happens. [Last Word On Sports]

Talking Points